The Pentagon aide also said that the Coast Guard Cutter Willow had been attacked by other enemy planes and had been severely damaged. Casualties on the ship were heavy.
"When was the last time the continental United States was bombed or shelled by an enemy?" Bobby asked.
"Not counting a few puny attempts by Japanese subs in World War II, not since the War of 1812," the president answered.
"This is an absolute disaster," said Johnson, "and I mean at many levels. The Republicans are going to kill us with this. If we don't do something, we might as well concede the 1964 election to Barry Goldwater right now. That son of a bitch is going to claim that we Democrats have lost another country, along with not being able to defend ourselves, and he might just be right."
JFK winced. The conservative senator from Arizona, and presumptive Republican presidential candidate, had called for a more immediate response to what he considered outrages by an enemy and alluding to incompetence by the very young Democratic president. A call from the president had informed him as to the reasons for not bombing Havana and, so far, he had bought on to them. This, however, might change Goldwater’s mind.
Rightly or wrongly, the Republicans had been claiming for years that the Democrats were soft on Communism and had let the Reds gobble up country after country.
First was the "loss" of China that had occurred when Truman had been president just after World War II. It didn't matter that the loss was the result of Chiang Kai Shek's utterly corrupt Nationalist government now ensconced on Formosa and protected by American warships.
This was followed by the surprise attack on Korea in 1950 and the realization that the U.S. was utterly unprepared to defend her. The result had been a three year war that ending in a stalemate. Again, Harry Truman had been president. Hard-liners were furious that the war had not ended in an American victory. Some even called it America’s first defeat.
The aging but outspoken former commander of American forces in Korea, Douglas MacArthur, was again calling for an attack on the Chinese mainland after first annihilating the Cuban forces. Kennedy thought it ironic since he felt that the debacle in Korea had largely been MacArthur’s fault. It was his troops who were so totally unprepared in 1950 and it was the general who had disobeyed orders and caused a major defeat before the situation could be stabilized.
In 1961, the Soviets had built a wall separating their part of Europe from the west and the U.S. had done nothing about it.
Nor had the U.S. done anything when the Red Army had crushed a rebellion in Hungary, although that had occurred when Eisenhower, a Republican, had been in the White House.
Large NATO and Soviet armies now confronted each other in Germany, while American forces stared at North Koreans, and an American fleet protected Formosa, now Taiwan, from the Red Chinese.
Then came Castro's revolution in neighboring Cuba and his turning the country into a satellite of Moscow, all while Kennedy had been president. China was one thing, and so was Korea, but Cuba was next door, not halfway around the world. This had resulted in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Kennedy's humiliating confrontation with Khrushchev in Moscow, and the grand finale, the Cuban Missile Crisis that was supposed to have shown the world Kennedy's bravery under stress. Instead, Kennedy was now confronting a new and potentially disastrous war.
To further complicate matters, he was also being urged to send more troops to protect a sympathetic government in Vietnam, a country he was convinced most of America's citizens couldn't locate on a map at gunpoint. Where would it ever stop, he wondered.
The war with Cuba was also a war he could not afford to lose if he had any thoughts of being a two term president.
JFK shook his head. "I will go on the air and apologize for the failure to protect Miami. I will take responsibility because it is my responsibility. However, we will not change our strategy. We will not attack Havana or anyplace where Soviet troops might be just out of spite or revenge. That is just far too dangerous. We have been provoked and insulted by the Cubans, and they wish us to rise to the bait and do something foolish. We will not do that."
Johnson scoffed. "Goldwater's gonna take you apart if something good doesn't happen and damn soon."
Chapter Eleven
Although Lieutenant Andrew Ross was young and a man, he wasn't totally stupid about the mysteries of being a woman. He had two older sisters, and, as a boy and a young teenager, had listened in on a number of their furtive conversations regarding what they referred to as “woman problems.” He had no idea why they couldn't just say they were having their period or refer to it as menstruation, but no, they always used euphemisms. At least they didn’t say they were on the rag, like some guys said about their girlfriends. Later, he realized his mother talked the same way, which probably explained his sisters' behavior.
What he did know about a woman's period was that it occurred approximately once a month, was uncomfortable at best and debilitatingly painful at worst, was frequently messy, and was not a cause for rejoicing when it occurred.
Except, he later understood, when the recipient of woman's curse realized that its arrival meant she wasn't pregnant. His older sister had been relieved to find that she hadn’t been knocked up, and Andrew had been shocked to realize she'd been having sex with her boyfriend, a guy he hadn't like in the first place because he was such a smug prick. He’d felt like clobbering the guy for screwing his sister until he realized that his sister had been fully cooperative with the carnal acts.
He now thought he understood exactly why Cathy Malone was so pleased when her period happened. She hadn't actually told him — they weren't that frank with each other yet — but he figured it out from her emotional behavior and some oblique comments.
He had always sensed that her story of a "friend" being raped by a Cuban soldier and traumatizing her was a little too facile. It was almost like someone saying they had a "friend" who was an alcoholic. No, it was Cathy who had been raped and who was ashamed that it had occurred and was scared witless that, along with being violated, might have made her pregnant.
It put Andrew firmly on the horns of a dilemma. He was very fond of Cathy and wanted to help and comfort her. But how and when did he let her know that he understood what she felt she had to keep secret?
He tried to think about what his sisters might have done and realized that his correct course of action was inaction. If and when she ever wished to tell him, he would listen sympathetically and try to be as helpful as anyone who could never be in her position could be. In the meantime, he would let her somehow know that she could trust him. He had no clue as to how he would do that.
She was seated on the ground beside him, their hips almost touching. Andrew wondered just what might become of the two of them in the future. First, he though grimly, they had to live through this ordeal in order to have a future.
He reached over and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him. "What was that for?"
"Do I need a reason? I'm glad you're here."
She squeezed back. "What's for dinner?"
"Iguana," he said teasingly, knowing she couldn't stand the sight of the lizards or even contemplate the thought of eating one. "I hear they taste like chicken."
"I bet they taste like slimy and disgusting lizards." She said but kept her grip on his hand.
Gunnery Sergeant Cullen stepped over and crouched before them. "Lieutenant, there's something you gotta see and right now."
Ross got up and followed his sergeant through the brush. They were quiet and careful. Cuban soldiers could be anywhere, hiding and waiting for darkness. Finally, they were on a hill overlooking the road that led south to Guantanamo Bay.