The movie 13 Days was adapted from the book The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis, published in 1998 and based on authentic meeting tapes. The drama also draws material from news reports of that time, scholars' analyses, interviews with related persons and CIA documents. Time magazine ranks it as one of the top 10 movies of the year and the content of the film has been described as a political textbook. In US political circles and the military, many regard it as a must-see and the UN also gave a viewing of it during a seminar.
The film tells the story of 13 days in 1962, when US president John F. Kennedy, facing a peace-war dilemma, had to solve the Cuban Missile Crisis and safeguard US national security. The young president and his team kept their composure, exercised flexible diplomacy and held firm to the principle of peace, thus finally solving the crisis, which had the potential to trigger a third world war.
After watching the film, Vice President Annette Lu (
The similarities between the two presidents are as follows. First, both leaders overcame their opponents by a small margin and assumed presidency at a relatively young age. Kennedy defeated rival Richard Nixon -- who had been widely tipped to win -- in the 1960 US presidential election by a margin of less than one percent. Last year, in the closely fought election in Taiwan, Chen's victory over James Soong (宋楚瑜) was by the narrow margin of three percent.
Second, their aides are mostly young "boy scouts." Third, both of them face the threat of missile deployment by communists across a strait -- although the missiles are of different types. Lastly, both of their governments have "disobedient people" plotting conspiracies.
Given such similarities, Chen should learn from Kennedy how to handle a crisis and show courage and insight while under enormous pressure, instead of dealing with the crisis with self-willed approaches. Chen should also learn from Kennedy how to implement policies on national security. In addition, Kennedy's determination to hold firm to the principle of peace and not easily go to war also deserves emulation by Chen.
In terms of traditional concepts on strategy, safeguarding national security relies, to a certain degree, on armed strength, but the survival of a country cannot solely depend on arms procurement when we face the menace from across the Strait -- not to mention the fact that most of Taiwan's weapons are purchased from other countries. Chen also said the other day, "Permanent peace in the ROC and the Taiwan Strait cannot rely merely on a military build-up, but on security on other levels as well." Therefore, Chen may even preempt the possibility of a similar crisis before it takes shape.
Although most people think that the cards are not in our hands in this cross-strait game, more goodwill and friendly policies will be conducive to communication and understanding between the people across the Strait. Dissolving the motives for using military force "from the bottom up" will be an alternative to a traditional arms race.
Even though 13 Days is a good film, we hope this type of breathtaking drama will never be played out in Taiwan.
Ho Sheng-fei is a graduate student in the school of journalism at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Jackie Lin
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