Thirteen Days (2000)

Kevin Costner: Kenny O'Donnell

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Quotes 

• Kenny O'Donnell : 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.

• President Kennedy : Well, who the hell authorized this missile test?

  Robert Kennedy : Who do you think? God knows what this is gonna communicate to the Soviets!

  Kenny O'Donnell : Communicate with the Soviets? We can't communicate with the Pentagon - and it's just across the goddamn river!

• Kenny O'Donnell : The sun came up. Every day the sun comes up says something about us.

• Kenny O'Donnell : Commander, my name is Ken O'Donnell, special assistant to the President.

  Commander William B. Ecker : Yes sir.

  Kenny O'Donnell : The President has instructed me to pass along an order to you. You are not to get shot down.

  Commander William B. Ecker : Uh, we'll do our best sir.

  Kenny O'Donnell : I don't think you understand me, Commander. You are not to get shot down, under any circumstances. Whatever happens up there, you were not shot at. Mechanical failures are fine. Crashing into mountains, fine. But you and your men are not to be shot at, fired at, or launched upon.

  Commander William B. Ecker : Excuse me sir, what the hell is going on here?

  Kenny O'Donnell : Commander, if you are fired upon, the President will be forced to attack the sites that fire on you. He doesn't want to have to do that. It's very important that he doesn't, or things can go very badly out of control.

  Commander William B. Ecker : What about my men? We don't have anyone to protect us, I don't want to be writing letters home to parents.

  Kenny O'Donnell : If the President protects you, Commander, he may have to do it with the bomb. Now I've known the man for fifteen years. The problem is... he will protect you. So I'm asking you, don't make him protect you. Don't get shot at.

  Commander William B. Ecker : Okay Mister O'Donnell, we'll do what we can.

  Kenny O'Donnell : I know you will.

• Kenny O'Donnell : Adlai! It's Ken; how you doin'?

  Adlai Stevenson : Busy, Ken. What do you need?

  Kenny O'Donnell : The president told me to pass the word to you: Stick it to them!

  Adlai Stevenson : I hear you. I'm glad it's you calling; I thought it would be Bobby.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Adlai, the world has to know we're right. If we're gonna have a chance at a political solution we need international pressure... You gotta be tough, Adlai. You need to find it, buddy.

  Adlai Stevenson : If they're still sticking to their stonewalling stategy, I'll get them. I'm an old political cat, Kenny, but I've got one life left.

  Kenny O'Donnell : I know you do.

• Robert Kennedy : We gave up so much to get here... I don't know; sometimes I think, "What the hell did we do it for?"

  Kenny O'Donnell : Well, I don't know about you, but... I'm in it for the money.

• Kenny O'Donnell : That's going to be tough - you know how these guys are about their chains of command.

  President Kennedy : Listen, you tell 'em those chains of command end at one place: *me*.

• President Kennedy : What do you want, Kenny?

  Kenny O'Donnell : I want you to sit down.

  President Kennedy : Well, I'm not gonna sit down!

  Kenny O'Donnell : I want you to sit down, loosen your tie, take a minute...

  President Kennedy : I haven't got a a minute!

  Kenny O'Donnell : You're the President of the United States. They can wait for you.

• Robert Kennedy : By the way, China invaded India today.

  Kenny O'Donnell : You're kidding, aren't you?

  Robert Kennedy : Yeah, I wish I were. Galbraith is handling it in New Delhi. Makes you wonder what's coming next.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Geez. What is it about the free world that pisses the rest of the world off?

  Robert Kennedy : I don't know. We have Tupperware parties.

• President Kennedy : Acheson's scenario is just, it's unacceptable, and he's got more experience than anybody.

  Kenny O'Donnell : There is no expert on the subject; I mean, there is no wise old man. There's - shit, there's just us.

  President Kennedy : The thing is that Acheson's right, 'cause talk alone's not gonna accomplish anything.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Well, let's bomb the shit out of 'em! Everybody wants to. I mean, even you, I mean, even me, right? It sure would feel good.

• Kenny O'Donnell : They look warlike? Jesus Christ, we're lighting off nuclear weapons like its our own private Fourth of July!

