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John F. Kennedy's Thirteen Days

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Shown through the eyes of presidential aide Kenneth P. O'Donnell (Kevin Costner), we see the inner workings of President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and his closest advisors as they try and find the best way to end a potentially devastating showdown with the U.S.S.R. In October of 1962, the U.S., during a regular mission photographing Cuba, spotted a missile buildup by the Russians. The missiles were powerful enough to kill 80 million Americans with only 5 minutes of warning time. President Kennedy had to decide quickly what action to take. With his trusted aide Kenny O'Donnell and his brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (Steven Culp), and others such as Robert McNamara, Adlai Stevenson, McGeorge Bundy, Dean Acheson, Dean Rusk and many more, Kennedy needed to figure out the best course of action. If he allowed the Russians to aim these missiles at the U.S., the United States would be placed in a potentially deadly situation. If Kennedy allowed the military to attack the missiles and destroy them, what would Russia do as a response? If he waited too long, would …show more content…

The not-yet-operational missiles on Cuban soil, the inexorably ticking clock as they move toward operability. The potential U.S. air strikes that could eliminate most, but not necessarily all, of the threat the risk of a retaliatory Soviet strike to Berlin, and the spiraling consequences that could result the U.S. missiles in Turkey, and the political impossibility of a quid pro quo agreement. Thirteen Days makes it all not merely comprehensible, but gripping.
Thirteen Days is a fitting dramatic tribute to the deadly brinksmanship that pulled audience back from the edge during the most volatile two weeks of the Cold War. We as the audience of Thirteen Days thought this film was a great historical

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‘ JFK nonetheless asked yet again, “What impression do they get over there in the Kremlin, that we let this one go?”’ Stern knew that Kennedy was not always the picture perfect president. He felt that it was important for people to be able to see all sides of the president that he had come to love. Both the good and bad sides of JFK made him a president that was able to pull our country through the Cuban missile crisis.

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802 Words | 4 Pages

In his news conference, John F. Kennedy utilizes juxtaposition and parallelism to support his idea that with the decline of huge companies, the price of things is going to start to increase significantly for Americans. The first rhetorical strategy Kennedy uses in his news conference is juxtaposition to show that with the decline in workers and the decline in profit will create an increase in prices around the country. This is shown when he says "when we are devoting our energies to economic recovery and stability, when we are asking Reservists to leave their homes and families for months on end, and servicemen to risk their lives- and four were killed in the last two days in Viet Nam- and asking union members to hold down their wage requests,

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1343 Words | 6 Pages

When it comes to describing such complex events as the Kennedy administration, one cannot understand the full picture through a single work. By combining different works of both fact and fiction, alongside motion pictures, one can gain a clearer interpretation of JFK’s presidency. Investigating Garry Wills’s The Kennedy Imprisonment alongside James Ellroy’s American Tabloid, one can develop a clearer picture of how the Kennedy administration functioned. The film Thirteen Days by Roger Donaldson brings to life the depiction presented in the two works.

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Mysteries In American History JFK I think that Oswald was part of a larger conspiracy because I thought that he was the Assassin but he couldn’t of had done it himself , because on the witness testimonial it says that they heard a noise behind them a little to the right . So that means that the first shot that hit him in the neck was shot on the grassy slope . Also Oswald was the only person that worked on the “Texas school book depository’’ , When the second shot hit John F Kennedy on his head a cop saw a person in the window from where he was sure the shot came from.

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955 Words | 4 Pages

Also, structure is demonstrated through the well organized and equal length paragraphs of three main topics. Kennedy presented his logical appeal by first informing the audience about the traits of the missiles; JFK indicated how much damage they were able to do. He then continued on for two paragraphs describing the weapons, including the information that they were “capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for a distance of more than 1,000 miles.” Kennedy added “Additional sites not yet completed appear to be designed for intermediate range ballistic missiles -- capable of traveling more than

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126 Words | 1 Pages

JFK is a 1991 American historical legal-conspiracy thriller film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged cover-up through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner). Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) for his alleged participation in a conspiracy to assassinate the President, for which Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) was found responsible by a government investigation: the Warren Commission. The film was adapted by Stone and Zachary Sklar from the books On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison and Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy by Jim Marrs.

