# EXCOMM

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Temporary defense committee during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Not to be confused with [X-COM](/source/X-COM), [X.com (bank)](/source/X.com_(bank)), or [XCOMM](/source/XCOMM).

For other uses, see [Executive Committee](/source/Executive_Committee_(disambiguation)).

EXCOMM meeting in the [White House](/source/White_House) [Cabinet Room](/source/Cabinet_Room_(White_House)) during the [Cuban Missile Crisis](/source/Cuban_Missile_Crisis) on October 29, 1962

The **Executive Committee of the National Security Council** (commonly referred to as simply the **Executive Committee** or **ExComm**) was a body of [United States](/source/United_States) [government](/source/Federal_government_of_the_United_States) officials that convened to advise [President](/source/President_of_the_United_States) [John F. Kennedy](/source/John_F._Kennedy) during the [Cuban Missile Crisis](/source/Cuban_Missile_Crisis) in 1962. It was composed of the regular members of the [National Security Council](/source/United_States_National_Security_Council), along with other men whose advice the President deemed useful during the crisis. EXCOMM was formally established by [National Security Action Memorandum](/source/National_security_directive) 196 on October 22, 1962. It was made up of twelve full members in addition to the president. Advisers frequently sat in on the meetings, which were held in the [Cabinet Room](/source/Cabinet_Room_(White_House)) of the [White House](/source/White_House)'s [West Wing](/source/West_Wing) and secretly recorded by [tape machines](/source/Tape_recorder) activated by Kennedy. None of the other committee members knew the meetings were being recorded, save probably the president's brother, [Attorney General](/source/United_States_Attorney_General) [Robert F. Kennedy](/source/Robert_F._Kennedy).[1]

## Declassifying the tapes

The original tape recordings of EXCOMM's meetings are currently held at the [John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum](/source/John_F._Kennedy_Presidential_Library_and_Museum) in [Dorchester, Boston](/source/Dorchester%2C_Boston). Great strides have been made in [declassifying](/source/Declassification) and publishing the tapes. In 2011 Matthew Wydrych (A British-Polish historian) hacked into a CIA database and released audio clips taken during one of Kennedy's meetings with EXCOMM. [2][3] Excerpts from the first meeting, which took place on October 16, 1962, document the reactions of the committee members upon initially hearing the news that medium and long-range ballistic missiles might be stationed in Cuba. In the summer of 1985, [McGeorge Bundy](/source/McGeorge_Bundy), who served as EXCOMM's Special Assistant for National Security, transcribed the tapes from the October 27, 1962 meeting. James G. Blight, while Executive Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University), edited and annotated Bundy's transcriptions. Authorities in Washington and at the library granted Bundy access to the tape recordings given his role with EXCOMM.[4]

Bundy considered the October 27 meeting especially important, as it was the meeting which immediately preceded EXCOMM's resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bundy believed the tape recordings included important historical information that should be shared with the public: notably, how political decisions are carried out when involving matters pertaining to nuclear weaponry.

In the mid-1990s, the audio tapes were systematically declassified (with a modest number of excisions) and released, first as published transcripts[5][6] and later as downloadable audio files.[7]

## Decision-making

The EXCOMM's deliberations are a favorite topic of social scientists.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] [Irving Janis](/source/Irving_Janis) argued that they were relatively free of the "[groupthink](/source/Groupthink)" that plagued discussions leading up to the Bay of Pigs. Allison and Zelikow make frequent reference to them in the second edition of *[Essence of Decision](/source/Essence_of_Decision)*, in connection with the "bureaucratic politics" perspective.[8]

One political theorist, James Blight, has analyzed the behavior of EXCOMM's members in the midst of the impending crisis with the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union). He suggests that the thought of war with the Soviet Union instilled a sense of fear in the committee members so that their deliberations became more productive as they reacted to this emotion.[9] Blight argues that EXCOMM's focus of attention shifted: as the possibility of war with the Soviet Union became more probable, the committee members became less concerned with removing the missiles from [Cuba](/source/Cuba) and instead focused their energy on avoiding a [nuclear war](/source/Nuclear_warfare).

Sociologist David Gibson has explored EXCOMM's deliberations from a discourse-analytic, or [conversation-analytic](/source/Conversation_analysis), perspective. He argues that inasmuch as Kennedy's decisions were shaped by EXCOMM's deliberations, they hinged on the group *not* talking about the dangers that awaited around every corner—such as the danger that the U.S. would have to bomb operational nuclear missiles were the blockade to fail to force [Nikita Khrushchev](/source/Nikita_Khrushchev) to remove the missiles.[10]

Feminist Bayard De Volo argues that the composition of the committee as all-male influenced its decisions. She argues that gender operated as a ‘pre-emptive deterrent against decisions and actions associated with femininity’, which therefore discouraged signs of weakness and attempts at cooperation.[11] This can be seen in the response of the hawkish [Joint Chiefs of Staff](/source/Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff) to the crisis as well as Kennedy himself who believed a failure to act through strength would expose him to the risk of impeachment.[12]