• Journalist : So... tell me about this military exercise that's going on down in Puerto Rico.

  Kenny O'Donnell : [sharply]  What?

  Journalist : It's called "ORTSAC", I believe. "Castro" spelled backwards.

  Kenny O'Donnell : "ORTSAC"? I... I don't know what you're talking about.

  Robert F. Kennedy : Me either. Why?

  Journalist : Because maybe the President and Gromyko are gonna talk about it.

  Kenny O'Donnell : If you're trying to drum something up, Johnny, forget it. This meeting's been on the books for months. Far as I know, it's just a friendly talk on U.S.-Soviet relations.

  [Johnny the Journalist nods and walks away. On a pad, Bobby writes the word "ORTSAC"] 

  Kenny O'Donnell : ... Does it?

  Robert F. Kennedy : [writes "CASTRO" underneath it]  Mm-hm.

  Kenny O'Donnell : I'll be damned.

  [scoffs] 

  Kenny O'Donnell : Kind of simple for the Pentagon.

• President Kennedy : [Kenny eats a piece of the president's breakfast as the president reads the newspaper]  I was eating that.

  Kenny O'Donnell : No, you weren't.

  President Kennedy : I was.

  Kenny O'Donnell : No, you weren't.

  President Kennedy : I was... I was... Bastard.

• President Kennedy : Have you canceled Chicago and the rest of the weekend yet?

  Kenny O'Donnell : You don't show for Chicago, everyone'll know there's something going on.

  President Kennedy : I don't care! Just cancel...

  Kenny O'Donnell : Forget it!

  [Kennedy glares at him] 

  Kenny O'Donnell : I'm not calling and canceling on Daley!

  [Kennedy glares again] 

  Kenny O'Donnell : You call and cancel on Daley!

  President Kennedy : You're scared to cancel on Daley?

  Kenny O'Donnell : You're damn right I'm scared.

  President Kennedy : Well I'm not.

  Kenny O'Donnell : [to Bobby]  Watch this.

  [cut to Kennedy's arrival in Chicago] 

• Kenny O'Donnell : Call me Irish, but I don't believe in cooler heads prevailing.

• President Kennedy : Well, things can't get much worse.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Oh, I don't know; we could have to go down to Lyndon's ranch again, dressed up as cowboys, shoot deer out of the back of his convertible.

  President Kennedy : That *was* a bad day... Hell, I thought there'd be... more good days.

• Robert McNamara : A blockade is technically an act of war; therefore we recommend calling the action a quarantine.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Let's hope that translates into Russian the way we want it to.

• Kenny O'Donnell : Adlai can handle Zorin. He knows the inning; he knows the score.

  Robert Kennedy : He better, because nobody believes he's up to this - nobody.

• [about the Joint Chiefs of Staff] 

  Kenny O'Donnell : They want a war, Jack, and they're arranging things to get one.

• Helen O'Donnell : And while you're under a rock somewhere with the President, what am I supposed to do with our five children, Kenny?

  Kenny O'Donnell : Honey, we're not going to let it come to that, I promise. Jack and Bobby, they're smart guys.

  Helen O'Donnell : You're smart, too.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Not like them.

• Robert F. Kennedy : You know, I - I hate being called the brilliant one, the ruthless one, the guy everybody's afraid of. I hate it. I'm not so smart, you know? I'm not so ruthless.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Well you're right... about the smart part.

• Kenny O'Donnell : You sleeping?

  President Kennedy : No, not much. I slept last night, though, you know, and, geez, when I woke up, I just, somehow I'd forgotten that all this had happened, you know? You know, then, of course, I remembered, and I just wished for a second that somebody else was president.

  Kenny O'Donnell : You mean that?

  President Kennedy : I said for a *second*.

• Kenny O'Donnell : I got a bad feeling about what's going on in there!

  President Kennedy : In the morning I'm taking charge of the blockade from the situation room and Macnamara is gonna set up shop at the flagpot at the Pentagon and keep an eye on things there.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Good. Because you've got armed boarders climbing onto Soviet ships, and shots being fired across bows!

  President Kennedy : I know. I know.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Well, what about these low level flights?

