Doom seemed inevitable 50 years ago

Doom seemed inevitable 50 years ago

IT WAS A RAINY FALL DAY OCT. 22, 1962, IN Youngstown. Dark smoke and the smell of sulfur hung over “Steel City USA,” the third- largest steel-producing city in the United States.

Chrysler Imperials and Ford Galaxies ruled the streets, and Dan Ryan’s voice echoed over WBBW-AM.

As workers returned home that evening, an urgent message was broadcast. President John F. Kennedy would address the nation about a matter of utmost importance.

“Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation [in Cuba],” Kennedy proclaimed on black-and-white television screens across the country and across the radio waves.

“The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear- strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.”

Evidence mounted of an increasing Soviet military buildup in Cuba. A U.S. Air Force U-2 reconnaissance plane captured photographs Oct. 14 of Soviet missile bases under construction. The Kennedy administration quarantined the island, a move the Soviet Union denounced as an act of war.

“It was a very dangerous game of chicken,” said Bill Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society. “We [the United States] had, from a security standpoint, a real threat having missiles 100 miles away from our shores, so that built up to this crescendo.”

World War III was inevitable. The possibility of nuclear holocaust struck fear in the hearts of Americans.

Many Youngstown residents thought they were doomed.

Read more about the Cuban Missile Crisis in Sunday’s Vindicator.