Original subtitles

This is the stage on which we will dramatise

13 days in which the world came

to the brink of nuclear war.

The names we use are real.

The action is based upon the historical record

as drawn from reportage, academic studies,

eyewitness accounts, and official documents.

1962, the President of the United States,

John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

All Americans, as well as all our friends

in this hemisphere have become concerned

over the recent moves of the Soviet Union

to bolster the military power

of the Castro regime in Cuba.

It continues to be the policy

of the United States

that Cuba will not be allowed

to export its aggressive purposes by force,

or the threat of force.

Cuba will be prevented, by whatever means

may be necessary from taking action

against any part of the Western Hemisphere.

The weapons and military equipment

sent by the USSR to Cuba are designed exclusively

for defensive purposes,

and the President of the United States

knows what these means of defence are.

How can they threaten the United States?

No, you have invented this threat.

It is not the weapons you fear,

it is the revolutionary spirit.

Special advisor to the President, McGeorge Bundy.

Good morning, Mr. President.

Did you read what Eisenhower said about me yesterday?

"President Kennedy's record of the past 21 months

is too sad to talk about."

Imagine Ike saying a thing like that about me,

and in Boston?

Have some coffee, Mac.

No, thank you.

Mr. President,

"James Meridith, the first Negro student

at Mississippi attended classes for the third day,

and for the first time heard no jeers."

Mr. President, we've received hard evidence

that the Russians have placed offensive weapons in Cuba.

What kind of weapons?

Nuclear missiles.

What's your evidence?

Aerial photographs from the U-2 flight of October 14th.

They show missile installations being constructed

in at least four places in Cuba.

I wanna see those pictures.

The photo interpreters are standing by.

Who else is in on this?

Intelligence, Rusk and some of his people, McNamara.

Maxwell Taylor?

And the Joint Chiefs.

McCone?

We contacted him in Seattle at his stepson's funeral.

He's flying back.

This must be kept absolutely confidential.

Only personnel with an absolute need to know

are to be told.

Yes, sir.

What the devil does Khrushchev hope to accomplish.

I wonder if he's gone mad.

It could be a jab,

the punch will probably land on Berlin.

We'll have to step up our U-2 flights

over Cuba immediately.

I want daily reports at the least.

Get the Attorney General for me right away.

Khrushchev's been promising for months

he wouldn't introduce offensive weapons into Cuba, now this.

I can't trust him on the missiles.

We'll have to bomb the damn things out, Mr. President.

We'll meet in the Cabinet Room at 11:45.

Inform Rusk, McNamara, General Taylor, Dillon,

Sorensen, Kenny O'Donnell, George Ball,

you be there, get Thompson, and I want Stevenson.

He's flying in from New York later today.

That's fine.

Have Rusk brief Dean Acheson.

Hello, Bobby.

I want you to get over here as fast as you possibly can.

Right.

We are facing great trouble.

I'll take us better part of the day to analyse the films, sir.

We had to go over 1,000 frames.

This looks like a football field.

Yes, that's a shot of San Cristobal

taken six weeks ago taken from an altitude of 14 miles.

You see, there's no activity down there at all, sir.

Now, you compare that with this one taken by Major Anderson

just 36 hours ago from the same altitude.

You can see the difference.

These are installations for medium range missiles.

Yes, there's no doubt about that, Mr. President.

That slam pattern is absolutely characteristic

of Soviet installations.

I'm grateful to you,

give my compliments to the rest of your team,

especially, Major Anderson.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Would you leave those with me please?

Certainly, Sir.

Kenny, come in here.

Morning, Mr. President.

It's a beautiful day.

It's marvellous.

Have you seen astronaut Wally Schirra,

Mrs. Schirra and the two children?

The photographers would love you to take them out

for a look at Caroline's pony.

- That's fine Kenny. - Good.

Do you still think Cuba is unimportant as a campaign issue?

Well, absolutely.

It's five weeks to the election.

The voters don't give a holler about Cuba.

Every time Senators Keating and Capehart

does squawk about Cuba threatening our security

they put everybody to sleep.

So, Cuba doesn't amount to much?

Not as a campaign issue, no sir.

I want you to take a look at these, Ken.

You're an old Air Force bombardier,

you should be able to tell what they show.

I can't believe it.

You better believe it.

You've just elected Capehart in Indiana

and Ken Keating will probably be the next president.

We're going to have to rearrange the schedule.

There'll be a meeting in the cabinet room at 11:45.

Get the authorised list from Bundy

then you must clamp down the security lid.

Not a word to anyone else including cabinet members,

National Security Council Members,

Secretaries or wives.

Should I cancel your schedule?

Absolutely not.

I'm going to keep my appointments for as long as I can.

We're going to have to make it look like

there's absolutely nothing unusual going on around here.

Bundy briefed me.

I think Dad should be flown home.

It's no time for him to be here.

I'll make arrangements.

Think we should add anyone to this list?

Presidential assistant, Theodore Sorensen;

former ambassador to Moscow, Llewelyn Thompson;

Assistant Secretary of State, George Ball;

Secretary of State, Dean Rusk;

Secretary of the Treasury, Douglas Dillon;

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

General Maxwell D. Taylor;

Secretary of Defence, Robert S. McNamara.

Good morning, gentlemen.

Good morning, Mr. President.

Support trucks, trailers, the personnel tent area,

the rocket launchers for the Sandal SS04 medium-range

ballistic missile.

And here, gentlemen, eight ballistic missiles on trailers.

We are fortunate, another tropical storm over Cuba

and the U-2 flight would have been postponed again.

Khrushchev would have had his fait accompli.

Some of the missiles will be operational in 10 days.

Ten days?

Whose estimate is that?

Ours.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Secretary Rusk.

Well, sir, obviously the communists

have been shipping missiles to Cuba

and constructing bases there while continuously assuring us,

telling us publicly and privately

they were doing no such thing.

They deceived us.

In point of fact, we deceived ourselves.

There was no hard intelligence.

We engaged in wishful thinking.

Secretary McNamara?

The Intelligence Board concluded only last month

that the Soviets would never instal

offensive missiles in Cuba.

McCone warned of the possibility.

McCone had an intuition.

We can't act on intuitions.

We knew they were installing

a surface to air missile system.

Yes, a defensive system.

And now we know what they intended to defend;

medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Why has Khrushchev moved them into Cuba now?

Tommy, you just came back from Moscow.

Mr. President, I've been fooled.

I never would have believed this was possible.

The Russians have never placed their nuclear weapons

in any other country, not ever, not ever before.

George?

Well, I can only surmise, Khrushchev is gambling.

The missile base in Cuba was supposed to be the trump card.

And after our elections they'll probably announce

this triumph of Socialist solidarity

and trade his missiles in Cuba

for our status in West Berlin.

Why should he settle for West Berlin?

We're in the right place, right down the line;

NATO, Turkey, Greece, Italy.

Just a moment, the missiles in Cuba

will have some psychological effect, yes,

I grant you that, but I don't see that they profoundly threaten us,

or our allies.

We have the basic first strike and the retaliatory superiority.

A few missiles are not going to change the basic balance of power.

General Taylor?

In fact, our nuclear deterrent is in jeopardy and in range.

I don't concede that.

We have sack bombers, missile sites all along

our southern underbelly within easy range of Cuba.

A missile is a missile,

it doesn't make much difference whether you're killed

by one fired from the Soviet Union or from Cuba.

Sir, the difference is that our warning time

is reduced from 15 minutes to 30 seconds.

Now, nobody knows if they can hit a target

at a range of 6,000 miles, but they can't miss from Cuba.

Mr. President, we have to move quickly

before the missiles become operational.

Now, we have the capability to deploy and hit with quick,

accurate air strike.

Hit them in Russia, or hit them in Cuba?

Hit Cuba, with surgical air strikes.

This communist move is directly threatening

the security of the United States of America.

I don't see that there's any alternative.

Mac?

It's difficult to construct a scenario

in which you compromise with nuclear warheads.

Mr. President, I don't know that I can

contribute anything except my feeling

that there must be an alternative to bombing,

an alternative to war.

Mr. Attorney General.

Khrushchev promised we had nothing to fear in Cuba.

Gromyko echoed him, and Dobrynin told me privately

he reiterated, we need not be concerned.

In my judgement the implications of Soviet deceit

go even far beyond this damn situation.

We cannot and we will not accept Soviet missiles in Cuba.

We will not repeal the Monroe Doctrine or the REO Pact.

The Soviets can't lie to us, ship missiles to our front door,

and then come up winners, smelling like roses,

not if we ever hope to deal with them again,

not if we hope to survive.

I'm going to campaign in Chicago and in Connecticut.

I'm going to fulfil my appointments

for as long as possible,

and so are all of you.

Our one advantage now is that the Russians

think we believe their lies.

You people will formulate recommendations

on the best course of action.

We're not going to reveal the facts to the American people,

or to our allies, or to our enemies till we have determined

how we intend to deal with this crisis.

Mr. President, it's going to be impossible

to keep this under wraps for very long.

We don't have very long, 10 days.

Yes, I can answer the question,

I know President Kennedy.

You remember, we spent many hours together in Vienna,

just over a year ago.

In those hours I told him clearly

that while we adhere to the policy of peaceful coexistence,

we intended to fully defend and pursue our national

and socialist interests.

How did Kennedy respond.

He told me that he was anxious to reach an accommodation.

He admitted that the Americans supported

invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs was a mistake,

the result of his only recently having taken power.

In other words, the result of his inexperience.

He suggested that we should stabilise the world order,

in order to avoid future conflict,

a proposal to which I said I would never agree.

I was firm with Kennedy in Vienna,

as we had been firm in Berlin,

where our wall symbolises that determination.

We have been firm in resuming our nuclear tests

and our rocket, missiles and space program.

We have been firm in our support of the just struggles

for national liberation against the

capitalist imperialist forces.

There's the story of a father who in the cold of winter

was forced to move his cow into the farmhouse with him.

The farmer didn't like the cow in the house,

didn't like the smell, but in time, in order to survive,

he grew used to it.

You ask how Kennedy will respond when in a few weeks

we reveal the new situation in Cuba,

like the farmer he will grow used to it.

He will not like it,

but he will grow used to the smell of Soviet rockets,

Soviet missiles, Soviet strength, Soviet presence in Cuba.

What do you think, Bobby?

Well, I think there has to be an alternative

between doing nothing and launching a sneak attack.

I'm looking forward to hearing one.

And it's surprising how inhibited they still are around you.

Even McNamara and Bundy are still inhibited

in the presidential presence.

What would you suggest?

Maybe you should remove yourself a while.

Let us meet informally at the State Department,

George Ball's office,

where they'll be free to speculate without you.

Yes, that could be useful.

I don't suppose you inhibit them?

Irritate, yes, inhibit, no.

Then irritate them.

I will.

But they have to reach agreement.

I understand.

But the question is, on what?

A policy that the broadest elements in the government,

the bureaucracy, can support, a consensus that won't tear

the country and this administration to pieces,

a way to remove those missiles without war, if possible.

Is that all?

I should think that would be enough.

With pinpoint bombing, we can destroy the bases

without inflicting any serious casualties

among the civilian Cuban population.

But we'll be hitting Russian technicians

and Russian soldiers.

Won't that give the Soviets an open invitation

to strike back some place that's strategically more important?

- Excuse me... - Admiral, I wonder if I might...

- May I say... - Go ahead, Admiral Anderson.

Thank you, sir.

Now, there is no more strategically

vital location than Cuba.

Look, sir, Cuba lies on the Windward Passage,

the Florida Straits, the Yucatan Channel,

and all of the main ship lanes from

our east coast to the gulf coast,

and the Panama Canal.

With nuclear weapons, she commands half the hemisphere.

Would you agree with that assessment, Mac?

I'm inclining to the view that in the end

we're going to have to negotiate with the Soviets

either in direct talks or at the United Nations.

But what will we negotiate, Berlin, Greece,

Secretary Rusk's plantation in Georgia?

Cuba is an island, and I submit that we

have ample sea and air power to blockade her.

Blockade?

Blockade her.

Now, that's true, theoretically...

It's true in fact.

We can blockade her with our ships and our planes,

and prevent the further delivery of war supplies

and materials from Russia.

But Bob, how will a blockade serve

to stop the Russians from completing the bases

they've begun with the materials they already have?

We can cut off their source for weapons, fuel supply, lubricants,

even their food if necessary.

I the meantime, while we're manoeuvring at sea,

they'll proceed to complete their missile system.

That is assuming that they have all the hardware they need.

Well, when a man points a gun at your head,

it's only prudent to assume that it's loaded.

Yeah, wait, let me just say this,

I can see advantages here.

A blockade would certainly demonstrate our determination

to resist Khrushchev

while stopping short of a sneak attack.

