Nation: The Buildup for Cuba: Just Like World War II

They were gone the instant they came—a brace of Air Force RF-101 jets screeching 200 ft. above Florida's Homestead Air Force Base. On the reviewing stand, President Kennedy turned to General Walter Sweeney, commander of the Tactical Air Command, and asked: "They wouldn't have been able to shoot down those ships at that speed and altitude, would they?" The general said no. Said Kennedy: "I'd like to see them again." And so the reconnaissance jets once more simulated the flights that had helped document the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba (see box)....

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