McGeorge Bundy was special assistant for national security affairs to U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1966. On October 16, 1962, Bundy told President Kennedy that CIA photo interpreters believed that Soviet launch sites for ground-to-ground offensive missiles were under way in Cuba. In his interview conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, Bundy describes the two weeks of intensive closed-door debate on how best to get the missiles out of Cubaa situation that had caught him and his colleagues by surprise. As the members of the Executive Committee (ExComm)the presidents handpicked group of nineteen men who advised him through the Cuban missile crisisdebated scenarios, Bundy saw his role as ensuring that all sides would be considered. He recalls balancing the needs to debate and to act, the presidents focus on maintaining political control over delicate decisions that could lead to a military escalation, unexpected events along the way, the worst day of the crisis, and Nikita Khrushchev's October 28 decision to withdraw the missiles. The interview closes with Bundys commentary on Berlin, the other nuclear crisis that marked this period; Defense Secretary McNamaras flexible response strategy; and the United States survivable strategic force as a vital deterrent to anybodys first strike.