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Chapter 1302: Clouds of Nuclear War (Second update, please subscribe)

"What a wonderful world! Peace is more important than anything else!"

Early in the morning, when entering the study, Li Yian sighed, opened the intelligence briefing, and began to read.

Compared with the sudden incident on the roof of the world, what really attracted the world's attention was Cuba. Although the United States had not yet informed the public of the incident, the entire Western world was making preparations.

In the past few days, the United States has completed its military deployment. They have transferred as many as 8 aircraft carriers from the Pacific Ocean and other places to Florida. At the same time, they have also dispatched additional aircraft carriers and fleets to the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

This time, the US Navy's troop mobilization was huge, and it could even be said to be the largest military mobilization since the war.

Such a large-scale military mobilization naturally attracted the attention of various countries, and everyone was guessing what the United States wanted to do.

In fact, the US Navy has nothing to hide. On the contrary, it is making a big fuss, fearing that others will not know, because they want the whole world to know.

As the U.S. Navy, Army and Air Force continued to mobilize, Kennedy was troubled by various opinions.

He was annoyed by the conflicting opinions of the White House and the military on whether to attack Cuba directly or to launch a surgical air strike.

Kennedy even envied Li Yian a little, because he could directly and boldly solve the Iraq issue without worrying about the Soviet Union at all.

But the United States cannot be so bold and reckless, because as long as the United States moves, the Soviet Union is likely to follow suit, and this is exactly what he is worried about!
Whether it is to solve the problem through air strikes or to go further and directly invade, there is a risk of nuclear war breaking out.

Judging from the current intelligence, even if the United States can eliminate the Soviet Union, it will be reduced to ruins by the Soviet Union’s long-range missiles!

"Mr. President, we have 294 intercontinental ballistic missiles, 144 long-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles, 630 long-range strategic bombers, and more than 28000 nuclear bombs. The Soviet Union may have deployed only about 20 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Although they have about 3000 nuclear bombs, the MiG-4 long-range bomber has no chance of flying to the United States. We believe that even if a nuclear war breaks out, we have an absolute advantage..."

Kennedy's brows furrowed as he recalled the generals' words.

Atomic bomb war?
Are you kidding?
Those generals were crazy. They had even calculated how many missiles they would need to destroy the Soviet Union. In a nutshell - we can win.

Once an atomic war breaks out, the whole world will be destroyed, not just the United States, but all of Europe.
The better days are yet to come!

Why are they so pessimistic?
But the Pentagon clearly prefers to take military action to solve the problem, regardless of the harm it would cause to the United States itself.

They are probably all planning how to hold a military parade in Moscow in the future, if there is still a Moscow at that time.

But when Moscow disappears, will Washington still exist?

Troubles may be troubles, but problems that need to be faced must always be faced!

"Damn the Russians, they are still deceiving us until now!"

Four days ago, Gromyko's deception in person made Kennedy realize that spitting could not solve practical problems, and the diplomatic efforts of the past few days were actually meaningless.

"The Soviet Union is not susceptible to the logic of reason, but is very sensitive to the logic of force!"

Once again, Kennedy's mind flashed back to what Li Yian had said during the phone call that day.
"It seems that this is the only way!"

Kennedy realized that it would be impossible to change the Soviet Union's mind through diplomacy alone. He thought about it and then picked up the phone.

October 22nd.

Near noon, the White House press secretary announced that President Kennedy would deliver an important speech tonight and called on all citizens to listen or watch.

Just a simple call made Americans realize that this speech was important.

It’s so important that the White House asked them to listen!

So on that day, many Americans began to wait for the president's speech. Although rumors had already spread and rich people were "going abroad to discuss business", the vast majority of American citizens knew nothing about it and waited for Kennedy to give a speech in confusion.

In fact, Kennedy is not popular among Americans as a president. His victory was questioned by the Republicans as a fraud. He allowed Cuba to turn to the Soviet Union and did nothing. Coupled with the slump in the US stock market this year, all of these made many people dislike this Irishman.

Although most people did not know what Kennedy was going to say, they still waited at home. After all, people felt something was wrong, and rumors had spread by the afternoon.

At 7 p.m., Kennedy appeared on television screens and delivered a televised and radio address to America and the world:
"Good evening, my fellow countrymen:

"This Administration has, as promised, maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military buildup on the island of Cuba. During the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile bases are now being prepared on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases is nothing less than to provide a nuclear strike capability over the Western Hemisphere."