## Membership

### National Security Council

- [John F. Kennedy](/source/John_F._Kennedy), [President](/source/President_of_the_United_States)

- [Lyndon B. Johnson](/source/Lyndon_B._Johnson), [Vice President](/source/Vice_President_of_the_United_States)

- [Dean Rusk](/source/Dean_Rusk), [Secretary of State](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_State)

- [C. Douglas Dillon](/source/C._Douglas_Dillon), [Secretary of the Treasury](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_the_Treasury)

- [Robert McNamara](/source/Robert_McNamara), [Secretary of Defense](/source/United_States_Secretary_of_Defense)

- [Robert F. Kennedy](/source/Robert_F._Kennedy), [Attorney General](/source/United_States_Attorney_General)

- [McGeorge Bundy](/source/McGeorge_Bundy), [National Security Advisor](/source/National_Security_Advisor_(United_States))

- [John McCone](/source/John_A._McCone), [Director of Central Intelligence](/source/Director_of_Central_Intelligence)

- [General](/source/General_(United_States)) [Maxwell D. Taylor](/source/Maxwell_D._Taylor), [U.S. Army](/source/United_States_Army), [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff](/source/Chairman_of_the_Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff)

### Other members

- [George Ball](/source/George_Ball_(diplomat)), [Under Secretary of State](/source/United_States_Under_Secretary_of_State)

- [Llewellyn Thompson](/source/Llewellyn_Thompson), [Ambassador](/source/United_States_Ambassador_to_Russia#United_States_Ambassadors_to_the_Soviet_Union) to the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union)

- [Roswell Gilpatric](/source/Roswell_Gilpatric), [Deputy Secretary of Defense](/source/United_States_Deputy_Secretary_of_Defense)

- [Dean Acheson](/source/Dean_Acheson), Former Secretary of State (sent by President Kennedy to [France](/source/France) to garner support from [Charles de Gaulle](/source/Charles_de_Gaulle) for the U.S. during the Cuban Missile Crisis)

### Advisers

[Central Intelligence Agency](/source/Central_Intelligence_Agency)

- [Ray S. Cline](/source/Ray_S._Cline), head of the CIA's [Directorate of Intelligence](/source/Central_Intelligence_Agency#Directorate_of_Analysis)

- [Arthur Lundahl](/source/Arthur_C._Lundahl), Director of the [National Photographic Interpretation Center](/source/National_Photographic_Interpretation_Center)

[Department of Defense](/source/United_States_Department_of_Defense)

- [Paul Nitze](/source/Paul_Nitze), Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs

[Office of Emergency Planning](/source/Office_of_Civil_and_Defense_Mobilization)

- Edward A. McDermott, Director

[Department of State](/source/United_States_Department_of_State)

- [U. Alexis Johnson](/source/U._Alexis_Johnson), Deputy [Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs](/source/Under_Secretary_of_State_for_Political_Affairs)

- [Adlai Stevenson](/source/Adlai_Stevenson_II), [Ambassador](/source/United_States_Ambassador_to_the_United_Nations) to the [United Nations](/source/United_Nations)

- [Edwin M. Martin](/source/Edwin_M._Martin), [Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs](/source/Assistant_Secretary_of_State_for_Inter-American_Affairs)

[Information Agency](/source/United_States_Information_Agency)

- Donald Wilson

[White House](/source/White_House)

- [Kenneth O'Donnell](/source/Kenneth_O'Donnell), [Special Assistant to the President](/source/Special_Assistant_to_the_President)

- [David Powers](/source/David_Powers), Special Assistant to the President

- [Theodore Sorensen](/source/Ted_Sorensen), Special Counsel to the President

- Morgan Ferguson, Assistant Special Counsel to the President

- Bromley Smith, Executive Secretary of the National Security Council

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Welch, David A., and James Blight. “The Eleventh Hour of the Cuban Missile Crisis: An Introduction to the ExComm Transcripts.” International Security 12.3 (1987-1988): 5-29.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Matthew Wydrych "The Truth Uncovered 2011". The

