English subtitles for clip: File:1962-10-25 The Cuban Crisis.ogg

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Adlai Stevenson: "We now know that the Soviet Union,

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not content with Dr Castro's oath of fealty,

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not content with the destruction of Cuban independence,

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not content with the extension of Soviet power into the Western hemisphere,

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not content with the challenge to the inter-American system

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and to the United Nations charter,

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has decided to transform Cuba into a base for Communist aggression,

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into a base for putting all of the Americas under the nuclear gun,

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and thereby to intensify the Soviet diplomacy of blackmail

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in every part of the world."

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The United States' answer to what Adlai Stevenson terms Soviet blackmail in Cuba

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was a quarantine of all offensive weapons being shipped from Russia

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to that island fortress. The US threw up a steel fence,

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prepared to stop any vessel carrying materiels of war.

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In Cuba itself, a 100,000 men were put under emergency orders,

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as they had been during past invasion scares.

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The waterfront in Havana and at all other parts of the coast

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bristled with gun emplacements, as the Cuban regime waited

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to see what their bosses in the Kremlin were to do.

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Cuba became the focus of world attention. Here centered the most

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critical threat of global war since the surrender of Germany 17 years ago.

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Castro has put every able-bodied man through military training.

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He has even armed some as young as 12 years of age.

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And authorities assembled thousands in cities and villages for patriotic rallies.

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As in the past, these rallies are designed to whip up hate

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for what Castro calls Yankee imperialistic warmongers.

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To suggestions that a UN team inspect missile sites,

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Castro said that they had better come ready for combat.

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He went on to call President Kennedy a pirate for setting up the quarantine.

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The United States arrived at the decision for an arms blockade,

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after studying reconnaissance photographs made with high-powered cameras

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from planes flying several miles from the Cuban coast.

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These cameras are described as capable of spotting a golf ball

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on a putting green from 40,000 ft.

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Literally thousands of pictures can be made on each flight

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by these planes and they are studied by photo-interpreters

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who are capable of analyzing details that an untrained eye would miss.

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Here for example is a medium-range ballistic missile base

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that has been labeled by these specialists.

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Suddenly the veil is torn from the Russian secrets.

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Another photo revealed a surface-to-air missile assembly depot,

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a base to supply the offensive sites.

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Russian technicians ripped through heavy jungle grass to carve out

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air strips for high performance MiG-21 jets, a plane easily capable

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of strikes far into the United States.

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In the greatest display of hemisphere solidarity since World War II,

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the Organization of Amercian States unanimously endorses

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the actions of the United States and many pledge arms and men to the cause.

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The vote is 20-0, with Cuba absent,

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commending the US for its efforts to bring about the dismantling of the missile bases.

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The organization votes the use of armed force to carry out

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the resolution sponsored by Secretary of State Dean Rusk,

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thus uniting all of the Americas in a common cause.

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Meanwhile, the United States continues to reinforce its Cuban base at Guantanamo Bay,

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the naval depot that Castro wants the US to give up.

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These Marines have been assigned the job of protecting the base

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against any Cuban threats that might arise during the present crisis.

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They'll be on a 24-hour alert, a first line of defence.

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The United States went to the UN Security Council for a resolution

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calling for a withdrawal of all offensive weapons from Cuba.

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A delegation from the island heard U Thant call on both sides

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for a three-week freeze, but the Secretary General was told

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that President Kennedy wants the missiles scrapped first.

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Valerian A. Zorin's boss Khrushchev proposed that the US

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withdraw its vessels and he would stop shipments.

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President Kennedy's missile-scrapping demand was his reply.

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The US resolution was firm and strongly worded:

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"Mr President, I am submitting today a resolution to the Security Council,

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designed to find a way out of this calamitous situation.

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This resolution calls, as an interim measure under Article 40

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of the charter, for the immediate dismantling and withdrawal from Cuba

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of all missile and other offensive weapons.

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It further authorizes and requests the acting Secretary General

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to dispatch to Cuba a United Nations observer corps to assure

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and report on compliance with this resolution.

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Upon UN certification of compliance, it calls for the termination

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of the measures of quarantine against military shipments to Cuba.

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And in conclusion, it urgently recommends that the United States

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and the Soviet Union confer promptly on measures to remove

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the existing threat to the security of the Western hemisphere

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and the peace of the World and to report thereon to this Security Council."