A Nation of Morals

When my grandmother died I picked out some books from my grandfather's collection. One of the books I picked is "Thirteen Days - A memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis" by Robert F. Kennedy. I've only read through 57 pages so far, but I find some of the things absolutely fascinating about what the people in the "Ex Comm" group were going through during this time period. As I've thought about I kind of feel like the current mess our country is in is something akin to what might have happened if RFK and JFK had let themselves be drawn in by the military's insistence that a military invasion was the only acceptable solution.

Here are some enlightening excerpts:

The general feeling in the beginning was that some form of action was required. There were those, although they were a small minority, who felt the missiles did not alter the balance of power and therefore necessitated no action. Most felt, at that stage, that an air strike against the missile sites could be the only course. Listening to the proposals, I passed a note to the President: "I now know how Tojo felt when he was planning Pearl Harbor." --Tuesday October 16, 1962 (Day 1 of Cuban Missile Crisis) - pg 31

With some trepidation, I argued that, whatever validity the military and political arguments were for an attack in preference to a blockade, America's traditions and history would not permit such a course of action. Whatever military reasons he [former Secretary of State Dean Acheson] and others could marshal, they were nevertheless, in the last analysis, advocating a surprise attack by a very large nation against a very small one. This, I said, could not be undertaken by the U.S. if we were to maintain our moral position at home and around the globe. - pg 38

. . . Further, with the support of detailed photographs, Dean Acheson-- who obliged the President by once again being willing to help-- was able to quickly convince French President Charles de Gaulle of the correctness of our response... And in these days of strain it is well to remember that no country's leader supported the U.S. more forcefully than did France. General de Gaulle said, "It is exactly what I would have done," adding that it was not necessary to see the photographs, as "a great government such as yours does not act without evidence." -- pg 51

Would any country think that way about us now? To trust our government to not act without evidence? I don't. The current policies seem to be closer to "detain first, get evidence later." Which is really too bad, but the PATRIOT act allows the government to do this.