Above and beyond John F. Kennedy and America's most dangerous Cold War spy mission

Casey Sherman, 1969-

Book - 2018

"In 1963, President Kennedy gave the commencement address at the American University in Washington, DC. The Cuban Missile Crisis had forced him to reexamine the Cold War and his onetime foe Nikita Khrushchev. Those tense thirteen days in October 1962 had brought both leaders closer together as the world itself drew perilously close to nuclear war. JFK had pushed for direct contact with his Soviet counterpart and had a special hotline installed between the White House and the Kremlin and a second hotline in the basement of his home so that the leaders could discuss future issues themselves without the dangers of misinterpretation. The world seemed a warmer and brighter place than it had been that previous October, during the darkest and... coldest days of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union were now working toward a treaty that would outlaw nuclear weapons testing, an outcome inconceivable just months before. It was indeed the dawn of a new era, something the president had promised during his inauguration in 1961. Now, two years later, he was about to give what Nikita Khrushchev called 'the greatest speech by any American President since Roosevelt'" --

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Subjects
Published
New York : PublicAffairs 2018.
Language
English
Main Author
Casey Sherman, 1969- (author)
Other Authors
Mike Tougias, 1955- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
viii, 329 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781610398046
  • Chapter 1. Starbursts
  • Chapter 2. Born to Fly
  • Chapter 3. 11 Alive
  • Chapter 4. The Pacifist
  • Chapter 5. The Warrior
  • Chapter 6. The Angel
  • Chapter 7. The Dragon Lady
  • Chapter 8. Ready and Eager to Go
  • Chapter 9. From Thunderbird to UFO
  • Chapter 10. Cloak, Dagger, and Danger
  • Chapter 11. Secrets Kevealed
  • Chapter 12. High Crimes
  • Chapter 13. Dawn of a New Era
  • Chapter 14. Castro Must Go
  • Chapter 15. Vienna Waits for You
  • Chapter 16. Trouble at Home
  • Chapter 17. Soviets Pour into Cuba
  • Chapter 18. A Change in Strategy
  • Chapter 19. "We've Got MRBMs in Cuba"
  • Chapter 20. Grim Decisions
  • Chapter 21. Brass Knob
  • Chapter 22. General Curtis LeMay and the President
  • Chapter 23. SAMs Tracking U-2s
  • Chapter 24. Taking a Stand
  • Chapter 25. Crusaders
  • Chapter 26. Close Encounters
  • Chapter 27. The Quarantine
  • Chapter 28. Until Hell Freezes Over
  • Chapter 29. Pressure Points
  • Chapter 30. Lost!
  • Chapter 31. A Single Mission
  • Chapter 32. MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
  • Chapter 33. "Some Son-of-a-Bitch Never Gets the Word"
  • Chapter 34. Target 33
  • Chapter 35. Kennedy and Khrushchev on the Brink
  • Chapter 36. Two Secret Meetings
  • Chapter 37. Blast Them Now!
  • Chapter 38. Invasion Imminent
  • Chapter 39. The Day of the Doves
  • Epilogue
  • Authors' Note
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index
  • Photo insert between pages 184 and 185
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* In October 1962, the U.S. and the Soviet Union stood on the precipice of nuclear conflict after the discovery by U-2 high-altitude surveillance flights of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Most subsequent accounts of the crisis focus on negotiations and deliberations at the highest levels of the opposing governments. But it was on the ground, in the air, and at sea where military forces on both sides were on hair-trigger alert status. For Sherman and Tougias (The Finest Hours, 2014), two of the unsung heroes were U-2 pilots Chuck Maultsby and Rudy Anderson. Before and during the crisis, U-2 flights over Cuba were regular. The aircraft were able to fly at 70,000 feet, beyond the range of opposing fighter jets, but they were unarmed and vulnerable to surface-to-air missiles (SAMS). The authors eloquently convey the difficulties and tensions involved in these flights, dramatically magnified during the crisis, when miscalculations could instigate disastrous response by either side. At the center of the crisis, of course, was President Kennedy, who had to sift through the experiences and information provided by the flights. This superbly written, tense, and sometimes sad account views the Cuban Missile Crisis from an unusual and telling perspective.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Sherman (coauthor of The Ice Bucket Challenge) and Tougias (A Storm Too Soon) team up again, after The Finest Hours and Boston Strong, to give an original, if uneven, account of the Cuban Missile Crisis, incorporating the experiences of two U.S. pilots alongside President Kennedy¿s. Using a novelistic approach that involves dramatically recreated scenes and interweaving story lines, the authors go back to the early lives and Korean War service of pilots Rudy Anderson and Chuck Maultsby, while also covering Kennedy¿s WWII service and postwar political ascension. These different narrative strands connect during the 13 days of the crisis: Maultsby, on an Arctic mission, accidentally flies into Russian airspace, ratcheting up tensions with the Soviets, while Anderson flies one of the U-2 spy planes monitoring the missile sites in Cuba. The focus on two lesser-known figures gives the book an added dimension beyond other Cuban Missile Crisis histories, but the pilots¿ stories feel thin and underdeveloped. The book, however, hums when describing the strategic maneuvering in Washington. The authors will leave readers with a greater appreciation of the work required to combat the ¿miscalculations, incorrect interpretations, and breakdowns in command and control that could lead to war.¿ Agent: George Lucas, InkWell Management. (Apr.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was the hottest confrontation of the Cold War, bringing the United States and Soviet Union to a near nuclear war. U-2 planes, which flew at a ten-mile altitude, were the only aircraft that could provide President John F. Kennedy with the intelligence and surveillance photographs to challenge Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev's assertion that only defensive missiles were housed in Cuba. Sherman and Tougias (coauthors, The Finest Hours) present an absorbing account of heroic U-2 pilots Rudolph Anderson (1927-63) and Charles Maultsby (1926-98) and their harrowing missions. Steve Heyser, another pilot summed up U-2 training: "Your mind never relaxes. If it does, you're dead." Sadly, this proved prophetic, as Anderson, who flew over Cuba more than any other U-2 pilot, was shot down and killed by a Soviet surface-to-air missile. The most fascinating chapters describe Anderson and Maultsby's lives, training, and assignments, especially Maultsby's catastrophic flight over the Arctic Circle that drifted into Soviet Union air space. -VERDICT Fascinating for general and informed audiences. Historians will appreciate the stories of the pilots and the importance of the U-2 to the American flight program, although they might find the day-to-day retelling of the Missile Crisis -familiar.-Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper -Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

