Killing Kennedy Page #3

Jack, is something the matter?

Jackie, why don't you come

back to the White House.

Yes, of course.

At a Pentagon

briefing here this evening,

we were shown pictures taken

by a high-flying U-2 plane

of two types of missiles,

some of them already

installed in Cuba

and pointed at

the US heartland.

One group of missiles

with a range of 1,200 miles,

the other group

with ranges up to 2,500 miles.

And there was a broad hint,

they do have nuclear warheads.

We have increased the number of planes

in our air defense along the East Coast,

and we have placed all US forces

around the world on an alert status.

I say we launch a full-scale

attack and invasion.

B-52s out of Barksdale.

What, and start

a war with Russia?

You really want to risk

an all-out nuclear war?

In a matter of days, those missiles

will be operational. We have to act.

I will not be pushed.

Not by Khrushchev,

not by you or anyone else.

One thing's for certain, I'm not gonna

allow nuclear missiles in our backyard.

I want to see a limited

military option.

I want to hear something

out of State.

You haven't said a word

the whole meeting.

I want options in 40 minutes.

What's happening?

We're in a fix.

I have 40 minutes before

I have to start again.

I keep thinking about

Khrushchev in The Kremlin.

He's in the same position I am.

Anti-spasmodic.

He doesn't want to back down.

I don't want to back down.

Hydrocortisone.

I have to find a way

for him to back down.

And testosterone.

And not lose face.

You'll find a way.

You'll find a way.

What if I don't?

Men and women the

world over hang on the news

as it is uncertain

what the future holds.

All of the Western Hemisphere,

from Hudson Bay to Lima, Peru,

are within the range

of the missiles in Cuba.

In these troubled times,

America braces for disaster.

Please don't send

me away to Camp David.

I just want to be with you.

Even if there isn't room

in the bomb shelter,

I just want to be on the lawn

when it happens.

I just want to die with you.

Everybody's gonna like it.

Everybody's Russian.

All your nosy Russian friends.

George tried to get you a job.

He's nice to invite us.

You're the one

they invited, not me.

All right. I'll be good.

There they are!

Marinitchka!

Lee!

George.

Hurry. The President

is about to start his speech.

Quiet, please.

Ready in...

Five, four, three, two...

Good evening, my fellow citizens.

This government, as promised,

has maintained the

closest surveillance

of the Soviet military buildup

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

nuclear strike capabilities

against the Western Hemisphere.

To halt this offensive buildup,

a strict quarantine on all

offensive military equipment

under shipment to Cuba

is being initiated.

A quarantine? That's illegal.

All ships of

any kind bound for Cuba,

from whatever nation

or port will,

if found to contain

cargoes of offensive weapons,

be turned back.

The Soviets have every

right to be there,

and Cuba has every right to defend

itself against the United States.

But why would Russia

be so foolish as to provoke?

No, no. Kennedy is the one

who's provoking this.

I think Kennedy is doing a good job.

On civil rights, yes.

But he is wrong on Cuba.

Your Cubans are just as greedy and

hypocritical as your Russians.

You fled one failed

cause for another.

Cuba is the last great hope for

Marxism, unless Kennedy destroys it.

Well, I grant you this much.

Your hero Fidel is the underdog,

and I like underdogs.

This is why I like you, Lee.

Kennedy needs to

keep out of Cuba.

Or what? What will you

and your underdogs do to him?

Lee!

I'm playing with you, huh?

I am serious!

Something has to be

done to protect Cuba.

Cuba has to be the

point of the crisis.

There might be shooting

among the ships at sea.

If invasion is undertaken, the Russians

have said that they would retaliate.

We have said if there's rocket

fire from Cuba, we will retaliate.

The shooting war could

start tomorrow over Cuba.

How could Khrushchev do that?

Last night, he sent you a cable

saying he'd pull those missiles out.

And now this

public announcement

demanding we pull

our missiles out of Turkey.

He's already given in.

Now he wants to make deals?

What if you just ignore this?

He's under pressure.

The Kremlin won't let him back down.

And I'll be goddamned if I'm

gonna engage in a quid pro quo.

You. Just you.

You go to the Soviet

Ambassador and you tell him

that I have accepted

Khrushchev's original offer.

It just might work, Jack.

I hope to God it does.

Just yesterday,

we were on the brink of

nuclear war with the

Soviet Union.

Today, we can

all breathe easier.

Nikita Khrushchev today did

precisely what President Kennedy

has been asking him to do

ever since this crisis began.

He ordered the dismantling of

Soviet missile bases in Cuba

and the return of the rockets

to the Soviet Union.

Maybe tonight's the night

I should go to the theater.

Marina!

Marina!

I want you to take my picture.

Where do you find pistoleti?

I got it in the mail.

Here. Come here.

Come here. Take it.

Come, come, come.

Take my picture.

I want you to take this for Junie

to remember her papa by sometime.

All right. Then send

it to the papers.

To show them I'm ready

for anything. Take it.

Wind that little thing, and you're gonna

push that little lever down. Okay?

This?

Yeah.

Hold on.

George, you've heard of this

General Edwin Walker?

Of course.

He's the crazy racist John Bircher who

caused all that trouble at Ole Miss.

And now he wants the United

States to invade Cuba.

He's going all over the

country attacking communism.

And Castro.

You know, Walker lives

right here in Dallas.

No, he doesn't.

Yes, he does.

Really?

What if someone killed Hitler

before he came to power?

I ask you, how many lives

could have been saved?

Anybody who bumps that bastard off

will be doing the world a favor.

Who's hungry?

I would betray the confidence

reposed in me by the American people

if I had not warned you

of the menace of communism

and the peril facing

this nation today.

Mr. Oswald, why did

you shoot General Walker?

General Walker wanted to invade

Cuba and overthrow Castro.

He was a racist who was a

threat to civil rights.

Mr. Oswald, what do you say to those

who will call you a murderer?

In time, they will see that I stopped

a dangerous man on his rise to power.

They will see me as a hero,

as a hunter of fascists.

And long after I'm gone,

they will remember this day

as the day that changed

the world forever.

Thank you, Mr. Oswald.

You are a true...

Alik?

This is my office.

I know it's late. You can't come

in here. Leave me alone.

Who's got you, June bug?

June bug! Cutie, cutie!

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