. Few states globally favored a U.S. invasion of Cuba any way and the missiles would be removed under UN inspection.(Schesinger p.7)However following the heels of this plea for negotiation, terrible news brought the conflict to its tensest point and its climax. On Saturday October 27, an American reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba by Soviet SA-2 fire. The pilot of the U-2 airplane was killed. In addition to the down of the aircraft, Cuban antiaircraft weapons had fired upon other American aircraft. These planes were flying at treetop level and one of these planes was hit but not downed. None of these planes had any means of protecting themselves, but now President Kennedy was under great provide these reconnaissance planes with precisely that kind of protection.(Fursenko & Naftali p.276-9)On top of that, Khrushchev cabled a new proposal to the White House only a day after the first modest proposal was received. This proposal was far more demanding than the first one. The proposal not only called for an American pledge not to invade Cuba now or at any time in the future, but it also demanded that U.S. Jupiter missiles be removed from silos in Turkey as a condition towards the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba. Both operations were to be done under UN inspection.(Fursenko & Naftali p.277)Kennedy’s reaction to this new letter was “He didn't say that, did he?” “That wasn’t in the letter we received, was it?”(Fursenko & Naftali p.277) Khrushchev had upped the anti in this new proposal and had taken a much firm stance then only a day before. Some members of Ex Comm even doubted if Khrushchev was still in control of the situation in the Kremlin. Removing the missiles from Turkey, as part of a negotiation to remove Soviet missiles in Cuba would have to been done without consulting NATO whom the missiles were pledged to defend.(Cheney p. 98-9) Though the missiles were obsolete, how w...
