Thirteen Days
This true story provided an inside look at the Presidential politics during a cold war nuclear confrontation known as the ‘Cuban Missile Crisis. Dealing with the primary enemy in a direct confrontation of this magnitude brought presidential executive political protocol decision-making represented as Soviet aggression. The foreign policy issues were depicted contrasting the main players and a unpopular elected President who’s close allies included his brother Bobby Kennedy as key negotiated with the Kremlin representative in an face to face deal that was finalized by demands that the Russians agreed to. This private meetings and secret strategies made behind closed doors after the Bay of Pigs had caused the confrontation along with the missile issue.
At this time, the cold war was in force with the U-2 fly over to observe what the Russians were doing. This photo intelligence was a form of information gathering commonly known as spying. This intelligence discovered that the Cubans were setting up short-range missile silos in Cuba. The missiles could be fired into the U.S. and destroy a large part of the South Eastern U.S. If the U.S. did not it could mean the administration would become even more unpopular due to a failed policy. The administration was in a tight situation that needed to establish good faith and foreign relations. The conditions were such, that workable strategy, was needed to advert a physical confrontation with Cuba. This event was one that continued to escalate causing both side to take defensive actions thereby escalating the event. The Kennedys’; were seen by the public as a weak, crippled, ineffectual leadership resulting from the failed ‘Bay of Pigs’ invasion. His administration was careful in constructing a new policy decision that would avoid the military aggressive positions based on various military procedures. Kennedys (Brothers and Father) and the Kennedy image were at risk failing to meet expectations, as a leader of the free world, was the future of North America. The world was watching every visible move made. The people waned to know, if the Kennedy has had the necessary tools to handle such a crises.
The Kennedys’ football image of which the Kennedy use in the campaigning to assure the public that he was a physically fit person was dispelled through association with other parties such as his compassionate close adviser Woods.
The story profiles the administration during this political crisis, so the plot is similar to other films like “Missiles of October” released in 1974.
The opportunity to se the rolls of public officials played against a heroic drama was very educational as it provides the observer the chance to roll play making different decision that in turn have an affect on other lives. This is a excessive to the point that the nuclear explosions was done to intimate the Russians as to Johnson Island bomb and three military exercise which were denied by Kennedy’s staff but purposefully done to provoke the issue and to bring up public confidence.
The Navy Chief of Naval Operations and the comment that this is the way its been done since “John Paul Jones” added to the nature of firmness that took place to change the old way and use soft diplomacy.
The fact that Russian had only European deployment capability it seem to them that now was the time to test resolve (Kennedy’s Guts) and they knew him to weak. This plays in a characteristic of fear plying a defensive chess move. The Russians observing that this was a non-functional transitional government that it could gain political grounds if the strategy worked. The OAS was a rich play ground for the Christian democracies which rule market share, Communism had only a few friends in that part of the world and the U.S. was not one of them.
The psychology of Khrushchev was fear and intimidation with U.S> missiles pretty much surround his Socialist Republic albeit Turkey was an issue according to the Wiersma/Larson report. (1). The report also notes that Castro, was very unpopular and gained power by over-throwing a Batista’s dictatorship. At the time, the U.S. Government sanctioned Batista’s regime. Castro and his brother used Russian backing to implement guerrilla tactic leading to the murder of many of the elite of the Battista dictatorship. Before Castro, there had been lucrative resort income, and commerce including Havana cigars, as well as the trade of music and culture. The probation era laws created a bonanza for the boarding countries like Cuba providing gambling and other elite pleasures South of the boarder for outlaws, created by the puritanical hegemonies. This legalism produced social restrictions protecting resort ability resulting in labor explained wealth and power for those in the distribution of alcohol, tobacco into industrial proportions. The term defines ideology as all of those attributes, which compose the creation of the human condition (party animal). As they did too with the hotel and gambling industries and it is know that the under world had a stake in the effort to over throw Castro in the Bay of Pigs and Castro believed that the U.S. would try again and ‘that Russia had the goods to trade that Cuba nee din order to survive. Russia was the ideological bloodline that Castro and other Communist Nations in the Southern hemisphere depended on such as military weapons.
The film forces the audience to think of the issues before the U.S. and those elected official who are acting to serve and protect the boarders. The result of failed policy decisions can as we have seen in other films cause irreversible (Dr. Strange Love, could not turn back)) results. The consequence of war is obvious in the film of “brotherhood of War” that follows the family of an indigenous throughout the civil war action. The grave dangers acted out in the Brotherhood film bring in a very graphic depiction of the individual conscripted into regular members system of war.
The Kennedy’s were somewhat similar to the ‘Brothers..’ as the obvious each film had close relationship in a field of action. The 13 Days had the characters that had the opportunity to control the destiny of the act of war and used a strategy that was not standard military practices but rather a team of covert officials took command and changed a the U.S. policy which seemed to avert war.
Unlike the ‘Brothers’ film, 13 days’ male protagonists were to provide a plan that avoided confrontation at the last minute negotiations and decision-making. These scenes of the Cabinet members and close advisors working out side the entrenched administration gave reason that supported the Kennedy’s actions which was done so to justify the action taken. This was somewhat contrived representation of a failed policy constructing a new image of the political left. The rewriting of history is a technique used by many to modify the events of history to fit the politically correct agenda setting and this film was in my opinion such a film. Having said that I still feel that the film have a unique point of view from the stand point that it is better to use firm diplomacy and negotiate rather than rely on hard line tactics.
The disaster was avoided with good diplomacy as in contract to the Truman administration decision to use the bomb which has a after math attached to it. Contrasting the ‘White Light…’ to ‘13’ is, a cause and effect analyses, which resulted in decisions of one President verses that of another. The similarity in contrast to a wartime decision and that of a peacetime decision is vastly different. In these two situations the similarity but vastly different circumstances near the same place as Nagasaki is close by and Western aggression happens with in a decade of each event i.e. WW II-Korea. The FDR statements to Congress was more in tune and upfront than the ‘13’ as he had the confidence of the people and was a popular elected as his successor Truman was as Vice President. On the other had President Kennedy was not a popular elected President and had a failed attempt to un seat Castro.
From the point of view of representative politics and all things considered, this film is of considerable political content. The substance related generally to foreign relations for the audience to see the big picture, and how it affects them. It helps to understand the dynamic nature of the political system providing an intimate look at the players and the play by play decisions, which may in this example have averted public image damage to the Kennedy administration, as well a nuclear holocaust!
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