Thirteen Days

Thirteen Days is Robert Kennedy’s personal account of the Cuban missile crisis.

As the Attorney General of the United States and President’s Kennedy’s brother and most trusted confidant, Robert Kennedy played a significant role in that critical period. The first-person narrative is organized into titled sections, rather than chapters, and proceeds chronologically, describing the meetings, conversations, developments, and decisions that shaped the American response to the crisis.

The chronicle begins on the morning of Tuesday, October 16, when Robert Kennedy first learns that Russia has been installing nuclear weapons in Cuba. Later that morning, President Kennedy convenes a meeting of top aides, cabinet members and other government officials to advise him on the crisis and charges them with identifying a course of action. This group would meet nearly non-stop throughout the crisis. The members of the committee all participated equally, in rigorous discussion and sometimes heated arguments, as they analyzed potential approaches to the problem. There was a limited period of time to respond before the Cuban missiles would be ready for launch. Secrecy was essential to their endeavor. They needed to determine a strategy before the press alerted the public to the crisis or the Russians discovered that the U.