The Historian as Detective
Senator Kenneth Keating, the Missiles in Cuba, and His Mysterious Sources
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 16529645 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas G Paterson (0000-0002-2980-6636, University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1987 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 67-71 |
| Publication date | 1987-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Diplomatic History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0145-2096 • E-ISSN: 1467-7709 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-7709.1987.tb00005.x |
| OpenAlex | W2043436691 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 1 |
The story is familiar, if misleading. Senator Kenneth B. Keating, a Republican from New York, learned about the Soviet emplacement of missiles in Cuba in 1962 before the Kennedy administration did, or before Kennedy officials were willing to release the information. By relentlessly hammering on the issue of the Soviet military buildup on the Caribbean island, Keating embarrassed the Democratic administration during the campaigns for the November congressional elections. The story goes further to say that Keating's disclosures and politicking compelled President John F. Kennedy to act boldly in October to force the missiles from Cuba. The hard, documentary evidence suggests, on the contrary, that, although Cuba became a serious political question, politics did not control official decision making before or during the Cuban missile crisis, and that Keating and government officials learned about the presence in Cuba of the surface-to-surface, medium-range Soviet missiles at just about the same time.1 But mystery still surrounds the senator's sources of information. Who were his informants? Trying to find out demonstrates that historians must be detectives, and that detectives do not always solve their cases
Administration (probate law · Archaeology · Democracy · Democratic system · Government (linguistics · Missile · Political science · Politics · Cuban History and Society · History · Law · Philosophy
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,06 |
| Citation span | 1990 - 1999 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |