> USSR putting nuclear missles 90 miles off the coast of Florida had no impact on the balance of power, ie.. not a real new threat - which means Kennedy should

> USSR putting nuclear missles 90 miles off the coast of Florida had no impact on the balance of power, ie.. not a real new threat - which means Kennedy should not have opposed that, at the risk of inflaming tensions. I just don't find that a sensible argument. The reason the Cuban missiles didn't change the balance of power was because the USSR could have attacked the USA anyway, using Russian-based long range missiles and (especially) submarine-launched missiles. The only difference between the Cuban missiles and the other two types were that the Cuban missiles were more visible, so they seemed more dangerous even though they were not.