“Ask Not”
Every year just about this time in October our thoughts turn to many things – for some, the beautiful fall colors still painting our landscape, others have already seen their first snow. Of course, there is the football, the baseball World Series, and let us never forget Halloween.
But it’s interesting – of all the things I could be reminded of this time in October, there is something quite different that always comes to my mind – something very real.
The year was 1962 – a good time in America – a good time to raise a family, a good time for a boy of 13 to enjoy life. Our favorite television programs were shows like “Leave It To Beaver”, “Father Knows Best“ and “Bonanza” shows that could give us both a problem and a solution, usually a good, wholesome solution, in just one episode. But underneath this ideal of quick and easy solutions to life’s problems and conflicts, something else loomed underneath that was very ugly and very scary – it was called the “Cold War”, and we all knew what that meant – hundreds, perhaps thousands of nuclear missiles pointed directly at America by our Cold War enemy – missiles armed with deadly atomic bombs that could literally wipe out an entire city. But we really rarely ever thought about it – it would never happen, right?
And then it came – at 7 p.m. on Monday, October 22, 1962, President John Kennedy appeared on television to give all American citizens some terrifying news. He told us that numerous missile sites had been discovered on the island of Cuba and what he said next still sends chills down my spine. He said, “There can be no doubt that the purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against our America”. It seemed we were going to die.
President Kennedy went on. He said, “The 1930s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war – and this nation is opposed to war. Our unswerving objective, therefore, must be to prevent the use of these missiles against this or any other country”. And then he told us his plan: to blockade by sea all ships coming to Cuba, and if any were found with military offensive weapons, they would be turned away.
He ended with these words: “Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right; not peace at the expense of freedom but both peace and freedom”. And at that moment we were not Democrats or Republicans – we were Americans!
On October 24, 1962, a force of 19 US warships formed a line, a blockade, off of the Cuban shores, and the tension in our nation was unbelievable – we were on the brink of possible annihilation. We were having air raid drills at our schools, people hurriedly built bomb shelters, bought supplies, prayed.
But at that moment when the line had been drawn, when the blockade was set, as the Soviet ships approached the blockade, thank God the Soviets blinked, and the ships turned back. But none of us knew just how close we had come to a full-out nuclear war; none of us knew that the President had been advised by some of his counsel to make the first strike, to invade Cuba, to take out the sites by force. It was his order to give, but, thank God, he did not have to give it.
It was less than two years before that 1962 showdown, at his Presidential inaugural address, that President Kennedy had boldly and rightfully said these words: ‘We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first Revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place to friends or foes alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, discipline by hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.”
But Kennedy said something else that day, something we should all be reminded of today. He said, “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”.
Little did John F. Kennedy know what he would be called to do for his country. Only a little over a year after that Cuban missile crisis, on November 22, 1963, in the city of Dallas, as President Kennedy and his wife drove through the crowd in their motorcade, shots rang out, and that day John Kennedy died.
“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” –
What are you doing today for your country?
