Cuban Missile Crisis To War: The Final Updates and the Final Hour - Completed

[feeblepizza]

This is awesome!!! I'm looking forward to another update!!!!

[sentinel]

July 20th 1963
   The United Soviet Socialists Republic turns into a state of disarray as Brezhnev and Malinovsky battle for power. Khruschev is still unaccounted for and NATO and Soviet intelligence both believe that he was killed in the attack.  Fears in the Pentagon focus around Soviet nuclear warheads falling into the wrong hands if the USSR continues to destabilize, however; NATO forces are taking advantage of the destabilization by making a large push against Soviet forces  in Europe and launching all out airstrikes against the Soviet Union infrastructure and especially its means of communications. 

The Soviet Union’s responses are largely decentralized and ordered by commanders on the ground with limited communication to their superiors.

   July 20th ends with Brezhnev and Malinovsky still fighting for power.

July 21st 1963

First Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Nikolayevich Shelepin, former head of the KGB, calls for Brezhnev and Malinovsky to stand down and let him lead the way. He calls the two buffoons and said they should have died in the attack honorably instead of fleeing to the countryside. Schelepin tries to rally support around him, but due to the communication breakdown in the USSR, few hear his rallying cry. This complicates things for Brezhnev and Malinovsky because now their fiercely loyal secret police force is not on their side.

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy appears in front of a closed session of an  investigatory committee in Congress to explain the delayed report of Vice President Lyndon B .Johnson’s  death. The report had been demanded by Congress numerous times but the President had used executive privilege to withhold the report and compromised for a closed session of Congress. 

Some of his remarks…

“At first it seemed as if the Vice President had died of heart failure…we could not find anything that would point to otherwise…”

“We reviewed security cameras, interviewed people and came up with nothing…”
“A fish chef in the kitchen, very late into our investigation, found a cylinder filled with something that he hadn’t seen in the kitchen before. He reported it to an agent who reported it to his superior. The cylinder was taken to a lab and examined. It was determined to be a very small and diluted amount of Saxitoxin which, we thought, was certainly a possible method of killing the Vice President…I would think we’re very lucky it didn’t kill everyone in the White House…the President had ordered beef that night…they ate together that night…Afterwards, the Vice President was brought back to the secure location rather quickly.”

“The secure location happened to be very close to Washington that night. The Vice President could have been there in 20 minutes…I can’t say more about this.”
“How do we know for certain that he was poisoned? Well we never looked at the security footage in the kitchen. Just didn’t think of it. We looked and we tried to identify every person in the video...there was one person we couldn’t identify…”

“We’ve looked at records of every person who has come into the White House. A member of the President’s economic team stopped showing up for work the next day…he hasn’t come back since…we did our research and we have reason to believe that the Vice President was assassinated by a sleeper KGB operative…who was also an American citizen.”

“I don’t know how we missed this one after Defense Secretary McNamara was shot. This guys clean as a whistle. His apartment had only bare essentials when we entered it…no real personal belongings…”

“We’re very lucky the President is alive.”

“The President is determined to continue fighting this war both domestically and abroad. We have completely fortified the White House in the aftermath of this…all our top officials are being guarded day and night by the United States Military wherever they are.”

“We’re telling the public its heart failure. They can’t know how vulnerable we are.”

July 23rd 1963

Reports come in from the USSR that Brezhnev has been assassinated. Two military officials,  Malinovsky and Shelepin are now fighting for power.

NATO forces have pushed back the frontlines to the Benelux border with Germany.  Turkish forces have pushed the Soviets back to their original border and Turkish/Greek forces have taken the Romanian capital.  The USSR’s communications and infrastructure is decimated in far eastern Russia and in much of northwest Russia as well as along the battlelines.

July 24th 1963

Romania’s top general is defeated and surrenders to NATO forces in the Balkans.
July 26th 1963

3:00:  Romanian leader Chivu Stoica surrenders to NATO doubting the hegemony of the USSR.

17:00 in Stalingrad: Alexandr Nikolayevich Shelepin becomes the next Premier of the United Soviet Socialists Republic after the “sudden and tragic” death of Soviet Minister of Defense Rodion Yakovievich Malinovsky.

Portrait of Shelepin

21:00: NATO intelligence reports that the USSR has just fired two of its intercontinental ballistic missiles.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

This is really great. Keep it coming!

[sentinel]

Yep - absolutely riveting!

And I think the last little twist you through in has made it even more interesting. Kennedy, rightfully so, is hugely popular right now (I mean, he is waging WWIII, and just nuked Moscow, so naturally he's going to have huge support from Americans).

But this whole security breach/assassination cover-up scandal (murder-gate) could be very damning for the Administration as the war clouds start to clear (if they clear). Or at the very least, it could be very damaging for the attorney general's office.

