Popular history marks October 28, 1962, as the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Yet as JFKтАЩs secretly recorded White House tapes reveal, the aftermath of the crisis was a political and diplomatic minefield. The president had to push hard to get Khrushchev to remove Soviet weaponry from Cuba without reigniting the volatile situation, while also tackling midterm elections and press controversy. With a new preface that highlights recently declassified information, historian David G. Coleman puts readers in the Oval Office during the turning point of KennedyтАЩs presidency and the watershed of the Cold War.
The director of the Miller CenterтАЩs Presidential Recordings Program, David G. Coleman is a history professor at the University of Virginia. He lives in Arlington.