Dickey--

Why don't you stop tying yourself up in knots in a desperate attempt to avoid answering the question?

JFK was unwilling to make the trade--(Jupiter missles in Turkey for missles in Cuba)--public--for the very good reason (politically) that I cited.

At that point, anti-Communist hysteria was rampant. You may have heard about air-raid drills--with children told to get under their desks. The Bay of Pigs operation, just the previous year, had been a disaster. JFK and Nixon had competed in the 1960 election as to who was the stronger anti-Communist--and JFK had trumpeted a "missle gap" which did not exist.

JFK was not about to publicly compromise with Communists--even though, by refusing to acknowledge the above-cited trade, he ran the risk of Khrushchev turning down the deal--and thus ran the risk, needlessly, of nuclear war.

When it came time for JFK to be a "profile in courage" by risking his political career for the safety of the world, he wouldn't do it.


I note also that you have provided, as usual, precisely zero evidence against my depiction of the situation.


It's time for you to fish or cut bait. Do you believe JFK should have made the missles- for- missles deal public? Yes or no?


Hope you get more sleep tonight. Don't stay up all night agonizing over this. But you might want to actually do some research--for a change-- before responding.