It'll be fun to see where you take this, as well as seeing what happens with those two missiles!

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. There will be another update soon. There will definitely be repercussions for the cover-up down the road, but how big of repercussions I have yet to decide.

[sentinel]

July 24th 1963 continued

The Secret Service rushes into the Oval Office and grabs President Kennedy.

“What the…”

“Bunker. Now.”

The first missile misses its target, Paris, and detonates on Noisy-le-Sec, a commune east of Paris. The explosion kills nearly ten thousand people.

The second missile hits Los Angeles, California alluding the dismal US missile defense system. Los Angeles is destroyed instantly killing most of its two and a half million inhabitants.

Governor Edmund Brown Sr is killed in the attack along with Senator Alan Cranston and unknowingly, Lieutenant Governor Glenn M. Anderson becomes Governor instantly. They were both at separate events in Los Angeles.

Not long after the attack, Federal response teams, who had prepared for such a catastrophic event although nothing could really prepare them for the real thing, arrive in the Los Angeles-area and start setting up Ground Zero  Central Command. The US Military cuts off all roads going into or out of Los Angeles and President Kennedy, citing his wartime powers, places California under Marshall Law.

Rescue operations begin for any survivors of the Los Angeles Nuclear Attack (LANA).

President Kennedy addresses the nation about what historians a hundred years in the future will look back and call the strongest condemnation of any nation or people that a US President has ever spoken. Kennedy says that we Americans will not be annihilated and will only accept the unconditional surrender of the Soviet Socialists Republic.

President Kennedy assures the nation that the empire of evil the Soviet Union will feel the full wrath of the United States military might in the coming hours.

 The Massachusetts Legislature is called to an emergency session that night and passes the Bayh Amendment unanimously.

“Sir, we have our six primary targets and then the multitude of secondary targets…ready to launch operation Wrath of America (WOA – said WOAH) on your command.”

“Go.”

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

This is really great. Keep it coming!

[Fuzzybigfoot]

I love this time line! Keep it up! 

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Proceed

[sentinel]

Not an update, but I think its kinda cool...

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

I love this time line! Keep it up! 

[sentinel]

July 25 1963

The NATO counterassault continues on the western front but the Soviet forces have renewed vigor after rallying with their new Premier against the Western Powers.

At 1:00 a warplane drops a nuclear bomb over Leningrad, Russia. Many of its inhabitants have already fled to the mountains or have been evacuated. Most of the 700,000 people there are killed. The warplane is destroyed in the detonation.

The second nuclear detonation, from an American ICBM, hits Novosibirks which was not evacuated by the government; however, like Leningrad many fled to rural areas after the destruction of Moscow. Around 400,000 people are killed in the attack.

The third nuclear detonation, from an American ICBM based in Turkey, hits the city of Sverdlovsk killing most of its 800,000 inhabitants.

The last three missile strikes are on major military bases, two in the Western Soviet Union and one in the eastern Soviet Union. In total its estimated that the three detonations kill around 300,000 servicemen and at least 100,000 citizens.

The death toll, on the low end, is estimated at 2,300,000 for the six missiles.

American planes begin phase two of the operation, dropping pamphlets in Russian, Polish and other dialects over the battlefield, enemy headquarters and in the cities “If you love Russia you will stand down and you can be a part of shaping a new future for Russia. If you do not stand down then you will watch Russia crumble.”

President Kennedy addresses the nation announcing the use of nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union in retaliation for the destruction of Los Angeles. “We have been hurt deeply but this pain will make America stronger..in our despair we have lashed back at the Soviet Union and her allies…their cities are burning…I issue this ultimatum to the Soviet Premier and the people of the Soviet Union – halt all hostilities against the United States and her allies or face the combined nuclear force of the NATO powers…we will use all means necessary to bring your people to their knees if you do not take our ultimatum. If you do accept our ultimatum in return the United States and her allies with provide humanitarian aid for the survivors of the attacks on your cities.

I want to address the American people directly now – we will not lose this war but humanity may not win either. If we are all  to lose then we will lose together, fighting as one nation united under God. God bless you and God bless America.”

After the speech, gun sales go through the roof and ammunition and guns are quickly sold out throughout the United States. Military recruitment and volunteers jump exponentially.

Gallup manages to poll President Kennedy’s approval after the speech: 97%
July 26th    

Somewhere in a fortified bunker in Russia…

“Sir, we should not provoke them further…it will be the end of Russia and humanity…”
“Comrade Stalin would never have allowed such disloyalty to be heard –we must strike back with all our might and bring America to her knees!”

