'Three minutes ? NOW': Procedures described in Dominic Operations Plan, September 1962, History of Air Force Participation in Operation Dominic, Vol. III, DOE.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: 'SOME SONOFABITCH'
Alone in the vast blackness: Maultsby memoir.
The befuddled pilot: Data tracking Maultsby's U-2 and Soviet interceptors are taken from U.S. government charts. I found the most detailed map in the files of the State Department Executive Secretariat, SDX, Box 7. A second map tracking Soviet interceptors that appear to have taken off from an air base at Pevek is located in National Security Files ? Cuba, Box 54, Maps, charts, and photographs folder, JFKL.
'unusually somber and harried': Brugioni,
The mere mention of 'civil defense': Official transcript, McNamara press conference, October 22, 1962, OSD.
If the Soviets attacked: Report to National Governors' Conference by Assistant Defense Secretary Steuart L. Pittman, October 27, 1962, JFKL.
Earlier in the week: Steuart L. Pittman OH, JFKL.
In the absence of government action: Alice L. George,
'Invade Cuba, Attack the Reds': AP and UPI reports, October 27, 1962;
General Power was on: Author's interview with Maj. Orville Clancy, former SAC HQ officer, June 2003.
'Peace is our Profession': Reminiscences of Col. Maynard White,
'what the hell you are doing': Des Portes OH, NSAW.
The ability to 'read the mail': Interviews with Clancy; Gerald E. McIlmoyle; and former SAC intelligence officer James Enney, October 2005.259 'We have a problem': Author's interview with Fred Okimoto, August 2005.
'while engaged in a high-altitude': Taubman, 455.
His thoughts went back: Maultsby was shot down over North Korea on January 5, 1952; he was released on August 31, 1953 ? Maultsby personnel file, NPRC. A copy of his interrogation record by the North Koreans was supplied to Russia, and released through the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POWs/MIAs.
'the muzzles of': Martin Caidin,
'missing in action': Maultsby personnel file.
When he learned of the stand-down order: Correspondence and interview with McNamara aide Col. Francis J. Roberts, May 2006.
'Tell the admiral': CNO Office logs, October 27, 1962, CNO Cuba, USNHC. The naval aide was Capt. Isaac C. Kidd, Jr.
'missiles flying through': Council for Correspondence, Newsletter No. 22, Herman Kahn files, NDU; author's interview with Irvin Doress, February 2006.
When the military radar station: Charts of Maultsby flight.
Earlier in the week: Author's interviews with former F-102 pilots Leon Schmutz and Joseph W. Rogers, June 2003. See also Sagan, 136-7; Alaskan Air Command Post log, October 22, 1962.
'Khrushchev, like every doctrinaire': Message to Joint Staff from Maj. Gen. V. H. Krulak, October 26, 1962, JCS Maxwell Taylor records, NARA.
'diplomatic blackmail': JCS memo for the President, JCSM-844-62, OSD.
'Attacking Sunday or Monday': JCS Poole notes.
'much worse if Khrushchev': Kaplan, 256.
'You must have lost': David Burchinal OH, NSAW Cuba.
'the ablest combat officer': McNamara interview; see also McNamara interviews for
He slept on a cot:
'A U-2 has been lost': JCS Poole notes. In his 1975 oral history, Burchinal claimed that McNamara yelled hysterically, 'This means war with the Soviet Union. The president must get on the hot line to Moscow!' McNamara denies saying this. The Moscow-Washington 'hot line' was inaugurated after the missile crisis.
'got off course': Secret U-2 memo, National Security Files, Box 179, JFKL.
Returning from his swim: I have reconstructed events from the president's telephone logs for October 27, 1962; the White House gate logs, JFKL; and O'Donnell and Powers,
'There's always some sonofabitch': Roger Hilsman,
'the last time I asked': According to O'Donnell and Powers, 337, JFK had 'ordered the removal of the Jupiter missiles in August.' Bundy later disputed this claim, arguing that 'a presidential opinion is not a presidential order' ? see Stern, 86. A presidential memorandum (NSAM 181) dated August 23, 1962, tasked the Pentagon with examining 'what action can be taken to get Jupiter missiles out of Turkey' ? see Nash, 110.
'the people deciding': Parallel drawn by Stern, 39, 296.
'The possibility of the destruction': RFK, 127, 106.
'You might as well come back': Herman interview; History of the 4080th Strategic Wing, October 1962, FOIA.
He personally got on the phone: Author's interview with McNamara military aide Sidney B. Berry, May 2006.
'operating on the basis': Gilpatric OH, NSAW.
He ordered its immediate recall: History of the 4080th Strategic Wing, October 1962, FOIA; McNamara memo to Air Force secretary, October 28,1962, OSD.
'A U-2 overflying Cuba': JCS Poole notes. The news was brought by Col. Ralph D. Steakley of the Joint Reconnaissance Group.
'Bail out!': Maultsby memoir. Maultsby does not mention the name of the pilot who urged him to bail out. Schmutz says it was not him, so it must have been Rands, who has since died.
The U-2 'did not seem to want': Maultsby calculated his flight time as 10 hours 25 minutes, a record for a U-2 flight. A White House note records his touchdown time as 2:14 p.m. Washington time after a 10-hour 14-minute flight ? National Security Files, Box 179, JFKL. He was scheduled to return at 11:50 a.m. after a 7-hour 50-minute flight. I have used the time provided by Maultsby, which is also cited in the October 1962 History of the 4080th Strategic Wing.
CHAPTER TWELVE: 'RUN LIKE HELL'
SAC already had more planes: Cuba Fact Sheet, October 27, 1962, NSAW.
the 'last thing' Andrus wanted: Reminiscences of Col. Burton C. Andrus, Jr., History of the 341st Space Wing, FOIA.
'I hate these Krauts': Joseph E. Persico,
'Khrushchev knows we're after': Interview with Joe Andrew, Missile Maintenance Division, 341st Strategic Missile Wing, September 2005, in
