Movie offers insight into presidency

By Sarah Szczepanski
Assistant Features Editor

The president was whisked away from a public appearance. The press secretary assured the public that the president was just suffering from a little cold.

Cold war is more like it.

The movie " Thirteen Days," starring Kevin Costner, is an excellent historical rendition of the events surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis with the Russians in the '60s.

The events are portrayed realistically and accurately, not to mention the movie offers intriguing insight into how the American political system works.

When the Cuban Missile Crisis started the United States was at the very brink of war, but President John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) went about his daily routine and the country continued to function as usual.

The movie begins with the American discovery that the Russians have placed hidden nuclear weapons in Cuba. The Americans find that every place is in danger except for good old Seattle. President John F. Kennedy and his political analyst, Kenneth P. O’Donnell (Kevin Costner), are alerted to the situation. After this, the plot thickens. The Americans must decide whether to carry out an air strike on Cuba with or without an invasion of the country, enforce a blockade until the Russian nuclear weapons are removed, or try peaceful negotiations with the Russians.

The president receives advice from everyone imaginable. Every other scene involves a conference room and heated discussions.

The chiefs of staff are trying to push the United States into war.

One of them says to Kennedy, "Just say the words, and my boys will be ready to go … we’ll get those red bastards."

Kennedy realizes this is a very dangerous option considering that the atomic bomb is in the arena. He is hesitant to take any sudden action, and carefully weighs his options.

It is interesting to see all of the advice and persuasion given to the president when deciding national security matters.

This leads to another point of "Thirteen Days." It is extremely long.

The movie would appear to be over, the Russians would start to retreat and the suits in the oval office would start to celebrate. Then, as if on schedule, the next Soviet doomsday threat would introduce itself.

The suspense in the movie, however, is not whether the bombs are going to go off or not. It is history, and it is obvious that they didn’t.

The excitement is the fact that all these things really did happen. The events are factual and not just creations of a screenwriter from California.

Political science majors, history majors and anyone else interested in what happens around them could benefit from learning a little about the factual events that are not made public all of the time.

In the movie, the president calls a journalist and asks him to hold a news story about the crisis in the interest of national security.

The journalist does hold the story, and the public is clueless for another day.

The United States could very well go to war tomorrow, and the public would be left in the dark until the last possible moment.

Go watch "Thirteen Days" to see what really goes on behind the closed doors of the American government.

Students determine results of mock case

Movie offers insight into presidency

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