This is an excellent first-hand account of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I would recommend this book to those who are truly interested in history and politics - otherwise it may be a little dry. ( )

I first must offer a confession-Bobby Kennedy is one of my heroes, so I am not necessarily an objective reviewer. I was drawn to the book by two factors beyond hero-worship, the 2000 movie by the same title, and President Bush's decision to plunge into Iraq following 9/11. I believed then, as I do now, that the Cuban Missile Crisis was a far greater danger to the U.S. than Iraq ever was, yet somehow, President Kennedy managed to avoid reflexively attacking Cuba, keeping us out a hot war 90 miles from our coast, and cooling off the nuclear confrontation that appeared inevitable.

For those who don't know this book, it was written in 1967, and published in 1969 after Bobby's death. There are only 120 pages of text which offer a general outline of the course the Kennedys and their advisers took to meet the challenge of the missiles in Cuba. There is a great deal that is not told, a lot of blanks in the story that need filling in. Thirteen Days is only a beginning if one wishes to learn more about this topic. With the end of the Cold War a number of titles are available that draw from U.S. and Soviet sources to do just that. Thirteen Days is a good place to begin. ( )

Powerful read ( )

Robert Kennedy was assasinated before he could complete this book on the Cuban Missile Crisis. All other implications of this tragedy aside, one result was that this book has an unfinished feel to it and doesn't quiet provide the kind of detailed account one would have liked. Having said that, it makes a few astute observations about the process of decision-making in the White House, offers up some dos and don'ts [allow opposing views to be aired, make sure you have all the information possible, take time to deliberate, bring international allies on board, etc.] which, the outgoing presidency may well have benefited from heeding during its tenure. ( )

John F. Kennedy’s initial inexperience and incompetence in foreign policy led Nikita Khrushchev to think he could get away with smuggling nuclear missiles into Cuba. Somehow Kennedy (and the rest of us) managed to survive the resulting Crisis without being incinerated.

Flipping through the book at random, I came across this passage:

The thought that disturbed him (President Kennedy) the most...was the specter of the death of the children of this country and all the world...the young people...whose lives would be snuffed out like everyone else’s. They would never have a chance to make a decision, to vote in an election, to run for office, to lead a revolution, to determine their own destinies.

So there you have it, the worst thing for then President Kennedy about the possible violent deaths of millions, was that this would deny to many the ability to participate in...politics! (Or perhaps Robert Kennedy made this up, though obviously, by including it in the book, he believed it to be a noble sentiment which reflected well on his brother’s legacy.)

Is any additional evidence needed that politicians (or, at least, certain types of them) are utter moral imbeciles?

(So why do I have three copies of this damned book?) ( )