In "Settle it with Dueling pistols?" (Aug. 11), the letter writer compares President Trump's handling of North Korea with John F. Kennedy’s actions and words during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He states that JFK did not "lose his cool" and used "non-threatening actions."

Actually, JFK directly stated that any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, "requiring a full retaliatory response on the Soviet Union." He also initiated a naval blockade of Cuba, an act of war that almost led to direct confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet navies. The Florida peninsula fairly groaned with the weight of troops and material moving to invasion ports. 

Some non-threatening, some cool. 

Finally JFK stated that, "The 1930s taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war."

True then, true today. 

Steve Stepler

New London