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121-505: Others, including the E.F. Young Hotel , owned and operated by an African-American entrepreneur, have been recognized as contributing properties to the Meridian Downtown Historic District . Today, most hotels in the city are located in post-World War II suburban developments. Urban activists are working to establish a downtown hotel to aid in revitalizing the city's core and support the theater. The Threefoot Building ,

242-425: A historic district . It can be any property, structure or object that adds to the historic integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, either local or federal, significant. Definitions vary but, in general, they maintain the same characteristics. Another key aspect of a contributing property is historic integrity. Significant alterations to a property can sever its physical connections with

363-421: A megaton-class nuclear weapon. The Soviets were building nine sites—six for R-12 medium-range missiles (NATO designation SS-4 Sandal ) with an effective range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) and three for R-14 intermediate-range ballistic missiles (NATO designation SS-5 Skean ) with a maximum range of 4,500 kilometres (2,800 mi). On 7 October, Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado spoke at

484-715: A base for ballistic missiles aimed at the United States". On 10 August, he wrote a memo to Kennedy in which he guessed that the Soviets were preparing to introduce ballistic missiles into Cuba. Che Guevara himself traveled to the Soviet Union on 30 August 1962, to sign off on the final agreement regarding the deployment of missiles in Cuba. The visit was heavily monitored by the CIA as Guevara had gained more scrutiny by American intelligence. While in

605-431: A beauty shop, two barber shops, a shoe shine parlor, and a manufacturing shop for the personal products. While operating the barber shops out of the hotel, Young sold customers some hair care products he made in his own kitchen. Demand became so great that he opened a manufacturing company in 1933. The hotel also prospered, as it was one of the only hotels in the city to serve black travelers. The company did so well that by

726-530: A capacity to carry out offensive actions against the United States... the United States would act." Further, US credibility among its allies and people would be damaged if the Soviet Union appeared to redress the strategic imbalance by placing missiles in Cuba. Kennedy explained after the crisis that "it would have politically changed the balance of power. It would have appeared to, and appearances contribute to reality." On 18 October, Kennedy met with Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Gromyko , who claimed

847-544: A deal was approved by the Meridian City Council, which sold the Threefoot to a Buford, Georgia -based hotel management company named Ascent Hospitality Management. The building was purchased "as-is" for $ 10,000 cash, and Ascent agreed to begin construction within 12 months of the date of purchase on a " Courtyard by Marriott " hotel with 120 guest rooms. Construction is scheduled to take approximately 14 to 18 months, with

968-457: A downtown museum, the owners donated this property for MAEC use. After the purchase, the MAEC released a statement that "due to the quality of the buildings and the function of them [...] we feel it's best to tear the buildings down." The building was demolished in late 2011. During the demolition, workers discovered several metal canisters full of crackers from the 1960s, evidence of a shelter dating from

1089-420: A figure of 75. The US, on the other hand, had 170 ICBMs and was quickly building more. It also had eight George Washington - and Ethan Allen -class ballistic missile submarines , with the capability to launch 16 Polaris missiles, each with a range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,600 km). The Soviet First Secretary , Nikita Khrushchev , increased the perception of a missile gap when he loudly boasted to

1210-577: A former office building, has been considered for renovation and adaptation as a hotel. Even before the city was officially established in 1860, hotels had been built, on the strength of the proposed linking of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad and the Vicksburg and Montgomery Railroad . After Sherman 's raid of the city in 1864 during the American Civil War , only four buildings remained standing. One of those

1331-760: A future US invasion. Construction of launch facilities started shortly thereafter. A U-2 spy plane captured photographic evidence of medium- and long-range launch facilities in October. US President John F. Kennedy convened a meeting of the National Security Council and other key advisers, forming the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM). Kennedy was advised to carry out an air strike on Cuban soil in order to compromise Soviet missile supplies, followed by an invasion of

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1452-501: A great chance but there are quite some rewards to it." Thirdly, from the perspective of the Soviet Union and of Cuba, it seemed that the United States wanted to invade or increase its presence in Cuba. In view of actions including the attempt to expel Cuba from the Organization of American States , the ongoing campaign of violent terrorist attacks on civilians the US was carrying out against

1573-471: A half dozen launching sites for intermediate range tactical missiles." The Cuban leadership was further upset when on 20 September, the US Senate approved Joint Resolution 230, which expressed the US was determined "to prevent in Cuba the creation or use of an externally-supported military capability endangering the security of the United States". On the same day, the US announced a major military exercise in

1694-639: A historian and adviser to Kennedy, told National Public Radio in an interview on 16 October 2002, that Castro did not want the missiles, but Khrushchev pressured Castro to accept them. Castro was not completely happy with the idea, but the Cuban National Directorate of the Revolution accepted them, both to protect Cuba against US attack and to aid the Soviet Union. In early 1962, a group of Soviet military and missile construction specialists accompanied an agricultural delegation to Havana. They obtained

1815-479: A historic district historic, while a non-contributing property, such as a modern medical clinic, does not. The contributing properties are key to a historic district's historic associations, historic architectural qualities, or archaeological qualities. A property can change from contributing to non-contributing and vice-versa if significant alterations take place. According to the National Park Service ,

1936-609: A historic home can damage its historic integrity and render it non-contributing. In some cases, damage to the historic integrity of a structure is reversible, while other times the historic nature of a building has been so "severely compromised" as to be irreversible. For example, in the East Grove Street District in Bloomington, Illinois , contributing properties include the Queen Anne -style George H. Cox House (1886) and

