Thirteen Days (2000), starring Kevin Costner and directed by Roger Donaldson, is a film that chronicles the decision-making of President Kennedy and his EXCOMM during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The film focuses on Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, and White House aide Kenneth O’Donnell. The film used the transcripts of EXCOMM’s deliberations as the basis for its script. In 2000-1, the Belfer Center partnered with the makers of Thirteen Days to analyze the film’s historical accuracy and efficacy at presenting the White House deliberations of how to respond to the Soviet Union.
Click here to read the analyses that was originally published in 2001 to mark the release of Thirteen Days, a film about the events of October 1962.
Peter Almond (a co-producer of Thirteen Days), Graham Allison, and Ernest May (leading experts on the Cuban Missile Crisis) offer their opinions on the movie’s depiction of the Crisis.