In the short term,

at least it's a less extreme measure than an air strike,

and it could reduce the danger of an all out war.

Exactly.

But that does not of itself remove the missiles,

and the missiles are the issue,

and the missiles are our objective.

Tommy, you know Khrushchev better than any of us,

how do you think he'd respond if we attacked Cuba by air?

Khrushchev has a short temper,

and a Presidium jammed with ambitious people.

He's under constant pressure, and he's unpredictable.

If we bomb those bases without warning,

he could react impulsively.

In my opinion, striking Cuba risks triggering a nuclear world war.

I suppose the first impulse is to go in and bomb,

but Mr. President we have to explore every avenue

for a peaceful solution.

Sooner or later, we'll have to go to the United Nations.

It's vitally important that we go with a reasonably case.

Well, the country is fortunate to have Adlai Stevenson

at the UN at this time.

Thank you, sir.

I appreciate that.

Russ tells me you're going on with the political campaign;

I think that's very wise.

I had visionary hopes of picking up some seats

in the House and Senate.

But, that's not going to happen now.

Once the truth about Cuba comes out,

Republicans are going to murder us.

Do you have Republicans in high positions in your administration?

Unfortunately, the voters may come to feel

that our Republicans friends aren't high enough.

I don't think it is unfair to say

that the United States and the world are passing through

one of its most critical periods.

And it may be that it will continue to pass through

a period of comparable criticality

for the next few months, maybe years.

Our major problem after all is the survival of our country,

the protection of its vital interest without,

without beginning a third and perhaps a last war.

It is ironical, that the two strongest countries in the world,

the United States and the Soviet Union,

are the two countries which live in the greatest danger.

As Robert Grave wrote about matadors,

bull fight critics row upon row

crowd the enormous plaza de toros.

But, only one is there who knows

and he is the one that fights the bull.

These are the stills from yesterday's over flight,

Mr. President.

They show 29 missile pads in various stages of construction.

They're building two types of missiles down there,

the 1,000 mile, medium-range, mobile field weapons,

which can be transported, and the 2200 mile,

intermediate missile, which must be fired from fixed position.

Both are first strike weapons.

They will provide a launch capacity

in excess of 40 nuclear weapons.

The Aleutian 28 Soviet bombers now being assembled in Cuba

can hit all of Florida as far as Savannah, Pensacola,

and parts of Central America.

The medium-range missile threatens one-third

of the United States, including Washington, DC, St. Louis,

Dallas, Panama Canal, and all of Central America.

The intermediate-range missile capability reaches nearly

all of the United States, south-eastern Canada,

and all of Mexico, Central America, Panama Canal,

and much of South America.

Do we have any, hard photographic evidence

that the nuclear warheads for these missiles

are actually in Cuba?

No, sir.

Why not?

They are comparatively small and easy

to conceal, Mr. President,

but you can rest assured that they're there somewhere.

How can I be certain?

Those Soviet ICBM's are only compatible with nuclear warheads.

The Soviet Union this morning successfully fired

two multi-stage missiles 7500 miles to bulls-eye landings

in the central Pacific.

An American high-altitude nuclear test in the Pacific

failed today for the fourth time in five tries,

when a fore-rocket malfunctioned.

All right now, gentlemen, can we, very clearly and economically

run down the diplomatic possibilities

as you've analysed them,

one, two, three, and so on.

The first possibility, Bobby, is to confront Gromyko

with our evidence and our demands.

And what's his probable response?

I view of past performance, no doubt, he'd deny everything

and we'd have tipped our hand without improving out situation.

Yes, I agree, that's unacceptable.

Now the second possibility is send an emissary

directly to Khrushchev with a message from the President

demanding that he remove the missiles at once.

Now, as to that, Bobby, Khrushchev's obvious ploy

would be to admit to the President what the President already knows,

and then to call for a conference or a summit to resolve the crisis.

See, that way, he'd be talking

while the bases became operational.

Yes, which is precisely what we're doing now.

Anything else?

Yes, now, the third track we considered, Bobby,

involves sending an emissary directly to Castro

and putting out the danger to Cuba of a nuclear confrontation there.

The objection is that the bases are under direct Russian control.

Even if we could influence Castro,

there's no reason to assume that he could divert Russian policy.

In a way, the missiles hold Castro hostage.

Is there a fourth possibility?

Yes, sir, there is.

A fourth possibility would be to by-pass the Russians completely,

and to take the entire issue to the UN at a strategic moment

of our own choosing.

The difficulty, Ambassador, as you well know,

is that the Soviet Union can veto us in the Security Council.

And to make matters worse, Zorin's chairman there this month.

I see.

So, it doesn't appear that any of the diplomatic channels

will do the job.

Well, we'll have to use diplomatic channels to explain and to justify

our actions to the rest of the world.

And, ultimately, we'll have to find an accommodation

with the Soviets.

But diplomacy in and of itself will not remove the missiles.

It appears that we've boiled down to two options, and only two.

We bomb them or we blockade.

What's the consensus?

There isn't one yet, but I think if we took a vote today,

we'd be bombing tomorrow.

What about you?

How, from the love of God, can President Kennedy

of the United States order a sneak attack

on a tiny, Latin American country.

By pressing a button.

Kenny, come in here.

Mr. President.

Kenny, how late am I?

You're lunching with the Crown Prince of Libya in 10 minutes.

The Connecticut flight is scheduled to take off at 2:30,

and Pierre wants to know if the pool reporters

could fly with you for some background.

Tell Pierre the President craves privacy.

Do you believe that over a month ago

I designated this week as National Prayer Week?

Connecticut was the first state to endorse

this candidate for the presidency,

the state that placed my name in nomination,

and the first state to report a Kennedy majority

on election night nearly two years ago.

The great fight in 1962 is the same fight we waged in 1960,

and must be waged in this decade.

And that is to provide employment for our people,

education for our children,

and security for our older people.

But an air strike in and of itself

will not eliminate the threat in Cuba,

Mr. Acheson, it would have to be followed by an invasion

to destroy any of those missile bases we missed there.

And that would involve widespread fighting and bombing,

and a horrendous toll to Cuban lives.

And that, Bobby, regretfully is the nature of war,

even a defensive war.

Yes, and what will the Russians do?

Even if they pull away from the brake,

what will the civilised world think of the United States

crushing a small country in a brutal surprise attack.

Whatever the military outcome, assaulting Cuba, in my view,

will do us irreparable diplomatic and psychological harm.

No, gentlemen, we are not gonna have

a Pearl Harbour in reverse here.

My brother is not gonna be the Tojo of the 1960s.

Mr. Attorney General,

your analogy with Pearl Harbour is false and pejorative.

At Pearl Harbour, the Japanese without provocation or warning

attacked our fleet thousands of miles from Japanese shores.

In this situation, the Soviet Union installed

lethal weapons 19 miles from our coast,

and they have done this 140 years

after the Proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine.

I don't, dispute that, Mr. Acheson.

Moreover, within the last five months, the Congress,

and even more recently the President himself,

has reiterated our opposition to the establishment

of offensive weapons in Cuba.

Now, how much warning must we give

to avoid the stigma of Pearl Harbour in reverse?

I have come here to Yale, to this centre of learning,

and I've enjoyed your warm reception.

But you will learn, as this country has learned,

that the Democratic Party is best for you,

as it is best for the country.

Yes, he's here now, right.

Well, Kenny, it's some comfort that they look worse than we do.

How was the response in New Haven?

I didn't notice.

How is he doing?

On top of it, but I think his back is giving him hell.

I'm calling Jackie tonight and asking her

to come back to Washington with the children.

I think it's a good move.

Ted?

Yes, sir.

A student in Connecticut shouted that,

I should have more courage and less profile.

The man has a way with words.

Maybe we should put him on the payroll.

Yes, on your payroll.

The third day of the Missiles of October.

Our cover for the invasion strike force

is an annual Caribbean training exercise,

coincidentally scheduled for this month.

Code designation, Fillabriglegs 62.

Admiral Anderson?

Yes, sir.

The Navy will have more than 100 ships in the manoeuvre,

including four attack carriers,

and we are also moving in the Enterprise.

General Schoop.

The task force will carry and have the capability

to land 40,000 combat ready marines,

not including 4,000 in transit,

and in residence in Guantanamo.

The Army's 82nd and 101st Airborne are being airlifted

to a total 100,000 men in Florida.

General LeMay.

Strategic air command bombers are being deployed

from farther bases to make room for tactical attack aircraft,

air defence facilities are being stripped outside

the Cuban missile range, and reinstalled in the southeast.

We have 14,000 reservists on standby

recall to fly air transport

in the event of an airborne invasion.

Now, the initial raid will consist of 500 sorties

striking at all missile sites, military targets,

airfields, ports, and gun emplacements.

When will you be ready to launch this air strike?

October 23rd.

Five days.

Yes, sir.

And how do you think the Russians will respond?

They won't.

Not at all?

No, sir.

Is that what you really think?

Are you trying to tell me that

they'll let us bomb their missiles,

kill a lot of Russians and then do nothing?

If they don't move in Cuba, General,

they'll certainly do something in Berlin.

We're in a pretty bad fix, Mr. President.

You're in it with me.

Imagine LeMay arguing that we should go ahead and strike

without considering the Russian response?

Brass hats have one advantage, though;

if we do what they want us to do and they're wrong,

there'll be nobody around later to tell them they made a mistake.

A blockade is far from a certain answer,

it may not be strong enough to do the job,

it may force the Russians to retaliate,

but it's the only choice we have short of a war.

I want a consensus, a firm consensus advocating a blockade

from that committee in the next day or two.

Well, it's a bitch, there isn't a man of us

who hasn't changed his mind at least once, including me.

If by next Thursday the missile

bases are still under construction,

we should notify our chief allies and hit the bases the next day,

while simultaneously warning Khrushchev

that a Soviet counteraction means war.

Maybe it's better to go down with a bang then a whimper.

Beating a blockade is far from perfect,

but it's surely preferable to that.

A blockade is every bit as much an act of war as an air strike.

I don't agree, sir.

There's a precedent to a blockade,

which at least will give us the semblance of a legal framework.

Legal niceties now are so much pompous foolishness.

I am referring to Roosevelt's quarantine

on Nazi Germany before we entered World War II.

Shortly before.

The defensive quarantine.

The United Nations charter recognises a right

of hemispheric self-defence.

If we can get the Organisation of American States

to endorse a blockade,

at least we'd have a strong legal

case to take to the United Nations.

The Russians respect legality, sir.

They may twist and turn them to their own advantage,

but they're always impressed by a good, solid dialectic.

It is our inherent right to protect ourselves.

Nobody contests that, sir.

And therefore, a legal pretext is superfluous.

Gentlemen, an attack on Cuba will not necessarily

bring the Soviet Union into war with us.

On the other hand, a blockade, excuse me, a quarantine,

will not neutralise the weapons already in Cuba,

will not force Khrushchev to remove such weapons,

and will not eliminate the risk of war.

When we stop and search ships, we will be engaged with Russians,

not with Cubans.

And obviously, when we quarantine Cuba,

the Russians will have an open excuse to blockade Berlin.

Your arguments, as always, are very persuasive.

And yet, I wouldn't want to be the American Tojo

with a Pearl Harbour on my conscience.

Yes.

I've heard that analogy before.

I know that you have.

I think, Mr. President, that you've made your decision.

Whatever it's going to be we'll have to inform our allies.

DeGaulle could be a problem.

Perhaps you should send the Vice President to Paris.

Perhaps.

Gromyko is coming here this afternoon.

At who's request, sir?

His.

The meeting was arranged weeks ago.

It seems the distinguished Soviet minister is going home tomorrow.

Are you going to tell him what you've learned about the missiles?

I hope not.

Then, Mr. President, the fascinating question

is if Gromyko is going to tell you.

I guess this is the week I'd better earn my salary.

I was a young diplomat,

I first came to the United States invited to this party,

a garden party, they said.

I went there, everybody is wearing shorts, the ladies,

And there I was, wearing my black frock and black tie.

Could you imagine a thing like that,

such embarrassment I did not experience in my whole career.

We must have certain assurances and guarantees

which might be incorporated in a statement by yourself

and Mr. Khrushchev at the conclusion of the summit.

I am prepared to speak with Chairman Khrushchev,

but we have our obligations in Berlin

and other nations are deeply involved.

Mr. President, I know you enjoy frank talk,

let me speak about the anti-Castro campaign in this country.

We believe that your government should stop threatening Cuba,

and should restrain the attack on Cuban shipping by exile groups.

Cuba, after all, belongs to the Cuban people,

not to the United States.

I do enjoy frank talk, Mr. Gromyko,

but it's not the United States,

it's the Soviet Union who is creating the conflict.

You've been supplying the Castro government

with sophisticated weapons.

