Benjamin Graefser’s Reviews > The Shadow of War: A Novel of the Cuban Missile Crisis > Status Update

The US allowed some ships to pass the quarantine line unsearched but searched a Soviet ship to prove that they were serious. The UN wanted all players to pause the game to allow for peace to play out, but the US wouldn't stop until the Soviets took the missiles out of Cuba. The idea has been floated to exchange the missiles in Turkey for the missiles in Cuba columnist Lippemann (which eventually happened)

Adali Stephenson delivered his UN speech about the Soviets having nuclear missiles in Cuba. He caught the Soviets off-guard that they had evidence. It reminded me of a similar scene in the movie.

Khrushchev learned about Kennedy's speech to the nation and knew that the US knew about the weapons in Cuba. He drafted a note to Kennedy about his response and met with his advisors to determine their next moves.

Kennedy gave his response to the nation about the buildup of weapons in Cuba. It also talked about how EXCOMM was split between blockade and military response. Adali Stephenson wanted to take the appeasement way and try to give the Soviets what they wanted, but Kennedy rejected it. The Military wanted action - Kennedy opted for the smart response to blockade the weapons from getting to Cuba.

The book reminds me of the movie "13 Days" in the sense that similar scenes play out. Of course, both the movie's and this book's writers must have done similar research. It does play out like a movie in my mind.

EXCOMM discussed different ways to settle issue about CUban Missile Crisis. Some people in favor of invasion, others for blockade. Soviets unaware that US knows about nuclear weapons going to Cuba.

Soviets starting to put nuclear warheads in Cuba and building sites to lodge them. Castro hates that no Cubans are helping but it is to keep true intentions of operation limited to people. U-2 planes took pictures of SAM sites and saw offensive missiles in Cuba and told President Kennedy about it.

Shifted from US admin to random college professor. Professor lives in probably conservative area - hates civil rights going on except professor and his family. Neighbor started work on nuclear fallout shelter

Project Anadyr was the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis - sending nuclear missiles to Cuba. Soviets thought it would be a response to missiles in Turkey, and the US had to accept it. Proved history correct about Russian missiles being in Cuba WAY before 13 days in October began.