2057-518: A lot of Russians, and then do nothing. If they don't take action in Cuba, they certainly will in Berlin. Kennedy concluded that attacking Cuba by air would signal the Soviets to presume "a clear line" to conquer Berlin. Kennedy also believed that US allies would think of the country as "trigger-happy cowboys" who lost Berlin because they could not peacefully resolve the Cuban situation. The EXCOMM then discussed

2178-414: A meeting with Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro . According to one report, Cuban leadership had a strong expectation that the US would invade Cuba again and enthusiastically approved the idea of installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. According to another source, Castro objected to the missiles' deployment as making him look like a Soviet puppet, but he was persuaded that missiles in Cuba would be an irritant to

2299-626: A personal message from Khrushchev reassuring him that "under no circumstances would surface-to-surface missiles be sent to Cuba." The missiles in Cuba allowed the Soviets to effectively target most of the Continental US. The planned arsenal was forty launchers. The Cuban populace readily noticed the arrival and deployment of the missiles and hundreds of reports reached Miami. US intelligence received countless reports, many of dubious quality or even laughable, most of which could be dismissed as describing defensive missiles. Only five reports bothered

2420-606: A plan to build a new hotel on the same block as the Threefoot. Plans released in June 2011 include renovating the Threefoot Building as a mixed-use commercial and residential development. Jason Goree, vice president of Watkins Development, has said, "The Riley Center needs a convention center hotel. (Downtown Meridian) needs a convention center hotel." Former mayor John Robert Smith , Lauderdale County Tourism Director Suzy Johnson, and Lala's partner Dede Mogollon agree. In September 2015

2541-456: A strong background, nor, generally speaking, does he have the courage to stand up to a serious challenge." He also told his son Sergei that on Cuba, Kennedy "would make a fuss, make more of a fuss, and then agree". In May 1962, Soviet First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev was persuaded by the idea of countering the US's growing lead in developing and deploying strategic missiles by placing Soviet intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Cuba, despite

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2662-527: Is classified as one of four property types : building, object, structure, or site. The line between contributing and non-contributing can be fuzzy. In particular, American historic districts nominated to the National Register of Historic Places before 1980 have few records of the non-contributing structures. State Historic Preservation Offices conduct surveys to determine the historical character of structures in historic districts. Districts nominated to

2783-607: Is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war . In 1961 the US government put Jupiter nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey. It had trained a paramilitary force of expatriate Cubans , which the CIA led in an attempt to invade Cuba and overthrow its government. Starting in November of that year, the US government engaged in a violent campaign of terrorism and sabotage in Cuba, referred to as

2904-581: The Arts and Crafts -style H.W. Kelley House (1906), and non-contributing properties include the Italianate -style George Brand House (1886), whose original exterior has been covered with a sun room and asbestos siding, and a 1950s physician's office built in a style radically different from the surrounding neighborhood. Cuban Missile Crisis This is an accepted version of this page Conflict resolved diplomatically The Cuban Missile Crisis , also known as

3025-466: The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The site was vacant for more than three years. MAEC announced in early 2015 that the organization had raised over $ 19 million in private donations toward the center, as well as $ 25 million in state government funding. Ground was broken for construction on October 3, 2015, and construction of the MAEC is scheduled to be completed in November 2017. The Union Hotel

3146-568: The Cuban Project , which continued throughout the first half of the 1960s. The Soviet administration was concerned about a Cuban drift towards China , with which the Soviets had an increasingly fractious relationship. In response to these factors the Soviet and Cuban governments agreed, at a meeting between leaders Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July 1962, to place nuclear missiles on Cuba to deter

3267-646: The Eisenhower administration and less than twelve months after the Cuban Revolution , the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed a plan for paramilitary action against Cuba. The CIA recruited operatives on the island to carry out terrorism and sabotage , kill civilians, and cause economic damage. At the initiative of the CIA Deputy Director for Plans , Richard Bissell , and approved by

3388-628: The Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, D.C. a historic district and protected. By 1965, 51 American communities had adopted preservation ordinances. In 1976 the National Historic Preservation Act was passed by Congress. By 1998, more than 2,300 U.S. towns, cities and villages had enacted historic preservation ordinances. Contributing properties are defined through historic district or historic preservation zoning laws, usually at

3509-728: The Louisiana Constitution led to the 1937 creation of the Vieux Carre Commission, which was charged with protecting and preserving the French Quarter in the city of New Orleans . The city passed a local ordinance that set standards to regulate changes within the quarter. Other sources, such as the Columbia Law Review in 1963, indicate differing dates for the preservation ordinances in both Charleston and New Orleans. The Columbia Law Review gave dates of 1925 for

3630-757: The National Register of Historic Places and also as a contributing property to the Meridian Depot Historic District . After being sold in 1981 by the Williams family, the hotel was later converted into downtown apartments. When the Depot Historic District was combined with the Urban Center Historic District as the Meridian Downtown Historic District in 2007, the hotel was listed as a contributing property to

3751-798: The October Crisis ( Spanish : Crisis de Octubre ) in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis ( Russian : Карибский кризис , romanized :  Karibskiy krizis ), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union , when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba . The crisis lasted from 16   to   28 October 1962. The confrontation

