On May 22, as a contribution to the Bush-Obama exchange regarding appeasement and meetings with figures such as Iranian President Ahmadinejad, The New York Times published an excellent op-ed by Nathan Thrall and Jesse James Wilkins. The op-ed recounts President Kennedy's one and only meeting with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
This meeting, which occurred in June 1961, was "one of the more self-destructive American actions of the cold war, and one that contributed to the most dangerous crisis of the nuclear age." Kennedy himself said after the meeting: "He just beat the hell out of me. I've got a terrible problem if he thinks I'm inexperienced and have no guts." Khrushchev did in fact conclude that Kennedy was "too intelligent and too weak." That assessment contributed to Khrushchev's decisions to erect the Berlin Wall and install missiles in Cuba. For the full text of the Thrall/Wilkins op-ed, click here. (Thanks to Joseph.)
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