THIRTEEN DAYS

March 2001
		Nearly 10 years after the end of the Cold War, are nuclear weapons still a threat? What can be learned from the dramatic events of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara responds to your questions.

Forum introduction What was the makeup of President Kennedy's inner circle? How much did news reporters know and relay about the events of the crisis? Was Kenneth O'Donnell as big a part of the real events as he is in the movie? Didn't the U.S. remove missiles in Turkey in exchange for moving Soviet missiles out of Cuba? Didn't the Bay of Pigs invasion help stir Cuban resentment? How much did the government learn about the crisis after it was over? How would today's military react to a similar crisis?     Online Special Media Watch Feb. 22, 2001 Three experts discuss the new movie "Thirteen Days." Online Special: Coverage of the Missile Defense Debate     Thirteen Days -- the movie The National Security Archive

Kent Jamison of Hartford, Connecticut asks: I was a junior in high school at the time and I certainly remember the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I am only vaguely aware of how close we were to the brink of war. How much did newspapers and television report about what was going on? How much did reporters know? Did reports from this period help shape the movie? Robert McNamara responds: Well, first, the newspapers reported very, very little during the first seven days of the 13-day crisis because the Kennedy administration took that period to consider in secret what the Soviets had done and what their motives were, what our alternatives were to respond, and to choose the alternative of response. And during that period there was absolutely no news reporting on what was transpiring, so the public knew very little. During the next six days there was much public knowledge. And I lived at the Pentagon during the 13 days. I didn’t even go home during that period. And I wasn’t fully aware until much later of the degree to which the public, during that remaining six days of the 13-day period, was aware of the crisis and of the dangers associated with it, particularly the danger of war. And I think that the movie is probably correct in emphasizing the extent of knowledge in the schools, for example, among families, in commercial outlets, food markets, etc. Now, to what degree [does] that information from the period shape the movie? I’m not sure that the questioner had in mind this point, but it is a very important point. Unbeknownst to President Kennedy’s closest associates, with the possible exception of Bobby, President Kennedy was during his presidency taping secretly some of the discussions in the Cabinet room of the National Security Council and of the Cabinet -- not by any means to the degree, for example, President Nixon did, and he didn’t so far as I know tape telephone conversations to the extent that President Johnson did. But he did tape some of the important discussions during meetings of the Executive Committee during that 13-day period. And those tapes remained secret for years and years, and even after it was disclosed that the tapes existed, they had not been declassified for an additional number of years. It wasn’t until perhaps two years ago or three years ago that they were declassified, and then Professor Ernest May, one of the country’s leading historians, and an associate of his, spent literally weeks and months deciphering the tapes because the quality is very poor – and transcribing them. And those transcriptions have now been issued in the form of a book. And they formed a very, very important foundation for the movie and for discussions since.