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3872-526: The Special Activities Division were to be infiltrated into Cuba to carry out sabotage and organization, including radio broadcasts. In February 1962, the US launched an embargo against Cuba , and Lansdale presented a 26-page, top-secret timetable for implementation of the overthrow of the Cuban government, mandating guerrilla operations to begin in August and September. "Open revolt and overthrow of

3993-525: The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS: Telegrafnoe Agentstvo Sovetskogo Soyuza ) announced that the Soviet Union had no need or intention to introduce offensive nuclear missiles into Cuba. On 13 October, Dobrynin was questioned by former Undersecretary of State Chester Bowles about whether the Soviets planned to put offensive weapons in Cuba. He denied any such plans. On 17 October, Soviet embassy official Georgy Bolshakov brought President Kennedy

4114-489: The UN General Assembly : "If... we are attacked, we will defend ourselves. I repeat, we have sufficient means with which to defend ourselves; we have indeed our inevitable weapons, the weapons, which we would have preferred not to acquire, and which we do not wish to employ." On 11 October in another Senate speech, Sen Keating reaffirmed his earlier warning of 31 August and stated that, "Construction has begun on at least

4235-426: The contiguous United States . Graham Allison, the director of Harvard University 's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs , points out, "The Soviet Union could not right the nuclear imbalance by deploying new ICBMs on its own soil. In order to meet the threat it faced in 1962, 1963, and 1964, it had very few options. Moving existing nuclear weapons to locations from which they could reach American targets

4356-456: The "Photo Gap". No significant U-2 coverage was achieved over the interior of the island. US officials attempted to use a Corona photo-reconnaissance satellite to obtain coverage over reported Soviet military deployments, but imagery acquired over western Cuba by a Corona KH-4 mission on October 1 was heavily covered by clouds and haze and failed to provide any usable intelligence. At the end of September, Navy reconnaissance aircraft photographed

4477-505: The 1930s, and later was converted into permanent residences. Hotel Meridian was listed as a contributing property to the Meridian Urban Center Historic District in 1979 and as a contributing property to the Meridian Downtown Historic District in 2007. The building sat vacant for decades. When the board of the proposed Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center (MAEC) purchased the property next door to be used as

4598-585: The Bay of Pigs will embolden the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not do." Following the failed invasion, the US massively escalated its sponsorship of terrorism against Cuba. Starting in late 1961, using the military and the CIA, the US government engaged in an extensive campaign of state-sponsored terrorism against civilian and military targets on the island. The terrorist attacks killed significant numbers of civilians. The US armed, trained, funded and directed

4719-514: The Caribbean, PHIBRIGLEX-62 , which Cuba denounced as a deliberate provocation and proof that the US planned to invade Cuba. The Soviet leadership believed, based on its perception of Kennedy's lack of confidence during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, that he would avoid confrontation and accept the missiles as a fait accompli . On 11 September, the Soviet Union publicly warned that a US attack on Cuba or on Soviet ships that were carrying supplies to

4840-459: The Communist regime" was hoped by the planners to occur in the first two weeks of October. The terrorism campaign and the threat of invasion were crucial factors in the Soviet decision to position the missiles on Cuba, and in the Cuban government's decision to accept. The US government was aware at the time, as reported to the president in a National Intelligence Estimate , that the invasion threat

4961-403: The Cuban mainland. He chose a less aggressive course in order to avoid a declaration of war. On 22 October Kennedy ordered a naval blockade to prevent further missiles from reaching Cuba. He referred to the blockade as a "quarantine", not as a blockade, so the US could avoid the formal implications of a state of war. An agreement was eventually reached between Kennedy and Khrushchev. Publicly,

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5082-489: The Cuban or Soviet SAMs in Cuba might shoot down a CIA U-2, initiating another international incident. In a meeting with members of the Committee on Overhead Reconnaissance (COMOR) on 10 September, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy heavily restricted further U-2 flights over Cuban airspace. The resulting lack of coverage over the island for the next five weeks became known to historians as

5203-617: The Grand Avenue Hotel and the Great Southern Hotel. The Grand Avenue Hotel was located a block away from the train station and appealed to families accompanying students traveling to and from the Meridian Male College. The Grand Avenue was damaged, along with a large portion of downtown, by a tornado on March 2, 1906. Several photographs of the damage in the city were taken from the hotel's second floor balcony. The building

5324-544: The Kennedy library transcribed some of them. On 16 October, President Kennedy notified Attorney General Robert Kennedy that he was convinced the Soviets were placing missiles in Cuba and it was a legitimate threat. This made the threat of nuclear destruction by two world superpowers a reality. Robert Kennedy responded by contacting the Soviet Ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin . Robert Kennedy expressed his "concern about what

5445-592: The Meridian Art League were held in the hotel. These exhibits were eventually moved to the Meridian Museum of Art . The hotel operated well into the 1950s, before being sold a number of times. By the later 20th century, rail passenger traffic was superseded by people traveling by automobile, and sometimes bypassing downtowns altogether when they stopped for the night. The building was eventually purchased by Lauderdale County in 1969 and converted for office use as

5566-586: The National Register of Historic Places after 1980 usually list those structures considered non-contributing. As a general rule, a contributing property helps make a historic district historic. A well-preserved 19th-century mansion will generally contribute to a district, while a modern gas station generally will not. Historic buildings identified as contributing properties can become non-contributing properties within historic districts if major alterations have taken place. Sometimes, an act as simple as re- siding