"At 9am last Tuesday morning, following receipt of the first initial hard information of this nature, I directed that our surveillance be stepped up. Having confirmed and completed our assessment of the evidence and our decision on a course of action, this Government feels obliged to report this new crisis to you in the greatest detail."

"The characteristics of these new missile sites indicate two different types of installations. Some of these missiles include medium-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to distances exceeding 1000 nautical miles. In short, each of these missiles is capable of striking Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern United States, Central America, or the Caribbean."

After Kennedy explained the seriousness of deploying nuclear missiles in Cuba, he changed the subject and said in a strong tone:

“…In order to stop this offensive buildup, a strict quarantine of all shipments of offensive military equipment to Cuba is being initiated. All vessels of any type bound for Cuba from any country or port found to be carrying cargoes of offensive weaponry will be turned back. This quarantine will be extended to other types of cargo and carriers if necessary…”

Although Kennedy used the word "quarantine" instead of "blockade" in his speech, he believed that the word was less aggressive than "blockade" and more suitable for peaceful, defensive actions.

But the smell of gunpowder will not be reduced much. Especially for Americans in front of the TV, what they feel is not just the smell of gunpowder, but destruction!
Kennedy's televised speech caused an uproar throughout the United States, and everyone was stunned!
Nuclear missiles that can destroy the United States in an instant have appeared right under the nose of the United States, and are aimed at major cities in the United States!

The Cuban Missile Crisis thus came to the fore from behind the scenes, from inside information known to a small group of people to a public fact.

After Kennedy's televised speech, more than 200 million Americans were shocked!

For the first time, they truly felt the fear of destruction - the shadow of nuclear war hung over the entire United States.

That night, many Americans couldn't sleep. All TV stations adjusted their programs. On all TV programs, experts were talking about what kind of disaster would be brought to the United States if Cuba's medium-range missiles were launched.

ABC TV also urgently produced an animation in which experts introduced the cities that might be hit by Soviet medium-range missiles, as well as the killing radius of nuclear bombs and the possible damage they might cause.

Of course, there is also an advertisement for "Family Emergency Shelter". The animated advertisement shows how a family hid in a fiberglass shelter within one minute of the alarm sounding and successfully survived, which forms a sharp contrast with the city that was razed to the ground after the war.

As soon as the ad was aired, the company that provided fiberglass emergency shelters was flooded with calls - this was the world's first telephone shopping ad, and the number of orders exceeded 100 million sets that day!

This is an order worth billions of dollars!
All we can say is that it is human instinct to survive in the face of crisis.

Crisis, there are also business opportunities in crisis! But they all need to wait, because this overall refuge is still in Southeast Asia.

As the night passed and the sun rose again, while Americans spent their first night in fear, Kennedy signed a presidential order in his Oval Office banning the shipment of any offensive weapons to Cuba.

Kennedy's speech was not only addressed to the United States but also to the whole world. While it spread throughout the United States, it also spread throughout the world.

Naturally, it shocked the whole world.

The market reacted sharply. On that day, the Wing On Index fell by more than 7%. European countries were hit even harder. After Kennedy announced a naval blockade against Cuba, the whole world was shocked, including European countries that had to face the Soviet Union directly. The most nervous country was not the United States, but Europe!

During the Cold War, Western Europe was the front line of the Cold War. Faced with such a crisis, the most nervous were of course the Western European countries.

After all, everyone knows that if the war in the Caribbean evolves into a nuclear war, then the whole of Europe will be reduced to ruins.

Just as Europeans were looking anxiously toward the United States, many popular science programs and expert interviews about nuclear war appeared on European television. No one knew whether those experts were exaggerating, but what was certain was that when people saw on TV the houses and buildings on the nuclear test site being razed to the ground like toys, they all felt the fear of nuclear war.

Under the shadow of destruction, especially in the explanations of experts, people seemed to see a scene in which Europe was destroyed and prosperous cities were razed to the ground, and those popular science animations further intensified people's fear.

When the living environment becomes bad, even animals will choose to migrate. While ordinary people were discussing the crisis and the destruction brought by nuclear war, the strong ones had already started making plans.

Just as wealthy Americans rushed abroad to discuss business or vacation after hearing the news, wealthy Europeans made the same choice. After all, they knew better than anyone what would happen to Europe if a nuclear war broke out.

So a migration began along with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

(End of this chapter)