"Good evening, my fellow citizens:
This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military build-up on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere. Upon receiving the first preliminary hard information of this nature last Tuesday morning at 9 am, I directed that our surveillance be stepped up."
-- President John F. Kennedy, in an address to the nation on October 22, 1962
excerpt from Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy, by Ted Widmer
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