5687-465: The New Orleans laws and 1924 for Charleston. The same publication claimed that these two cities were the only cities with historic district zoning until Alexandria, Virginia adopted an ordinance in 1946. The National Park Service appears to refute this. In 1939, the city of San Antonio, Texas , enacted an ordinance to protect the area of La Villita, the original Mexican village marketplace. In 1941

5808-622: The Phoenix Hotel at 26th Avenue and 7th Street, built in the early 1870s and destroyed by fire in 1876; the St. Charles Hotel and St. Bernard Hotel, both built in 1881; and the International Hotel, built in 1884. The owner of the International Hotel was Felix Weidmann, who had founded Weidmann's Restaurant in 1870. In the early 21st century, Weidmann's is the oldest operating restaurant in the state of Mississippi. Two more hotels were built in 1890:

5929-477: The Raymond P. Davis County Annex Building. The Lamar Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and as a Mississippi Landmark in 1988. As it was not within the boundaries of either of the two smaller historic districts in downtown Meridian, the building was not listed as a contributing property to a historic district on the National Register until the larger Meridian Downtown Historic District

6050-579: The Soviet Rocket Forces, led a survey team that visited Cuba. He told Khrushchev that the missiles would be concealed and camouflaged by palm trees. The Soviet troops would arrive in Cuba heavily underprepared. They did not know that the tropical climate would render ineffective many of their weapons and much of their equipment. In the first few days of setting up the missiles, troops complained of fuse failures, excessive corrosion, overconsumption of oil, and generator blackouts. As early as August 1962,

6171-516: The Soviet Union Guevara argued with Khrushchev that the missile deal should be made public but Khrushchev insisted on total secrecy, and swore the Soviet Union's support if the Americans discovered the missiles. By the time Guevara arrived in Cuba the United States had already discovered the Soviet troops in Cuba via U-2 spy planes. With important Congressional elections scheduled for November,

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6292-461: The Soviet Union because the withdrawal of US missiles from Italy and Turkey was a secret deal between Kennedy and Khrushchev, and the Soviets were seen as retreating from a situation that they had started. Khrushchev's fall from power two years later was in part because of the Soviet Politburo 's embarrassment at both Khrushchev's eventual concessions to the US and his ineptitude in precipitating

6413-480: The Soviet ship Kasimov , with large crates on its deck the size and shape of Il-28 jet bomber fuselages. In September 1962, analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) noticed that Cuban surface-to-air missile sites were arranged in a pattern similar to those used by the Soviet Union to protect its ICBM bases, leading DIA to lobby for the resumption of U-2 flights over the island. Although in

6534-479: The Soviets having 340 would not therefore substantially alter the strategic balance. In 1990, he reiterated that "it made no difference.... The military balance wasn't changed. I didn't believe it then, and I don't believe it now." The EXCOMM agreed that the missiles would affect the political balance. Kennedy had explicitly promised the American people less than a month before the crisis that "if Cuba should possess

6655-622: The Soviets held a two-to-one advantage in conventional ground forces, more pronounced in field guns and tanks, particularly in the European theatre. Khrushchev also had an impression of Kennedy as weak, which to him was confirmed by the President's response during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 , particularly to the building of the Berlin Wall by East Germany to prevent its citizens from emigrating to

6776-448: The Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement not to invade Cuba again. Secretly, the United States agreed to dismantle all of the offensive weapons it had deployed to Turkey. There has been debate on whether Italy was also included in the agreement. While the Soviets dismantled their missiles, some Soviet bombers remained in Cuba, and

6897-490: The Soviets would never install nuclear missiles in Cuba. EXCOMM discussed several possible courses of action: The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously agreed that a full-scale attack and invasion was the only solution. They believed that the Soviets would not attempt to stop the US from conquering Cuba. Kennedy was skeptical: They, no more than we, can let these things go by without doing something. They can't, after all their statements, permit us to take out their missiles, kill

7018-491: The Soviets' operation entailed elaborate denial and deception , known as " maskirovka ". All the planning and preparation for transporting and deploying the missiles were carried out in the utmost secrecy, with only a very few told the exact nature of the mission. Even the troops detailed for the mission were given misdirection by being told that they were headed for a cold region and being outfitted with ski boots, fleece-lined parkas, and other winter equipment. The Soviet code-name

7139-533: The U-2 photographs and identified objects that they interpreted as medium range ballistic missiles. This identification was made, in part, on the strength of reporting provided by Oleg Penkovsky , a double agent in the GRU working for the CIA and MI6 . Although he provided no direct reports of the Soviet missile deployments to Cuba, technical and doctrinal details of Soviet missile regiments that had been provided by Penkovsky in

7260-400: The US and help the interests of the entire socialist camp. The deployment would include short-range tactical weapons (with a range of 40 km, usable only against naval vessels) that would provide a "nuclear umbrella" for attacks upon the island. By May, Khrushchev and Castro agreed to place strategic nuclear missiles secretly in Cuba. Like Castro, Khrushchev felt that a US invasion of Cuba

7381-542: The US did nothing over the missile deployments in Cuba, he could muscle the West out of Berlin using said missiles as a deterrent to western countermeasures in Berlin. If the US tried to bargain with the Soviets after it became aware of the missiles, Khrushchev could demand trading the missiles for West Berlin. Since Berlin was strategically more important than Cuba, the trade would be a win for Khrushchev, as Kennedy recognized: "The advantage is, from Khrushchev's point of view, he takes

