A Historical Review of Thirteen Days © 2001 Philip Ernest Schoenberg, Ph.D. Thirteen Days, directed by Roger Donaldson, recreates the angst of the Kennedy Administration as it dealt with the Russian missile threat in Cuba. We see step by step as the crisis accelerates to approach nuclear Armageddon. As a twelve-year-old at the time, I did not realize how close we came to a nuclear holocaust in 1962. Only cool heads of President Kennedy, his brother attorney-general Robert Kennedy, and Kenneth O'Donnell, the political advisor saved the nation from nuclear blackmail and catastrophe. The Kennedys, President and attorney-general, come back to life with Boston accents and styles as well as great acting by Bruce Greenwood as John F. Kennedy and Steven Culp as Robert F. Kennedy. Kenneth O'Donnell, the political advisor, portrayed by Kevin Costner, plays a major role in the movie by preventing the military from creating an incident that will justify U.S. nuclear retaliation. In real life, he played a smaller role but it is enlarged for dramatic purposes for the movie. The individual strengths and weaknesses of various people are portrayed range in accuracy. General Curtis Le May (Kevin Conway) is shown to be much more hawkish than he actually was. At the end of the dramatic scene in the movie, Kennedy, says seriously to Le May, "You're in the same boat," in reality, the tone was milder and he said it jokingly. On the other hand, the movie does show accurately how the Kennedys never liked Adlai Stevenson (Michael Fairman), the American ambassador to the United Nations. According to Robert McNamara on the HistoryChannel, the warning shot at the Soviet freighter depicted in the movie was never fired because of Kennedy's strict instructions. This movie gives us insight on decision-making inside and outside the White House which tends to show the military to be belligerent with the civilians being more dovish hen in reality, there were hawks and doves in both groups. We get an inside look at world politics during the Cold War. The President keeps on asking for various alternatives. The soft and hard offers by Khrushchev were accurately portrayed. Robert Kennedy serves as the president's personal emissary to the Russian embassy in Washington. The movie clearly shows that it is not best to leave military response in the hands of the military though in reality it is the civilians who have not experienced combat that can decide that military should make the unnecessary sacrifices. One can clearly see the attitude that developed by civilian-military policy makers about Vietnam, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." If the same approach of seeking options had been used about American involvement in Vietnam, perhaps the U. S. commitment to Vietnam might have taken a more viable, nonmilitary approach. This movie clearly shows we need to do more thinking outside of the box to see alternatives. The movie is extremely accurate in terms of events and characters. The fashion styles for both and women are evident. We see Jackie Kennedy in her trade mark hair style. People are freely smoking in public places. Now and then we have a touch of Walter Cronkeit reporting the news. Remember the days we trusted journalists as we trusted politicians! The advertising campaign had to be retooled when it was discovered that air planes of the period were not being used in the copy. I did catch another error: One of the characters declares "The old man, Joseph Kennedy was one of the major architects of appeasement." Joseph Kennedy, the president's father, had not been involved in appeasement, a creation of British and French diplomats. As the American ambassador to St. James Court, he did not believe the United Kingdom could hold out. When Joseph Kennedy returned to the United States, an ill-fated interview in which he favored isolationism destroyed any chance that he had of becoming president. Despite some historical shortcomings, this two hour forty minute film well-paced film will keep you glued to your seat to the very end even though we know the outcome. Philip Schoenberg, PhD, is professor of American Government and History at the College of Aeronautics, a consultant to the PBS program on The American President, and an expert on the presidents. He has his own website on the presidents, www.presidentialexpert.com. (888) 377-4455 drphil1@aol.com He also gives walking tours on the presidents. ©1998-2005 Presidentialexpert