For 13 days in October 1962, during the hottest part of the Cold War, the fate of humanity was at stake.During those two weeks, American U-2 spy planes flying above Cuba had discovered Soviet missile sites in an advanced stage of assembly. In this new history of the Cuban missile crisis, Sherman and Tougias (co-authors: The Finest Hours: The True Story of the Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue, 2009) sketch the swift development of the elegant U-2 commissioned by the CIA and highlight the signal courage and capability of its dedicated pilots. At the time, surveillance data showed that in less than two weeks, the Soviet nuclear missiles would be fully operational. President John F. Kennedy, keenly familiar with danger and death due to his service in World War II, prepared for World War III, ready to engage the Soviets in the Caribbean and destroy hundreds of targets in the Soviet Union. He assembled an advisory group that included, among many other significant figures, Allen Dulles, Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, Bobby Kennedy, and Curtis LeMay. There were also functionaries on both sides who might trigger war inadvertently or, if they were short-tempered, even deliberately. The authors have assembled a page-turning narrative of their deliberations using extracts from White House tapes as well as archival research and conversations with some of those involved. At the Kremlin, Nikita Khrushchev was troubled and inscrutable, while Kennedy was deliberative. Opting for a naval blockade, he kept all forces at full readiness. Only at the last hours did diplomacy prevail. Kennedy was able to recall the ships, the Army, the Marines on standby, and the bombers bearing nuclear weapons. Thinking of what a lesser commander in chief might have done, readers will shudder.An edifying history that, given America's current global diplomatic stance, is also timely and hopefully instructive to those faced with similarly dire circumstances.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.