Ex-Comm member talks on film: 'Thirteen Days'

Two hundred forty students and faculty found out Saturday how the United States evaded a war with the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis through the movie, "Thirteen Days" and the memories of someone who was behind the scenes.

Dubbed "UFO.edu," the University Film Organization sponsored a week of films and lectures in cooperation with student organizations and departments and President Shapiro.

The guest speaker for "Thirteen Days" was Donald Wilson '51, the former deputy director of the U.S. Information Agency. Wilson was a member of President Kennedy's Executive Committee, or Ex-Comm, which first convened after the discovery of nuclear ballistic missiles in Cuba, from reconnaissance photos taken by a U2 surveillance plane on Oct. 15, 1962.

Wilson described himself as a "junior member" of Ex-Comm he said he was only invited to join the committee because his boss, the director of the U.S.IA., Edward R. Murrow, had taken ill. Wilson said "Thirteen Days" was quite accurate in its depiction of various Ex-Comm meetings, chaired by President Kennedy.

Though Wilson himself was not portrayed in the film, he reported that many of the representations were right on target. Wilson described Costner's performance as "brilliant."

He noted that the hawkish, cigar-smoking Air Force chief, General Curtis LeMay, "really was like that."

Wilson also exposed some of the liberties taken by the film makers, such as the inflation of the importance of Costner's character.

According to Wilson, O'Donnell was present at some meetings of Ex-Comm, but did not play nearly as great a role as the film leads us to believe. Instead, O'Donnell is turned into a Hollywood plot device, a conduit through which the audience gains access to the historical events.

Wilson's own involvement in Ex-Comm was limited, but he expressed great pride in urging Kennedy to release the U2 photos of the Soviet missile sites in Cuba to the press.

Wilson emphasized the need to have the international community behind the United States' position to pressure the Soviets.

Kennedy agreed, and the photos were released in conjunction with a presentation to the United Nations given by UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson '22. Stevenson confronted the Soviet Union about the presence of the missiles.

One of the more amusing moments of Wilson's talk came when he was asked to characterize the role of Vice President Lyndon Johnson in the Ex-Comm deliberations.

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Wilson recalled how one could tell the relative importance of committee members based on where they sat in the White House mess during the breaks between late-night meetings. Tables were arranged for either two or four people. For instance, one might find the president and Attorney General Robert Kennedy sharing a table with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Kennedy's chief of staff Theodore Sorensen.

Wilson, after stressing his junior status on Ex-Comm asked rhetorically, "And where did I sit? Well, there were just two of us: Myself, and Lyndon Johnson."

Whig-Clio president Jon Ophardt '03 invited Wilson to speak. He and Amy Wu '04, assisted UFO co-president's Jon Ewalt '02 and Kareem Abu-Zeid '03 in organizing the event.

Starring Kevin Costner as loyal Kennedy aide Kenny O'Donnell, "Thirteen Days" is a powerful look into the tension surrounding the crisis. Using a mix of fact and Hollywood-fiction, the film does a nice job of encapsulating this unique moment in U.S. history. During the crisis, Strategic Air Command reached Defense Condition level 2, for the first and only time to date.

Abu-Zeid said the UFO.edu week was quite successful, with more than 720 students attending the various shows, and another 50 turned away at the door for lack of seating. He said that UFO plans a sequel in the fall.