"We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked"-Dean Rusk, Secretary of State who served in the cabinet of president John F. Kennedy. This was a period of time in history when the United States found itself on the brink of nuclear warfare with the Soviet Union. For thirteen days, in October of 1962 the world awaited and hoped that the two powerhouse nations will come to a resolution of peaceful means. A U-2 spy plane secretly spotted nuclear missile sites, under the construction of the Soviets, in the island of Cuba. A series of meetings then took place between Kennedy and several advisors discussing how to asses to the current situation. President John F. Kennedy, one of the youngest presidents, sworn into office at…show more content… One of the options that came from all the joined chief of staff was an air strike destroying the missiles, followed by a U.S invasion of Cuba. But others favored serious warnings to the Cuban and Soviet leaders. A special group of the national security council, known as the ExCom, assisted president Kennedy during the height of the Cuban missile crisis. President Kennedy desired to seek more flexibility than the formal national security council group allowed. It was a small group of people, this gave the president the flexibility to bring outside advisers. The ExCom meeting included: "George Ball (secretary of state), Roswell Gilpatric(Deputy secretary of defense), Paul Nitze(assistant secretary of defense), Adlai Stevenson( U.S ambassador), John McCloy( chairman of the Coordinating Committee), Edwin Martin(assistant Secretary of State for inter-American Affairs), Edward R. Murrow( director of the U.S information agency), Donald Wilson( deputy director of the U.S information agency), Kenneth O'Donnell( special assistant to the president), Pierre Salinger(White House Press Secretary), U. Alexis Johnson(deputy undersecretary of state for political affairs), Harlan Cleveland(assistant Secretary of State for international organization affairs), Sterling Cottrell( Coordinator for Cuban affairs), Robert Manning( assistant Secretary of State for public affairs), Arthur Sylvester( assistant secretary of defense for public affairs), William C. Foster( director of arms control and disarmament agency), Dean Acheson( former Secretary of State), Joseph Charyk( undersecretary of the Air Force), Lincoln Gordon( U.S ambassador to Brazil), Chester bowels(presidents special representative and advisor on African, Asian, and Latin American affairs), and Williams Tyler( assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian affairs)”.The group had
