I'm currently researching for my dissertation that is exploring the difference in Kennedy's public and private approaches to foreign policy during the Cuban Missile crisis. I have explored the reasonings behind why he maintained a determined public stance, and I hope to make a comparison of the secret negotiations to remove Jupiter missiles and the secret negotiations to resolve the Berlin crisis of 1961 to demonstrate Kennedy's private approaches to foreign policy.
I'm just wondering if anyone has any interesting comments as to why he pursued secret negotiations, and how significant his private diplomacy was in resolving the Cuban Missile Crisis. I feel like I've reached a mental block, and I'd love some opinions to inspire my research!
Thanks so much!
My understanding of Kennedy's motives for pursuing secret negotiations of the Cuban Missile Crisis is that it was an extremely complex process, dictated by personal as much as political ambitions, threat perceptions etc.
Starting point for decision to enter such negotiations were some three or four factors. Following the shoot-down of Major Anderson's U-2 over Cuba, nearly everybody in the ExComm demanded one or other sort of military retaliation (primary proponents of such solution were McNamara, Nitze, Dillon and Taylor). The first letter to Nikita Khrushchev was written by the ExComm and its content de-facto ignored Kennedy's standpoints.
This caused serious concerns for the president: he was generally not keen to openly dispute with that group; he expected them to consider any attempt of negotiations as a 'policy of appeasement' and a sign of weakness; and he considered them disloyal and lacking the necessary discretion.
Furthermore, he was concerned about critique any negotiations with Soviets would almost certainly cause within the ranks of the military, the Congress, and the governmental- and administrative apparatus in general.
Finally, Robert Kennedy has set up a meeting with the Soviet ambassador (from memory: for 27 October 1962, 20.00hrs), and wanted 'ideas'.
Therefore, the president has set up an 'off records' meeting with Robert Kennedy, McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, Dean Rusk, Theodore Sorensen and Llewelyn Thompson in the Oval Office (19.00hrs on 27 October). These were the men he trusted the most - even in the case of a disagreement - and with whom he discussed what kind of message should be forwarded to Moscow.
BTW, except for decision to open secret negotiations with the Soviets, during the same meeting the president accepted Dean Rusk's initiative to open secret negotiations via the UN too.
Re. 'sources of reference': archives of the John F Kennedy Library in Waltham, Mass., are more than 'extensive', and including the 'National Security Files/Countries/Cuba', the 'National Security/Files/Countries/USSR', the 'National Security Files/Regional Security Files/Latin America', the 'National Security Files/Meetings and Memoranda' and similar sections.
The NSA has a nice online archive to the same topic, and similar are provided by the George Washington University (under 'Virtual Archive, Cuba Files'), and the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP).
Between plenty of other recommended sources of reference, I would like to point out M. J White's 'The Kennedy and Cuba: the Declassified Documentary History', issued in Chicago, back in 1999.
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