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7502-469: The US from inside the Soviet Union. The poor accuracy and reliability of the missiles raised serious doubts about their effectiveness. A newer, more reliable generation of ICBMs would become operational only after 1965. Therefore, Soviet nuclear capability in 1962 placed less emphasis on ICBMs than on medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles ( MRBMs and IRBMs ). The missiles could hit American allies and most of Alaska from Soviet territory but not

7623-415: The US government's demands, made as part of the hostile US reaction to Cuban government policy, were unacceptable. With the end of World War II and the start of the Cold War , the United States government sought to promote private enterprise as an instrument for advancing US strategic interests in the developing world. It had grown concerned about the expansion of communism . In December 1959, under

7744-512: The US suspected the Soviets of building missile facilities in Cuba. During that month, its intelligence services gathered information about sightings by ground observers of Soviet-built MiG-21 fighters and Il-28 light bombers. U-2 spy planes found S-75 Dvina (NATO designation SA-2 ) surface-to-air missile sites at eight different locations. CIA director John A. McCone was suspicious. Sending antiaircraft missiles into Cuba, he reasoned, "made sense only if Moscow intended to use them to shield

7865-439: The United States , a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district significant. Government agencies, at the state, national, and local level in the United States, have differing definitions of what constitutes a contributing property but there are common characteristics. Local laws often regulate

7986-505: The United States kept the naval quarantine in place until 20 November 1962. The blockade was formally ended on 20 November after all offensive missiles and bombers had been withdrawn from Cuba. The evident necessity of a quick and direct communication line between the two powers resulted in the Moscow–Washington hotline . A series of agreements later reduced US–Soviet tensions for several years. The compromise embarrassed Khrushchev and

8107-424: The West . The half-hearted nature of the Bay of Pigs invasion reinforced Khrushchev's and his advisers' impression that Kennedy was indecisive and, as one Soviet aide wrote, "too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations... too intelligent and too weak". Speaking to Soviet officials in the aftermath of the crisis, Khrushchev asserted, "I know for certain that Kennedy doesn't have

8228-431: The analysts. They described large trucks passing through towns at night that were carrying very long canvas-covered cylindrical objects that could not make turns through towns without backing up and maneuvering. Defensive missile transporters, it was believed, could make such turns without undue difficulty. The reports could not be satisfactorily dismissed. The United States had been sending U-2 surveillance over Cuba since

8349-530: The authority of local design controls on buildings within historic districts was being challenged in court. In City of New Orleans vs Pergament (198 La. 852, 5 So. 2d 129 (1941)), Louisiana state appellate courts ruled that the design and demolition controls were valid within defined historic districts. Beginning in the mid-1950s, controls that once applied only to buildings within historic districts were extended to individual landmark structures. The United States Congress adopted legislation in 1950 that declared

8470-514: The business offices from the Young Hotel to a new building. By then he had expanded markets for the manufactured products to Canada and the Caribbean islands. In 2007, the Young Hotel was listed as a contributing property to the Meridian Downtown Historic District. After much debate, the hotel was demolished on April 24, 2023 due to safety concerns. Starting in the 1960s, residents began to move away from downtown in favor of new subdivisions north of

8591-426: The changes that can be made to contributing structures within designated historic districts. The first local ordinances dealing with the alteration of buildings within historic districts was enacted in Charleston, South Carolina in 1931. Properties within a historic district fall into one of two types of property: contributing and non-contributing. A contributing property, such as a 19th-century mansion, helps make

8712-479: The city entered into a partnership with Historic Renovation, Inc. (HRI) from New Orleans, which had completed a similar project in Jackson. Late that year the partnership was terminated by the newly elected mayor Cheri Barry . The city was required to pay HRI $ 1 million in reimbursement fees. In this same period, local hotel owner Abdul Lala proposed constructing a new hotel for the downtown. Lala, who owns six hotels in

8833-542: The city's core. After strip commercial interests began to move downtown, the city worked to preserve its architectural legacy. It researched documentation to support designation of historic districts in the 1970s and 80s to preserve aspects of the city's history. The city established the Meridian Historic Districts and Landmarks Commission in 1979. The Meridian Main Street program was founded in 1985 to capitalize on

8954-422: The city's unique assets and sense of place. Meridian Main Street organized several projects to revitalize downtown and worked with merchants on marketing and design. It was one of the parties supporting the reconstruction of Union Station in 1997 based on the original design of the 1906 train station, with a contemporary use as a multi-modal transportation center for the region. Other Main Street projects included

9075-501: The city, as they were prevented by racial segregation laws from using most other public facilities. Black-owned businesses included a hotel, two restaurants, and a movie theater. Many businesses were started in this area, including one owned by E. F. Young, Jr. , a local barber and taxi driver. Young opened a hotel and barber shop in 1931, and he also began selling hair care products made especially for African Americans. Some products he made himself. Eventually Young's operations included

9196-496: The city, originally proposed the idea in 2008, before the city had partnered with HRI. While the Threefoot Building project, even with the partnership of HRI, would cost taxpayers millions of dollars, Lala offered to build a hotel at his own cost. Believing that the downtown cannot support two hotels, if the city renovates the Threefoot, he will not proceed with his project. After the city terminated its partnership with HRI, it initiated an arrangement with Watkins Development to develop