Now, I've received, repeated personal

assurances from your government

that no action is required.

I tried to calm American opinion,

but your activities are very serious,

and you haven't explained them satisfactorily.

Cuba has a right to the means to defend herself.

Sir, we are not paranoid, you did attempt to invade Cuba.

The Bay of Pigs was not a precedent.

This government has no intention of invading Cuba.

For your part, Mr. Gromyko,

did I understand you to say that the weapons you send to Cuba

are only anti-aircraft weapons,

incapable of striking at targets in

the United States, is that true?

Absolutely, Mr. President.

I want to avoid any misunderstandings here.

This government will not tolerate the establishment

of a Soviet strategic base in Cuba.

Mr. President, I assure you,

the United States need not be concerned.

We have given bread to Cuba, yes, some military supplies,

all defensive, defensive weapons that will never

constitute a threat to the United States.

And I have personally assured the American people

that the Soviet assistance programs

in Cuba are purely defensive.

I have also said, Mr. Gromyko, and I say now,

that any change will have the gravest consequences.

The origin of the Cold War can be found

in the unremitting hostility of the United States

to socialism as we understand it.

We believe, sir, that the Cold War

has been caused by communist aggression against the free world.

I think we've heard that story before.

You see, we trace your hostility to the several divisions

of Americans who fought us on Russian soil immediately

following our revolution in 1918.

I know many Americans don't like to remember the illegal

attempt to invade our country and change our government,

but that is a fact of history, and you have to take,

May I have a moment, Mr. Secretary.

Yes.

Mr. Secretary, I know there's something going on

that you don't want to talk about,

but the press corps is getting damned suspicious

with half the government shuttling between the White House

and the State Department two and three times a day.

I think you better tell all the big wheels

to get their limousines off the streets.

I don't know what you're talking about,

but thanks very much.

It's American imperialism which has stood between

the natural friendship of the common people of our nations.

But we, Mr. Foreign Minister,

remember the excesses of Stalin,

recall the subjugation of Eastern Europe,

and are reminded of Chairman Khrushchev's provocative

prophesy that you will attempt to bury us.

Mr. Secretary, you misunderstand.

Capitalism will collapse of its own violation.

You see, to put it perfectly accurately,

we believe that you will bury yourselves.

Gentlemen, a blockade is a first step.

If it succeeds, we've avoided war.

If it fails, the other options are still open to us.

If we attack by air, we kill Russian technicians.

All right, I'll go along on humanitarian grounds

with giving Castro 24 hours notice and then bombing.

Gentlemen, this country is supposed to stand for something

It's supposed to be a symbol of morals and values and fair play.

Now, how the hell will bombing a tiny country into submission

help establish us as a leader in the free world,

what kind of a victory would it be?

Better than a defeat, I would say.

Yes.

And when the smoke clears,

and the corpses are dragged from the rubble,

what do we answer when the world asks why, where is your proof,

what gives you the right?

I think we can hit Cuba by air and get away with it.

The Russians aren't prepared to go to nuclear war with us.

But I have to say that your moral arguments

have never occurred to me, Bobby, but you're right,

we have to remember who we are.

We have to take the risk.

And we have to put aside the air attack option,

at least for now.

I'm prepared to go along with the blockade.

Gentlemen, the President is waiting.

Oh, incidentally, Dean Rusk called to say we should all go over

to the White House in the same limousine

to avoid tipping off the press corp.

One car for all of us?

Yeah.

Pity for the government if we get into an accident.

I think we'll be safe, none of us is driving.

I'm attracted to your concept of a blockade.

It should give Khrushchev time to respond thoughtfully.

And it certainly avoids the shock of a surprise attack.

If it works, the Russians can retreat with dignity.

And if it doesn't we've preserved our flexibility.

Ted, I want a draught of my speech to the country ready for me

when I get back from campaigning.

Gentlemen, on Sunday at the latest

we're going to let the world in on this.

Chinese armoured columns rolled forward

today in large scale fighting against

the ill-prepared Indian troops.

Indian military spokesmen have reported heavy casualties,

but expressed their determination to withstand

the Chinese thrust all along the disputed frontier.

The fourth day of the Missiles of October.

Gentlemen, let me ask leave to be excused from further attendance.

This is no place for a private citizen like myself.

Well, Mr. Acheson, the President has the greatest

respect and the highest personal regard for you.

In his absence, I...

It is one thing for an outsider like myself

to be asked for advice and counsel,

but it's quite another for me to actually participate

in planning the tactical operations.

I wish you all good luck.

Woodrow Wilson once said, what good is a political party

unless it is being used by the nation for a great occasion.

What is the great occasion for which this nation will use

the Democratic Party in 1962.

Why should they choose us and not the Republicans.

The Republicans are equally patriotic,

equally anxious to see it move ahead.

What makes this election important in 1962

is that the two parties have clear and distinct differences

in their approach as to how they should move this country ahead.

The crowds have been good to excellent,

and he looks terrific.

Of course, he's under a hell of a strain.

Yes, well things are falling apart here, Ken.

Dean Acheson just walked out,

and the military is vehemently opposed to the blockade.

In addition, security is crumbling.

I think the press knows something is up.

I can't see anything to be gained

by rushing the President back to Washington now.

That would give it away for certain.

Now, listen, we're gonna have to round up

the Congressional leaders and get them briefed as soon as possible.

I'll, clear it with him.

Will you have the President call me as soon as he's free?

In your judgement, he has to fly back in the morning?

- At the latest, yes. - I see.

I'll talk to you later, Ken.

Fine.

This is a great and a good country.

It is the centre of the stage, everything we do here

is marked around the world in the great struggle

which is reaching its climax in this decade.

And I believe that we can make this country not only

the leader of the free world,

but a leader in whom all can have a sense of pride,

a sense of participation, and a sense of mutual progress.

Now, I come to Illinois and I ask for your help.

I think President Roosevelt through my father

out of this suite in 1942.

Better?

Yes, it's much better Dave, thank you.

They loved the speech.

I'm sure glad to hear that.

Yes, but will they love us on Monday,

like they love us today?

That's good chowder.

Got it from Chicago.

Yes.

Pierre wants a minute with you.

You'll want to talk to Bobby first.

He'll be with you in a moment, Pierre.

The attorney general, Mr. President.

What's happening there, Bobby?

Yes, I understand about Acheson

but we have to keep him in the picture.

Maybe Paris and the joint chiefs have to look at it that way.

But, they'll come around when we're committed.

Has McNamara punched in the Atlantic/Caribbean alert?

No, I'll have to brief the congressional leadership myself.

One session with foreign affairs and armed services.

Now the consensus will form up around the blockade

if you're here, I know that.

But, without you here to take the responsibility,

it looks to risky to them.

Just too damn risky.

And, I'll come back in the morning.

Tell Sorenson he's writing a speech

announcing a blockade not Armageddon.

Good night, Bobby.

First thing in the morning, Ken.

Yes, sir.

Get me Admiral Berkley, please.

Kenny would you please hand me my magazine?

Yes, sure.

We're going to have to come up with a good reason

to cut your speech short, Mr. President.

What will it be?

You caught a cold.

Hello, Doctor, Ken O'Donnell.

Please come around to the president's suite tomorrow morning

and make that 09:00.

And, Doctor, be flexible.

Okay, let's have Pierre day.

What if you can't get the consensus in Washington tomorrow?

President Lincoln once put a proposition before his cabinet.

The vote was nine aye, and one nay.

The nay vote was Lincoln's and the proposition was defeated.

I'll make this decision alone if I must.

I'll be infinitely better if the Executive Department

support me all the way,

cause they've participated in the decision,

they understand it, and they believe in it.

Hello, Pierre.

The speech went very well, Mr. President.

Thanks, what's your problem?

I just got a call from Bob Allen,

he and Paul Scott are gonna publish a story

that we're on the verge of invading Cuba.

Also Carlton Kent of the Sun Times asked for verification of a report

that we have parachute units on the alert for a Cuban jump.

Now, sir, I'm completely in the dark.

Call Kent and tell him that story is absolutely false.

We have no intentions of invading Cuba.

If he prints that story he's gonna look foolish.

Kenny, call McNamara and have him ask Allen and Scott

to kill their story.

Mr. President, I suppose you're gonna tell me

what's going on when you think I should know.

I don't want to put my press secretary

in a position of deliberately deceiving the press.

And you're not the worlds greatest liar, Pierre.

You don't know how lucky you are not to know what you don't know.

Yes, sir.

Good night, Mr. President.

Good night, Pierre.

Pierre, we're making some alternative travel arrangements

for the pool reporters in the morning.

You'll make the announcement at the last...

Now, wait a minute, are you talking about a new schedule?

The President is developing a cold.

Now who do you think that's gonna fool?

Everybody, the way you're gonna handle it.

The United States today detonated a nuclear device

above Junston Island in the central Pacific.

The explosion was the second successful American test

in the upper atmosphere in six attempts this year.

The fifth day of the Missiles of October.

I talked with Kennedy in Washington for over two hours.

I can't dismiss the possibility he knew about the situation in Cuba.

That was your dominant impression?

It's possible.

So, why haven't we heard his righteous American indignation?

Well, perhaps for the element of surprise.

There's another possibility.

He may be withholding the bad news

until after the American election,

like a bride concealing her blemish until after the ceremony.

In Vienna, I feel sorry for Kennedy,

he so desperately wanted a triumph.

All right, let me hear that conversation again in detail.

Mr. President, would you prefer that each of us

write down our recommendation?

No.

There isn't any clear cut answer here.

I don't want people saying later

that their plans would have worked.

Perhaps those of you whose proposals aren't adopted

may yet prove to be the lucky ones.

Let's begin.

Secretary Rusk?

I favour the blockade, Mr. President.

Secretary McNamara?

Blockade, Mr. President.

Secretary Dillon?

The blockade, sir.

General Taylor?

Air strike, Mr. President.

Mr. Attorney General?

Blockade, Mr. President.

Director McCone?

Air strike, sir.

Admiral Anderson?

Air strike, Mr. President.

Ken?

Blockade, Mr. President.

Ambassador Stevenson?

Quarantine, Mr. President.

Ambassador Thompson?

Blockade, sir.

- George? - Blockade, Mr. President.

- Mac? - Blockade, Mr. President.

- Ted? - Blockade, sir.

Then it is the, consensus of this committee

that a naval action is our most appropriate response.

I agree.

I understand and appreciate the concerns of all those

who voted for an air strike.

And I assure you, that if the blockade fails,

I'll take uncompromising action.

My speech to the nation will be on Monday.

I'll announce the quarantine at the time.

Sir, I believe your speech should incorporate

a call for an emergency session of the Security Council.

We must get to the UN ahead of the Russians.

That's very useful State will work with you on a draught resolution.

And may I add, sir, that whatever happens at the United Nations

is largely contingent on the Organisation of American States

supporting our action.

Hopefully, the OAS will come to a vote by Wednesday

before we impose the actual blockade.

May I ask what we'll do if the OAS doesn't support us?

Are we then going to impose the blockade and take our case

to the United Nations without even the semblance of legality,

without the support of our own hemisphere?

I'll pay any price to get those missiles out of Cuba.

Then, sir, I don't see how we can expect

the Russians to remove them for nothing.

It's going to be difficult for the rest of the world,

especially Europe, who understand our fear of the Cuban bases.

After all, our European allies have been within easy reach

of Soviet missiles for years.

The world will ask why Soviet technicians

and missiles in Cuba are any more wicked

than our own technicians and missiles in Turkey and Italy.

And why a Russian base in Cuba is any wicked

than our own American base at Guantanamo.

Stevenson, are you asserting that we should trade our Jupiter base

or our Guantanamo base for the Cuban missile bases?

Are you suggesting there's a relationship between the two?

The world will suggest it, sir, and we must have a response.

If the situation were reversed,

the Russians wouldn't hesitate to use nuclear weapons on us,

and they certainly wouldn't agree

to trade away their strategic base.

If the blockade fails, we'll be forced

either into war or negotiations.

I believe we might avoid the war by

beginning with the negotiations.

I should have thought that Hitler taught us at least one lesson,

and its name is appeasement.

Negotiating now will weaken our strategic position

all over the world.

The Guantanamo base is without strategic significance.

I'll dispute that, sir.

The Turkish and Italian Jupiter bases are obsolete.

But our treaty obligations are binding,

unless you want to undermine NATO.

Nevertheless, we can negotiate without

losing anything of significance.

Then, sir, what do you suggest we give away next time?

I am hopeful that we'll live to see a next time.

Gentlemen I agree that diplomatic moves are essential,

but we're not going to negotiate under the gun.

DeGaulle would be quick to say that we were selling out

the Europeans to protect ourselves.

And the Russians would be tempted

to try blackmail again, elsewhere.

