Thirteen Days; A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 1969. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Good/Fair. Cecil Stoughton (Photograph). 224 pages. Illustrations. Documents. Index. Illustrated endpapers. Introduction by Robert S. McNamara. Introduction by Harold Macmillan. DJ is worn, torn, soiled, chipped and price clipped. "A ...classic in its laconic, spare, compelling evocation by a participant of the shifting moods and maneuvers of the most dangerous moment in human history."-Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. During the thirteen days in October 1962 when the United States confronted the Soviet Union over its installation of missiles in Cuba, few people shared the behind-the-scenes story as it is told here by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In this unique account, he describes each of the participants during the sometimes hour-to-hour negotiations, with particular attention to the actions and views of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis is Robert F. Kennedy's account of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The book was released in 1969, a year after his assassination. Thirteen Days describes the meetings held by the Executive Committee (ExComm), the team assembled by US President John F. Kennedy to handle the tense situation that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union following the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, 90 miles (140 km) from Florida. Robert Kennedy, who was the US Attorney General at the time, describes his brother John's leadership style during the crisis as involved, but not controlling. Robert Kennedy viewed the military leaders on the council sympathetically, and recognized that their lifelong concentration on war was difficult to set aside. The book was used as the basis for the 1974 television play The Missiles of October.