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A Webjournal and News Review by Michael Spencer
Updated 1/31/01
The Abiding Lessons of "Thirteen Days"
by Michael Spencer
Thanks
to Kevin Costner for making a film that refines the Presidency to its
core: clear leadership when circumstances demand a leader.
"Thirteen Days" dramatically and accurately revisits the 1962
Cuban missile crisis. Young people who are unfamiliar with our closest
brush with Armageddon will come away with all the facts, but also an
appreciation for the nature of Presidential leadership. No recent
political film has gotten so much right.
Kennedy came to the White House from a scandalously close election, with a reputation as a lightweight and carrying the baggage of his father's appeasement sympathies in WWII. Closely allied with his brother and mistrustful of congress, Kennedy seemed all style and no substance. After the Eisenhower administration, Washington and the world, particularly the Russians, were skeptical that the young President had the strength to respond to a genuine foreign policy crisis.
Which explains the Russian's astonishing power play in putting nuclear missiles in Cuba. With his military staff pushing for air strikes and invasion, congress balking at everything and his intelligence staff unsure of what was going in in Russia or Cuba, Kennedy faced decisions that could have easily brought about a nuclear war of Doomsday proportions. That he avoided such an exchange may have been his finest accomplishment.
Liberals often paint Kennedy as a shrewd and unbending force, while conservatives just call him lucky. "Thirteen Days" makes it clear that Kennedy was a human being almost breaking under the pressures that surrounded him. His military leadership practically ran over him roughshod to initiate a war. One can almost see Kennedy becoming a real President as he asserts his authority and his control over those decisions that could prompt retaliation.
With bad advice everywhere and intelligence information changing day by day, Kennedy relies on something rare in modern politics: moral instincts. He is determined to avoid a war, but just as determined to take the high road and avoid appeasement. Even though the final solution involves removing missiles from an allied country, Kennedy risks the entire arrangement on his insistence that the Russians remove their missiles first, six months before any American removal of similar missiles.
For young people (and others) who have forgotten what the Cold War meant in American politics, "Thirteen Days" is a vivid reminder of how the moral and spiritual battle with Communism focused and clarified the actions of our nation. Men like Kennedy were standing against evil, and it brought out the inherent goodness of American values. Multi-culturalism and post-modern analysis would have been highly unwelcome. There were good guys and bad guys. Of course, there still are, but the philosophical shifts of the times have obscured that for many Americans, resulting in a dismantling of our defenses, and more importantly, our moral compass.
Think about the three abiding lessons of this film. First, true leadership does not poll the public; it leads the country from a clear vision of what is right. Can you imagine what would have happened if Bill Clinton had been in the Oval office in 1962? He would have called Dick Morris, handed the entire situation to the U.N., blamed the Republicans and brought Monica over for some light-night brainstorming. We'd all be speaking Russian with a Spanish accent. There is something blasphemous about the thought of polling to decide a course that may include war. I don't tell my son to poll the playground before he resists a bully. If there is no good and righteous way to avoid the fight, then fight and win with honor. Who cares what the girls think?
Secondly, true leadership has to face down the interests within government that are not the best interests of the country. Liberals seem to think that the interests of government and the interests of the country are the same. This film makes it chillingly clear that someone has to see through the mass of smaller interests to the big issues on the other side. Kennedy faced the pressure, but acted in the best interests of all, not just to appease those shouting at him. The military only saw the problem in military terms. Kennedy, and his closest associates, saw a different struggle. At one point Kennedy quote Sun Tzu that wars are won in the combatants before the field is ever taken. Realizing that, Kennedy was able to say "no" to the trigger-happy long enough to avoid the unthinkable.
Kennedy also refers to the beginnings of WWI, and the way the world was dragged into war by outmoded intelligence, obsolete intelligent and intransigent rules of engagement. You have to know how the world is changing to interpret reality and respond appropriately. With the shift from the Cold War to an age of International Terrorism, this was never more true. (I have to admit it really made me angry to think that we didn't take Saddam all the way down when we could have. That was a mistake in vision we will regret.)
Finally, agendas are fine, but it is the unplanned and unexpected that reveal character and depth of leadership. At some point, a politician must lay down his plans and take up the agenda God has selected for this time. Kennedy got up one day and the world was on the brink. He rose to the cause, and revealed why he is a great President, despite many flaws.
I remember during the Presidential debates, Mr. Bush said you must have total confidence in the principles and integrity of the person who may send your children to die. This has little to do with what policies he may have proposed or slogans he uses. It probably partially explains why a lot of Americans, particularly from the military, voted for Mr. Bush. He may not read all the books Mr. Gore reads, but he has the qualities you want in a person who has to decide who lives and who dies.
"Thirteen Days" rescues JFK from the conspiracy crowd, the Democrats looking for cover for Clinton and conservatives (like me) who think Camelot to be a Democrat myth. The film shows and inexperienced and confused man doing the right thing. It shows his failures and his fury. In the end, you understand something extraordinary occurred in having this man at the helm at that time. Despite the Bay of Pigs and a military hungry for a conflict to win, JFK saw the real stakes and kept his cool until an honorable peace could be delivered out of chaos.
At the end, Costner says "If the sun comes up today, it is because of the will of good men."
I, for one, am glad to see Kennedy portrayed as I want to remember him. This is the President I want my kids to think of when we talk about JFK. And I hope this film shows frequently at the White House theater.