The issue isn't Guantanamo or obsolete Jupiter bases,

the issue is missiles, Russian missiles in Cuba,

and they must be removed and they must be removed quickly.

We've worked day and night to hammer out a consensus,

and Stevenson damn near blows it.

I wonder if he's really strong enough or tough enough

to represent us at the UN.

I sometimes think Stevenson is the UN.

Maybe you should replace him with someone like John McCloy,

a tough Republican.

I don't think that would be prudent now, Bobby.

If we show any weakness now,

Khrushchev will march through us like an open door.

Adlai showed courage.

He gave an argument that needed to be given

and took the risk of being called an appeaser.

He damn near pulled us off the track, is what he did.

He wasn't wrong.

That's not the point.

You said yourself, we can't submit to Russian blackmail.

Nevertheless, foreign observers will ask why we're entitled

to bases in Turkey pointing missiles at Russia's belly.

Now, I admire what Stevenson did.

He told the truth, and he presented

the diplomatic point of view,

and that's his job.

His job is to implement your decisions.

It doesn't matter whether we respect Adlai or admire him,

or whether or not he's even telling the truth.

Right now, we need the support

of Republicans and conservative Democrats alike,

who just don't trust his capacity to stand up to the Russians.

Half the American people

think that Stevenson should have been president.

Yes, and the other half think Nixon should have been president.

You're not a Republican or a conservative,

at least not the last time I looked.

Yes, well, McCloy is available,

and, I think we could use all the help we can get.

I'd welcome the support of McCloy and his friends.

I'll ask him to join Stevenson's delegation at the UN.

Thank you.

Now, I said join Stevenson's delegation.

Yes, Mr. President.

The blockade will form an arch extending 800 miles

to sea from Cape Mysai,

that's well beyond the range of the big fighters in Cuba.

Your designation is Task Force 136,

comprising 13 destroyers on the forward line,

supported by two cruisers,

flanked by four additional destroyers,

and the guided missile cruiser Kembara.

In support will be the Filabreflex Invasion Fleet.

By the way, Corky, three of your destroyers

have just put in from service with the Sixth Fleet.

The men are on liberty and hung out over half

the eastern seaboard.

You'll have 24 hours to corral them and to sail.

So, you will be in position and close all navigable channels

to Cuba as of ten hundred this Wednesday, 24 October.

We'll put it down, Skally,

as prediction from me.

Now, we Republicans are going to pick up four seats in the senate,

and at least, at least 14 in the house.

At ABC News, we keep picking up reports of major troop movements.

Now, Senator, wouldn't you say that something

very big is brewing in Cuba, or perhaps in Berlin?

I think it's all smoke.

The President won't take firm action this close to the election.

Will you excuse us, please.

I'm surprised you could get away, Ken.

Had to, Governor, I can't think straight any more.

Anyway, if the administration misses another clambake,

Khrushchev will know we're on to him.

Cheers.

Would you mind telling me what the President

thought of my performance today?

He admired your courage.

I hope that's true.

Most of those men probably consider me a coward

for what I said today.

Maybe there should be a coward around

when we're talking about nuclear war,

which is what everyone is talking about.

Everyone?

Al Friendly of the Washington Post and Scotty Weston of the Times

have dug out the story.

Don't ask me how.

They know what our bearded friend has in Cuba.

Are you certain?

Their questions were considerably more accurate than my answers.

Damn.

I'll have to call the President.

Excuse me.

This government's like a sieve,

it's a miracle we've kept the story out of the press

as long as we have.

No, no, no, I can't, delegate that job.

I'll I have to call the publishers myself.

Kenny who's at the party?

Paris, did you say Paris?

The President has made his decision, Dean,

he prefers the sea route.

Yes, I understand.

He wants you to deliver the message to DeGaulle.

He feels you're the only man with the prestige

and experience to confront the General.

That's gratifying, but I don't see how I can.

Dean, I needn't tell you that we all belong

to the least exclusive club in the world

which also happens to have the highest dues,

the United States of America.

The President wants you to fly to Europe tomorrow.

Well, I suppose I'm enough of a lawyer to represent

a point of view with which I personally disagree.

I do have one problem.

What's that?

My passport's expired.

The sixth day of the Missiles of October.

The question is whether air strikes will be more effective

than a blockade.

There is no question about that, sir.

That's exactly why I've asked the General

to sit in on that very point.

General, I'm asking you this question directly;

if you have everything you need,

can you guarantee that air strikes will take out

all of the Soviet bases?

Mr. President, are you asking me for 100 percent of the missiles?

Can the Tactical Air Command take out all the missiles, yes.

Sir, I can guarantee that we can take out 90 percent,

not 100 percent.

Completely surgical air strike just is not possible.

We cannot be certain of hitting every pad, every launch vehicle.

Some might survive, we might miss a few.

And if we miss 10 percent, that would leave what,

six or seven, operational nuclear weapons

capable of taking out New York, Washington,

and a few other cities, is that correct?

Yes, sir.

And that's why we would have to follow up with an invasion.

Thank you very much, General.

I appreciate your candour.

We're going ahead with the decision of the consensus.

I'll announce the blockade

in my speech to the nation tomorrow evening.

Admiral Anderson, it's all up to the Navy.

The Navy won't let you down, Mr. President.

Thank you very much, Gentlemen.

Hello, Pierre, did you get your briefing?

Yes, Mr. President.

I had no idea things were this bad.

Aren't you glad you didn't know?

Sir, security is breaking down,

the reporters are seeing the wrong officials

in the wrong places at the wrong times.

I expect you to keep the lid on for another 24 hours.

I want to get into this so-called training exercise.

Mr. Skally, you have the Pentagon background,

the Fillabriglegs 62 is a training exercise.

It was announced long ago.

Can you tell me why thousands of Marines

were suddenly air lifted from California to North Carolina?

That's part of the exercise.

I have a report that this morning destroyers from Norfolk

and Jacksonville suddenly put to sea

with crews that were all but commandeered.

It's my understanding that the seas off Puerto Rico

are unexpectedly heavy.

The Navy had to make some destroyer reassignments.

Pierre, off the record, isn't it true that,

No.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Mr. Salinger, Mr. Salinger,

The language of the speech is too general.

The President must be more explicit.

He should demand that the Russians dismantle the missiles.

The President is locked up with Sorensen right now.

I'll get a message to him as soon as possible.

Doug, when are you scheduled to leave for Mexico City?

15 minutes ago.

The President may need your support

for the National Security Council meeting.

I'll delay my flight.

Good, that would be best, thank you.

Now let's get a hold of Salinger,

we should hear what he's arranged

for the Foreign Language broadcast.

And Dean, I want to get into the machinery

of briefing the allied and neutral governments.

I can assure you that every capitol

in the world is being informed.

What do we hear from London?

Bruce is scheduled to meet with McMillon within the hour.

The President is anxious for DeGaulle's reaction as well.

Acheson should be with him now.

Your President does me a great honour

sending me so distinguished an emissary.

Thank you, General DeGaulle.

Mr. Acheson, are you consulting me, or informing me?

Informing you.

You may tell your President that France will support him.

I think that in the circumstance,

President Kennedy has no other choice.

From what altitude were these taken?

Fourteen miles.

Why, in your opinion,

did the Soviets take this action?

They gambled, sir.

Without cause?

It's perhaps not flattering to my own government

for me to say that the Soviets have been

led to believe they could get away with it.

Fourteen miles, remarkable.

Mr. President, State wants the speech revised

to base our legal right to

quarantine on the hemispheric right

to self defence through the Organisation of American States,

rather than on Article 50 of the UN Charter.

The U-2 surveillance flights have been increased

to seven per day.

This allows the hands at San Cristobal are now operational.

Mr. President, you'll meet with the

National Security Council at 3:00.

It would be unwise to cancel the courtesy call

of the Prime Minister of Uganda at 3:30.

The cabinet meeting has been arranged at 4:00.

Mr. President, your address to the nation

is scheduled on all three networks

at 7:00 p.m., Eastern Standard time.

In accordance with your directive...

pursuant to your orders...

Following your request...

Under your instructions...

I understand you had a problem

collecting the congressional leaders?

Yes, most of them had to be air lifted.

Have they, been tipped off?

Hopefully, no.

Mr. President, I'll support what you're saying tonight,

but I want the record to show that I've been informed,

but never consulted about this important decision.

Congressman, I appreciate your support.

I don't want to criticise at this grave hour, Mr. President,

but some of us have been warning

about the Soviet military preparations in Cuba for months,

and you've consistently denied our

charges and refused to take action,

until now, you present us with this,

this, this calamity.

The charges were neither documented nor proven.

Well, now that they are documented and proved,

I wonder if your action is adequate to meet the provocation.

Mr. President.

Senator Russell.

I must say I couldn't live with myself

if I didn't speak out in the strongest possible terms.

It is vitally important that we act with greater strength

than you are contemplating.

Let me say again, I plan to do everything necessary

to protect our country.

With all respect, a blockade is a halfway measure.

It will alienate our allies

while doing the communists no tangible harm whatsoever.

Mr. President, we have to destroy those bases.

Senator, it's still possible that we can resolve this matter

without a devastating war.

And I won't launch such a war lightly, I assure you.

Once there's an attack,

our enemies could respond with a missile barrage

from Cuba alone that would kill 80 million of our people,

80 million.

Mr. President.

Senator Fulbright.

Your entire constituency could be wiped out

in the first 30 seconds.

I won't associate myself

with what has been said here.

Since it will be necessary to strike Cuba and to invade it,

I think we should do so now, quickly

with the overwhelming power which is still ours.

Let me get this straight you're for an invasion of Cuba, Bill,

you and Senator Russell here, is that correct?

Regretfully, Mr. President, I think that your plan

for an embargo will fail in the end.

You know what they said in there,

oh, sure, we support you, Mr. President,

but it's your decision, not ours.

And if things go wrong, we'll knock your block off.

Maybe I ought to let them have this lousy job.

It's too late for that now.

Have you ever noticed when there's a large group of them,

they always follow the leader with the biggest bomb?

Good evening, gentlemen.

Good evening, Mr. President.

I substituted strike for wipe out,

and deleted the reference to mega tonnage.

Thank you, Ted.

Thank you, Mrs. Lincoln, thank you.

Thirty seconds, Mr. President.

Will I hear the introduction?

Yes, sir.

Speaking from the White House,

the President of the United States.

Good evening, my fellow citizens:

This Government, as promised,

has maintained the closest surveillance

of the Soviet military build-up on the island of Cuba.

Within the past week,

unmistakable evidence has established the fact

that a series of offensive missile sites

is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.

The purpose of these bases can be none other

than to provide a nuclear strike capability

against the Western Hemisphere.

Acting, therefore, in defence of our own security,

and under the authority entrusted to me by the Constitution,

I have directed that the following initial steps be taken.

First: To halt this offensive build-up,

a strict quarantine shall be imposed.

All ships of any kind bound for Cuba will be turned back

if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons.

Second: I have directed the increased

close surveillance of Cuba.

Third: It shall be the policy of this Nation

to regard any nuclear attack launched from Cuba

as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States,

requiring a full retaliatory response.

Fourth: I have reinforced our base at Guantanamo.

Fifth: We are calling for an immediate meeting

of the Organisation of American States.

Sixth: We are asking tonight for an emergency meeting

of the Security Council of the United Nations.

President Kennedy has gone mad.

Seventh and finally: I call upon Chairman Khrushchev

to halt and eliminate this clandestine,

reckless and provocative threat to world peace

and stable relations between our two countries.

The cost of freedom is high,

but Americans have always paid the price.

And one path we shall never choose

is one of surrender, submission.

Our goal is not the victory of might,

but the vindication of right,

not peace at the expense of freedom,

but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere,

and, we hope, around the world.

God willing, that goal will be achieved.

The eighth day of the Missiles of October.

The US Tactical Air Force command

from commanding officer 47th Attack Squadron,

all aircraft fully ready, fully armed, and on air alert.

Gentlemen, as a result of yesterday's U-2 flight,

we've counted 42 medium-range nuclear missiles unpacked,

in position on erectors, and prepared for launching.

Also, there's detailed evidence that elements of the surface

to air missile system are operational.

Yes.

Yes, thank you.

George, what have you got?

Still nothing from Khrushchev,

no statements or military moves anywhere in the world.

Why hasn't Khrushchev moved?

Russia's been caught with its missiles hanging out,

they're stalling in order to look like honest,

peace loving citizens,

while we shape up like outrageous militarists.

General, what happens if one of our U-2 planes is shot down?

We knock out all their SAMs.

Massive air strike.

We're sending our men up, we have an obligation to protect them.

Yes, just as the Cubans feel an obligation to shoot them down.

Bob, how long will it take to launch a retaliatory raid?

Two hours.

Very well, we're not going to overreact.

