It was a movie that I enjoyed when it came out, which is why I was troubled when I later learned the full extent of American responsibility for the crisis. Fir

It was a movie that I enjoyed when it came out, which is why I was troubled when I later learned the full extent of American responsibility for the crisis. First, before Jupiter missiles were deployed to Turkey, the question was raised in Congress of what our response would be if the Soviets responded by placing nuclear weapons in Cuba. Deployment of the Jupiter missiles was particularly provocative, because they were incapable of surviving a counter-force attack, so their only logical purpose was a first-strike capacity against the Soviet Union. Second, the declassified EXCOMM transcripts include all sorts of shocking moments. At one point, JFK commented that the Soviets were acting as if we had deployed missiles to Turkey... at which point someone had to remind him that we had done exactly that. It's possible that the drugs he was taking for his back injury seriously impaired his cognitive ability. Within the White House, it was openly acknowledged that the missiles were of no military significance, and that the "crisis" was a matter of public perception. Yet RFK still advocated a full invasion of Cuba! Is that in Thirteen Days? (Honest question) Third, the very fact that the movie left you with an impression of mutual arrogance demonstrates that it misled you. The Soviets' deployment of the missiles was a completely reasonable response to (1) the attempted invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs and (2) American missiles in Turkey and Italy. And they offered to honor the principle of reciprocity, which America was striving to violate during the entirety of crisis, until finally succumbing to reason and cutting the original tit-for-tat deal that the Soviets wanted in the first place. In a sense, the fact that Thirteen Days is a facially credible movie makes it that much more misleading than transparently jingoistic action flicks. Viewers are more likely to accept its version of history, no matter how slanted.