BLACK PRESIDENT, Chapter 17-B. General Curtis LeMay is more than ready to start WWIII in Cuba (secret recordings revealed that to JFK).

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Chapter 17-B.

JFK and General Curtis Lemay. <https://www.history.com/speeches/lemay-and-kennedy-argue-over-cuban-missile-crisis>.

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October 22, 1962

President Kennedy was glad to have a second shot at Cuba, even though the discovery of Russian missiles had added the possibility of war with the Soviet Union. The report on the Bay of Pigs, conducted by Bobby and written by CIA inspector general Lyman Kirkpatrick, had exonerated him, laying the blame on the CIA itself; its rampant egotism, unreliable facts, and total disregard for human life. He had learned that few of the CIA staff who trained the Cuban mercenaries could even speak Spanish! Lyman had written the history of the failed invasion, detailing how it grew from a small covert operation into what he called a mammoth, full-scale invasion by “unruly, ill-trained, crudely supported forces.” With Bissell and Dulles ousted for that Agency’s failure, a new, solid team was now in place at the CIA. But for this new Cuban crisis, it was the generals who were pushing for an apocalyptic solution.

“Let me get this straight,” said President Kennedy as he placed his water glass back down on the conference table. “We have two thousand nuclear warheads ready to launch at Russia. And they have around three hundred and forty – your estimate – pointed at us?”

“Yes,” said General Curtis LeMay.

“And you figure there are forty more that have been installed in Cuba, right?”

“That’s our best guess,” said LeMay.

For a few moments no one spoke while President Kennedy got his thoughts together. Then he broke the silence.

“What difference will forty more warheads make in the long run? We both have enough to blow the other up five times over”

LeMay immediately answered.

“If you don’t face them down now, it could mean hundreds more. I say we need to take them out, just hit the island hard with the full payload.”

“But wouldn’t that decidedly lead us right into a confrontation with Russia?,” asked the President, trying to keep his emotions in check.

“Well, yes. But a show of strength is what they must see. If we don’t have the guts...in Cuba...then it could happen here instead. It’s just a matter of time, Mr. President.”

General LeMay had placed his emphasis on the word “Cuba” for a reason. He, like others, thought Jack Kennedy was a coward. The Bay of Pigs fiasco had spread that belief through the ranks of intelligence, seeped deep into the consciousness of many top- echelon, military brass. LeMay’s anger took him a step closer to calling Kennedy a coward to his face at the meeting.

“Acting cautious isn’t the way to stop aggression, either on the school yard or in US. military maneuvers,” the General asserted.

“We have to stand up to those damn Commies.”

Again JFK was slow in responding. First of all, he had to keep his true anger shielded beneath his best bureaucratic face. He knew he shouldn’t be surprised when his military men advocated extreme military solutions.

“I can’t see starting World War III over a few missiles in Cuba,” said the President, finally. “We hit Cuba, then the Russians hit Berlin. Then what?”

The generals now realized beyond a doubt that Kennedy would persist in thwarting their clear-cut solutions. General LeMay laid it on the line.

“If we don’t do anything to Cuba, then they’re going to push on Berlin, and push real hard because they’ve got us on the run. This is almost as bad as the appeasement at Munich. I don’t see any other solution except direct military action right now. A blockade, and political talk...would be considered by a lot of our friends and neutrals as being a pretty weak response to this. And I’m sure a lot of our own citizens would feel that way too. You’re in a pretty bad fix, Mr. President.”

“What did you say?” asked President Kennedy, distracted by the sour look on his brother Bobby’s face.

“You’re in a pretty bad fix,” LeMay repeated.

Few in the room knew that Jack Kennedy had secretly installed audio recording devices in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room. It would be thirty-five years after Kennedy’s death that a Harvard transcriber heard the faint voice of General Scoup at the Cuban Missile Crisis meeting, words spoken after the President had left the room. Pressing rewind and replaying the same section a few times at full volume, he could finally determine what the General muttered under his breath: “Weenie-assed, gutless turd, little mother-fuckin’ son of a bitch.”

Anyone listening less carefully to the tape would have simply heard the sounds of notebooks being closed, chairs being shifted, footsteps, doors opening and closing, the ambience of emptiness taking over. Fast forwarding with the foot pedal, the transcriber listened for the next sound of voices, and, after a brief stretch of silence, heard the bleat of sound zipping by. He pressed STOP and re-wound. There was the voice of Shoup again.

“You pulled the rug right out from under him. God damn.”

“Jesus Christ. What the hell do you mean?” The voice that responded was General LeMay’s.

“Somebody’s got to keep them from doing the goddamn thing piecemeal,” said General Shoup, emphatically.

“That’s our problem.”
“Do the son of a bitch, and do it right.”

Listening to General LeMay and General Shoup on tape, angling for all-out warfare, President Kennedy had realized back in 1962 that he needed to keep closer tabs on their movements, be fully prepared to cancel out any unauthorized actions on their parts.

“Kenny...” said JFK quietly to Kenneth O’Donnell, catching his aide’s ear after they’d listened to the secret tape. “Make damn sure those Chiefs of Staff bastards don’t try to start a war without me, OK?”

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(Chapter 18 next)