"Thirteen Days- re-enacted the Cuban Missile Crisis that occurred in 1962 while John F. The movie implemented Kenny O'Donnell(Kevin Costner) as the Special Assistant to President Kennedy. O'Donnell was very verbal in the film. He had a lot of input that Kennedy recognized as being important, so much so, that Kennedy often asked O'Donnell's opinion on the Missile Crisis. There was a lot of emphasis placed on O'Donnell, so much so, that his life with his family was almost as important as the missile crisis.
The movie was based, somewhat, on actual events that took place, however there were many inaccuracies and discrepancies between the movie and the history behind the movie. Even though the Whitehouse was shown, several times, throughout the movie, the characters playing the role(s) of John F. Kennedy, his brother, Robert Kennedy, and JFK's staff were not portrayed as accurately as they should or could have been; for example, political aide, Kenny O'Donnell.
Kenny O'Donnell was portrayed in the movie as being a very important person for Kennedy. However, when looking up information on O'Donnell, even in Kennedy's book, A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, O'Donnell is only mentioned, very briefly on a few pages. In additional history books and research on Internet websites, O'Donnell was mentioned as being the individual who took care of phone messages, not a superior political aide or Kennedy's right-hand man1. The film goes overboard in giving the character important tasks O'Donnell never had such as, .
conspiring with Navy pilots to hide from admirals the results of reconnaissance missions and checking CIA files on the background of the KGB's Washington station chief-2. .
Filmmakers also make a big error in "portraying U.S. officials as having knowledge that there were armed.
tactical nuclear missiles on the island-3. .
1 http://www.thirteen-days.com/fleshmain.html Thirteen Days, Retrieved March 7, 2003.