A Foreboding Time

It was a dark and foreboding time, a feeling that something really bad was about to happen. I remember that feeling well. It was the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The United States discovered that Russia had missile bases in Cuba, with missiles fully capable of striking the United States. The two leaders of the world’s super powers, the United States of America, and Russia were John F. Kennedy and Nikita Krushchev.

President Kennedy spoke to Americans, making clear the gravity of the situation, and told Mr.Krushchev to remove those bases. It was a war of wills. The world was teetering on the brink of nuclear war. Americans didn’t know if Krushchev would back down. Nobody knew. We only knew that at any moment, our world could be shattered.

I remember going up the old, wood steps of Northeastern’s Seminary Hall, feeling as if I was moving through a dark cloud. As a sophomore, my whole future which had looked bright and promising, now became scary and uncertain. When younger people today read about that time in history, they can’t feel the uncertainty and downright fear that those who lived through that time felt.

Eventually, the Soviets agreed to remove the missile bases. To my way of thinking, it was JFK and his determination to avoid war while remaining strong and resolute that averted catastrophe. The world could take a deep breath; I could take a deep breath and  the sun shone again. The future was still there, bright and beckoning.

Because this is the anniversary of that discovery sixty-two years ago, I thought of it once again. And, those emotions of fear and uncertainty, and then the feeling of blessed relief, all came back to me, in my memory.