If one of our U-2's is hit,

we'll knock out the appropriate SAM installation.

But no such attack will occur

until all of the facts have been verified,

then only on my specific orders, is that clear?

Yes, Mr. President.

- George? - Yes, sir.

The State Department will have to arrange for regular consultations

with all of the ambassadors from the NATO countries.

Yes, sir.

We're going to have to prepare on the assumption

that Khrushchev is going to move in Berlin

before this thing goes much further.

Mr. President,

Khrushchev's response is coming in now.

President Kennedy of the United States

last night announced that he had instructed the United States Navy

to intercept all ships proceeding to Cuba.

Undertaking such a gamble,

the United States is taking a step on the road

of unleashing a thermonuclear world war.

United States usurped the right to attack ships

of other states on the high seas, that is, to engage in piracy.

We hope Chairman Khrushchev has not made a miscalculation,

that he has not mistaken forbearance for weakness.

We cannot believe he supposes

that though we have power we lack nerve,

that though we have the weapons we will not use them.

The Imperialistic forces of the United States

seek to dictate to Cuba what policies she should carry through,

what her domestic order ought to be,

what weapons she should use for her defence.

But who gave the United States the right to assume the role

of master of destiny over other nations and other people.

Why should Cuba settle its internal affairs

not at its own discretion,

but so as to please the United States.

We hope, we pray, that the worst may be avoided,

that the Soviet leadership will call an end

to this ominous adventure.

Cuba belongs to the Cuban people.

Only they can be the masters of their destiny.

President Kennedy assumes a grave responsibility

for the fate of peace.

He is recklessly playing with nuclear fire.

When the hell are we going to hear from

the Organisation of American States,

how long can Adlai extemporise?

They're voting now.

Ted, I've been hearing that for hours.

Mr. President, each of the Latin American ambassadors

has to call back to his capitol for instructions.

But I thought you arranged for special lines, Pierre?

Yes, sir, I did, but some of the ambassadors

haven't been able to get through yet.

My dad should have bought the telephone company

when he had the chance.

Mr. President.

Let's have it, George.

The OAS vote is complete,

Latin America voted 19 to nothing in favour of our resolution.

Congratulations, George.

That's marvellous.

Congratulate Ed Martin and Rusk for me.

Even Bolivia went along, and only Uruguay abstained

because the ambassador couldn't get through to Montevideo.

Pierre, turn up the tube.

Yes, sir.

Stevenson doesn't seem to know about the OAS vote.

Is not that it is revolutionary,

not that it is socialist,

and not even because Dr. Castro perverted a noble revolution.

We object because he has aided and abetted an invasion

of this hemisphere.

What's going on up there?

Stevenson doesn't seem to know about the OAS vote.

Dr. Castro has given the Soviet Union

a bridgehead, and staging area,

and has invited an extra continental,

anti-democratic expansionist power, excuse me.

All right, Harlon, he just got the note.

Thank you.

I have just been informed that the Organisation of American States

this afternoon adopted a resolution by 19 affirmative votes

calling for the immediate dismantling and withdrawal

from Cuba of all missiles and other weapons

with any offensive capabilities.

This is a solemn and significant day

for the life of the United Nations,

and for the hope of the world community.

Let it be remembered not as the day when the world

came to the edge of nuclear war,

but as the day when men resolved that nothing thereafter

would stop them in their quest for peace.

Dear Adlai, I watched your speech this afternoon

with great satisfaction.

It's given our cause a great start.

The United States is fortunate to have your advocacy.

You have my warm and personal thanks.

Work must continue around the clock

on the Cuban installations.

The fact that Kennedy has discovered our activity

has no bearing on the legitimacy.

International law has not been repealed.

Our ships have the right to sail on the high seas,

we will protect that right.

Diplomatic struggles will go on in the United Nations

and around the world.

The American blockade, illegal.

Our efforts to defend Cuba are just a viable response

to American aggression.

We will defend our ships.

Mr. Chairman, in view of the vote

of the Organisation of American States,

The blockade is illegal.

The governments of Africa and Asia will not be influenced

by the opinion of the Latin American puppets

of the United States.

Comrade Chairman, if I may.

The thrust of the American argument

is that we surreptitiously

placed offensive nuclear missiles in Cuba.

We did not.

We deny it?

Certainly we deny it.

The weapons we've placed there

have been for defensive purposes.

And that is what Zorin is to say at the United Nations?

He's to say that the Soviet's rockets and missiles

are so powerful there's no need to seek a launching site

for them outside the territory of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union appeals to all the peoples of the world

to raise their voices in defence of the United Nations.

It appeals to them to vote against the United States' policy

of piracy, banditry and the unleashing of a nuclear war.

From Commander Task Force 136 to US Chief of Naval Operations,

Task Force blockade rendezvous complete.

Combat air patrols on station.

All units full readiness status.

We've intercepted a series of coded Soviet naval messages.

Now we can't decipher them, but we've traced them

to a Soviet submarine fleet moving into the Caribbean.

How large a fleet, how many submarines?

We can't estimate that yet, sir,

but there's no doubt that they're assembling

to escort and protect those 25 Soviet merchant ships

approaching the blockade line.

Now, the submarines will be kept under constant surveillance

as we locate them.

And the merchant ships?

We're tracking them, sir.

Very well.

But any order to fire, or to board, for that matter,

must originate right here.

I've sent another message to Khrushchev

urging him to observe our quarantine line,

and assuring him that we have no wish to fire on any Soviet ships,

and I mean that.

We can't let events get out of hand

and make the situation more difficult than it already is.

Now, Admiral suppose one of the Soviet ships

tries to run the blockade, how do we stop her,

how much force do we use?

Do we disable her, do we fire, do we tow, what?

Well, sir, we'd give an appropriate warning,

and then we'd fire at the rudder and propellers

to disable the vessel.

And then?

And then, sir, we board and search.

And what if they resist the boarding?

We overcome the resistance.

Why is it necessary to board?

Why can't we just throw a line on the ship,

tow it to Jacksonville or Charleston,

and avoid the confrontation at sea?

What happens if we tow it all the way to Florida

and find out it's carrying a cargo of baby food?

Mr. President, I think we have to face the probability

that there's going to be some shooting

on that blockade line tomorrow morning.

Cuba is a country which has seen United States aircraft

set fire to its plantations

without ever a declaration of war.

Cuba is a country which has seen

its plants and factories sabotaged,

its workers wounded and killed,

without ever a declaration of war.

Cuba is a country that has had its territory invaded

by mercenaries trained,

directed and subsidised by the United States government,

with the public sanction of Kennedy,

without a declaration of war.

Now, therefore I, John F. Kennedy,

President of the United States of America,

do hereby proclaim that the forces under my command

are ordered, beginning at 10:00 a.m.,

Eastern time, October 24, 1962,

to interdict the delivery of offensive weapons

and associated materials to Cuba.

Cuba is a country that has suffered

the economic boycott of the United States government,

and the use of American pressure to isolate us

without the existence of a state of war.

The following are declared to be prohibited material:

surface to air missiles, bomber aircraft, bombs,

air to surface rockets and guided missiles,

warheads for any of the above weapons.

The American blockade against our country

is an act of war.

It is the use of force by a great power

against the independence of our home.

Also prohibited to Cuba are any other class of material

hereafter designated by the Secretary of Defence

for the purpose of effectuating this proclamation.

We shall resist these illegal measures

of North American imperialism.

The reply of our people and of our government

to the United States has been general mobilisation.

What did Castro hope to gain by having his country

converted into a sitting duck missile base?

Maybe the Russians didn't give him any choice.

Or maybe he never knew what they were planning.

This crisis has very little to do

with the Castro government.

The bases are Russian, the technicians are Russian,

and the missiles are Russian.

This is between Khrushchev and myself.

The great danger here is a miscalculation,

a mistake in judgement.

A few weeks ago I read the Guns of August,

by Barbara Tuchman, have you read that?

In it she tells of the staggering mistakes

that the Europeans made that led up to World War I.

The Germans, the Austrians, the Russians, the French

and the British all stumbled into war;

stupidities, personal idiosyncrasies,

misunderstandings, prejudices, complexes.

The First World War which seemed so inevitable,

was just a stupid mistake.

Maybe that's true of most wars, all wars.

Someone asked the German Chancellor,

how the First World War got started, and he said,

if we only knew.

I'd like to send a copy of Tuckman's book to every officer

on every ship in our Navy right now,

not that they'd read it.

Yes.

Right.

Mr. President, there's a new letter from Khrushchev

coming in on the wire.

They'll bring a translation as soon as they have it.

We don't want war, and I don't believe the Russians do, either.

But they took a step and we had to respond.

They react and we respond again.

So for reasons of pride, or security, or face,

each response requires a counter response,

and we escalate our way to disaster.

We have to control ourselves and try to control events.

We must be careful not to miscalculate or to misjudge,

or to challenge the Russians needlessly or thoughtlessly

into a war neither side wants,

and neither side can win.

If we only knew.

President Kennedy, I have your letter of this date.

The actions of the United States of America

with regard to Cuba are outright banditry.

Or if you like, the folly of degenerate imperialism.

The United States is forcing mankind into the abyss

of a world missile nuclear war.

The Soviet Union will not instruct captains of Soviet vessels

bound on the high seas to Cuba

to obey the orders of American Naval forces.

If any such effort were to be made to interfere with Soviet ships,

we would then be forced on our part to take the measures

which we deem necessary and adequate to protect our rights.

For this, we have all that is necessary.

I've read the letter half a dozen times,

and there's not a ray of light in it.

What are your plans for this evening?

I'm having dinner with you and David.

Have to find another way to reach Khrushchev.

He's looking back over the past to Vienna, and he's thinking,

Kennedy didn't commit American power at the Bay of Pigs,

Kennedy didn't commit American power at the Berlin Wall,

and Kennedy won't commit American power now.

How do we convince him?

I want you to have a private talk

with your friend the Russian ambassador.

Dobrynin, tonight?

We're going to miss you at dinner.

Mr. Attorney General, in the past I've told you

precisely what Chairman Khrushchev told me.

I believed him then, and I believe him now.

I assure you, that as far as I know,

there are no offensive missiles in Cuba.

But Mr. Ambassador, we have the proof,

there are offensive missiles in Cuba.

Why didn't the President accuse us

when Gromyko and I sat with him

in his office just two days ago?

There was nothing the President could tell Gromyko that,

Gromyko didn't already know.

And Gromyko didn't bring it up because evidently

your government was determined to deceive us.

I cannot accept that.

You must accept the fact, Mr. Dobrynin,

that the missiles are there,

and President Kennedy would never

allow those bases to stand in Cuba.

There's no threat to peaceful relations between us.

There is, and the President will not tolerate

this breach of trust, this act of war,

taken at the very moment when men we've come to trust,

men like yourself have been insuring us

of your peaceful intentions.

I was not my intention to mislead President Kennedy.

And now, can you communicate Chairman Khrushchev's

intentions now without, misleading us?

All I can say now is that my government,

my government considers the blockade illegal,

and unwarranted.

I can assure you the blockade was the most moderate,

response we could devise.

A act of war, we're attempting to react

as sensibly as possible.

Let me ask you this question directly, Mr. Dobrynin,

are your ships going to try to get through to Cuba?

Yes, the captains have received those instructions.

President Kennedy wants the Chairman to know

that if your ships try to get through,

we will turn them back.

That suggests a very harsh picture.

Well, it's a statement of fact.

We don't want to mislead Chairman Khrushchev.

Surely, there is some other message you wish to convey,

some basis for negotiation?

At the moment, none.

We will turn your ships back.

I don't want to be accused again of misleading the President.

The Chairman will take appropriate action.

And so will the President.

Your facts are perfectly clear.

But you haven't made them public.

Whatever uninformed public opinion may be,

those Soviet bases exist.

Some of your closest allies and friends are not convinced.

Even Ugateson talks about so-called missiles in Cuba.

Do you prefer an air strike or an invasion?

I prefer diplomacy.

Yes.

Khrushchev would welcome a summit.

But while he's constructing those bases,

there's absolutely nothing for me to negotiate

but American strength and American interest.

I think you should release the evidence,

prove to the world that those bases and missiles exist.

The evidence is in aerial photographs.

Publish them.

I can't.

I'd compromise our intelligence operations.

Mr. President, without ill-informed public opinion

on your side,

without the world knowing that those bases and missiles exist,

you increase the chances for conflict, you don't diminish them.

There mustn't be the slightest suspicion

that you are provoking a crisis

because there's an election here next month.

Good evening, Mr. President.

David, how are you?

Missed you at dinner, Robert.

- Sit down. - How are you?

Very hungry.

What about Dobrynin?

I have no secrets from David at the moment.

Dobrynin insists he knows nothing about the missiles in Cuba.

