October 20, 2007

Living Through the Cuban Missile Crisis


[This aired as a Commentary on Vermont Public Radio on October 19, 2007. Streaming audio can be found here.]

Forty five years ago, I had barely just arrived. I was trying to put a little weight on, getting used to the sights and smells. Then suddenly this new world I had fallen into was teetering on the brink of nuclear annihilation. It's hard not to be affected by that sort of thing.

On October 22, 1962, I was less than two weeks old when President John F. Kennedy went on television to announce a military quarantine of Cuba. On October 14, a U2 spy plane flying over Cuba had discovered what had been suspected all summer: that the Soviets were secretly, despite repeated assurances to the contrary, building nuclear missile launch pads in Cuba. The Joint Chiefs argued for invasion of the island. Kennedy feared that the Soviets would retaliate by taking Berlin, so a blockade, euphemised as a quarantine, was declared.

If I had known at the time how close the world was to nuclear war, I would surely have been a bit upset. Who wouldn't be? You spend nine months gestating, you expect to get more to show for it than two weeks breathing oxygen and filling up diapers. There I was, working on developing my retinas and Kennedy and Khrushchev were standing eyeball to eyeball.

I was my mother's second child, so she was pretty relaxed about bringing another life into the world. But something about the threat of nuclear war upset her.

"It's all still so very clear," she says. "I was so frightened that I wouldn't be able to get formula for my new baby, that the grocery stores would go to a rationing program."

My mother had been a child during World War II and remembered the rationing. Plus, we lived in San Pedro, California - a major port and a likely nuclear target.

"There was also the concern about husbands being called to fight," my mother recalls. "We were glued to the black and white TV."

Then it was over as suddenly as it had begun. Just six days of terror, imagining what a nuclear war might be like, and the Russians had backed down. Nikita Khrushchev was chastened. His move, meant to redress Russia's huge nuclear disadvantage, lead to his downfall. It came - no small irony - two years to the day from when that U2 made its discovery over Cuba.

Needless to say, despite being a helpless infant in October 1962, I was scarred for life. My generation grew up in the shadow of nuclear annihilation. That shadow was my fellow traveler, affixed at birth.

Ironically, the shadow yanked me toward Russia. I became a Kremlinologist and, a quarter century after the Cuban Missile Crisis, I was working in Russia, where I watched communism unravel first hand.

We have come a long way in 45 years. Despite continued bilateral bluster, the ICBMs have stood down. The threat of nuclear war has essentially disappeared.

So why is it I can't shake this shadow?
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Fearful Majesty

Fearful Majesty

This acclaimed biography of one of Russia’s most important and tyrannical rulers is not only a rich, readable biography, it is also surprisingly timely, revealing how many of the issues Russia faces today have their roots in Ivan’s reign.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
White Magic

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Chekhov Bilingual

Chekhov Bilingual

Some of Chekhov's most beloved stories, with English and accented Russian on facing pages throughout. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955