How do you think Richard Nixon would've handled the missile crisis?

As someone who loves presidential history and who has studied several presidents Nixon included, I have to conclude that Nixon's handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis would've been more aggressive than Kennedy. Where Kennedy actively sought a more peaceful solution, or at least a non-nuclear solution, Nixon I believe would've been more apt to agree with the joint chiefs and push for action.

I don't think Nixon would've done a blockade. I think he would've started with airstrikes, taking out the targets, to show the strength of the US and how we mean business. However this option would've led us to some kind of conflict most likely, a retaliation in Berlin as suggested in the movie, and who knows from there.

However its also been suggested that if Nixon had been president then the Bay of Pigs would've gone differently, and if that had gone differently then its arguable quite fairly that the missile crisis wouldn't have happened the way it did. There's a chain of events at work, he would've almost certainly handled the Bay of Pigs more aggressively, and quite possibly avoided this crisis altogether.

But I do think about this sometimes and I'm glad Kennedy was president at this time and not Nixon. Bay of Pigs may have gone better for us, or it could've gone worse, perhaps 'more aggressive' action at that time would've been the wrong thing. So I think we should all be thankful that Kennedy was president when he was.

I know Nixon believed that Kennedy wasn't ready for the White House in the same way he was. Almost for sure Nixon would've handled Cuba in a completely different way and he said as much to people. I do think Nixon's triangulation with the Soviets and Chinese was brilliant foreign policy that arguably kept us out of WW3. However he achieved it on the backs of American protestors, the deaths of American military and the deaths of millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians. Nixon showed us that it was possible to be both brilliant and ruthless as an American president, but I wouldn't have wanted him to be president in 1962.

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First of all, I would like to thank Goleafsgo27 for that excellent answer. Perfect!

I have always thought of Watergate being somewhat similar to Capone. Even though the government knew that Capone was filthy with crimes of murder, extortion, and every other kind of vice, all they could prosecute him for was for tax evasion. Nixon was not a good President. Most of the finer points of his administration were a sales job. Even China, the man just happened to be at the right place at the right time. He did not "charm" China - Nixon couldn't charm a three year old with a play house full of ice-cream and a rainbow colored pony. Every time he smiled, his face looked so awkward like it was very uncomfortable for him. No, China had decided that they wanted to talk to the west. They had a huge population and food problem. The west could get 2, sometimes 3, crops out of every growing season, where China could only produce 1 crop per season. They wanted trade with the U.S. They wanted our fertilizers and tractors. I happened to be in school at the time and studying China and foreign policy. So Nixon got some mileage on that one. He finally ended the Vietnam war after his second election - but we had been involved in that war for 10 years. It is the longest war we have ever fought.

Nixon had a huge ego problem. I think he would have let the military do it's thing and we would not be here today because of it. He was a very ruthless and paranoid person and because of that, he lacked the clarity of perception to navigate through such a sensitive confrontation. His inner demons (please excuse the cliche) skewed his judgement. It required finesse and as everyone knows, Nixon was crude.

JFK took responsibility for the Bay of Pigs because he had character and he realized that the buck stops with the President. He didn't try to "cover" it up or "dodge" it. He entered into the Bay of Pigs because he thought the advice that he was receiving from Dulles and the Chiefs was sound and it was not. He realized the tragedy of it, and would not compound that mistake by continuing it.

Oh - and the comment that the Soviets thought JFK was weak: that is probably true to some degree - however, they didn't have much respect for the West, period, regardless of who was in power. If Nixon had been in office, I think they might have thought that Nixon was capable of being manipulated.

Of course he would have solved it. Plus, he wouldn't have needed Kevin Costner to steer him through it... ;-)

I just finished reading Tim Weiner's book on Nixon; based on that, I think he would have carpet bombed Moscow back to the stone age.

I believe Nixon would have followed the Joint Chiefs Of Staff's recommendations to the T. No blockade... WWIII would have ensued and none of us would be here writing about it today.

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