9317-418: The city, providing passenger and freight service to a wide variety of destinations. The various railroad companies provided more than 6,000 jobs to city residents. By 1920 the number of trains per day increased to as many as one hundred. Sam and Joe Meyer, who had previously been successful in the grocery business, became determined to build a hotel to express the grandeur of the growing city. In 1927 they built

9438-459: The company committing to spending at least $ 14 million on the project. John Tampa, head of Ascent Hospitality Management, has set a goal for the opening of the renovated building to coincide with the opening of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center at the site of the old Hotel Meridian in November 2017. Contributing properties In the law regulating historic districts in

9559-666: The crisis became enmeshed in American politics. On 31 August, Senator Kenneth Keating (R-New York) warned on the Senate floor that the Soviet Union was "in all probability" constructing a missile base in Cuba. He charged the Kennedy administration with covering up a major threat to the US, thereby starting the crisis. He may have received this initial "remarkably accurate" information from his friend, former congresswoman and ambassador Clare Boothe Luce , who in turn received it from Cuban exiles. A later confirming source for Keating's information possibly

9680-603: The crisis. According to the Soviet Ambassador to the United States , Anatoly Dobrynin , the top Soviet leadership took the Cuban outcome as "a blow to its prestige bordering on humiliation". In late 1961, Fidel Castro asked for more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles from the Soviet Union . The request was not acted upon by the Soviet leadership. In the interval, Castro began criticizing the Soviets for lack of "revolutionary boldness", and began talking to China about agreements for economic assistance. In March 1962, Castro ordered

9801-403: The effect on the strategic balance of power, both political and military. The Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that the missiles would seriously alter the military balance, but McNamara disagreed. An extra 40, he reasoned, would make little difference to the overall strategic balance. The US already had approximately 5,000 strategic warheads, but the Soviet Union had only 300. McNamara concluded that

9922-455: The eleven-story (then considered a skyscraper ) Lamar Hotel, on the corner of 5th Street and 21st Avenue. The hotel was named after Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II , a former U.S. Senator from Mississippi, cabinet member, and member of the Supreme Court . When completed, the hotel had two grand openings–one for local and state officials, and a second for the general public. The hotel

10043-629: The end of World War II, Young's hair products were sold at locations around the state, including a pharmacy in Clarksdale and a barber shop in Cleveland . Later, he opened a second manufacturing site for his products in Chicago , a major destination in the 20th-century Great Migration for many African Americans from Mississippi. After Young died in 1950, his wife Velma took over the business. In 1969 their son Charles became president. In 1985, Charles Young moved

10164-621: The failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. The first issue that led to a pause in reconnaissance flights took place on 30 August, when a U-2 operated by the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command flew over Sakhalin Island in the Soviet Far East by mistake. The Soviets lodged a protest and the US apologized. Nine days later, a Taiwanese-operated U-2 was lost over western China to an SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM). US officials were worried that one of

10285-430: The first instance of law dealing with contributing properties in local historic districts was enacted in 1931 by the city of Charleston, South Carolina ; it designated the " Old and Historic District ." The ordinance declared that buildings in the district could not have changes made to architectural features that were visible from the street. By the mid-1930s, other U.S. cities followed Charleston's lead. An amendment to

10406-426: The following years as development has been stimulated. Also seeking to profit from the construction of Union Station and expectation of increased passenger traffic, local businessman Louis H. Arky opened the five-story Hotel Meridian two blocks from the station in August 1907. The hotel attracted business from railroad workers and passengers, and it was home to a fine dining restaurant. The hotel operated until at least

10527-443: The images. At 6:30 pm EDT, Kennedy convened a meeting of the nine members of the National Security Council and five other key advisers, in a group he formally named the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) after the fact on 22 October by National Security Action Memorandum 196. Without informing the members of EXCOMM, President Kennedy tape-recorded all of their proceedings, and Sheldon M. Stern, head of

10648-632: The island would mean war. The Soviets continued the Maskirovka program to conceal their actions in Cuba. They repeatedly denied that the weapons being brought into Cuba were offensive in nature. On 7 September, Soviet Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Dobrynin assured United States Ambassador to the United Nations Adlai Stevenson that the Soviet Union was supplying only defensive weapons to Cuba. On 11 September,

10769-472: The island's structural weaknesses. The US government provided weapons, money, and its authority to the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista that ruled Cuba until 1958. The majority of the Cuban population had tired of the severe socioeconomic problems associated with the US domination of the country. The Cuban government was thus aware of the necessity of ending the turmoil and incongruities of US-dominated prerevolution Cuban society. It determined that

10890-559: The island, economic sanctions against the country, and the earlier attempt to invade it , Cuban officials understood that America was trying to overrun the country. As a result, to try to prevent this, the USSR would place missiles in Cuba and neutralise the threat. This would ultimately serve to secure Cuba against attack and keep the country in the Socialist Bloc. Another major reason why Khrushchev planned to place missiles on Cuba undetected

11011-559: The latter would react by launching a retaliatory nuclear strike against the US. Finally, placing nuclear missiles on Cuba was a way for the USSR to show their support for Cuba and support the Cuban people who viewed the United States as a threatening force, as the USSR had become Cuba's ally after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. According to Khrushchev, the Soviet Union's motives were "aimed at allowing Cuba to live peacefully and develop as its people desire". Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. ,

