As Chief of Naval Operations in charge of the US quarantine of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Anderson distinguished himself in the Navy's conduct of those operations. Time magazine featured him on the cover[1] and called him "an aggressive blue-water sailor of unfaltering competence and uncommon flair." He had, however, a contentious relationship with Secretary of DefenseRobert S. McNamara. At one point during the crisis, Anderson ordered McNamara out of the Pentagon's Flag Plot when the Secretary inquired as to the Navy's intended procedures for stopping Soviet submarines;[2] McNamara viewed those actions as mutinous and forced Anderson to retire in 1963. Decades later, the role of Vasily Arkhipov became widely known, as the last person standing in the way of Admiral Anderson's procedures unintentionally triggering nuclear war.
Later career
Anderson took early retirement, largely because of the ongoing conflict with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.[3]
John F. Kennedy subsequently appointed Anderson Ambassador to Portugal, where he served for three years and encouraged plans for the peaceful transition of Portugal's African colonies to independence. He later returned to government service from 1973 to 1977 as member and later chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Anderson's first wife was Muriel Buttling (1911–1947). They had two sons and a daughter.[4]
Anderson died on March 20, 1992, of congestive heart failure, at the age of 85, in McLean, Virginia. He was survived by his second wife of 44 years, the former Mary Lee Sample (née Anderson), the widow of William Sample; a daughter; a stepdaughter; twelve grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was buried on March 23, 1992, in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery.
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