Last week, this blog reported on the years concentrating around the Cuban Missile Crises. The source from the Public Quarterly also goes into more details of the days around the pinnacle of the crises. Although there are many quotes from citizens who feared they may never see daylight again, the voices of those who didn’t fear nuclear disaster are rarely heard. It can be said that their voice was “silenced” through history.
One college student of 1962 recalls that on the night of Kennedy’s address his parents asked him sleep in their room for the fear that it may be their last night together. (Smith,271) Americans had every right to be worried. Kennedy was very specific in his description of the threat, stating the problem as “ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead…capable of striking Washington DC, the Panama Canal, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States, in Central America, or in the Caribbean area.” He also mentioned the uncertainty of the outcome but made clear that the worst case scenario: nuclear war “in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth”. (Smith, 272)
But the NORC Illinois study suggests that the anxiety was not as widespread as thought. During the crises only 36% of those surveyed recalled their week different from the previous one and less than 1/3 of those people cited Cuba as the cause. When asked directly if they had changed their routine because of the Cuba situation, only 11.5% confirmed it and only 4% engaged in any safety or survival activities! Of all the concerns concerning Cuba, nuclear war wasn’t the big fear during the crises either. According to the polls, of the Cuban-war fears, the largest fear was “the general situation”(81%), followed by the fear of having someone go to war(15%) and then survival if war were to break out (6%).(Smith, 272)
Other than the finding direct opinion on the missile crises. The study also surveyed America’s mindset too during the crises. It seemed that the general mood of the public didn’t change much during the crises. One interesting fact is that thoughts of death decreased from 37% in the spring of ’62 to 29% during the crises. A survey of happiness shows an increase of about 5% from the spring. Reported stress and anxiety showed little change during the crises also.(Smith, 273)
These days, most people think of the Cuban missile crises as a scene where the world held its breath counting down the next nuclear war. Well, if that was the case, America certainly didn’t show it. The overall numbers from the study concludes that while interest in Cuba did increase during the crises, there was no general panic or even anxiety about the situation. This could be understood if the public didn’t know the situation. But the address by Kennedy removes that possibility. It can be understood then that the sense of impending nuclear war was overplayed through time to create a legendary event of American history. But is that all? The Cuban Missile Crises could also be one of those “legendary stories” of “legendary Americans”. Just like Washington cutting down the cherry tree, or Davy Crockett going down swinging at the Alamo, the image of Kennedy tenaciously working for peace dangling on a thread is similar to the stuff of legends. Next time, this blog will study the rhetoric affects of Kennedy’s speech or look into how Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crises is seen over time. (For example: Washington’s farewell Address during the Civil War, Sacagawea used for the Women’s suffrage movement, or John Henry’s symbol for the Communists.)
Works Cited
Smith, Tom. Public Quarterly. 67. Oxford University Press, 2004. 265-275. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3521635?seq=1>