President John F. Kennedy, right, confers with his brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, 1962.

President John F. Kennedy, right, confers with his brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, 1962. AP Photo

Donald Trump is No Jack Kennedy. Or Khrushchev.

The president lacks the experience, character, credibility, and confidence to navigate our country through a Cuban Missile Crisis. We need Joe Biden.

The world teetered on the brink of nuclear catastrophe 58 years ago this month. The 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis in late October 1962 tested the maturity and wisdom of the nuclear-armed United States and Soviet Union at a time when mutual distrust and suspicion ruled the day.  

One of us was a boy in Miami then and still has strong memories of how close we came to nuclear war. What ultimately saved us all was a deep appreciation by President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the unthinkable carnage that would be caused by a nuclear exchange. Both men served in World War II and witnessed first-hand the horrors of war; neither man took lightly his responsibility to safeguard humanity from annihilation.  

President Donald Trump has proven during his tumultuous first term that he does not have the background, character, credibility, or confidence in him to navigate our country through a similar existential crisis. He should not be reelected on November 3.

Our concerns have only deepened as Trump continues to mishandle the COVID-19 crisis and much else. The president’s decision-making is mercurial, unpredictable, and ultimately driven more by transactional calculations than by serious concern about the pandemic and the public good. Based on what we have witnessed for the last four years, the odds are slim that Trump will respond with calm and clear thinking to a fast-breaking international crisis.  

An ability to solicit and take advice, respect experience, and sort through realistic options is more vital now than ever. In 1962, Kennedy and Khrushchev had a window of several days in which to de-escalate a nuclear confrontation through the slower paced time of phone calls, photographs, and paper trails. Today’s leaders have no such luxury. The lightning speed of technology and associated “fog of crisis” make decision-making more perilous and fraught than ever. Near-instantaneous cyber delivery of disinformation by shadowy figures and organizations creates a minefield of hazards that must be assessed within minutes, not hours or days. 

While much of the world has been distracted by COVID-19, few realize that in about three months we still risk losing New START, the last major U.S.-Russian bilateral, strategic nuclear arms control treaty that expires in February 2021. If the treaty lapses, the world’s strategic nuclear arms control will be in unconstrained free-fall. Late last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia would unconditionally sign a five-year extension. The Trump administration, hoping for a new arrangement that either unrestrained the United States or included China, did little to make progress towards those goals and only lost valuable time in realistically addressing New START.

As events are proving, the administration shouldn’t have waited this long — perhaps waiting for a politically motivated October surprise — to close a full 5-year extension. As a bridging measure to address unresolved issues, both sides have been belatedly negotiating an interim deal extending the treaty for just one year with a warhead freeze. It looks unlikely it will be signed before Election Day.

Overall, this administration has presided over much of the dismantling of our remaining arms control and verification architecture. Tweaking or renegotiating outdated treaties with difficult interlocutors such as Russia requires diplomatic foresight, patience and persistence, traits this administration has in short supply.  Its overall disdainful attitude toward multinational cooperation and its track record of withdrawing from important treaties and organizations are not only self-defeating, but dangerous.

Former Vice President Joe Biden says that he would sign a full extension if he were to win the election. The Russians know this. If he becomes president, this should be his top initial diplomatic priority as only two weeks would remain to do such after the January 20 inauguration.  

After a full term of observing Trump’s erratic behavior and daily drama, all the way through the 2020 pandemic and presidential election, can we say that we truly have confidence that our current president can lead us out of a major end-of-the-world military crisis?  Are we comfortable with Trump’s continued stewardship of the nuclear code-carrying “football,” considering his unpredictable temperament and his inability to pull together a broad-minded interagency team for crisis decision-making, such as during the pandemic?

Which leadership demeanor is better suited for a major crisis? Donald Trump’s bluff and bluster? Or Joe Biden’s calm, thoughtful toughness? 

The answer, we think, is clear.  

Air Force Brig. Gen. (ret) Charlie Martinez is a retired aviation systems engineer who served on active duty as a pilot, missile test and manpower management engineer, and as a scientific analyst in the Reserves. He was born in Havana, Cuba, and grew up in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Amb. Nancy Soderberg is president and CEO of Soderberg Global Solutions. She served as deputy national security advisor in the Clinton administration, from 1993 to 1997. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Peter B. Zwack is CEO of Zwack Eurasia LLC. His 34-year Army intelligence career began in a Cold War era nuclear capable artillery battalion through serving as the senior U.S. defense attaché to Russia from 2012 to 2014.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.