“It is you who are disloyal, if we followed your commands we and the rest of Russia would be dead within hours…”

“Our military force is far greater than the Western powers. Once our armies roll through the gates of Western cities we will be greeted as liberators…”

“We will not roll through any western cities if everyone is annihilated in a nuclear holocaust…we must accept the ultimatum”

“The ultimatum is surrender”

“Do not question Popov’s loyalty to Russia, you are both correct…accepting this ultimatum is surrender but to continue this would be the destruction of Russia and of the United States…I have never dealt with President Kennedy but I will extend an invitation to meet him in a neutral location so we may discuss the slaughter of two million innocent Russians by the United States, and over another million by their French brethren…”

That night President Kennedy accepts an invitation to meet Soviet Premier Alexandr Nikolayevich Shelepin two days from now on July 28th 1963 at a secured neutral location in Santiago, Chile. A defacto cease fire goes into effect until then.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

This timeline is awesome. Keep it coming!

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Epic.  Also change St. Petersburg to Stalingrad.

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Epic.  Also change St. Petersburg to Stalingrad Leningrad.

And Yekaterinburg to Sverdlovsk.

Stalingrad was Volgograd.

[sentinel]

Epic.  Also change St. Petersburg to Stalingrad Leningrad.

And Yekaterinburg to Sverdlovsk.

Stalingrad was Volgograd.

Yes, St. Petersburg is/was Leningrad so I'll change that a bit later today, I only popped on for a second. I'll also change Tekanterinburg to Sverdlovsk. Expect an update tonight/tomorrow.

[sentinel]

ABC News – Morning of  July 27th:

 President John F. Kennedy has accepted an invitation to meet Soviet Premier Alexander Shelepin tomorrow July 28th. Both leaders will be arriving in a large military escort in Santiago, Chile –however; once inside the secret building it is rumored that only the Chilean military and a small entourage will be guarding each respective leader. A ceasefire between the Soviet Union and the United States and her allies is in effect.
Republican leaders in Congress urge President Kennedy not to meet with the Soviet Premier calling the Premier a mass murderer and saying that nothing will come out of this meeting. Democratic Congressman are skeptical about the meeting due to the lack of a Vice President if something were to happen to President Kennedy. The next person in the line of succession is Speaker of the House.

President Kennedy is expected to have a press conference today before departing for Chile


CBS News: Afternoon of July 27th:

 President Kennedy today at his press conference announced a radical move that no President has ever done before. “The Constitution of the United States does not mandate that the Speaker of the House of Representatives be a member of the House of Representatives. Therefore due to the risks I am about to undertake on behalf of the American people I have asked Speaker John McCormack, who is a very good friend of mine, to step down as Speaker and for the House of Representatives to appoint Senator Stuart Symington to the post of Speaker. Therefore if anything should happen to me, he would assume the duties of the Presidency. Senator Symington has advised me throughout this crisis and is one of few people who would be able to perform the duties of this office. Upon the passage of the Bayh Amendment it is my intention to appoint Senator Symington as Vice President of the United States.

President Pro Tempore of the Senate Carl Hayden is rushed to the hospital after feinting from nervousness. He is quoted as layer saying “all this line of succession stuff is going to kill me.”

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

This timeline is awesome. Keep it coming!

[Fuzzybigfoot]

MORE!!! 


Can't wait!

[Devilman88]

This timeline is awesome. Keep it coming!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

This timeline is awesome. Keep it coming!

[sentinel]

I'll update soon, I just moved into school this weekend so its been busy

[sentinel]

8:00pm July 27th 1963: Senator Stuart Symington officially becomes the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the first time ever that a non-member of the House has become Speaker. Most of the opposition to this appointment is drowned out by the coverage of President Kennedy’s trip to Chile and the ceasefire. The world’s eyes are focused on Santiago, Chile.  

President Kennedy leaves for Chile after Speaker (and Senator) Symington’s promotion…

July 28th 1963

Speaker Stuart Symington: Under heavy protection at a military base outside of Washington DC

President Pro Tempore of the Senate Carl Hayden: Passed out in an underground bunker. Already wrote a letter bypassing himself in the line of succession.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk: Under heavy protection at a military base in Nevada

Secretary of the Treasury: C. Douglas Dillon: At the Treasury building in Washington DC

Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara: Under heavy protection at a military base in Texas
Attorney General Robert F Kennedy: On the flight to Santiago with President Kennedy

2:00pm in Chile: President Kennedy arrives at the secure location in Santiago. The Soviet Premier has arrived first by an hour or so.

4:00pm in Chile: Direct talks begin with the Soviet Premier Alexander Shelepin in the secure location.

