Marvin Kalb links Cuban missile crisis, Ukrainian war in book talk at Club

Drawing on his 70 years of experience in reporting from and writing about Russia, Marvin Kalb was able, in an interview at the National Press Club Jan. 24, to link his experience with Nikita Khrushchev during the tense 1962 Cuban missile crisis with prospects of dealing with Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine War.

The far-ranging interview with former Club President Emily Wilkins was part of a virtual Club Book Event event featuring the 94-year-old Kalb’s latest volume, “A Different Russia: Khrushchev and Kennedy on a Collision Course.”

A scholar in Russian history and language, Kalb said he first met Khrushchev while he was a junior U.S. diplomat in Moscow in the late 1950s. The diminutive Soviet leader was impressed with the 6 ft. 3 in. Kalb and asked him how tall he was. Kalb, who could converse fluently in Russian, replied he was three centimeters shorter than Tsar Peter the Great.

“He burst into laughter, and he called me Peter the Great from that time on,” Kalb said.

That exchange served him well, he said, when he returned to Moscow a few years later as a CBS News international correspondent working for Edward R. Murrow. Khrushchev was intent on flipping the balance of power with the United States by stationing troops and ballistic missiles in Cuba as he built up Soviet nuclear capability. He thought Kennedy was soft and would not counter him.

But Kennedy ordered a Naval “quarantine” of Cuba and said he would stop any Russian ship approaching. If he did that and Khrushchev ordered his ships to defy the blockade, Kalb said, that would be an act of war that could escalate into a nuclear confrontation.

As Moscow correspondent, Kalb reported on the crisis “seven, eight or nine times a day” for CBS.

At the height of the missile crisis, Kalb’s wife talked him into going to the opera that starred an American opera singer. Much to his surprise, he said, Khrushchev was there, as was the American ambassador. Khrushchev led four standing ovations, which was taken as a sign he was seeking to de-escalate the confrontation.

As Khrushchev walked backstage, Kalb said he used his relationship as Peter the Great to follow him. “I turned to Khrushchev and said, “Good people can find a way out of this crisis. Are there good people now who can do it? He looked at me sort of with a question mark, and I said, ‘What I mean is, are you and President Kennedy good people who can resolve this?’” He said, “Yes, we are going to resolve it.”

That was a huge story and a beginning of the end of the crisis, Kalb said. It took days more of intense negotiation, but when the announcement came that the Soviets were crating and packing their missiles to leave Cuba, Kalb said he had one line open to Moscow Radio announcing the end and the other open to CBS in New York where he was translating what he heard.

“I screamed, ’It’s over, it’s over,’ and that went on the air.”

What does Kalb see as an end to the Ukraine war?

While Ukraine established itself as an independent country in 1991 that was recognized by the United Nations and the West, he said, Putin believes it is part of the Slavic confederation at the core of the Russia. Putin assumed he could arrange a pro-Russian government to be elected in Ukraine. When that didn’t happen, he moved first to take Crimea and then moved troops into the Donbas region making up 20 percent of Ukraine.

“The only way there's going to be a deal is Trump and Putin getting together and both agree that Russia can keep 20 percent of Ukraine,” Kalb said. Ukraine does not join NATO or the European Union. It becomes a neutral nation.

“Now, will Trump accept that? My belief is yes, he will accept it," said Kalb. "What that will mean, however, as far as Ukraine is concerned, is betrayal because the United States promised to stay in as long as it takes.”

The Ukrainians believe they have proven they have been a successful independent country for decades, and they have a right to be, Kalb indicated. But Ukrainians know their history, he said, and they know that Putin will eventually want all of Ukraine as part of Russia.

The only way for this to end differently, he said, “is for Putin to die or to be kicked out of town.”

While Putin is projecting an image of strength that is believed by many in the West, he is not strong, Kalb said. He has lost about 100,000 troops killed, and while his forces are making progress, it comes at a high cost.

Also, Kalb added, Inflation is high in Russia, interest rates are at an unmanageable level, and Russians are having trouble getting credit. The only thing the country has is oil, which can drop in value.

With 40 percent of the national budget going to the military and another 30 percent going to maintaining internal state security to make Putin appear popular, only 30 percent is going to everything else.

“So, this is a country that is in trouble, a regime that's in trouble, and I believe Putin is in trouble,” Kalb said. “But he is still the boss … until he's out.”