"Thirteen days through the eyes of Krushchev"
When "Thirteen Days" premiered we heard what the critics, fans and even a
couple of members of the Kennedy Family had to say about it. In an article
published in the New York Times, Sergie Krushchev son of Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev talked about the movie and what he thought about it. We thought some
of you would find this interesting.
"Those participating in or witnessing turning points in world history are
generally displeased by the way such crises are depicted in films and plays. So,
it was only reluctantly that I went to see the film "Thirteen Days," about
President John F. Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis that brought the
world to the brink of nuclear catastrophe in 1962. But I was pleasantly
surprised.
The film portrays the psychological drama of a president at the very moment
when he must make decisions that may determine the fate of his country, as well
as others, with no knowledge of what is happening in the opposing camp.
In times like that one, it's hard to resist the temptation of applying the
cudgel of a military "solution" to the problem. Fortunately, in 1962 the world
avoided that temptation, and both sides, the White House and the Kremlin,
President Kennedy and my father, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, deserve
credit for that.
I was particularly struck in the movie by what President Kennedy said to General
Maxwell Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- that the blockade of
Cuba and announcements of military readiness would serve as signals to the
opposing side. And that the future would be determined by how well those
signals were understood in the Kremlin.
My father had thought along those same lines. In fact, the installation of
missiles in Cuba was to serve as a signal to prevent an American attack of Cuba.
But Americans misunderstood this signal as a provocation.
The subject of a leader's able and effective behavior in a crisis is
particularly close to me. I relived those days while working on my last book,
"Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower." It deals at length with
the Cuban crisis. While "Thirteen Days" portrays what was happening in the White
House and barely touches on the Soviet side, I described what was going on in
Moscow and my father's role. The film and my book are like mirror images
reflecting the events of those days. Despite all their differences, Washington
and Moscow were united in one conviction: Whatever the cost, the situation must
not slip out of their control.
The very first shot fired would mean that their generals -- not they, the
political leaders --and the logic of war, not the logic of negotiations, would
begin to determine the future of the planet.
When the crisis was already over, I remember how American hawks (along with
Mao Zedong) vied with each other in taunting my father, accusing him of
weakness, of being the first to "blink." At the time my father said to me: "The
one who blinks first is not always the weaker one. Sometimes he is the wiser
one."
For more on Sergie Krushchev's opinion on the Cuban Missile Crisis, you can
read his book: "Nikita Khrushchev and the Creation of a Superpower."
Article was published in The New York Times on February 4, 2001.