  President Kennedy : We need the flights.

  Kenny O'Donnell : They're starting them when?

  President Kennedy : An hour.

  Kenny O'Donnell : An hour. You realize what you're letting yourself in for?

  President Kennedy : Kenny, no, we need the flights, because the minute that first missile becomes operational we gotta go in there and destroy it.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Fair enough. But Castro's on alert and we're flying attack planes over their sites, on the deck! There's no way for them to know we're carrying cameras, not bombs.

  President Kennedy : God damn it!

  Kenny O'Donnell : They're gonna be shot at, plain and simple.

• Kenny O'Donnell : I'll whistle up some luck for you.

• Kenny O'Donnell : [attempting to connect Fomin to Khruschev]  That's it! They know each other - they're war buddies!

  Walter Sheridan : That's pretty thin, Kenny.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Well, real life usually is, Walter.

• Kenny O'Donnell : Tomorrow the President may have a cold.

  Pierre Salinger : A what?

  Kenny O'Donnell : A cold.

  Pierre Salinger : Kenny do I get any input around here?

  Kenny O'Donnell : Yeah, um... how bad it is is up to you.

• Robert McNamara : We'd look pretty bad shooting up a freighter full of baby food.

  Kenny O'Donnell : We sure as shit would.

• Kenny O'Donnell : [to President Kennedy]  You know back when we were in the wards, that day Bobby made me come down and meet you, I didn' t get you at first. I thought you were lucky. Your father had a lot of money, you were skinny, girls loved you. I thought I could beat you and Bobby up together. But he just kept going on and on about you. I thought it was because he was your brother. But I was wrong.

• Jacqueline Kennedy : And I want my kids to stop eating the candy in the Oval Office.

  Kenny O'Donnell : That's not me.

  Jacqueline Kennedy : Then who is it?

  Kenny O'Donnell : I don't rat on my friends.

  Jacqueline Kennedy : Well, I'm going to take this whole list thing up with your "friend."

  Kenny O'Donnell : Are you trying to go around me?

  Jacqueline Kennedy : Go around you, over you, through you - whatever it takes.

  Kenny O'Donnell : You're starting to bug me.

  Jacqueline Kennedy : Good.

• McGeorge Bundy : I need to see the president, Kenny.

  Kenny O'Donnell : All right: 2:30 to 2:45 or 4:30 to 5:00 - take your pick.

  McGeorge Bundy : No, I need to see him now, Ken.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Then go on up - I'll let him know you're coming.

• Kenny O'Donnell : Jesus, I... I feel like we caught the Jap carrier steaming for Pearl Harbor.

• President Kennedy : You know they think I froze in there.

  Robert Kennedy : You didn't freeze.

  Kenny O'Donnell : You did exactly what you should've done - you stayed out of the corner. You didn't decide.

• Kenny O'Donnell : I need a minute.

  President Kennedy : Kenny, no.

  Kenny O'Donnell : A minute.

  [they enter the Oval Office] 

  President Kennedy : Look, I don't want a god-damn pep talk; you're not the Harvard quarterback anymore. We're on the brink here! They're trying to second-guess me into World War III - well it's not gonna happen!

  Kenny O'Donnell : What did you think Congress was gonna do?

  President Kennedy : Well, I, you know...

  Kenny O'Donnell : Offer you unconditional support? Kiss your Catholic ass? They don't think we even deserve to be here.

  President Kennedy : Well, what the hell do you think?

  Kenny O'Donnell : Well, I think we haven't been that impressive today; they have good reason to question our judgment.

• President Kennedy : Boy, there is a lot of noise out there, Kenny.

  Kenny O'Donnell : You know what you're doing, Mr. President. You're gonna make the best call you can, and you know they're gonna second-guess you. So what? We're just gonna have to take our beatings as we go... So what are we gonna do now?

  President Kennedy : I'm going on TV... You know, maybe the American people will go with me, even if their elected representatives won't.

  Kenny O'Donnell : You wear something nice for the TV - make sure Jackie picks it!

• Kenny O'Donnell : Good speech, Teddy.

  Ted Sorensen : Yeah, well, I guess I get to keep my job.

