Thirteen Days Page #4

GENERAL CARTER:

Five minutes, gentlemen. Five minutes.

GENERAL TAYLOR:

In those five minutes they could kill 80

million Americans and destroy a

significant number of our bomber bases,

degrading our retaliatory options. The

Joint Chiefs' consensus is that this is

a massively destabilizing move,

upsetting the nuclear balance.

The President stares at Lundahl, and beating out each word.

THE PRESIDENT:

Arthur. Are. You. Sure?

Lundahl looks around the room. Everyone is hanging.

LUNDAHL:

Yes, Mr. President. These are nuclear

missiles.

The men come to grips with their own fears, own anger.

BOBBY:

How long until they're operational?

LUNDAHL:

General Taylor can answer that question

better than I can.

General Taylor drops a memo on the table WHICH BECOMES:

EXT. FIELD TABLE - MISSILE SITE, CUBA - DAY

SCHEMATICS slapped down on a camp table. A group of Soviet

site ENGINEERS point and gesture as they study their ground

from a shaded hillock. CLEARING CREWS and SURVEYORS work and

sweat in the distance.

GENERAL TAYLOR (V.O.)

GMAIC estimates ten to fourteen days.

However, a crash program to ready the

missiles could cut that time.

INT. CABINET ROOM - DAY

Taylor sees the grim looks all around.

GENERAL TAYLOR:

I have to stress that there may be more

missiles that we don't know about. We

need more U-2 coverage.

Kenny lets out his breath. He catches Bobby's eye. This is

unbelievable.

THE PRESIDENT:

Is there any indication - anything at

all - that suggests they intend to use

these missiles in some sort of first

strike?

GENERAL CARTER:

Not at present, sir. But I think the

prudent answer is we don't know.

THE PRESIDENT:

Do we have any sort of intelligence from

CIA on what Khruschev is thinking?

GENERAL CARTER:

No, Mr. President. We don't. We just

don't know what's happening inside the

Kremlin at that level.

BOBBY:

They lied to us. Two weeks ago Dobrynin

told me to my face Khurschev had no

intention of putting missiles into Cuba.

They said themselves, this is our

backyard.

There's angry agreement. The President cuts it off.

THE PRESIDENT:

Gentlemen, I want first reactions.

Assuming for a moment Khruschev has not

gone off the deep end and intends to

start World War Three, what are we

looking at?

Rusk glances to his team at the end of the table. Ball,

Johnson, Martin, Thompson and Stevenson.

RUSK:

Mr. President, I believe my team is in

agreement. If we permit the

introduction of nuclear missiles to a

Soviet satellite nation in our

hemisphere, the diplomatic consequences

will be too terrible to contemplate.

The Russians are trying to show the

world they can do whatever they want,

wherever they want, and we're powerless

to stop them. If they succeed...

BOBBY:

It will be Munich all over again.

RUSK:

Appeasement only makes the aggressor

more aggressive. Confidence in our

security commitments around the world

will falter, allies will become unsure

in the face of Soviet pressure, and the

Soviets will be emboldened to push us

even harder. We must remove the

missiles one way or another. It seems

to me the options are either to build up

the crisis 'til they give in, or we hit

them. An air strike.

There's silence at the table. Some nods. Understanding.

THE PRESIDENT:

Bob?

MCNAMARA:

We've worked up several military

scenarios. Before I ask General Taylor

to lead us through the various options,

I'd like for us to adopt a rule.

If we are going to strike, we must agree

now that we will do it before the

missiles become operational. Because

once they are, I don't think we can

guarantee getting them all before at

least some are launched.

And there it is. The clock is running.

BUNDY:

Sir. We need to consider... if we

decide to act, there's a good chance

we'll end up in a general war.

The room falls silent. The President leans back in his

chair, studying the circle of men around the table, weighing

them.

Kenny and the others watch him in silence. A long, dramatic

pause. A course that will change history is about to be

chosen. The President leans forward, folds his hands on the

table. Fated. Grave.

THE PRESIDENT:

It's clear we cannot permit Soviet

nuclear missiles in Cuba. We must get

those missiles out.

EXT. THE ROSE GARDEN - DAY

Kenny and Bobby follow the President down a path through the

Rose Garden. The shock of the morning has worn off. The

President stops, looks at them.

THE PRESIDENT:

I don't think it's going to matter what

Khruschev's intentions are. I tell you,

right now... I don't see any way around

hitting them.

A long moment of silence as they move along again.

KENNY:

If we hit 'em, kill a lot of Russians,

they'll move against Berlin. They

attack Berlin, that's NATO... and we're

at war.

The guys stop again. The autumn day is bright, warm, alive.

The air, the distant city sounds derail the relentless train

of logic for a beat. And in their faces we see that all

three men, for the first time, feel the enormity of war, its

shadow over everything. It's only a couple of steps away.

Steps that they're seriously contemplating.

BOBBY:

Damned if we do, but if we don't, we're

in a war for sure somewhere else in six

months.

Pained, the President turns away.

THE PRESIDENT:

No choice. This is going to cost lives

any way we go. Do nothing, and it could

be 80 million of ours. We have to get

rid of those missiles.

KENNY:

There've got to be alternatives to just

going out and bombing them.

BOBBY:

He's right, Jack. Taylor is saying we

may have some time. We've got to use

it.

THE PRESIDENT:

So if there are alternatives that make

sense - and I'm not saying there are -

we need 'em. Need 'em fast.

BOBBY:

What about the allies? Congress? I

think we may need to start letting key

people know. And they're all scattered

across the country for the campaign.

We're going to need to get the U.N.

staff in and warmed up. Jesus... I

don't even know if we've got secure

communications with half our embassies

since that the Soviets got that

cryptographer of ours.

THE PRESIDENT:

We can't worry about everything right

now. We've got to figure out what we're

going to do before we worry about how we

do it.

KENNY:

The other thing is...

BOBBY:

... I know. CIA and the military f***ed

us on the Bay of Pigs.

KENNY:

They're going to be pressing for a

military solution soon. We can't afford

to let them ram their agenda down our

throats. We need to come with options

other than air strikes so we have some

sort of choice here.

BOBBY:

We got a bunch of smart guys. We lock

'em up together in there, kick 'em in

the ass til they come up with options.

Kenny and the President look at him. Bobby nods.

BOBBY (CONT'D)

I'll do it.

KENNY:

(to the President)

It's too politicized with you in there,

anyway. They need to be able to stick

their necks out.

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