Thirteen Days Reflection

Thirteen days. For some, it seemed like a lifetime. Thirteen days. For others, it was the scariest moments of their lives. Just thirteen short days to prevent a nuclear war. After Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government, he turned Cuba into a communist regime. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics decided to provide Cuba with Soviet aid. Soon after, The United States found evidence of nuclear missiles. The Cuban Missile Crisis was an important time in both Cuban and American history. Castro’s Cuba was just the beginning, things then started to intensify with Soviet aid, and culminated with the United States responding to end it all.

The film delves into some of the difficult options leaders have to choose from in cases involving nuclear weapons. Nuclear conflicts are extraordinarily complex, with many potential unpredictable outcomes. After General Ripper directs his plane to bomb the enemy, he describes his thought process to one of his officers, “...when [the president’s advisors] realize there is no possibility in recalling the wing there will be only one course of action: open, total commitment”. Here, a “total commitment” consists of the U.S. supporting General Ripper’s plan by utilizing their full arsenal of nuclear weapons to attack Russia. General “Buck” Turgidson, one of the President’s top advisors, echoes this exact idea in the war room and proposes to the U.S. President a full commitment. This was a possible solution that could have neutralized all of Russia in one wave of nuclear missiles; however, this strategy is frowned upon and dismissed by the President as it would reflect poorly on the U.S.’ diplomatic reputation in the long-run.

President, John F Kennedy, in his speech to the american people, “Cuban Missile Crisis,” recounts a time when the U.S was at its closest to a nuclear war against the soviet union due to nuclear missiles being planted in cuba. Kennedy’s purpose of this speech was to inform to the american people that he has decided to quarantine Cuba and of what his thoughts were of the current situation at hand. Kennedy uses a sentimental tone throughout his speech to appeal to similar feelings that his citizens are experiencing. Kennedy effectively informs his audience of the sighting of missile sites found through Cuba and what his resolve to end this would be through the use of ethos, pathos, and logos paired with rhetorical devices .

The filmmakers’ main ideas are that the government misled and lied to the people of the U.S. so that they would believe that the atomic bomb would have no effect on their health and security, that we should question if the government should have lied to the American people, and to make us question whether or not the citizens of the U.S. would continue to be as naive as the people of the 1950’s.

The movie Thirteen Days is 2000 docudrama and is directed by Roger Donaldson who is Australian and tries to portray the film in a serious manor. The movie is based on the 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and shows the perspective of the US political leadership, specifically Special Assistant to the president Kenny O’Donnell, President John F. Kennedy and the Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. This film is not based on the book of the same name written by Robert F. Kennedy like the first docudrama film about the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Missiles of October; this film was meticulously researched and was based on The Kennedy Tapes: inside the white house during the Cuban Missile Crisis which was written by Ernest May and Phillip

As I have stated before, the main subject of this movie is the Cold War. I did have previous knowledge of this subject such as it

The movie Thirteen Days is based off of the real life situation of the Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred back in 1962. The United States learned that the Soviet Union was placing missiles with nuclear weapons in Cuba. The movie follows President John F. Kennedy and his advisors as they are trying to come up with a plan of action for how to handle the situation.

The film started with McNamara’s first lesson which was to empathize with your enemy. He recounted the events leading up the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the Bay of Pigs. This was a 13-day standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union due the installation of nuclear weapons in Cuba. The Soviet Union had installed the weapons of mass destruction in Cuba as a response to the United States’ decision to install nuclear weapons in Turkey. This was an example of the Security Dilemma discussed in lecture, “The Source of one’s comfort is the source of another’s worry” (Unit 4). When President Kennedy found out that there could possibly be nuclear weapons in Cuba, he did not want to take a chance and wanted the missiles to be removed from the island.

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis? Many people have heard of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and may have learned about it during school, but they do not know the nitty gritty details of the whole fiasco. The CMC was the first threat of a nuclear world war. The real “crisis” was between the United States and the Soviet Union and not Cuba. Cuba played a relatively small role in the grand scheme of it all and was basically the field on which the two powerhouses played on. The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most tense 13 days that the world has ever known and had the possibility of completely disintegrating the world we know today. In this paper we will learn exactly what happened.

The Kennedy Doctrine, which was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58), was executed in this history-making event to the letter. Kennedy could have, and had the power to cease the unfolding events with an all out air strike on the Soviet Union. Some say it is due to bureaucratic politics and the accessibility of information that was provided to the National Security Council by the CIA and air force that this did not occur. In responding flexibly to what The Soviet Union and Cuba were planning, America assessed the volatile situation, forethought possible outcomes and negated all their options albeit under a tight time constraint. America’s forces were mobilized and ready to strike, had word been given nuclear war was on the cards. Kennedy wanted to give The Soviet Union an out and put a halt to a possible war, rethink the situation and allow an alternative to occur. Due to this diplomacy, The Soviet Union entered into negotiations “the Kremlin offered a deal: no Soviet missiles in Cuba if Washington promised not to invade” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 87). By using the flexible response tactic, Kennedy was

Thirteen Days, by Robert Kennedy, is a portrayal of the drama surrounding the Cuban missile crisis, and an analysis of the ordeal. There are two sides to this conflict which was played out in the post-World War II era. On one hand you have the Communists of the Soviet Union, whose desire to bring all of Europe under their heel would nearly spark a war that would annihilate the human race. On the other stands the Americans who wished the "vindication of right" and to prevent the further spread of Communism.

justice system on the black community. The film opens with the harrowing statics spoken by

In order to understand the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis in American history one must first understand the Cold War drama, Castro’s rise to power, and the American operations that set up the crisis. “The term Cold War refers

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a frightening moment for the entire world. It started October 14th, 1962 after the Soviet Union planted nuclear missiles inn Cuba. The U.S. found out that these missiles were being planted without their knowledge, but the Soviet Union continued the construction of these nuclear missile sites, even after President Kennedy, the president of the U.S., sent out a warning against these weapons in Cuba. Even after this warning, Kennedy once again found out that the construction was still happening. Following the discovery of the ongoing construction, Kennedy wanted to meet with people at the White House to solve the problem that they were encountering. There were multiple sides during their talk about the missiles. Some of the people at the meeting wanted to take a more aggressive approach and destroy these missiles and then follow up with an attack. Kennedy eventually decided to quarantine Cuba. After Kennedy quarantined Cuba, there were many messages sent between the White House and the Kremlin to try and solve the problem. The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted for thirteen extremely tense days. At the end of these thirteen days, the Cuban Missile Crisis ended with an agreement between the United States and Soviet Union. The Cuban Missile Crisis greatly impacted history. It strengthened the bond between the United States and Soviet Union, showed people how to come to a

The “Thirteen Days” movie describes how the 35th president of United States of America (USA), John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis during the period of October 14-28, 1963. It shows how JFK’s leadership saved the world from having World War III (WWIII), or worse, Nuclear War. JFK’s crisis management and decision-making skills was tested during this period. He was under an extreme pressure, having the Cuban missiles were about to be ready to become operational and most of his Generals suggested him to launch a military strike, while he didn’t want to start a war and prefer to avoid one. To make things worse, the Joint Chiefs, who most of them were older than JFK, pressurized