And the ships?

According to him, they're going to run the blockade.

What's your impression, Bobby?

Well, I think Dobrynin is telling the truth.

I think he's in the dark about the missiles.

And he's frightened, events are moving too fast,

he's not receiving up to the minute instructions.

Then it's possible that Khrushchev hasn't made up his mind?

It's possible, yes.

Or that he's not running the show over there any more.

That makes the situation even more difficult.

I know that, David.

There are 25 or so Soviet ships that are going to hit

our blockade line in the morning and I can't control them.

Khrushchev might not be able to, either.

He needs time.

Possibly.

You drew the quarantine line, what, 800 miles from Cuba,

you could contract it closer to the island

so that all 25 ships don't encounter it tomorrow.

I've considered contracting the arch,

I've thought about that.

Give the Kremlin time to digest what's happening,

and perhaps disengage gracefully.

Puts our ships on the quarantine line

within range of Soviet MIGs in Cuba,

makes our men vulnerable to air attack.

We can make it clear if the MIGs attack we'll shoot them down.

Sure, and every step I take forward to prevent a war

becomes a step back into one.

This is the President, locate Secretary McNamara for me.

I'll contract the arch to 500 miles,

the next move is Khrushchev's.

The ninth day of the Missiles of October.

I wonder what Kennedy is thinking.

He sends his brother to threaten Dobrynin,

and at almost the same moment, he contracts the blockade.

Does he think the old man will be frightened

by the American show of force,

and also grateful for a little more time to make a decision?

He's moving cautiously to avoid confrontation at sea.

Certainly.

He'd like nothing better than to resolve the crisis on his terms,

without a war, without negotiating away anything of value.

Perhaps we can take a cue from the Kennedy initiative

and meet informally with the new American ambassador.

No, not a diplomat,

I wanna meet somebody of real importance,

somebody rooted in the American system, a capitalist,

a man of mature judgement

who understands how much he stands to lose.

There is in Moscow now on business a W.E.,

W. E. Knox, president of Westinghouse International,

an enormous American conglomerate.

Thank you very much.

And how are my people treating you, Mr. Knox?

Mr. Chairman, they are literally killing me with kindness.

I hope you'll report our good manners to your government.

I certainly will, Mr. Chairman.

Peace.

Mr. Knox, I want you to believe me

when I tell you that it was a very dark day

when your President announced his blockade.

Except in times of war,

freedom of the seas is recognised by all nations.

It's true, my merchant ships aren't armed,

you'll be able to stop them.

But if you do, I'll instruct our submarines

to sink your naval vessels.

Mr. Chairman, President Kennedy has made it clear

that there are alternatives short of war.

Has he?

I had my differences with President Eisenhower,

but I'm certain that if he were president now,

the Cuban problem would be handled

in a very different manner.

I'd hate to believe that your President's policies

are due to the fact there will soon be an election in America.

Very few Americans believe that, sir.

I any event, President Kennedy's policy

is very dangerous, difficult to negotiate.

You know, it's a fact that my eldest son

is older than your president.

His policy is a reaction to the fact that your government

surreptitiously placed offensive weapons in Cuba.

Offensive weapons, offensive weapons,

your country invaded Cuba once,

we have an obligation to defend them.

If someone is attacked with a pistol,

the pistol is an offensive weapon.

But if Cuba uses that same pistol to defend herself,

it is a defensive weapon.

I'm not a military man,

but I think I know the difference between defensive weapons

and nuclear missiles and bombers.

We have an obligation to defend Cuba,

and we will do so.

The weapons we have furnished include anti aircraft

and ballistic missiles,

with conventional and thermonuclear warheads.

If you want to satisfy yourself on that point,

all you have to do is to attack Cuba,

Americans will find out very quickly.

I am not interested in the destruction of the world.

But if we all want to meet in hell, it's up to you.

In public, the Russians deny they have any missiles in Cuba,

while Khrushchev brags about them in private.

If they're this mean on this one in our part of world,

what's it gonna be like next time somewhere else?

If you hadn't acted, I think you would have been impeached.

That's what I think, I would have been impeached.

We congratulate Premier Khrushchev

for his statesman like conduct.

We demand that President Kennedy halt

his illegal and provocative actions.

We call upon people everywhere throughout the world to join us

in demanding that the United States stop its nuclear madness.

As Secretary General of the United Nations,

I have been asked by a large number of member nations

to address an urgent appeal in the present critical situation.

It is important that time should be given to enable

the parties concerned to get together with a view

to resolving the present crisis peacefully.

This involves the voluntary suspension of quarantine measures

involving the searching of ships bound for Cuba.

I believe that such voluntary suspension

for a period of two or three weeks

would greatly ease the situation.

Two or three weeks.

Go ahead, please.

Mr. President, this is a bunker for a nuclear warhead,

the first one we spotted above ground.

Can we increase the surveillance flights?

Yes, if we use Navy P8U planes.

They fly at low levels, Mr. President.

They'll make easy and obvious targets.

Yes.

Go ahead, please.

Authorise the flights around the clock if it's possible.

I want absolutely accurate information,

and I want Khrushchev to know that I'm getting it.

Yes, sir.

Mr. President, I've just received word about the Soviet ships

Gagarin and Komiles approaching the quarantine line.

Admiral Ward reports that a Soviet submarine has moved

into position between them.

Apparently, they're going to try to run the blockade together.

How does Ward propose to respond?

He's bringing up the Essex.

She'll send helicopters over the submarine,

the Essex will signal for the sub to surface and identify itself.

If the Russians refuse, depth charges will be fired

until the submarine surfaces.

Isn't there some way we can avoid

having our first confrontation with a Russian submarine?

Anything but a Soviet warship.

Mr. President, there isn't any alternative now.

This is what we're prepared for,

this is what we have to expect.

If they force us to fire,

they want a pretext to move on Berlin,

or to launch their missiles.

Maxwell, I want you to personally review,

the position of our aircraft all over the country.

I don't want our planes lined up wingtip to wingtip

the way they were before Pearl Harbour.

I can assure you they're not, Mr. President.

The aerial,

the aerial photographs I had taken yesterday

showed that our entire Air Force was a sitting duck.

It's been corrected, sir.

Yes?

The Essex helicopters have flown into position,

they're preparing to attack.

Admiral Ward is in direct command.

You've done everything possible to anticipate this, Mr. President.

Have I?

Yes, you have.

Seven aircraft carriers and the nuclear carrier Enterprise,

and some 90 other ships carrying 50,000 Marines,

156 American ICBMs are at combat readiness,

not including the Polaris Submarine Strike Force.

The strategic air command is at maximum alert.

Mr. President, I have a report that seems to indicate

that some of the Russian ships have stopped dead in the water.

Stopped, are you certain?

Which ones?

I'm getting some sort of confirmation here.

Is it true, dammit?

Six Soviet vessels appear to have slowed

or have turned back to the Soviet Union.

Which ships?

The situation is confused.

Some ships are dead in the water, some have turned,

a few are continuing but they're far off the line.

The Gagarin and the Komiles have put about.

They're eyeball to eyeball,

and I think the other fellow just blinked.

Mr. President, it's terribly important

for the Navy to know what they are to do now.

They're not to interfere.

Order Ward not to do anything.

No Soviet ships outside the quarantine line

are to be stopped or intercepted.

Let me talk to Admiral Ward immediately.

I'm gonna give the Russians a chance

to turn back without being challenged.

Maybe Khrushchev can work his way out of this.

Pass the word, quick, before somebody fouls up.

Yes, this is a direct order

from the President of the United States.

I see.

Yes, sir.

Well, Admiral, I've just received direct orders from the President.

No Soviet ships or submarines beyond the blockade zone

are to be stopped, boarded or harassed.

Damn.

We're asking all of you to exercise caution and discretion.

The President is particularly anxious,

and this is background, that we avoid the impression

that we're trying to patronise Khrushchev,

or that we're claiming victory.

Now as for the present situation on the blockade line,

the Department of Defence will release such information

as we feel to be consistent with the national interest.

The crucial fact is that the Soviet ships have changed course.

The Joint Chiefs suspect that the Soviets

turned back to rendezvous with their submarines.

The thinking is that they are regrouping to run the blockade.

Is there any specific evidence on that?

No.

No.

The Navy has the Soviet ships and subs

under continuous surveillance?

Yes, sir.

Tomorrow morning there will be new ships

reaching the quarantine zone.

The military can't automatically and rigidly treat

every damn boat like an enemy.

I want you to make absolutely certain

that the Navy understands my policy in full.

Yes, sir.

What's that ship doing out there by itself, Admiral?

It's on patrol, Mr. Secretary.

I don't understand her position.

It's a security matter, sir.

Copy Admiral Ward on this immediately.

- Admiral? - Yes, sir.

Could you step outside for a moment, please.

Very well, sir.

Admiral, we know we have ample power

to defeat the Soviets in the Caribbean,

but they might react some place else in a spasm,

with nuclear weapons.

The President does not want to push Khrushchev

to those extremes.

Mr. Secretary, by any standards,

a blockade is an act of war.

I know the Soviets understand as much,

and I think we should, sir.

We can't view this as a conventional blockade.

I have my procedures.

Admiral, tomorrow morning,

the Soviet tanker Bucharest is going to be at that line.

Now that ship is not to be sunk.

It is not to be boarded if it responds to our request

to identify itself and its cargo.

We are aware of the Bucharest, Mr. Secretary,

as we are also aware of six Soviet submarines

spread out over the Caribbean.

Do you have a Russian-speaking officer on each destroyer

on that blockade line?

I don't know.

Find out.

What are you going to do if the Soviet captain refuses

to discuss his cargo?

Mr. Secretary, this is a manual of naval regulations

evolved continuously over our entire history.

It covers every contingency.

There's a copy of this book on every ship in the Navy.

Admiral, I don't give a damn what John Paul Jones would have done.

I want to know what you are going to do.

I'm going to follow my orders, sir.

And now if you'll go back to your offices, Mr. Secretary,

the Navy will run the blockade.

The tenth day of the Missiles of October.

Excuse me, Mr. President.

Yes, Pierre.

The news services have just released the story

that we've let the Bucharest through the quarantine.

How did they get it?

It leaked after a briefing.

Who gave the briefing?

Tom Hughes, sir.

I want to speak with him.

We've left word, paged him at the airport,

but he can't be reached.

What good is it to set strategy and make decisions

and then have it planted all over the newspapers.

Yes?

Mr. President, Tom Hughes.

This is the President,

what the hell is going on there, Hughes?

We set up briefings to take Congress into our confidence,

not to blow our strategy.

Anything about the Bucharest

should have come from this Pentagon.

I was specific on that very point.

Yes, I know all about that,

but it shouldn't have happened.

Yes.

Yes, well, that's very useful, Tom.

Yes, thank you very much.

Goodbye.

It wasn't Hughes' fault,

some Congressman shot his mouth off.

No sense of sitting on the story now.

Pierre, release the details about the ships

we turned back and the, ships we permitted through.

- Ted? - Yes, sir.

Now is the time to respond to Yuton's latest appeal publicly.

Draft a statement saying that we have done

and will continue to do everything possible

to avoid a confrontation at sea.

But make it clear that the threat to the peace

was created by the Soviet weapons,

and the only answer is in the removal of those weapons.

Mr. President, Khrushchev still denies

that there are offensive missiles in Cuba.

We're well aware of that, Pierre.

Well, judging by the press I read,

most of the world believes Khrushchev.

This isn't the moment to take a poll, Pierre.

All I know is what I read in the newspapers.

American flags have been torn down from embassies

in a half a dozen capitols.

People are marching against us in London, Paris,

Hong Kong, Tokyo.

Not to mention the communist countries, most American cities,

and also a couple of hundred,

It is a frustrating situation here.

Dammit.

Go ahead, Pierre.

Go ahead.

The feeling runs deep that we're not telling the truth.

Good people suspect that we're provoking this crisis,

and I think we have an obligation to answer.

Mr. President, it's Stevenson and Rusk on a conference call.

I'll need John McCoy, also.

Yes Sir.

Pierre, where do you think you're going?

Sit down, light up a cigar.

Hello, Adlai.

President Kennedy claimed to have incontrovertible information

that offensive weapon sites were in preparation in Cuba.

He claimed to have incontrovertible

facts in his hands,

but no such facts exist.

The government of the United States has no facts in its hand,

except falsified information

from the United States Intelligence Agency.

Falsity is what the United States has in its hand, false evidence.

The government of the United States

has deliberately intensified the crisis,

deliberately prepared this provocation,

and has tried to cover up, by means of this discussion

in the Security Council.

Such steps can lead to catastrophic consequences

for the whole world.

I want to say to you, Mr. Zorin,

that I do not have your talent for obfuscation,

for distortion, for confusing language and for double talk.

