Krushchev's reflection on the Cuban Missle Crisis

I have to say, I did not think Kennedy had it in him to not back down.  Every cell in my body told me after our meeting in Vienna that he would capitulate and let us set up missle sites in Cuba.  I would never have challenged him so publically if I thought it would not work.  I have ordered thousands of men to their deaths while commanding Red Army troops in Stalingrad, but my people looked on me as a hero because we knocked back the Fascist dogs, but they will only remember that the Capitalist pigs sent the Soviet fleet running.  I do not have much time left leading this great country.  Russians can suffer hunger, they can suffer cold, they can suffer death, but they will never suffer fools!  If I belived in a higher being, I could pray for mercy.  Since there is no God, there will be no mercy.  I need some vodka.