So it appears that Fidel Castro is stepping down as President of Cuba. In at least one odd bit of symmetry, Senator John McCain served on the USS Enterprise which took part in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Robert Kennedy wrote a book about those events called “Thirteen Days.” In my opinion, it’s part of the canon on good decision making . . . mandatory reading.

The afterword, written by Richard Neustadt and Graham Allison highlight some of the important meta-themes in the book . . .

The Cuban missile crisis is important at three distinct levels. First, the crisis stands for something central in our time: we live under the cloud of nuclear weapons. Our imaginations have been dulled by metaphors. But it is nonetheless true that today men control the power to destroy mankind. Second, this crisis is a microcosm of problems of the modern American Presidency. Crises tend to highlight the basic characteristics of an institution. The Cuban missile crisis does this for a number of dilemmas in our governmental system Third, this even poses dramatically a central constitutional issue for the 1970’s: namely, the respective roles of President and Congress in making war. During the Cuban missile crisis, the President alone decided and disposed. Two hours before his decision was announced to the world, Congressional leaders were informed that the United States was responding to the Soviet missiles with a naval quarantine.

Interesting words to contemplate these many years later.

Thirteen Days

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (Foreword). W.W. Norton & Co. 1999, Paperback, 185 pages, $6.98

Blogged with Flock

Tags: Cubanmissile crisis, Fidel Castro, John McCain, Richard Neustadt, Graham Allison