McGeorge Bundy

Cuban Missile Crisis: The Players Dossiers

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Dossiers

McGeorge Bundy

Office: Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
Age: 43
Time in Office: 1961-1966
Born: 1919
Died:
McGeorge Bundy, a Yale graduate and intelligence officer in World War II, helped plan the invasion of Europe. After the war he became a dean at Harvard and a Kennedy friend. His support of John Kennedy during his presidential campaign gained Bundy a spot as the President's Special Assistant for National Security Affairs. Bundy was well liked by both Kennedy brothers and proved to be valuable during the crisis.
Often to the dismay of the President, Bundy played the role of the devil's advocate. During the EX-COMM meetings, he constantly changed his opinion about the best course of action. First it was an air strike, then a quarantine, then nothing at all, and then back to an air strike. He also radically changed the subject during meetings, sidetracking the discussions. Bundy's apparent inconsistency frustrated the President, but Kennedy still valued his advisor's opinion. Additionally, if the entire EX-COMM had an idea to present to the President, Bundy was the spokesman
On the Saturday the 27th Bundy played a key role. He was a big supporter of responding only to Khrushchev's first letter. He argued that the Soviet Premier was ready for a solution and that the U.S. could afford only to answer that first letter. He also stressed the importance of not publicly exchanging the Jupiter missiles in Turkey for the missiles in Cuba. If Kennedy bargained with its NATO allies, Bundy warned, "world faith in the United States would suffer a radical decline."
Bundy's collegiate background fit right in with the other members of EX-COMM. His style of discussion, although frustrating, was crucial to the committee's success. After President Kennedy' assassination, Bundy stayed on and helped develop U.S. policy toward Southeast Asia. In 1990 he published a book, Danger and Survival, Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty Years, detailing his involvement in the Cuban Missile Crisis and in government in general.