Groupthink

The Cuban Missile Crisis all started in October, 1962, when an American spy plane spotted and secretly photographed missile sites being built on the island of Cuba by the Soviet Union. President Kennedy did not tell the Soviet Union right away that we had found their nuclear missile site. But days later, President Kennedy meet secretly with his advisors to discuss the situation. President Kennedy and his advisors though long and hard about what to do and the finally came up with an idea. Kennedy decided to put a naval blockade around the island of Cuba. The purpose of this was so Cuba could not get anymore military supplies for the Soviet Union. President Kennedy demanded that the missiles that were already there be disabled and that the sit be destroyed. Later on, Kennedy told America what was happening on a televised address. Everyone was anxious about what the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, would say about the naval blockade. But both President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev recognized that the devastation that a nuclear war will bring is too much.

1. What type of decision was the group instructed to reach (e.g. majority, consensus, authoritarian, etc.)

     What is groupthink? There is a simple definition for it, but is it truly that simple? The term groupthink refers to the inclination of group members to have the same opinions and beliefs; it frequently leads to mistakes. It often occurs without an individual being aware of it. Conflict is considered to be a harmful element when related to groups, but conflict is good when considering groupthink because it helps to eliminate the existence of a groupthink. The explanation sounds simple enough, but it is more complex than the description given.

In 1962, Cuba was convinced that the USA was planning to attack them and asked the Soviet Union for military assistance. The USSR sent Cuba materials to build missile bases and launch sites. When President Kennedy realized that Cuba could launch missiles into America, he demanded that the USSR remove its weapons and troops. The Americans formed a naval blockade as the world stood nervously on the edge of a nuclear war. The USSR removed its weapons despite protests from Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy “informed the world” that the Soviets were building secretive missile bases in Cuba, very close to Florida. President Kennedy decided to take the peaceful route in handling is major crisis. As

“Do everything in such a way that the U.S. public opinion will not be aware of this until November 4th or after November 4th…The Americans are going to have to swallow this the same way we have had to swallow the pill of missiles in Turkey,” stated Premier Nikita Khrushchev. He wanted to keep this a secret until the missiles would be operational. The Soviet Union eventually brought 45,000 troops, 80 missiles, some bombers, and several SAM sites to Cuba by sea, which were meant to shoot down U-2 planes that routinely flew over Cuba, so they would not discover the offensive missiles (Eubank 20-24). On October 15, a U-2 plane discovered offensive missiles and this was reported to President Kennedy the next morning at 9:00 AM. Kennedy didn’t seem too shocked. He simply discussed plans with his advisors, also known as the ExComm, about solutions including an invasion, air strikes, withdrawing missiles from Turkey, and blockades (Eubank 36-41). Kennedy finally came to a decision and decided to reveal it to the public through a speech on television. Kennedy’s speech on October 22, 1962 addressed the fact that he wanted Khrushchev to remove the missiles from Cuba and that Khrushchev claimed that there were no offensive missiles in Cuba. Kennedy further explained the fact that there was evidence from photographs that U-2 spy planes took over the island of Cuba. Additionally, Kennedy announced that a naval quarantine or blockade would take place on Cuba to stop ships from bringing in any offensive weapons (“Presidents Grave”). Everyone rushed to the supermarkets and stocked up on food in panic (Cullough). Soviet ships continued towards Cuba even after the speech. One of the members in the ExComm, McCone, stated, “Mr. President, we have a preliminary report which seems to indicate that some of the

meetings to debate issues before making a final decision. In handling routine tasks, he was

some of the leaders met to discuss their demands. The leaders came up with four demands:

John Dallek’s authorship has intensively inquired about many presidents, evaluating their entire lives, personal and political. With his work comprising of many presidential biographies, Dallek has payed tribute to one man who consistently tops the charts of America’s Favorite President on frequent; the dearly beloved President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Serving from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963, Kennedy had a large impact on a multitude of people around the world, making numerous bold changes in the United States’ domestic living whilst trying to prevent Communism and nuclear weapons

John F. Kennedy was born into a wealthy family in Boston. His father was a successful man who made a lot of money from the stock market. Kennedy 's father managed to take all of his stock out before the stock market crash. So while everyone else was struggling through the great depression Kennedy was having no problems at all. The United States went into world war II right after Kennedy graduated from Harvard. Kennedy tried to join the navy but, they weren 't interested because he was always ill. But thanks to his wealthy father he was assigned to serve in the south pacific. In the south pacific kennedy commanded a motor torpedo boat. In August 1943

Traditionalists such as Stone argue that President Kennedy did not have time for protracted negotiation and needed to take action that would likely compel President Khrushchev to remove the missiles from Cuba. Steel held a similar view with an acknowledgement that President Kennedy needed the missiles removed prior to the upcoming mid-term elections.

The discussion is an open-process, meaning that the decision making is done amongst the group members, not just the leader. Unlike an authoritative leader, the leader of this group allows the members to be a part of his or her final say. By doing this, it helps to keep everyone on the same page and moving forward in the same direction.

Also, we would have made all decisions by consensus in order to diminish dissent amongst the group. Although debate was encouraged among team members, some decisions were inputted by a majority rule due to time

He accomplished the major groundwork for establishing the order, rules, and procedures of meetings before he died in 1923. He identified the types of motions of Main, Subsidiary, Privileged, and Incidental explaining their order of importance. Also, wrote Rules of Chairmanship with what is or is not debatable, which motions require a second and which do not determine what sort of majority is needed (simple or 2/3), defined a quorum, created guidelines for proper meeting conduct, and wanted standard Parliamentary Rules from every group, organization, city, and

Nearly all of the meetings of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council were recorded, as well as many private conversations between President Kennedy and his staff. The tapes used in this investigation were tapes 36.1 and 36.2, which recorded a discussion between President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy after an Executive Committee meeting on October 23, 1962. These tapes provide a direct look inside the White House and portray the real dilemmas during the crisis. These two tapes specifically provide a glimpse into the relationship between John F. Kennedy and his brother. Because the two brothers speak alone for nearly all of the conversation, it is possible to analyze how Robert Kennedy impacted President Kennedy, who was the ultimate decision maker as Commander-in-Chief.