[asking the Russian ambassador if there are any Soviet missile bases in Cuba]
Sir, I am prepared to wait for your answer till Hell freezes over, if that's your decision.
Kenny O'Donnell
Jon Foster · 24 quotes
Robert F. Kennedy
Steven Culp · 11 quotes
President John F. Kennedy
Bruce Greenwood · 7 quotes
Dean Acheson
Len Cariou · 6 quotes
Adlai Stevenson
Michael Fairman · 4 quotes
General Curtis LeMay
Kevin Conway · 4 quotes
Robert McNamara
Dylan Baker · 3 quotes
Most scenes together: Robert F. Kennedy & Kenny O'Donnell (5), Robert F. Kennedy & Dean Acheson (2)
Thirteen Days quotes
Page 3 of 4[The night prior to the beginning of the U.S. Navy's military "quarantine" of Cuba]
You know, last summer, I read a book, The Guns of August. I wish every man on that blockade line had read that book. It's World War I, there's thirteen million killed; it was all because the militaries of both alliances believed they were so highly attuned to one another's movements and dispositions, they could predict one another's intentions, but all their theories were based on the last war. And the world and technology had changed, and those lessons were no longer valid, but it was all they knew, so the orders went out, and couldn't be rescinded. And your man in the field, his family at home; they couldn't even tell you the reasons why their lives were being destroyed. But why couldn't they stop it? What could they have done? Here we are, fifty years later. Think if one of their ships resists the inspection, and we shoot out its rudder, and board, they shoot down one of our planes in response, so we bomb their anti-aircraft sites, and in response to that, they attack Berlin...so we invade Cuba...and they fire their missiles...and we fire ours.
[to Ambassador Zorin]
I want to ask you one simple question Mr Ambassador. Do you deny that the Soviet Union has placed and is placing missiles in Cuba? Don't wait for the translation, yes or no?
Bobby, you go and make them understand. Tell them that we have to have an answer tomorrow... because on Monday, we go to war.
Call me Irish, but I don't believe in cooler heads prevailing.
Communicate with the Soviets? We can't even communicate with the Pentagon. And they're just across the goddamn river.
God damn it! How the god damn hell could this happen? I'm gonna have Powell's head on a platter. Next to LeMay's. Kenny, you hear me give the order to go to defcon 2? 'cos I remember giving the order to go to defcon 3 but er, y'know I must be suffering from amnesia!
I am the commander in chief of the United States, and I say when we go to war!
I don't care how crazy, inadequate or stupid it sounds. Give it to me.
I'll tell you one thing, Kenny. Those brass hats have one big advantage. That is, if we do what they want us to do, there's none of us gonna be alive to tell them they were wrong.
I'll whistle up some luck for you.
I'm an old political cat, Kenny, but I've got one life left.
If one of those ships resists inspection, and we shoot out its rudder, and board it... they shoot down one of our planes, in response. So we bomb their anti-aircraft sites, in response to that... they attack Berlin. So we invade Cuba. And they fire their rockets. And we fire ours.
If the sun comes up tomorrow, it is only because of men of good will. And that's... That's all there is between us and the devil.
Jack, I'm as conniving as they come, but a sneak attack is just wrong.