andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>
> > Still, they bet on the fact that Khrushchev would be a
> grown up and "blink," and K, who had seen what total
> war looked like on the ground, and who was the world
> leader before Gorbachev who most lucidly appreciated
> what nuclear weapons could do, indeed acted
> rationally.
>
> That's the conclusion I came to the last time I looked
> at this.
They bet -- what, say 60 million lives -- on that!.
(The following is better if you can remember Ochs's cadences and have them echoing in your memory as you read.)
Talking Cuban Crisis
by Phil Ochs
It was just a little while ago I glued my ears to the radio The announcer was sayin' we'd better beware A crisis was hanging - a wave from the air crawlin' on the ground swimmin' in the sea headin' for me
Well, I didn't know if I was for or agin' it He was yellin' and screamin' a mile a minute Well, he said "Here comes the President but first this word from Pepsodent Have whiter teeth Have cleaner breath When you're facin' nuclear death"
And then President John began to speak And I knew right away he wouldn't be weak Well, he said he'd seen some missile bases And terrible smiles on Cuban faces Close Pictures carryin' land reform too far Giving land to the USSR
Well, he said we mustn't be afraid We're settin' up a little blockade Put our ships along the Cuban shores And if the Russian bear yells and roars, We'll let him have it
-From Turkey and Greece, Formosa and Spain
The peaceful West European Plain
> From Alaska and Greenland we'll use our means
And twenty thousand submarines
We're gonna teach the Russians a lesson
For trying to upset the balance of power
Now most Americans stood behind The President and his military minds But me, I stood behind a bar Dreamin' of a spaceship getaway car Head for mars Any other planet that has bars Like Gerde's Folk City
Yes, it seemed the President's stand was strong and plain But some Republicans was a-goin' insane And they still are They said our plan was just too mild Spare the rod and spoil the child Let's sink Cuba into the sea And give 'em back democracy Under the water
Well, the deadline was set for ten o'clock For a cold war it was a-gettin' hot Well, the Russians tried, the Russians failed Homeward bound those missiles sailed Mr. Khruschev said, "Better Red than dead."