11132-507: The latter. Boosted by the railroad industry and related manufacturing, the economy of Meridian was in its "Golden Age" at the turn of the century. The population was around 15,000 in 1898, but by 1906 it had almost doubled to 28,000. Between 1890 and 1930, Meridian was the largest city in Mississippi and a leading center in the South for manufacturing. In 1907, around forty trains per day stopped in

11253-437: The local level. Zoning ordinances pertaining to historic districts are designed to maintain a district's historic character by controlling demolition and alteration to existing properties. In historic preservation law, a contributing property is any building, structure, object or site within the boundaries of the district that contributes to its historic associations, historic architectural qualities or archaeological qualities of

11374-452: The misgivings of the Soviet Ambassador in Havana, Alexandr Ivanovich Alexeyev , who argued that Castro would not accept the deployment of the missiles. Khrushchev faced a strategic situation in which the US was perceived to have a "splendid first strike " capability that put the Soviet Union at a huge disadvantage. In 1962, the Soviets had only 20 ICBMs capable of delivering nuclear warheads to

11495-514: The months and years prior to the Crisis helped NPIC analysts correctly identify the missiles on U-2 imagery. That evening, the CIA notified the Department of State and at 8:30 pm EDT , Bundy chose to wait until the next morning to tell the President. McNamara was briefed at midnight. The next morning, Bundy met with Kennedy and showed him the U-2 photographs and briefed him on the CIA's analysis of

11616-509: The new President John F. Kennedy , the US launched the attempted Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961. It used CIA-trained forces of Cuban expatriates . The complete failure of the invasion, and the exposure of the US government role before the operation began, was a source of diplomatic embarrassment for the Kennedy administration . Afterward, former President Eisenhower told Kennedy that "the failure of

11737-480: The onset of the Great Depression , he was unable to keep the hotel afloat. A couple with the last name Williams took over the store in 1934 and operated a restaurant on the first floor, helping keep the business profitable. The Williamses left the property after World War II but re-acquired it in 1955; they operated the hotel until closing it on December 18, 1973. In 1979 the building was individually listed on

11858-405: The ousting of Anibal Escalante and his pro-Moscow comrades from Cuba's Integrated Revolutionary Organizations . This affair alarmed the Soviet leadership as well as raised fears of a possible US invasion. As a result, the Soviet Union sent more SA-2 anti-aircraft missiles in April as well as a regiment of regular Soviet troops. Historian Timothy Naftali has contended that Escalante's dismissal

11979-632: The past the flights had been conducted by the CIA, pressure from the Defense Department led to that authority being transferred to the Air Force. Following the loss of a CIA U-2 over the Soviet Union in May 1960 , it was thought that if another U-2 were shot down, an Air Force aircraft arguably being used for a legitimate military purpose would be easier to explain than a CIA flight. When the reconnaissance missions were reauthorized on 9 October, poor weather kept

12100-473: The past, lowering its historic integrity. Contributing properties are integral parts of the historic context and character of a historic district. A property listed as a contributing member of a historic district meets National Register criteria and qualifies for all benefits afforded a property or site listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places. Each property within a National Register historic district — contributing or non-contributing —

12221-517: The planes from flying. The US first obtained U-2 photographic evidence of the missiles on 14 October, when a U-2 flight piloted by Major Richard Heyser took 928 pictures on a path selected by DIA analysts, capturing images of what turned out to be an SS-4 construction site at San Cristóbal , Pinar del Río Province (now in Artemisa Province ), in western Cuba. On 15 October, the CIA's National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) reviewed

12342-657: The renovation of the Rosenbaum Building in 2001 and Weidmann's Restaurant in 2002. Meridian Main Street, along with The Riley Foundation, helped renovate the historic Grand Opera House in 2006, adapting it as the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and the Performing Arts . It is intended as a site of activities and events to enliven the city. Just before the Riley Center

12463-418: The subject of continual Cuban diplomatic complaints to the US government. The first consignment of Soviet R-12 missiles arrived on the night of 8 September, followed by a second on 16 September. The R-12 was a medium-range ballistic missile, capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead. It was a single-stage, road-transportable, surface-launched, storable liquid propellant fuelled missile that could deliver

12584-427: The terrorists, most of whom were Cuban expatriates. Terrorist attacks were planned at the direction and with the participation of US government employees and launched from US territory. In January 1962, US Air Force General Edward Lansdale described the plans to overthrow the Cuban government in a top-secret report, addressed to Kennedy and officials involved with Operation Mongoose. CIA agents or "pathfinders" from

12705-519: The world that the Soviets were building missiles "like sausages" but Soviet missiles' numbers and capabilities were nowhere close to his assertions. The Soviet Union had medium-range ballistic missiles in quantity, about 700 of them, but they were unreliable and inaccurate. The US had a considerable advantage in its total number of nuclear warheads (27,000 against 3,600) and in the technology required for their accurate delivery. The US also led in missile defensive capabilities, naval and air power; however,

12826-563: Was Operation Anadyr . The Anadyr River flows into the Bering Sea , and Anadyr is also the capital of Chukotsky District and a bomber base in the far eastern region. All the measures were meant to conceal the program from both internal and external audiences. Specialists in missile construction, under the guise of machine operators and agricultural specialists, arrived in July. A total of 43,000 foreign troops would ultimately be brought in. Chief Marshal of Artillery Sergei Biryuzov, Head of

