Stern speaks of his 2012 book, The Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory: Myths versus Reality, based on often rancorous debates in WH between JFK and NSC advisers over how US should respond to Russian missiles in Cuba in Oct. ‘62 that JFK secretly recorded and only he and RFK knew about. Stern’s book exposes misconceptions, half-truths, and lies, mostly by RFK, that shaped the dominant, mythical version of what happened; how JFK acted to avoid nuclear war with the Soviets, facing down demands to attack by Joint Chiefs, RFK, NSC advisers and Sens. Fulbright and Russell and saved the planet.
