morning, kenny. you see this goddamn capehart stuff?
i was eating that.
i was, you bastard.
so what've we got today?
i think you should come in here.
still think cuba isn't important?
you used to look down a bomb sight for a living, ken. what do you see?
where's bobby?
good.
good.
in here!
did you have any indication of this from georgi? any possible warning or sense of motivation?
good morning, gentlemen.
dean, good morning.
bob. bet you had a late night.
max.
okay. let's have it.
arthur. are. you. sure?
is there any indication - anything at all - that suggests they intend to use these missiles in some sort of first strike?
do we have any sort of intelligence from cia on what khruschev is thinking?
gentlemen, i want first reactions. assuming for a moment khruschev has not gone off the deep end and intends to start world war three, what are we looking at?
bob?
it's clear we cannot permit soviet nuclear missiles in cuba. we must get those missiles out.
i don't think it's going to matter what khruschev's intentions are. i tell you, right now.  i don't see any way around hitting them.
no choice. this is going to cost lives any way we go. do nothing, and it could be 80 million of ours. we have to get rid of those missiles.
so if there are alternatives that make sense - and i'm not saying there are - we need 'em. need 'em fast.
we can't worry about everything right now. we've got to figure out what we're going to do before we worry about how we do it.
okay. kenny and i only show for the meetings you call us into. impress us. and do it fast. you're in charge of keeping this quiet. if word gets out before we know what we're going to do, there'll be panic. and it'll ruin any chance of surprise if we decide to hit them.
find him, kenny. we're going to need all the help we can get.
an invasion.
is this the chiefs' recommendation?
dean. what do you think?
then it appears we have three options. number one. a surgical air strike against the missiles themselves. two, a larger air strike against their air defenses along with the missiles.
and three, invasion.
we're certainly going to do number one; we're going to take out these missiles, so it seems to me we don't have to wait very long. we ought to at least be making those preparations.
dean, how does this play out?
those plans call for the use of nuclear weapons. and what is the next step?
acheson's scenario is unacceptable. and he has more experience than anyone.
the thing is, acheson's right. talk alone won't accomplish anything.
tonight, listening to taylor and acheson, i kept seeing burke and dulles telling me all i had to do was sign on the dotted line. the invasion would succeed. castro would be gone. just like that. easy.
there's something. immoral about abandoning your own judgement.
we can't let things get ahead of themselves. we've got to control what happens. we're going to do what we have to make this come out right. excom is our first weapon. we'll resort to others as we need 'em.
doesn't anybody in connecticut have to work today?
let's get out of here.
how long until the army is ready?
general lemay, do you truly believe that's our best course of action?
general, what will the soviets do when we attack?
nothing?
those aren't just missiles we'll be destroying. we kill soviet soldiers, and they will respond. how would we respond if they killed ours? no, they will do something, general, i promise you that. and i believe it'll be berlin.
we knew it was coming. i tell you, kenny, these brass hats have one big advantage. we do what they want us to, none of us will be alive to tell 'em they were wrong.
we keep 'em in the dark as long as we can. but i sure as hell am going to test him.
so that there should be no misunderstanding, the position of the united states, which has been made clear by the attorney general to ambassador dobrynin here, i shall read a sentence from my own statement to the press dated september 13th. should missiles or offensive weapons be placed in cuba, it would present the gravest threat to u.s. national security.
so i do not misunderstand you: there are no offensive weapons in cuba.
lying bastard. lied to my face.
i want a consensus, bobby. consensus. either air strike or blockade. something everyone'll stand by even if they don't like it. i need it by saturday. make it happen.
have you cancelled chicago and the rest of the weekend yet?
i don't care. cancel it.
you're scared to cancel on daly.
well, i'm not.
quarantine or air strike.
i don't think that's possible, adlai. i will be asking the networks for air time monday night. i have not yet made my final decision. we will announce our course of action then. i want to thank you all for your advice, gentlemen.
somebody had to say it. i respect adlai for having the guts to risk looking like an appeaser.
we've got bigger problems right now.
i don't know. i don't know.
i'm asking you to hold the story until i can present our course of action on monday night.
orville. i want you to tell them this: they'll be saving lives. maybe even including their own.
cam, can you guarantee me you'll get all the missiles?
as of seven o'clock monday night, all united states armed forces world wide will stand up to defcon 3.
they want this fucking job, they can have it. it's no great joy to me.
the elected representatives of the people have spoken.  now let's tell the people.
good evening, my fellow citizens. this government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the soviet military build-up on the island of cuba.
unmistakable evidence has now established the fact that a series of missile sites is in preparation on that imprisoned island. the purpose of these bases can be none other than to proved a nuclear strike capability against the western hemisphere.
therefore, in the defense of our own security and under the authority of the constitution, i have directed that the following initial steps be taken. first, to halt this offensive build-up, a strict quarantine --
-- on all offensive military equipment under shipment to cuba is being initiated. all ships of any kind bound for cuba, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, will be turned back. second: i have directed the continued and increased close surveillance of cuba and its military build-up. should these offensive military preparations continue, further action will be justified --
-- i have directed the armed forces to prepare for any eventualities.
and third: it shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from cuba against any nation in the western hemisphere as an attack by the soviet union on the united states, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the soviet union.
so now you're khurschev. what do you do?
there will be no shooting without my explicit orders. is that understood?
well, admiral, it looks like it's up to the navy.
general, have we developed any more information on the missiles?
in the morning i'm taking charge of the blockade from the situation room. mcnamara'll set up shop in the flag plot at the pentagon, keep an eye on things there.
i know, i know.
we need those flights. we have to know when those missiles become operational, because when they do, we need to destroy them.
i'm gonna protect those pilots.
how does a man get to a place where he can say, 'throw those lives away,' so easily?
triple check everything the chiefs say to us with the guys who actually have to do it. no one's to know about this but bobby. i need redundant control over what happens out there. and if things aren't as advertised, you're going to make sure they come out the way i want them to come out, starting with this low level flight thing.
any problems, you remind them those chains of commands end at one place. me.
