Download Thirteen Days: Movie Questions

Thirteen Days – Hollywood’s Take on the Cuban Missile Crisis
Film Analysis Sheet
Name_____________________
1. When does the movie take place?
2. What does the title, Thirteen Days, refer to?
3. Who is the Attorney General?
4. How did the Kennedy Administration know that the Soviet Union was putting ballistic missiles
into Cuba?
5. Secretary of State Dean Rusk gives two basic options the president could pursue in response to
the crisis. What are they?
6. Describe the possible chain of events that could lead to the use of nuclear weapons against the
Soviets. (Note: Dean Achenson, the older, supposed Soviet expert, explains this in the second
meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with the president)
7. What happens in the meeting between JFK and the Soviet ambassador in the Oval Office?
8. Briefly, describe the basic conflict between the press and the president and his staff.
9. Why do they refer to the blockade of Cuba as“quarantine”
Thirteen Days – Hollywood’s Take on the Cuban Missile Crisis
Film Analysis Sheet
10. Why does Kenny call the rules of engagement outlined by the Joint Chiefs of Staff a “set up”?
What is he afraid they might lead to?
11.
How was the crisis finally resolved?
12. What kind of peace does President Kennedy speak of in his speech at the conclusion of the film?
13. Thirteen Days only represents the American point of view of the crisis. We see the crisis
develop through the eyes of the president, his brother and Kevin O’Donnell, the
presidential aid. How might this impact the events portrayed in the film?