Kennedy’s Press Secretary remarks later that night that the President exited talks around midnight in Chile and they will begin again in the morning. A reporter on the ground says that President Kennedy looked “like the most troubled and tired man in the world…as if every life in the United States and USSR was resting on his actions alone…”


“Talks will begin again tomorrow morning. President Kennedy is hopeful that a solution is possible.” – Kennedy’s Spokesperson

The third and fourth days come and go the same as the previous two days, however; on the fifth day President Kennedy emerges and boards Air Force One back to Washington DC. His orders to American and NATO forces are renewed –that they should continue the cease fire. Soviet forces are seen to be obeying similar orders.

President Kennedy arrives back at the White House later that day and addresses the nation.
“…nuclear war is not sustainable…it is not sustainable for the United States, it is not sustainable for the Soviet Union and it would be the downfall of the human race…as a society we have come too far to be extinguished by war, despair and violence…luckily for all of us Soviet Premier Alexander Shelepin agrees with me and therefore the United States and Soviet Union, and each respective allies, have agreed to cease all hostilities with one another in order to preserve both of our Unions. Do not take this agreement as a victory for America, see this agreement as a victory for humanity…”

Major Provisions of the treaty:

   Removal and ban of all Soviet nuclear warheads from the Western Hemisphere and Europe.

Removal and ban of American warheads from the Middle East, northeast Asia (Japan) and Europe.

The reduction of nuclear warheads by all nuclear countries by 50% by 1973.

West Germany will be reunited with East Germany and will be allowed to have free elections sponsored and monitored by the United Nations.

Agreement that the United States, and all NATO countries, will negotiate through the Soviet Union in order to trade or do diplomacy with any Iron Curtain nation.

Borders in Europe will return to status quo prior to the war with the exception of East Germany.

Yugoslavia will remain under Soviet dominion/puppet state status.

The United States and NATO will provide humanitarian assistance for cities destroyed by nuclear attacks in the Soviet Union.

Stipulation that the Soviet Union did not surrender to the United States or the other way around.

Romania, having already surrendered prior to the agreement, does not fall under this agreement. Romania will be having free elections at a later date and is able to trade with any other nation freely.

Cuba also does not fall under this treaty for the same reasons.
   
President Kennedy returns home from Chile with a peace treaty but how will the nation take to it? Will the treaty last? Will Kennedy be seen as a hero for ending the war or will he be seen as weak by some standard?  What will become of American occupied Cuba? Can the Soviet Union come back from having many of its major cities destroyed including its Capitol? How will this affect the 1964 Presidential election? Will President Kennedy’s “Bayh Amendment” pass and become law? Will the Senate even ratify the treaty?

[Vazdul (Formerly Chairman of the Communist Party of Ontario)]

Great update! It will be very interesting to see what happens in the aftermath.

[sentinel]

August through December 1963

   The American people seem ready for peace with 69% of people approving the treaty and 78% of people approving the new peace with the Soviet Union.  

   The treaty is almost immediately ratified by the Senate with the opposition largely remaining quiet (who wants to be on the record pushing for the continuation of a nuclear war?).  President Kennedy returns to the United States from Chile “humbled by the process of negotiating for peace on behalf of all Americans and mankind.” His approval rating hit a high of 90% when he met with the Soviet Premier in July and the low from August to December 1963 is 58%. On average his approval is recorded at 72%.

   The Soviet Union, since making peace, has tallied its losses in the nuclear attacks at close to eight million and nearly a million more died as a result of the attacks. Many of its citizens see the treaty as a defeat; after all, the United States was attacked once while the USSR was 7 times.  The USSR’s urban population has dropped dramatically –many are moving to rural areas or are taking refuge in other countries. It is expected that the USSR’s next harvest will be a poor one and feeding all of its inhabitants will be trying at best.

   The United States, Europe and Soviet Union are finding it hard to deal with the radiation that entered the atmosphere as a result of the attacks increasing medical abnormalities and fatalities. The United Nations along with the United States are providing assistance for the Soviet Union in medical care and supplies.

   On the home front the Bayh Amendment passes in November becoming the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution and in addition the 25th Amendment passes which prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. Senator Stuart Symington is sworn in as Vice President of the United States in early December.

   In December 1963 heated debate began about the current status of Cuba and what to do about it. The President has not yet made a decision on Cuba and is expected to do so in his State of the Union speech come January 1964. Around 50,000 troops remain in Cuba in an occupation and counter-insurgency role. The insurgency is rather small and made up of former Cuban soldiers with very poor equipment and supplies.

   US forces also remain in Europe and elections have been organized and are scheduled for January 1965 (over a year away). There is a transitional authority in place with a two co-chairs, one Soviet and one American and is the source of much tension.

   A memorial will be built in Los Angeles and the city will be rebuilt!

President Kennedy and Vice President Symington

[sentinel]

Should I continue onto the 1964 election??