August 9, 1960: Airborne Alert, Warnings to Russia and the "Peril" in Cuba

President Eisenhower, it was reported on this day in 1960, cited "changing Communist tactics and attitudes" in ordering a military buildup. This was to include plans for a possible continuous airborne alert of nuclear-armed bombers.

In a separate news story it was reported that the secretary of the Army warned the Soviet Union that the U.S. would resist aggression "anywhere in the world" and that the communists were in for "a terrific surprise." Wilber Brucker said, "It is always unwise to tempt the fates by continually proving a patient nation," referring to recent Soviet statements "heaped upon President Eisenhower by the bullies of the Kremlin."

Finally, an editorial in the August 9, 1960 edition of the New York Times on "The Problem of Cuba" refers to events there as "moving from one peak of drama to another." U.S. relations with Cuba, it says, are "fraught with danger" and it calls the situation "exasperating," "perilous," "outrageous" and "untenable."