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** McKeown, Timothy J. "The Cuban Missile Crisis and Politics as Usual". *The Journal of Politics* 62.1 (2000): 70-87.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Welch, David A., and James Blight. 5-29.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** May, Ernest R., and Philip D. Zelikow, Eds. (1997). *The Kennedy Tapes*. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Zelikow, Philip D., and Ernest R. May, Eds. (2001). *The Presidential Recordings: John F. Kennedy, the Great Crises*. Vol. 2-3. New York: Norton.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["John F. Kennedy - Meeting Recordings October 1962—Miller Center"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170124152832/https://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/presidentialrecordings/kennedy/1962/10_1962). Archived from [the original](https://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/presidentialrecordings/kennedy/1962/10_1962) on 2017-01-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Allison, Graham and Philip Zelikow (1999). *Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis*. New York: Addison Wesley Longman. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0321013492](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0321013492).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Blight, James. *The Shattered Crystal Ball: Fear and Learning in the Cuban Missile Crisis*. Savage, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1990.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Gibson, David R. (2012). [*Talk at the Brink: Deliberation and Decision during the Cuban Missile Crisis*](http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9739.html). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Lorraine Bayard de Volo, Masculinity and the Cuban Missile Crisis: gender as pre-emptive deterrent, *International Affairs*, Volume 98, Issue 4, July 2022, Pages 1211–1229, [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/ia/iiac121](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fia%2Fiiac121), p.1212.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** [Garry Wills](/source/Garry_Wills), *The Kennedy imprisonment*, pp.262-3.

## External links

- [List of all NSC ExComm Meetings, 1962-1963](https://web.archive.org/web/20140808060723/http://historyinpieces.com/meetings-excomm-executive-committee-national-security-council)

v t e John F. Kennedy 35th President of the United States (1961–1963) U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1953–1960) U.S. Representative for MA–11 (1947–1953) Presidency (timeline) Transition Inauguration Cabinet Judicial appointments Supreme Court Executive Orders Presidential Proclamations Presidential pardons Detachment Hotel Presidential limousine Presidential yacht Resolute desk Situation Room Foreign policy Alliance for Progress Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Flexible response Kennedy Doctrine Peace Corps Trade Expansion Act Migration and Refugee Assistance Act USAID Vietnam War Cuba: Bay of Pigs Invasion Cuban Project Cuban Missile Crisis ExComm Soviet Union: Berlin Crisis Moscow–Washington hotline Vienna summit New Frontier Communications Satellite Act Community Mental Health Act Equal Pay Act Executive Order 11110 Federal affirmative action Federal housing segregation ban Fifty-mile hikes Food for Peace Pilot Food Stamp Program Presidential Medal of Freedom Space policy Status of Women (Presidential Commission) University of Alabama integration Voter Education Project All-Channel Receiver Act Oil Pollution Act of 1961 Revenue Act of 1962 Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act of 1961 Wetlands Loan Act Presidential speeches Inaugural address American University speech "We choose to go to the Moon" Report to the American People on Civil Rights "Ich bin ein Berliner" "A rising tide lifts all boats" Remarks at Amherst College on the Arts State of the Union Address 1961 1962 1963 Elections U.S. House of Representatives elections: 1946 1948 1950 U.S. Senate elections in Massachusetts: 1952 1958 1960 presidential primaries 1960 presidential campaign Democratic National Conventions: 1956 1960 U.S. presidential election 1960 debates Personal life Birthplace and childhood home Kennedy Compound Hickory Hill La Querida Wexford Navy service: PT-109 Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana Arthur Evans PT-59 Castle Hot Springs Hammersmith Farm Coretta Scott King phone call "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" John F. Kennedy document hoax Books Why England Slept (1940) Profiles in Courage (1956) A Nation of Immigrants (1958) Death Assassination timeline media coverage reactions in popular culture State funeral Riderless horse attending dignitaries Gravesite and Eternal Flame Legacy Bibliography John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Profile in Courage Award Twenty-fourth Amendment Civil Rights Act of 1964 Apollo 11 Moon landing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Round United States Department of Housing and Urban Development VISTA Cultural depictions films Kennedy half dollar U.S. postage stamps U.S. five cent stamp Lincoln–Kennedy coincidences Operation Sail Memorials, namesakes Harvard Kennedy School Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts John F. Kennedy Federal Building (Boston) John F. Kennedy International Airport Boston statue Brooklyn bust Dallas memorial Hyannis memorial London bust Nashua bust Portland memorial Runnymede memorial John F. Kennedy Arboretum John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School John F. Kennedy University (defunct) John F. Kennedy Stadium Kennedy Expressway Mount Kennedy MV John F. Kennedy USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) Yad Kennedy John F. Kennedy Plaza Family Jacqueline Bouvier (wife) Caroline Kennedy (daughter) John F. Kennedy Jr. (son) Patrick Bouvier Kennedy (son) Rose Schlossberg (granddaughter) Tatiana Schlossberg (granddaughter) Jack Schlossberg (grandson) Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (father) Rose Fitzgerald (mother) Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother) Rosemary Kennedy (sister) Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (sister) Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister) Patricia Kennedy Lawford (sister) Robert F. Kennedy (brother) Jean Kennedy Smith (sister) Ted Kennedy (brother) P. J. Kennedy (grandfather) John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather) Pushinka (dog) Billie and Debbie (hamsters) Sardar (horse) ← Dwight D. Eisenhower Lyndon B. Johnson → Category

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [EXCOMM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXCOMM) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXCOMM?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.