And I must confess to you that I am glad I do not.

The other day, Mr. Zorin, I remind you that you did not deny

the existence of these weapons in Cuba.

Instead, we heard that they were defensive weapons,

now you say they do not exist,

or that we have not proved they exist,

with another fine flood of rhetorical scorn.

All right, sir, let me ask you one simple question;

do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the USSR

has placed and is placing medium and intermediate-range

missiles in sites in Cuba, yes or no?

Don't wait for the translation, yes or no?

I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and therefore,

I do not wish to answer a question

that has been put to me in the fashion in which a,

a prosecutor puts questions.

In due course, sir, you will have your reply.

You are in the courtroom of world opinion right now,

and you can answer yes or no.

You have denied that they exist,

I want to know if I understand you correctly.

Will you please continue your statement, sir,

you will have your answer in due course.

I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over,

if that's your decision.

I'm also prepared to present the evidence here in this room.

Ambassador Schweitzer of Chile is next on my list to speak.

I've not finished my statement.

I asked you a question.

I've had no reply to the question,

and I now propose to finish my statement.

I doubt that anyone in this room,

with the possible exception of the representative

of the Soviet Union, has any doubt about the facts.

But in view of his statement,

and the statements of the Soviet government,

I am going to make a portion of the evidence available right now.

The first photograph shows San Cristobal in late August, 1962.

It was then only a peaceful countryside.

The second photograph shows the same area one day last week.

A few tents and vehicles have come into the area.

The third, taken only 24 hours later,

reveals facilities for a medium-range missile

battalion installed.

And that, indisputably, is a bunker for a nuclear warhead.

Now I hope we can get down to business

and we can stop this sparring.

We know the facts and so do you, sir,

and we're ready to talk about them.

Our job here is not to score debating points,

our job, Mr. Zorin, is to save the peace.

And if you're ready to try, so are we.

Americans, my name is Yefgani Yeftashanko.

I speak to you from Cuba.

Rigid sentries shine tonight in the gusting storm,

a tobacconist carrying a revolver prepares

to leave for the harbour,

a shoemaker cleans an old machine gun.

A show girl from a cabaret wearing army boots

reports to a carpenter standing watch.

America, where is your shame?

In your holy hypocrisy you have forced them

to take arms while condemning them for self-defence.

You have lost your greatness, you have gone blind,

while Cuba, a small nation,

finds its greatness in the eye of the storm.

The eleventh day of the Missiles of October.

Gentlemen, elements of the medium-range missiles

and surface to air systems are now operational.

The entire weapons complex will be complete

in a matter of days.

The blockade hasn't had any effect.

None.

Bob, I want you to make preparations to add oil,

fuel, and lubricants to the list of embargoed items.

Right away, Mr. President.

The missiles will be operational

long before we squeeze them out of oil.

Also we should, we should compile a list

of all the Cuban doctors in the Miami area

for service in Cuba if we have to invade.

I think I can organise that, Mr. President.

The United States Information Agency should prepare

leaflets of explanation to the Cuban people

advising them to seek safety,

and explaining our motives.

We'll coordinate that one, sir.

Khrushchev's trying to bide time to negotiate

his way into maintaining those bases.

But I've given him time to extricate himself gracefully.

Now we must convey an uncompromising message,

this government is prepared to negotiate,

but not until those missiles are removed from Cuba.

We will not be deterred, we will not be shaken.

We'll bomb if we must, we'll invade if we must.

Is it your intention, Mr. Chairman,

to comply with Kennedy's demands and dismantle the bases,

or shall we pursue our initiative,

order our military establishment to nuclear alert,

and prepare to respond in Berlin when Kennedy invades Cuba?

Those alternatives are unacceptable, unacceptable.

I established the Cuban missile system

in order to improve our nuclear capability,

and to insure the survival of the Castro regime.

I will not retreat from that position unilaterally

because of American threats.

Nor do I assume leadership of the party on the government

in order to throw us into nuclear war over an incident.

This incident is the result of your contrivance,

and your analysis of Kennedy's probable response.

I stand by my analysis, I stand by my decisions.

The present situation shows the American President

has gone to great lengths to avoid a confrontation.

His every move in the so-called blockade

has been designed to prevent hostilities.

He's refused to negotiate.

He has his war camp to contend with.

So do we.

Nevertheless, the alternatives are not to surrender

or to make war.

We must make it possible for Kennedy to negotiate

without appearing to negotiate.

We must make it possible for him to compromise

without appearing to compromise.

Do you agree with my analysis, Comrade?

Good, good.

Skally speaking, yes, who's this?

This is Alexander Foreman.

Have you had lunch?

Yes and no.

I must see you immediately.

It is very important.

Well, I'm on assignment soon, Foreman.

Please, you must oblige me.

Where?

Pennsylvania Avenue.

When?

Ten minutes, don't fail me.

It's arranged.

I'm very glad.

Please keep me informed.

Certainly.

Now the, urgent matter.

Sniff the air, what do you smell?

War.

At any moment.

Something must be done.

Your government should have thought of that

before you manipulated the missiles.

You and I will debate cause and effect another time.

At this moment, sane men must try to find a way out.

Is there one?

Suppose I were to tell you that I have a proposal that we would

like you to take up with your high level contacts

at the State Department.

I'd listen to it, of course.

What would you think of a proposition

where we would solve the crisis along the following lines.

My government would agree to dismantle

and to move the offensive weapons in Cuba,

promise never to reintroduce such weapons,

and agree to United Nations inspection and verification.

And my government?

President Kennedy would undertake a solemn promise

that neither the United States nor its allies

will invade Cuba now or in the future.

A pledge to respect the integrity of the Castro regime?

Yes.

Would your government be interested in this formula?

I don't know.

You must find out as quickly as possible.

How can my government know if this is a serious,

a valid proposal?

You may say if Ambassador Stevenson pursues this approach

in the United Nations, our Ambassador Zorin

will be most receptive.

How long will it take you to get an answer from your contacts?

Again, I don't know.

You can reach me at the embassy,

or at the number on this card.

You can call any time, day or night,

but make it soon, please, soon.

John, the Secretary is sorry to keep you waiting,

but these things take time,

as you well know.

He'll get back to you as soon as possible.

I have to wait.

So do we all, sorry.

Skally, what the hell are you doing here?

This is out of bounds for reporters,

you know that as well as I do.

I am an exception.

Well, not by me.

Now what are you doing here?

Spying for the Chinese Reds.

John, the President's ready for you.

Wait, wait, ready for what?

Relax, Pierre, he's on our side.

Come on, John.

It's been a pleasure.

Have we heard from Foreman?

No, I don't understand, it isn't clear to me at all.

The difficulty is we're nine hours ahead of them.

Our nights are their days, their nights are our days.

Kennedy sleeps while I work, and I sleep while he works.

Perhaps soon we both sleep.

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the low level American reconnaissance flights

have been increased to eight aircraft every two hours.

Would you conclude that they're monitoring

the operation of our system,

or preparing to attack?

I would conclude that they are performing both functions.

Kennedy plans to attack the moment

the weapons system in Cuba is operational.

All right, thank you, Andre.

I'm going to remain in my office, Comrade Chairman.

I'm going to dictate a new communication

to the American President.

I will give you full details later

on how it is to be transmitted.

It will be, and this is imperative,

it will be absolutely confidential.

Of course.

I have reason to believe that the United States government

sees real possibilities and supposes that the representatives

of the two governments could work this matter out

with due time and with each other.

My impression, however, is that time is very short.

Can I be certain that this represents

the views of your government?

My information is from very high sources.

Authoritative sources?

Yes.

That is worth waiting for.

Something else?

There is one other point, since my government

has agreed to United Nations inspection of our Cuban bases,

shouldn't there also be inspection of the American bases in Florida

where your invasion of Cuba is being planned and organised?

You didn't raise that condition before.

I'm attempting to see all the implications of an agreement.

This is an entirely new element.

I can't predict how my government might react.

It's a fair exchange.

Well, I can only speak as a reporter,

but I think any such condition would raise

terrible and serious complications.

There are no American missiles in Florida pointed at Cuba.

We did not initiate this crisis,

and I believe President Kennedy will reject any proposal

which suggests that our own bases on our own soil

are in any way comparable to Soviet bases on Cuban soil.

Let me tell you that the stink of war is stronger than ever.

And if you're gonna spend time arguing over new conditions

there's gonna be a disaster for Cuba, for the Soviet Union,

for the whole damn world.

I understand.

I will communicate your answer.

Thank you, and excuse me, I have a great deal to do.

Dear Mr. President:

The time has come to rise above petty

passions and transient things.

If indeed war were to break out it

would not be in our power to stop it,

for such is the logic of war.

I have participated in two such wars

and I know that it ends only after

it has rolled through cities and villages

everywhere sowing death and destruction.

Mr. President, you are mistaken to think of the missiles in Cuba

as offensive weapons.

As a military man, you should understand that missiles,

like old-fashioned cannon cannot be considered

defensive or offensive.

Be calm in this regard we are of sound mind.

We understand that if we attack, you will respond,

and you understand that then you will receive

what you hurl against us.

We are normal people, we correctly understand the situation.

Only lunatics or suicides who themselves want to die

and to destroy the whole world before they die

would undertake what you accuse us of undertaking.

The reason we shipped missiles to Cuba

was because your government attempted to overthrow

the Cuban government, just as your government

attempted to overthrow our government

after our revolution in 1917.

You have admitted as much to me,

and I have admitted those mistakes

which have occurred in the history of my state,

and which I have acknowledged and condemned.

Mr. President, you have every right,

you have every right to be concerned

about the peace and welfare of your people.

I am no less concerned with mine.

Let us join in a statesman like approach.

This is what I propose:

my government will not ship any more weapons to Cuba,

and those that are there will either be withdrawn or destroyed.

You will reciprocate by withdrawing your blockade

and agreeing not to invade Cuba.

Mr. President, if you have not lost your self control

and understand what this might lead to,

then we ought not to pull on the ends of the rope

in which you have tied the knot of war.

Because the more we pull, the tighter the knot will become.

And the moment may come when the knot is tied so tightly

that even we may not have the strength to untie it.

We will have to cut it, and thereby to doom the world

to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war.

Let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope,

let us take measures to untie the knot.

It's Khrushchev, all right, I can see him,

isolated in the Kremlin, trying to compose himself.

It's the sound of his voice.

What did Acheson say?

Well, he agrees that the letter is from Khrushchev,

but he doubts that the Kremlin will go through with the deal.

Perhaps that's why the letter is so disjointed.

Perhaps he sent it entirely on his own initiative.

Yes, but where in this torrent of words

does Khrushchev specifically mention

removing those missiles under UN supervision?

Well, that proposal is essentially

what Foreman outlined to Skally.

Now, sir, I think it's possible that the two initiatives

could be considered jointly.

The hopeful fact Mr. President,

is that Khrushchev isn't demanding

that we give up our bases in Italy, Turkey, or Guantanamo.

Mr. President, I think you should draught a response

to this as quickly as possible.

Before we do that, I want to make absolutely certain

there are no booby traps here.

You'll have to burn the midnight oil again tonight.

I want this letter analysed,

and in light of the Foreman initiative,

and a response drafted that we can go over in the morning.

In the morning?

Yes, in the morning.

Cheer up, gentlemen,

your President is going to get a good night's sleep.

Yes?

I'm sorry, there is no reply from Kennedy.

If he had responded immediately,

perhaps we could have blocked the momentum.

Now...

there was a man in a field

between a swarm of bees and a herd of bulls.

He knew if he took a false step he'd be stung to death,

or trampled to death, or both.

Be seated, Comrades.

I would report to the Presidium that good progress has been made

since our last meeting.

In this regard, I have received a communication

from our embassy in Washington.

Alexander Foreman has received assurances

on the highest authority that President Kennedy

is receptive to a settlement.

The Americans are prepared to guarantee to respect

the integrity of Cuba,

to promise publicly not to invade,

or to assist an invasion now or in the future.

Comrade, judging from your private letter to Kennedy,

you've promised to remove the missiles from Cuba.

The purpose of that letter was to impress

Kennedy with the seriousness of the situation.

Has he replied?

It is night-time there.

No doubt he has the bureaucracy to contend with.

He has not replied?

We've won a considerable victory

by the guaranteeing of the Castro regime.

Mr. Chairman, in order to save valuable time,

and in the hope that you will approve,

we have had the Foreign Ministry draught a new letter

to President Kennedy.

A new letter to Kennedy?

On your behalf, of course.

Let me see it.

In front of you, sir.

The fifth paragraph is the operative section, Mr. Chairman.

Very well.

I must read the fruits of your collective wisdom.

You are worried over Cuba, President Kennedy,

because it lies at a distance of 90 miles across the sea

from the shores of the United States.