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Wilborn Hampton published the book Kennedy Assassinated! in 1997. “Wilborn Hampton has been an editor and book and theater critic for the New York Times. He is also the award-winning author of Up Close: Elvis Presley(Viking) and Kennedy Assassinated!” (wikipedia 2017)

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Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis is Robert F. Kennedy’s detailed first-hand account of one of the most terrifying superpower confrontations in human history, The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. In this memoir, Robert Kennedy explains what happened behind the scenes with President John F. Kennedy and his closest advisors during the tumultuous two weeks. In Thirteen Days, Robert speaks openly and freely about the crisis, clearly describing and emphasizing the amount of bickering and disagreement between the members of EXCOMM, and highlighting President Kennedy’s ability to encourage opposing opinions in order to plan for any contingency were it to occur. Kennedy doesn’t bog the memoir down with any unnecessary rhetoric

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During Kennedy’s presidency many crises and policy initiatives took place. One event that took place during Kennedy’s presidency was the Bay of Pigs. The Bay of Pigs was a complete failure and strengthened Cuba’s ties to the Soviet Union, this however, was only the tip of the iceberg. The crisis that proved to be the most dangerous during the Kennedy administration was the Cuban missile crisis. In October of 1962, American spy planes discovered that the Soviet Union was installing missiles in Cuba capable of reaching the United States with nuclear weapons.

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After the assassination of JFK the world was affected greatly. The family, government, America, american people, and the public suffered a great loss. The world lost a very special and important person because of something someone else did. The assassination of JFK was one of the many things that will never be forgotten in our world today. Jacqueline Kennedy lost one of her most valued friends and family.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

Kennedy starts off by telling us how the world and freedom is in major danger, being close to a nuclear war, telling us that it has the power to end the human species (3). The next point made is that we should “... never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate” (Kennedy 15). This means that we should negotiate to make a means with that someone not because we have to negotiate to stay safe from that someone. Kennedy then says that the goal would to have the world work together to explore problems, have a common arm control and be equal in weaponry power, and work together to unlock new sciences (16-18).

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1433 Words | 6 Pages

Secondly, on page 20, when the executive committee was first shown photo evidence of the missiles Robert wrote that he had no idea what he was looking at and that he, “was relieved to hear later that this was the same reaction of virtually everyone at the meeting, including President Kennedy.” This once again shows the pedestal that Robert puts his brother on but it also shows that he thinks of himself as inferior to his brother. This is particularly through the sense of relief he felt when he realized that they both were confused by the images. Thirdly, on page 54, when the Executive Committee had been informed that a Russian submarine had moved into

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671 Words | 3 Pages

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present will certain to miss the future.” -John F. Kennedy The reason I chose JFK is because he was a president that everyone had loved. They loved him for his views on America and it tragically ended with assassination in Texas.

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442 Words | 2 Pages

“In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our despair, against our will comes wisdom through the awful grace of God”(24-30). RFK used this quote to say people may want to stay angry and bitter, but anger will eventually be replaced with wisdom and understanding no matter how much they try to fight it. Kennedy recognizes his audience as Americans, but especially

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1847 Words | 8 Pages

Validity: This film is valid as it is an accurate description of the chain of events and decisions made during the event of the Cuban missile crisis and provides an inside view of the hard challenges and decisions that Kennedy had to overcome without resulting in a nuclear war. Reliability: This film is reliable as the chronologically accurate and describes day to day the challenges that were faced. This is also reliable as it is not a knock off film with similar events to the Cuban missile crisis but is an accurate description of the events that took place in

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