Don Sutton's Shameful Past

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

In the middle of the crisis, in the dead of night,
Kennedy got a strange message from--supposedly--the premier of the U.S.S.R. saying that Russia was about to fire its Cuban-based missles at us. Period. Kennedy thought about it for two minutes (not 7!), and said "I don't believe it, and I don't believe he wrote that." Half an hour later, ANOTHER message came from the premier of Russia, saying, "Let's talk. I think we can come to some sort of agreement about Cuba." No mention was ever made of the first message again. We told the Russians they would have to remove their missles from Cuba, and Russia said, O.K, as long as you stop aiming yours at Cuba, and LEAVE HER ALONE. All of which was, not entirely satisfactorily, done.