Executive Committee of the National Security Council

PROPOSAL FOR THE PRESIDENT

OCTOBER 1962

Mr. President,

As Commander in Chief you bear a profound responsibility to protect the American people and
maintain your role as leader of the Free World. We have weighed the options before us to
manage the current crisis between the United States and Cuba. After careful consideration, we
respectfully propose that you: bring the issue to the United Nations for peaceful discussion. This
is one of the least destructive or violent options. The only consequence to this option is it is not
immediate, allowing Cuba and Russia time to fire their missile. However, this option allows us to
hear other options we may not have thought of. A peaceful discussion can also bring us to
understand each other. Other groups may choose to launch an immediate airstrike to destroy
the missile sites and follow with a full-scale invasion of Cuba or call for the use of nuclear
weapons on Cuba and the Soviet Union. Both of these options include the disturbance and
death of many innocent people, which is simply unnecessary. Another option other groups might
suggest is issuing a blockade of Cuba to prevent any further imports from the USSR. This
seems like a good option, but what about the other imports the U.S. and other countries receive
from Cuba? This option will surely create a major disturbance the entire globe will have to feel
the consequences of. The final option another group might suggest is creating a deal with the
USSR requiring the Soviets to remove their missiles from Cuba in exchange for US removal of
its missiles from Turkey. This also seems like a good option, however the Soviet Union could
easily relocate their missiles to another country that is not Cuba. Bringing the Cuba-Soviet
Union issue to the United Nations for a peaceful discussion is the most positive and advisable
solution.