-- we need this one, dean. the quarantine's legal if we get a mandate, otherwise it's an act of war in the eyes of the world. get me that vote. make it unanimous.
-- unanimous, dean.
about time something went our way.
guess we can't blame khruschev for a few patriotic farmers. and the ships?
all right. then i guess it's time.
in accordance with this afternoon's vote at the oas, the quarantine shall hereby be effective as of ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
last summer i read a book. the guns of august. i wish every man on that blockade line had read that book.
world war one. thirteen million killed all because the militaries of both alliances were so highly attuned to each other's movements and dispositions, afraid of letting the other guy have a theoretical advantage. and your man in the field, his family at home, couldn't even tell you the reasons why their lives were being sacrificed. why couldn't they stop it?
and here we are, fifty years later. one of their ships resists the inspection. we shoot out its rudder and board. they shoot down our planes in response. we bomb their anti-aircraft sites in response to that. they attack berlin. we invade cuba. they fire their missiles. we fire ours.
okay, bob, i'm putting you on intercom.
bob, the quarantine is now in effect.
bob, is there any way we can avoid stopping a submarine first?
put me through to the pierce.
captain, can you force that submarine to the surface for inspection without damaging it yourself?
captain, force the sub to the surface for inspection.
captain, belay that order! bob, where's that coming from!
will somebody find out what's going on?!
captain, have the ships you're observing changed course?
captain, i want you to maintain contact with those ships. do nothing until i order otherwise. is that clear?
i hope you're right.
we can horsetrade with khruschev on ships. but it doesn't get us any closer to removing those missiles.
mcnamara's on his way back here now. we need to pick the right ship. no subs. no armed boarding parties either. we need a little more time to figure this one out.
-- how the goddamn hell did this happen? i'm going to have power's head on a platter next to lemay's! hey, kenny, did you hear me give the order to go to defcon 2? i remember giving the order to go to defcon 3, but i must be suffering from amnesia because i've just been informed our nuclear forces are defcon 2!
-- i have the authority. i am the commander-in-chief of the united states, and i say when we go to war!
general, the joint chiefs have just signalled our intent to escalate to the soviets. you have signalled an escalation which i had no wish to signal, and which i did not approve.
get out of here, max.
he's right, we can't rescind defcon 2. the soviets will think we've gotten sweet on them.
i've been considering a variation on one of stevenson's ideas. we're going to send up a trial balloon through lippman. the jupiter missiles.
what's that?
i don't want to listen to this again.
it's a goddman trial balloon. trial is the operative word, here.
jesus christ, o'donnell, you're the one saying we need to move forward on a political solution.
you want to turn up the heat? you call adlai. tell him to stick it to zorin.
let's hope it doesn't come to that.
didn't know adlai had it in him. too bad he didn't have this stuff in '52.
keep us posted, bob.
so they'll remove the missiles, and we'll pledge not to invade cuba, destabilize castro or assist anyone who plans in doing so.
well, it seems the question of the day is -- is the offer legitimate?
if it is.  if it is, then we can't afford to ignore it. john, we'll have instructions for you in a couple of hours.
kenny, get over to your old stomping grounds. go through everything the fbi has on fomin. i need your best call: is this guy legit and is he speaking for khruschev? and i need you to tell me by the time i call you, because right after i call you, i'm calling scali with his instructions.
i've got to move. what do you have, kenny?
you're sure.
okay, ken. we're going.
glad to hear we're not alone.
well, gentlemen, i wasn't planning on invading cuba anyway. i think we can live with the terms of this deal.
ted, i want you to draft our acceptance.
dean?
you know, the problem we have is that this is latest offer of theirs will seem reasonable to everyone. we remove our missiles, they remove theirs. our jupiters were scheduled for removal anyway. they're obsolete, after all.
so which one of you geniuses can tell me how to explain ourselves to the world? how do we work with them if there's been a hard-line coup?
then we have no choice. general, issue the warning orders to our forces. they will be prepared to execute the air strikes monday morning and the follow-on invasion according to the schedule thereafter. i'll need the official release orders on my desk sunday night.
permission granted.
gentlemen, if anybody's got any great ideas, now's the time.
does this attack on our plane represent a definitive, intentional escalation on the part of the soviets?
goddammitt. there's always some sonofabitch who doesn't get the word. all we need is the soviets thinking we're bombing them. anybody else?
no. i want confirmation there wasn't some sort of accident first.
very well, then.
that's all well and good, but what do we say to 'em?
we give them something. we tell them we'll remove the missiles from turkey say, six months from now so that there appears to be no linkage. we also tell them if they go public about it, we deny it and the deal is off.
bobby. you know dobrynin best.
ted, you get working on the draft.
and make sure he knows we have to have an answer tomorrow. because on monday we begin military action against cuba.
we were just debating who had it worse, us or george washington and his guys.
yeah, but the country didn't even exist as a country yet. it was a mess, and he didn't have a leg to stand on.
doesn't matter to me. if i went down in history like adams, i'd die happy. all they say about him today is --
you know, we never did control it. not really. not like we think.
but we did our best. now it's up to them.
hey! hey. okay, that's enough.
i don't want any gloating. this is not a victory over the soviets. it's a victory with the soviets. i want everyone to remember that.
kenny.
never mind. see you around, kenny.