If Bush was president in 1962, would we even have a nation now?

Question

let me ask an earlier question a different way. imagine if bush had been president in 1962, during the cuban missle crisis. we had pictures (=proof) that the soviets had WMD, specifically nuclear weapons. with bush's mentality, he would have launched an invasion to eliminate them. then they would have launched their missles, we would launch ours, and the world would be devastated. he would have had our nation destroyed. so is his policy really as good as many of you argue?

Answer 1

Of course the Soviet Union had nuclear weapons in 1962; however, I see your point. We'd probably be living in a post-nuclear wasteland now. Bush's philosophy is "launch now and don't ask questions later."

Answer 2

I think you may be missing a few facts about the Cuban Missile Crisis. I know it is often portrayed as a shining success of the Kennedy Administration; however, Kennedy's policies nearly caused global annihilation. He was very lucky that he was negotiating with Khrushchev, which when compared to all of the other First Secretaries of the Soviet Union except Gorbachev was a moderate communist leader. Had Kennedy's counterpart been Brezhnev or Andropov the outcome would most likely have been very different. Moreover, the fallout, no pun intended, from the Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the main reasons Khrushchev was removed from power. The other Politburo members felt he was too soft and negotiated too much with the west.

Had the naval quarantine, or what it really was a naval blockage failed to deter the Soviets from deploying nuclear weapons in Cuba. There were plans for bombing missions to destroy the missiles, and possibly even an invasion of Cuba. The net result would have been at least a limited nuclear exchange between the Soviet Union and the United States.

If you want to create parallels between the two situations, Bush did the same thing Kennedy did, when he was first confronted with the Cuban missile crisis. He brought it to the attention of the UN in an attempt to win support for his actions. The UN's responses to the two different situations were, of course, different. The UN was against Bush's invasion of Iraq, while the UN was more ambivalent or slightly in favor of Kennedy's actions

This is not a statement for or against Bush or the war in Iraq, I am just letting you how much luck actually contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis not ending civilization as we know it.

Answer 3

Nukes in Cuba are considerably different from potential chemical weapons in Iraq.

1. The nukes were Russian and they had a proven delivery system. Saddam had Scud missiles which are about as accurate as a thrown rock with just about the same range.

2. Cuba is 90 miles from Florida. Even a scud is sufficient to hit a target from that close. If Kennedy (or Bush) had invaded, the nukes would be landing on Hometown, USA.

3. An invasion in 1962 was a forgone conclusion until negotiators hit on a plan to remove US missiles from Turkey in exchange for the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba. So, JFK's 'mentality' would have gotten us destroyed, too.

4. Effects of chemical weapons can be mitigated by wearing protective gear. Nuclear radiation and destruction cannot.

5. There was no danger of a nuclear attack in Iraq. There was in Cuba. That requires two totally different thought processes. The president has many more options when there is no danger of having American cities slagged.

Any president (however warlike) will think long and hard about invading a country that possesses nukes only 90 miles from home. You're comparing apples and oranges.

Answer 4

Probably the end results about Cuba would a be the same,, But really we would never know. Now if you are irresponsible you will start making congestion's just to see that George W. Bush would a done it worse. What about Jimmy Carter or Clinton you think that this Democrats would a done better??

Answer 5

Yes there would be nation now.
Bush would have handle it pretty much like Kenndy.

Yet I know liberals in 1962 would still call Bush wrong and there was no proof of WMDs.

Answer 6

I love hypotheticals. There's absolutely no way of knowing what GW's plan of action would have been during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Perhaps if Kennedy hadn't half heartedly backed the Bay of Pigs invasion there would have been no Cuban missile crisis to begin with.

Answer 7

The world would be gone. It takes a leader to get through something like and Kennedy was. Bush is not a leader.

Answer 8

Bush only attacks countries that don't have WMD.

Answer 9

Russia would not even dare to move WMD to Cuba at all.

Answer 10

I only like to pick on tiny middle eastern states with no friends.