However, you have stationed devastating rocket weapons,

which you yourself call offensive,

in Turkey, literally right next to us.

This is why I make this proposal...

we agree to remove those weapons from Cuba

which you regard as offensive.

We agree to do this, and to state this commitment

in the United Nations.

Your representative will make a statement to the effect

that the United States on its part

will evacuate its analogous weapons from Turkey.

Let us reach an understanding on what time

you and we need to put this into effect.

He's taken back half of what he offered yesterday,

and added the demand,

impossible demand that we trade Turkey for Cuba.

So I can trade nations like chessmen,

Turkey for Cuba, British Guyana for Berlin.

Why has Khrushchev repudiated his own offer?

Who's running the show over there?

Well, there may be a split in the Presidium.

Maybe they feel that Khrushchev's been too reasonable

and they're upping the ante.

It's blackmail, and it's damn effective blackmail.

It saves Khrushchev's face,

and it wins for the Soviet Union

the automatic support of all those

that think both sides are wrong,

and everyone should give up something.

That idea has all sorts of support,

even amongst our friends.

We could ask the Turkish government

to reject the demand on its own.

No, the issue is between the Soviet Union and us,

it's not about Turkey, it's about Cuba.

But because my orders to get those damned missiles out of Turkey

were ignored, we've given the Soviets

an open invitation to retaliate there

if we strike at Cuba.

And if they go after Turkey, that involved NATO,

and that's war across the board.

Now we're vulnerable and it's our own damned fault.

Bob, how long will it take to launch an air strike?

Forty-eight hours.

Thirty, if absolutely necessary.

Mr. President, I would rather sink a Russian ship than bomb Cuba.

That's some damned choice, Bob.

Mr. President.

All right, Kenny, all right.

Just to set the record straight, when was the last time

I asked to have those missiles removed from Turkey?

Not the first five times I asked, just the last time.

I checked it out, you ordered the Jupiters

removed the last week in August.

Over two months ago.

Yes, sir.

The Defence Department stall because the Joint Chiefs objected,

the State Department stall because the Turkish government objected?

That's right, sir.

Defence was wrong, and State was wrong,

and the Joint Chiefs were wrong.

Yes, sir.

And I was wrong.

Mr. President, we need you.

Yes, Bobby.

Namara just got word, one of our U-2s was just shot do

by a Soviet surface to air missile over Cuba.

Shot down?

Yes.

The pilot?

He's dead.

Jack, their SAM system is now operational.

I guess that puts us in a whole new ballgame here.

Are they proving that guns can kill?

Who can be responsible for such a stupid, insane act?

You're sure it was shot down?

When did it happen?

Yes, just a minute, please,

I want everything you've got, the name of the pilot.

The plane was shot down up to three hours ago.

We're trying to fix the exact time.

The pilot was Major Rudolph Anderson, Jr.

He flew the mission that discovered

the missiles on October 14th.

Give me some information on his family, Kenny.

We can't send out those U-2 pilots now

unless we knock out those SAM sites.

I want absolute verification that

that U-2 plane was shot down and didn't crash accidentally,

a very careful review here.

Mr. President, there's no doubt that the report is accurate.

Mr. President, we have no option

but to launch a military response to a military attack.

We're on very hazardous ground here.

Now, the conventional response,

our planned response would be to attack Cuba now.

But if we do and the Russians respond by attacking Turkey,

what's our next move?

We launch our Jupiter missiles there?

Do the Russians then respond by launching a missile barrage

from Russia or from Cuba?

Can I set this chain of events into motion

without taking Turkey and NATO into my confidence?

Don't they have a right to know what we're doing

when our decisions have such devastating implications?

Am I going to launch an all out nuclear war

because one junior officer in Cuba pushed a button

he shouldn't have pushed and killed one pilot?

This is a direct order from the President of the United States:

all American missiles with atomic warheads

will be defused immediately.

No American nuclear weapons will be armed to fire

without a direct order from the President of the United States.

We're going to prepare possible

approaches short of war or surrender

to the Jupiter missile situation in Turkey and Italy.

Pierre, make it clear to the press

that we're close to invading Cuba.

Summarise accurately and in detail

the military forces we've assembled.

Make it easy for Soviet intelligence

to see that we're serious.

I want State to release a statement acknowledging

the receipt of two inconsistent and conflicting

proposals from Khrushchev.

Reiterate our position in no uncertain terms.

Get Skally, brief him, instruct him,

and send him back to Foreman.

Yes, Mr. President.

I have been with the State Department people for hours.

Foreman, what the hell is going on in the Kremlin?

Khrushchev's proposal today reneges

on everything you suggested yesterday.

Did you set me up to divert attention

while your friends arranged for the double-cross?

Honestly, Skally, I am puzzled, too.

My offer was genuine and in good faith.

Then you're being used, too.

I don't believe that.

What's the explanation?

I think it's a matter of bad communications.

The offer I submitted is the latest offer.

The other was drafted first and delayed in the transmission.

I don't believe that you people

have brought the world to the brink

because some Teletype operator screwed up.

This is a dirty, stinking, double-cross,

and one of the most colossal misjudgements in history.

We're going to get those missiles out of Cuba,

your time has run out.

You killed one of our men, and we think your military

has given your people in Cuba new instructions.

There is no double-cross.

The idea of trading our base in Cuba for your base in Turkey

is not unreasonable.

Your own Walter Lipman made the proposal three,

I want to make this as clear as I can.

I don't give a damn who mentioned what unofficially.

You have to understand that the idea of trading bases

is completely, totally, and perpetually unacceptable.

It was unacceptable yesterday, it's unacceptable today,

it will be unacceptable tomorrow,

and eternally unacceptable.

Any questions?

None, Skally, no questions.

Mr. President, we just had reliable word that one of our U-2s

has intruded on Soviet airspace.

Where?

Over the Shoque Peninsula.

The plane was on an air sampling mission and went off course.

But the Soviets might interpret it as a preparation by us

for a nuclear first strike.

I thought we grounded all U-2 flights

everywhere except over Cuba?

We did.

Get me Maxwell Taylor.

There's always some so and so never gets the word.

If the Americans want nuclear war,

they can have it at any time.

They don't require a pretext, neither do we.

I have ordered our fighters to track down

the American U-2 and to send it home.

But I've also ordered them not to fire upon it,

a direct order.

In the time since we dispatched the second letter

you so fervently desired,

nuclear war has nearly been triggered twice.

Once because we cannot control every action

of our forces around the world,

and once because Kennedy has the same limitation.

And why did we take this risk?

To force America to remove obsolete weapons

under humiliating circumstances.

Alexander Foreman has reported to me personally

that Kennedy will never agree to those conditions.

Do you want to further test Kennedy's nerve?

Are you prepared for war?

Are you prepared for total destruction?

Give me an answer.

I don't like the tone of this letter your people drafted, Dean,

it's entirely too negative

in rejecting all of Khrushchev's initiatives.

I just don't think I'll do.

Khrushchev put Turkey on the agenda,

we have to knock it off.

Why?

We can't simply ignore his proposals.

Which proposals, Foreman's,

Khrushchev's first letter, the second letter, which ones?

Bobby, what's in your mind?

Mr. President, last night we felt

we had a possible solution in answering the first letter.

We can't pretend that we never received the second letter.

- Why not? - Because we...

Dammit man, why not?

Ted, didn't Foreman tell Skally the second letter

was a mistaken communication?

Yes, he did.

Sir, I think we can pretend to believe him.

It's a marvellous idea.

Bobby, you're absolutely right.

Mr. President, what have we got to lose?

We can draught a reply to Khrushchev

which simply ignores the second letter.

Exactly.

We'll state our terms as though Khrushchev offered them,

and then accept them.

It's very tricky, it all depends

on whether Khrushchev can extricate himself.

And whether he wants to extricate himself.

Bobby, if you disagree so violently with State's letter,

draught one of your own.

Thank you, sir.

Ted?

Make it clear that if they remove the bases

and the missiles under UN supervision, we'll

negotiate an agreement not to invade Cuba now or in the future.

Yes, sir.

It will be said that we've broken our pledge

to help the Cuban people regain their freedom.

I'm not negotiating for the Cuban people.

This involves the security of the United States

and all of our allies.

I'm trying to get out from under a war.

Our power is not infinite, we have limits.

Let's try it.

Bobby, Ted, go write the letter.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you for the information.

Major Anderson had a son just about John's age.

I hope somebody will be able to tell him some day

why he died, what cause, for what purpose.

The first draught of the letter, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mrs. Lincoln.

I'm having Salinger release this as soon as we're finished.

I want the public to know our terms.

Bobby, you'll deliver a copy personally to Dobrynin.

Tell him that if we don't get a reply from Khrushchev

in the next 36 hours, we'll start military action.

You're presenting me with an ultimatum.

A statement of fact, Mr. Ambassador.

In my personal opinion,

my government is deeply committed to our Cuban allies.

I don't think you're offering Chairman Khrushchev enough.

We are offering the Chairman a peaceful solution

to a problem he created.

You must agree to give up your base in Turkey.

No, no, that's not gonna happen now.

The Turkish bases might not offer too many problems

in negotiations once this crisis has passed, but not now.

I am very pessimistic.

We're committed.

So are we.

Dave are you sure your wife doesn't mind

being home alone at a time like this?

She's used to it.

That's impossible.

There's never been a time like this.

How'd it go?

Not well.

Dobrynin's frightened, tired, scared, he's like me,

he's like all of us.

I want a leg.

There's no more legs.

Terrific.

Dobrynin feels that,

Khrushchev is too committed to go along with our letter.

That's the word he used, committed.

He used it twice.

Did you tell him we were going to invade on Monday?

Yes.

What did he say?

That they were committed.

Was he telling the truth?

Was I?

Dave, the way you're eating my chicken and drinking my wine,

anybody would think it was your last meal.

Well, the way Bobby's been talking,

I think maybe it is.

There are a total of 24 troop carrier squadrons

in the Air Force Reserve.

How soon can they be called up?

Immediately.

Have your department make the announcement to the press.

The Soviets will interpret it as a prelude to invasion.

Exactly.

Bob, you and Maxwell meet with General Sweeny

first thing in the morning and go over the air strike planning.

Have an invasion scenario set for me by the afternoon.

Yes, Mr. President.

Shouldn't we have approved the tentative timetable

for the initial air strike on the assumption.

No.

Mr. President,

let's call it a night.

We've had it till Khrushchev replies.

Don't despair.

Mr. President, we'll be fighting in Cuba by Tuesday.

I think it could go either way now.

The Atomic Energy Commission announced today

a successful nuclear test explosion

near Jungston Island in the Pacific.

The Soviet Union today tested an intermediate-range

atomic device as part of the continuing Soviet experiments

in the Naviazemblia area.

Johnny, you know what Khrushchev did

at 8:00 o'clock tonight Moscow time?

No idea, Dave.

Well, according to TASS,

he took the Presidium with him to the opera.

It's an old Soviet custom to go to the Bolshoy

when things get hot in the Kremlin.

They did it the night they eliminated Beria.

Well, I suggest we establish a White House custom.

How do you feel about Audrey Hepburn?

Mr. President?

Mr. President?

It's over.

Not yet, Dave.

The thirteenth day of the Missiles of October.

Khrushchev's response.

All of it?

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Kenny.

Dear Mr. President:

Our regard with great understanding your concern

and the concern of the people of the United States

that the weapons you describe as offensive

are formidable weapons, indeed.

Both you and we understand what kind of weapons these are.

In order to eliminate as rapidly as possible

the conflict which endangers the cause of peace,

my government, in addition to its previous instructions,

has issued a new order,

to dismantle the weapons you regard as offensive,

to crate them and return them to the Soviet Union.

I regard with respect and trust

the statement made in your message that there would be no attack,

no invasion of Cuba.

Then the motives which induced us to render assistance

of such a kind to Cuba, disappear.

We are confident that all people will understand, Mr. President,

we are not threatening.

Our people have achieved tremendous success

since the October revolution

and have created powerful material,

spiritual and cultural values.

We want to continue to achieve and to develop

on the path of social progress and the road to peace.

The United States verified the removal

of Soviet missiles and bombers from Cuba.

The American blockade ended.

Soviet forces destroyed the missile bases,

and the land was ploughed over.

Within two months,

not a trace remained of the Missiles of October.

Who has the agenda?

Our problems are man made;

therefore, they can be solved by men.

Across the gulfs and barriers that now divide us,

we must remember there are no permanent enemies.

Let each nation choose its own future,

so long as that choice does not

interfere with the choice of others.

If we cannot end our differences,

at least we can make the world safe for diversity.

For in the final analysis,

our most basic, common link

is the fact that we all inhabit this planet,

we all breathe the same air,

we all cherish our children's future,

and we are all mortal.