OCTOBER 26 — 1962 CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS Pt. 5: Stalemate; 2003 Queen Califia’s Magical Circle becomes a historic landmark; 1881 Battle at the OK Corral
OCTOBER 26
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis Pt. 5: Stalemate. </strong>
…Photographic evidence indicates that the Soviets are ramping up the building of nuclear missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to pass Soviet ships from entering Cuba, but the Soviets were ordered to ignore the quarantine. Kennedy became convinced that an invasion of Cuba was the only way to have the missiles removed. Fidel Castro sent a message to Nikita Khrushchev asking for missiles to be fired should the US invade Cuba.
ABC news correspondent John Scali reported to Washington that he met with a Soviet agent who suggested that Moscow was willing to handle this diplomatically. If the Soviets removed the missiles from Cuba, the US wouldn’t invade the island, that’s the deal. The US told Brazil to tell Castro, if the missiles were removed, the US would be unlikely to invade. Meanwhile, Khrushchev wrote a long, rambling letter to JFK that Bobby Kennedy called very long and emotional. It said in short the same thing Scali reported; the Soviets will remove the missiles if the US lifts the quarantine and pledges not to invade Cuba.
The next day, Saturday, October 27th, day 12, Khrushchev sent a tougher letter to Washington, with the same terms, but also a new one; to remove US obsolete Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Then, a Soviet supplied SA2 Guideline SAM surface-to-air missile shot down and killed USAF Major Rudolf Anderson in his U2 Recon jet from the sky. President Kennedy awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal posthumously, to Maj. Anderson’s widow. Kennedy and his advisers in EXCOMM prepared for a Cuban invasion within days, if a diplomatic solution couldn’t be reached.
Kennedy argued that the Turkey missile removal would have to be part of a largely negotiated settlement. Turkey hated this deal, by the way, but oh well. Kennedy and EXCOMM decided to ignore the Saturday letter, and respond instead to the more appeasing Friday letter. That was a risky move and put Khrushchev in a bad position. An all active duty military personnel were recalled to their bases.
Later that night, Robert Kennedy met secretly with Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. Bobby told Dobrynin the US was going to get rid of those missiles in Turkey anyway. Deal done, just keep that last part a secret. So to be clear: Soviet Union removes missiles from Cuba under United Nation supervision in exchange for an American guarantee not to invade Cuba. And uh, by the way, don’t tell anyone about the other part of removing the Jupiter missiles from Turkey. Shh.
1858 – Hamilton Smith patents the rotary washing machine. Since electricity wasn’t commonly used in most households back then, it used a single cylinder gas engine.
2003 — Queen Califia’s Magical Circle becomes a historic landmark.
French artist Niki de Saint-Phalle apparently had a really big crush on the original queen of the fictional California Island, and as a tribute, built nine huge sculptures painted with the most colorful of colors.
Smack dab into another area where Theresa has shown property and actually did a short sale way back in the day, there’s a 12 acre lot in Escondido in the 760 area code in Kit Carson Park’s Iris Sankey Arboretum that’s considered the last international piece of work by Saint-Phalle’s later work. It starts with a 400’ wide wall which encircles the garden, the friendly but somewhat intimidating wall of snakes, and a maze that leads, if you’re lucky, to a central courtyard.
So for locals listening, it’s just off the 15 at Via Rancho Parkway Exit at he corner of Bear Valley parkeway and Mary Lane. Who’s with me!
1881 – The Shootout at the OK Corral.
…The Earp brothers squared off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in quite possibly the most famous gunfights in old west history. Former Kansas police officer Wyatt Earp and two of his brothers, Morgan and Virgil, moved to Tombstone AZ to help keep law and order. Wyatt was a bank security guard, but not like the kind of bank security guards you see today. Oh no. Being a guard of anything in the Old West was a very dangerous job. The Clintons and McLaurys were cattle thieve gangsters and liked their style of lawlessness in AZ.
Tensions between the Earps and the cowboys were stronger than a shot of Jack Daniels whiskey. Early October 25, Ike Clanton and Tom McLaury rode into town for supplies, and met resistance against the Earps and their friend Doc Holliday. The next morning saw Ike going from saloon to saloon with his six shooter, pounding whiskey and getting hammered. Morgan and Virgil Earp encountered him, and Virgil slammed the butt end of his revolver across Ike’s head. Around this time, Ike’s brother Billy Clanton, Tom’s brother Frank McLaury and Billy Claiborne, rode into town to join the cowboys but was told by Holliday that Ike and Tom were pistol whipped by the Earp brothers.
Now, ding ding, it was on. The Earps and Holliday met up at the OK Corral, and confronted five members of the McLaury-Clanton gang.
The famous gun battle lasted only thirty seconds, most reports stating that Virgil fired the first shot, a direct hit to Billy Clanton’s chest, then Holliday fired at Tom McLaury in the chest, Wyatt Earp shot Frank McLaury in the stomach, though Billy and Frank managed to get off a couple shots before collapsing onto the ground. When the dust settled, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers were dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Ike Clanton and Billy Clayborn ran like coyotes into the wilderness.
This famous gunfight was idolized in movies like Tombstone from 1993 and Wyatt Earp in 1994.
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