[FPSPACE] JFK Speech At Rice

[Chris Jones]

Brett Harrison <routier@tig.com.au> writes:

  WSpaceport@aol.com wrote:
  > FYI -- "Thirteen Days" with Kevin Costner in the role of JFK adviser and
  > personal friend Kenny O'Donnell during the Cuban Missile Crisis is due out
  > around the holidays.
  > 
  > I've seen the trailer and it looks pretty good. . .Remains to be seen how it
  > will compare to William Devane's turn as JFK (with Martin Sheen as Bobby
  > Kennedy) in the late 70's TV teleplay "The Missiles of October."
  
  I remember this show vividly, though I haven't seen it since.  Made me realise
  what I'd lived through - I was too young to appreciate the actual events when
  they happened.

Yeah, I was 9, living in Rhode Island and about to move to Alaska.  I remember
seeing a map on TV, showing the ranges of the missiles in Cuba, and how they
reached RI.  I said something like, at least in Alaska we'll be out of range of 
those missiles.  My father pointed out that Alaska was rather closer to a whole 
lot of Soviet Union-based missiles...

To try to drag this to relevancy to this list, I am still awestruck by the
difference between those days and today.  The difficulties in our relations
with Russia don't begin to compare with the cloud we all lived under in those
days.  I've tried to explain it to my kids, and they have a hard time
understanding -- they think all our (both sides) leaders were nuts (which is an 
understandable conclusion).

The Boston Globe had an interview with Arthur Schlesinger yesterday (currently
online at
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/334/living/Schlesinger_Today_s_leaders_don_t_match_past_giants+.shtml, 
but it won't last for long) in which he talks about both the crisis and the
movie.   The relevant excerpts:

  Q. So there's still much to say about Camelot?

  A. Oh, yes. Two books about the Cuban Missile Crisis, for instance, show how
  lucky we were to have Kennedy as president during what was the most dangerous
  moment in the history of the world. We now know that there were 42,000 Soviet
  troops in Cuba, not 10,000. I was in Havana with Bob McNamara five years ago,
  when a former Soviet general said he had authorization to use tactical
  nuclear missiles if America invaded Cuba. McNamara practically fell out of
  his seat when he heard that.

  Q. Have you seen the new film ''Thirteen Days''?

  A. I have not. I read an early script, and Ted Sorensen and I consulted on
  it. Ted saw the film and told me it was Kenny O'Donnell saving the
  world. Now, Kenny was an admirable man, but he had nothing to do with the
  Cuban Missile Crisis.