Norman Katz, a 1961 Northeastern graduate and Army communications officer, coordinated White House teletype messages to the Kremlin during the Cuban Missile Crisis's 'Black Saturday,' Oct. 27, 1962, when a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba and the U.S. reached DEFCON 2.
Katz, now nearly 89, recalls most of the Joint Chiefs pushing Kennedy toward a first strike against Cuba, and says he called his mother that day fearing nuclear war, asking her to fill the bathtub with water in case utilities failed.
He also recalls lighter White House moments, including young John F. Kennedy Jr. playing in the Oval Office, and has spent recent years recounting his experiences at libraries and community centers as firsthand witnesses to that era grow scarce.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.