The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 172: An Unforgivable Overreaction

Episode Date: October 1, 2020

With the war in full bloom all eyes were on the president — would he or wouldn't he launch?  

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This is the way I heard it. He was not the first president to be publicly challenged by a powerful enemy, nor was he the first to consider extreme retaliation. But now, as the prospect of an unprecedented launch became more and more real, his vice president was getting nervous. Sir, we must not overreact. The world expects a measured response. Not a launch of this magnitude.

consider the fallout, and remember what President McKinley said. War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed. The president nodded. A student of history, he was well acquainted with the words of America's 25th president. William McKinley had done everything in his power to stay out of Cuba in 1898, even after the USS Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor. Was this so different? Would McKinley have simply ignored the challenge now facing this president, just as he ignored the attack on the main a hundred years before?

Probably. With respect, sir, McKinley was a fool with his head in the sand. The director of communications didn't mince words. Congress declared war without him. So, if we're going to quote presidents, let's not forget the man who actually fought the war. that McKinley failed to avoid. Wasn't it Teddy Roosevelt who said, if you're going to hit,

never hit soft? The president nodded. He was well acquainted with the words of America's 26th, president, another man who had distinguished himself in Cuba when he led his rough riders to victory in the famous charge up San Juan Hill. Was this so different?

Would Teddy Roosevelt have sought a measured response to the challenge before them today? Probably not. Roosevelt would have hit back hard. The vice president could see the way the president was leaning, sir. I know that we've been publicly challenged, and I understand the world is watching, but let us also remember the words of John F. Kennedy, mankind, he said, must put an end to war, before war puts an end. end to mankind. The president sighed. Yes, he remembered Kennedy's words,

vividly, words spoken in the wake of that other nightmare in Cuba, the fiasco called the Bay of Pigs that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. But hadn't Kennedy also said, The one path America shall never choose is the path of submission. Of course he had. The president rubbed his temples. What to do? Ignoring the challenge would be an admission of defeat, but a measured response would only escalate the war and increase hostilities.

Now, a decisive, retaliatory launch seemed like the only viable path, a launch that the enemy would never anticipate. Gentlemen, I appreciate your counsel, but in the words, of Harry Truman, the buck stops here. Leave me. I'll make my decision within the hour. Alone now, the president considered the wisdom of the 33rd president of these United States. The buck did indeed stop with the president. It always had. Indeed, it was Harry Truman, who had made the toughest call of all when he ended the Second World War with two atomic bombs. A call that many still see as an unforgivable overreaction.

But was it? How many millions of lives were saved as a result of Truman's decision to hit hard, like Roosevelt, and crush the Japanese challenge once and for all? Then the president's thoughts returned to Cuba, as they often did, because this president, unlike McKinley, Roosevelt, Truman, were killed. Kennedy, and all the presidents who preceded him, for that matter, had been born there. Like Fidel Castro, this president had learned the English language at a young age and established himself as a man who got things done. But unlike Castro, this future leader defected to the United

States in 1953. In fact, he was living in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis, where he watched breathlessly with the rest of the world as John F. Kennedy, with his hand on the button, waited for the Soviets to blink. Well, now it was his turn. Now this Cuban defector was in the hot seat and the stakes could not be higher. To launch or not to launch. That was the question. Years later, historians call it the greatest marketing blunder of the 20th century. And yet, the man responsible for this disastrous launch is remembered today as one of the most prudent presidents in American history. The president and CEO of a Fortune 500 company who served his shareholders for 16 years and grew his company's value by 35,000. percent during his remarkable time at the helm.

Alas, in spite of his many successes, Roberto Goysuehuehita is also remembered for his response to the challenge that terrified his shareholders, the challenge that took the cola wars to a whole new level, the Pepsi challenge, which provoked an otherwise prudent president to launch a real bomb, an unforgivable overreaction we remember today as New Coke. Anyway, that's the way I heard it.

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