If you think McNamara was a rock of reason back then, listen to his Strangelovian reasoning on why to reject Khrushchev's missile-trade deal. "We must be prepared to attack Cuba quickly, that's my first proposition," McNamara begins in a nervous tone. "Now, the second proposition. When we attack Cuba, we're going to have to attack with an all-out attack … The third proposition is that if we do this and leave those missiles in Turkey, the Soviet Union may—and I think probably will—attack the Turkish missiles. Now the fourth proposition is: If the Soviet Union attacks the Turkish missiles, we must respond with conventional weapons … against Soviet warships and/or naval bases in the Black Sea area. Now that, to me, is the absolute minimum, and I would say that it is damned dangerous … Now, I'm not sure we can avoid anything like that if we attack Cuba, but I think we should make every effort to avoid it, and one way to avoid it is to defuse the Turkish missiles before we attack Cuba."

This is so plumb crazy that even Lyndon Johnson, who has said almost nothing until now, can't stand it. "Bob," he says with clear exasperation, "if you're willing to give up your missiles in Turkey, why don't you say that to Khrushchev and say we're cutting a trade, make the trade there? Save all the invasions and the lives?" (Later in the meeting, Johnson makes it clear that he opposes taking Khrushchev's deal; his protest here seems to be driven by an unwillingness to give up the Turkish missiles at all.)

(It's too bad that Johnson didn't remember this exchange a couple years later while listening to McNamara spell out the reasons for bombing North Vietnam.)

There's also a classic exchange between McGeorge Bundy and George Ball, which foretells many an argument that would take place over Vietnam. Ball agrees with JFK on the missile trade, noting that the U.S. Navy's new Polaris submarines, which are equipped with nuclear missiles, will be sent to the Mediterranean in a few months; they'll provide Turkey with a more secure defense. "These things," Ball says of the land-based Jupiter missiles in Turkey, "are obsolete anyway."

Bundy doesn't like this turn of events. "And what's left of NATO?" he asks glumly.

Ball replies, "I don't think NATO's going to be wrecked, and if NATO isn't any better than that, it isn't that good to us."

Again, you will come across nothing remotely resembling any of these exchanges in Dallek's book.