JFK's Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA, and the Sino-Indian War
By Bruce Riedel
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About this ebook
Bruce Riedel provides new perspective and insights into Kennedy's forgotten crisis in the most dangerous days of the cold war.
The Cuban Missile Crisis defined the presidency of John F. Kennedy. But during the same week that the world stood transfixed by the possibility of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, Kennedy was also consumed by a war that has escaped history's attention, yet still significantly reverberates today: the Sino-Indian conflict.
As well-armed troops from the People's Republic of China surged into Indian-held territory in October 1962, Kennedy ordered an emergency airlift of supplies to the Indian army. He engaged in diplomatic talks that kept the neighboring Pakistanis out of the fighting. The conflict came to an end with a unilateral Chinese cease-fire, relieving Kennedy of a decision to intervene militarily in support of India.
Bruce Riedel, a CIA and National Security Council veteran, provides the first full narrative of this crisis, which played out during the tense negotiations with Moscow over Cuba. He also describes another, nearly forgotten episode of U.S. espionage during the war between India and China: secret U.S. support of Tibetan opposition to Chinese occupation of Tibet. He details how the United States, beginning in 1957, trained and parachuted Tibetan guerrillas into Tibet to fight Chinese military forces. The United States did not abandon this covert support until relations were normalized with China in the 1970s.
Riedel tells this story of war, diplomacy, and covert action with authority and perspective. He draws on newly declassified letters between Kennedy and Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru, along with the diaries and memoirs of key players and other sources, to make this the definitive account of JFK's forgotten crisis. This is, Riedel writes, Kennedy's finest hour as you have never read it before.
Bruce Riedel
Bruce Riedel is senior fellow and director of the Brookings Intelligence Project. He joined Brookings following a thirty-year career at the CIA. His previous books include The Search for al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future; Deadly Embrace: Pakistan, America, and the Future of the Global Jihad; and Avoiding Armageddon: America, India, and Pakistan to the Brink and Back.
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Reviews for JFK's Forgotten Crisis
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- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We all know about the Cuban Missile Crisis and how President Kennedy faced down the Soviet Union to resolve the matter. I was very surprised to learn that at the same time, their was another, equally dangerous, situation developing between China and India. This is the story of the Chinese invasion of Indian-held territory, almost leading the world into a war between the two most populous countries on Earth. Riedel masterfully covers how JFK dealt with the crisis, averting what may have become World War Three. And of the U.S.'s support for Tibet against China. It's amazing to me how Kennedy could juggle two such crises at once. It leaves me with a feeling of almost awe in how talented he was. In a short, concise book, Riedel covers the crisis very well. I found this book to be very informative, well written, well documented, and fair. All in all, this is quite the impressive little book. Well worth reading!