12947-432: Was a key reason for Cuban acceptance of the missiles. When Kennedy ran for president in 1960, one of his key election issues was an alleged " missile gap " with the Soviets. In fact, the US at that time led the Soviets by a wide margin, which would only increase over time. In 1961, the Soviets had only four R-7 Semyorka intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). By October 1962, some intelligence estimates indicated

13068-460: Was a motivating factor behind the Soviet decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962. According to Naftali, Soviet foreign policy planners were concerned Castro's break with Escalante foreshadowed a Cuban drift toward China and sought to solidify the Soviet-Cuban relationship through the missile basing program. The Cuban government regarded US imperialism as the primary explanation for

13189-400: Was built in 1908 to serve travelers to the city. The four-story building is located two blocks from Union Station and offered rooms to frequent rail travelers for only $ 2 per night, even as late as the 1960s. The original owner was P.C. Steele, but a group of bond holders took over control of the building in 1926. The hotel was leased for two years to C.W. Tucker from 1932 to 1934, but because of

13310-459: Was completed, the city announced that it had bought the Threefoot Building from a private developer. The expectation was that a Jackson renovation firm would convert the former office building into a luxury hotel. Staff at the Riley Center reacted positively, saying a downtown hotel would be a "wonderful thing for the city of Meridian." No Jackson renovator was found for the project. In 2009

13431-535: Was defined and listed in 2007. In 2011 the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) issued a grant to the city to assess the building for possible restoration, stating the building had "significant repair and restoration needs." As the city grew, African Americans developed a small business district slightly west of the city's core, around the intersection of 25th Avenue with 4th and 5th streets. Black travelers often visited this area when coming to

13552-484: Was happening" and Dobrynin "was instructed by Soviet Chairman Nikita S. Khrushchev to assure President Kennedy that there would be no ground-to-ground missiles or offensive weapons placed in Cuba". Khrushchev further assured Kennedy that the Soviet Union had no intention of "disrupting the relationship of our two countries" despite the photo evidence presented before President Kennedy. The US had no plan in place because until recently its intelligence had been convinced that

13673-546: Was imminent and that to lose Cuba would do great harm to the communists, especially in Latin America. He said he wanted to confront the Americans "with more than words.... the logical answer was missiles". The Soviets maintained their tight secrecy, writing their plans longhand, which were approved by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky on 4 July and Khrushchev on 7 July. From the very beginning,

13794-553: Was one." A second reason that Soviet missiles were deployed to Cuba was that Khrushchev wanted to bring West Berlin , controlled by the American, British and French within Communist East Germany , into the Soviet orbit. The East Germans and Soviets considered western control over a portion of Berlin a grave threat to East Germany. Khrushchev made West Berlin the central battlefield of the Cold War. Khrushchev believed that if

13915-408: Was rebuilt, however, and survived into the late 20th century. It was listed as a contributing property to the Meridian Urban Center Historic District in 1979. The Great Southern Hotel–described by Jack Shank, a local historian, as "the hotel"–was five stories tall and contained 150 rooms. Costing $ 175,000 (today $ 5,934,000) and taking up half a city block at 6th Street and 23rd Avenue, the building

14036-484: Was stimulated. The Elmira Hotel, now located at 1804 Front Street, was built in 1905 just before Union Station was completed. In 1910 the Terminal Hotel was constructed across the street at 1902 Front Street. Both hotels provided rooms for travelers passing through Union Station. In 1997 Union Station was expanded and restored. Since then these two hotels have been rehabilitated, along with many other downtown buildings in

14157-587: Was supposed to be "the hotel" in Meridian, and at the beginning of its commission, it attracted business away from Hotel Meridian and the Union Hotel. With the drastic decline in business due to the Great Depression, it never reached its predicted splendor. The hotel was generally used by wealthier citizens and official visitors to the city; the general public rarely stayed in its rooms. For a short time, exhibits from

14278-568: Was the Jones House, used as a hotel, at the corner of the present-day 25th Avenue and 5th Street. Another hotel, the Ragsdale House, was built just after the war in 1865 near the train station. This three-story building provided a wooden-covered walkway for its customers leading directly over the dirt road to the train station, a luxury that other hotels did not have. Other major hotels built before Meridian's "Golden Age", from 1890 to 1930, include

14399-605: Was the West German ambassador to Cuba, who had received information from dissidents inside Cuba that Soviet troops had arrived in Cuba in early August and were seen working "in all probability on or near a missile base" and who passed this information to Keating on a trip to Washington in early October. Air Force General Curtis LeMay presented a pre-invasion bombing plan to Kennedy in September, and spy flights and minor military harassment from US forces at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base were

14520-400: Was the largest and most expensive in the city. A restaurant was located on the roof, and a number of social events were held in second-floor parlors . Luxuries standard in the hotel included ceiling fans and reading lamps in every room, ornate oak woodwork throughout the building, and a public stenographer to assist patrons. With the construction of Union Station in 1906, hotel development

14641-408: Was to "level the playing field" with the evident American nuclear threat. America had the upper hand as they could launch from Turkey and destroy the USSR before they would have a chance to react. After the emplacement of nuclear missiles in Cuba, Khrushchev had finally established mutual assured destruction , meaning that if the United States decided to launch a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union,

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