Theme Of The Unimportance Of Supremacy As A Theme In Thirteen Days

Isabella Clark

Mrs. Kristen Saxhaug

English 10

4 March 2023 The Unimportance of Supremacy as a Theme in Thirteen Days

“Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right,” John F. Kennedy. During the Cold War, on October 26th The United States government was informed about nuclear weapons being built in Cuba on behalf of the Soviet Union. A small group of officials led by President John F. Kennedy called the Executive Committee spent the next 13 days deliberating and eventually selecting the most diplomatic solution of agreeing not to invade Cuba if the missiles were removed. Robert Kennedy is the author of the memoir and adds personal insight to the crisis as he was an important member of the Executive Committee and the

Despite their apparent perfection, Robert Kennedy displayed a clear power imbalance within their family. The first example of this is that throughout the memoir Robert always refers to his brother as “the President” and never by name when he typically calls others by their last names. For example, Nikita Khrushchev was chairman of the Soviet Union’s Council of Ministers at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis but he was rarely addressed in the formal sense that President Kennedy was. Addressing his brother in such a formal tone shows how highly Robert thought of JFK. Calling JFK “the president” rather than his brother also hid their familial connection and created an opportunity for Robert to create a name for himself aside from his brother. 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

For example, on pages 26 and 27 he mentions that the president was not at every Executive Committee meeting because, as Robert Kennedy states, “Personalities change when the president is present, and frequently even strong men make recommendations on the basis of what they believe the President wishes to hear.” This implies that President Kennedy was aware that his rank harmed the productivity of those working with him and therefore disrupted their headway regarding creating a solution to the issue. Secondly, Robert Kennedy writes about Executive Committee meetings, “Everyone had an equal opportunity to express himself and to be heard directly. It was a tremendously advantageous procedure that does not frequently occur within the executive branch of the government, where rank is often so important” (36). Robert Kennedy goes as far as to criticize the functionality of his government to prove that working without rank was beneficial for the situation; hence implying that if there had been an apparent rank that their work would have been of lesser quality. Later in the memoir, it is stated that “During the Cuban missile crisis, the President not only received information from all the major departments, but went to considerable lengths to ensure that he was not insulated from individuals or points of view because of rank or position”