Other Missiles of October

Shedding important new light on the history of the Cold War, Philip Nash tells the story of what the United States gave up to help end the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. By drawing on documents only recently declassified, he shows that one of President Kennedy's compromises with the Soviets involved the removal of Jupiter missiles from Italy and Turkey, an arrangement concealed from both the American public and the rest of the NATO allies.

Nash traces the entire history of the Jupiters and explores why the United States offered these nuclear missiles, which were capable of reaching targets in the Soviet Union, to its European allies after the launch of Sputnik. He argues that, despite their growing doubts, both Eisenhower and Kennedy proceeded with the deployment of the missiles because they felt that cancellation would seriously damage America's credibility with its allies and the Soviet Union. The Jupiters subsequently played a far more significant role in Khrushchev's 1962 decision to deploy his missiles in Cuba, in U.S. deliberations during the ensuing missile crisis, and in the resolution of events in Cuba than most existing histories have supposed.

An excellent and very well written account.

History: Reviews of New Books

It is interesting, good history, and a good read.

Raymond L. Garthoff, author of Reflections on the Cuban Missile Crisis

Includes bibliographical references (p. [211]-223) and index.

Philip Nash is visiting assistant professor of history at Middle Tennessee State University.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations Used in Text

Introduction

1. We Cannot Deny Them to Our Allies: Eisenhower's IRBM Offer to NATO, 1957

2. Trying to Dump Them on Our Allies: The Search for Hosts, 1957-1959

3. Farce and Statecraft: Soldiers, Experts, Lawmakers, and Torch Passers, 1959-1961

4. The Old Frontier: Kennedy and the Jupiters, 1961-1962

5. Goddamn Dangerous: The Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962

6. A Very Tidy Job: Taking Them Out, 1962-1963

Conclusion

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Illustrations

President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles

NATO heads of government meeting, Paris, December 1957

General Lauris Norstad, USAF, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe

Three-missile Jupiter launch position, Turkey, 1963

President John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, Vienna, June 1961

Jupiter missile in Turkey, 1963

Meeting of the Executive Committee, National Security Council, October 1962

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President Kennedy, October 1962

President Kennedy and Italian prime minister Amintore Fanfani, January 1963

Dismantled Italian Jupiter missile being readied for transport, April 1963

Maps and Tables

Maps

1. The Superpowers and Their Allies, 1957-1963

2. IRBM Deployments in NATO, 1959-1963

Tables

1. Achievement of Operational Status, Jupiter Launch Positions, Italy

2. Achievement of Operational Status, Jupiter Launch Positions, Turkey