  Kenny O'Donnell : No - it was a *really good speech*. I can't imagine what you did with the air-strikes version.

  Ted Sorensen : I wasn't able to write it, Kenny. It's kind of hard to write... the unthinkable. I tried, just, I couldn't.

• Kenny O'Donnell : You know the pictures upstairs, pictures of Lincoln? He looked so old near the end. When we got here, I said, "That's not gonna happen to us... We were too young."

• Robert Kennedy : [the military has gone to DEFCON 2 without the president's approval]  Rescind the order! Can all the chiefs! Put Nitze, Gilpatric, and the undersecretaries in charge.

  Kenny O'Donnell : We can't do that, Bobby.

  Robert Kennedy : Yes, we can!

  Kenny O'Donnell : We can't fire the chiefs, Bobby! Our invasion talk would look like a bluff - or even worse, that there's been an attempted coup.

• McGeorge Bundy : These people are right, and the Kennedys are wrong. We need you to talk to them - they'll listen to you. Jack and Bobby are good men but it takes a certain amount of...

  Kenny O'Donnell : You mean the president of the United States-?

  McGeorge Bundy : They are good men...

  Kenny O'Donnell : -and the attorney general?

  McGeorge Bundy : Kenny, they're good men but it takes a certain character - moral toughness - to stand up to the Soviets.

  Kenny O'Donnell : [whispering]  You listen to me. You're in the White House right now because of the Kennedys. Now, they may be wrong; they make mistakes, but they are not weak. The weak ones are these people who can't seem to speak their own minds.

  McGeorge Bundy : You know I don't mean that they're weak.

  Kenny O'Donnell : [shouting]  No, they just lack a "moral toughness"? Jesus Christ, Mac! And you, you think I'll play your Judas for you. You've never understood us, your kind - we've been fighting with each other our whole lives, but nobody plays us off each other, and nobody ever, *ever* gets between us!

• Dean Rusk : The FBI has identified this Alexander Fomin as the Soviet Resident - the KGB equivalent of one of our station chiefs. He's their highest-ranking spy in this country, and he knows John's a friend of mine.

  Ted Sorensen : All the trademarks of a back-channel overture.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Yeah, some back channel! ABC news guy, my god-damn next-door neighbor...

• Robert Kennedy : [Scali has relayed a possible Soviet proffer]  Oh, by the way, Scali, your activities now fall under the secrecy codicils of the National Security Act.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Sorry, John - no Pulitzer.

• Kenny O'Donnell : How do you become the KGB top spy in the United States?

  Walter Sheridan : You gotta know someone.

  Kenny O'Donnell : [nods]  You gotta know someone.

• Kenny O'Donnell : [calling from the FBI office]  They know each other, Jack - Khruschev and Fomin were war buddies.

  President Kennedy : You sure?

  Kenny O'Donnell : Don't take it to court, but we've got good circumstantial evidence.

  President Kennedy : Well, you're there - I mean, what's your instinct? I gotta move on this.

  Kenny O'Donnell : [pause]  My gut's telling me that Khruschev's turning to a trusted old friend to carry his message.

  President Kennedy : Ok - we're going.

• Kenny O'Donnell : [reading Khruschev's message]  It's ten pages of sentimental fluff, but he's saying it right here - he'll remove the missiles in return for a no-invasion pledge.

  John McCone, CIA Director : Mr. President, our early analysis says this probably was written by Khruschev himself. It's a first draft; it shows no signs of being polished by the foreign ministry. In fact, it probably wasn't even approved by the Politburo, as they wouldn't the emotionalism go by. The analysts say it was written by someone under considerable stress.

  [all chuckle] 

  President Kennedy : Glad to know we're not alone.

• Kenny O'Donnell : [Kenny has come home late at night and found his wife awake in the kitchen]  Hi.

  Helen O'Donnell : Hi... You look old, O'Donnell.

  Kenny O'Donnell : You don't.

  Helen O'Donnell : It's 2:30 in the morning - are you flirting with me?

  Kenny O'Donnell : We got a back-channel communication from Khruschev this evening, feeling us out about a deal. He confirmed it, just a little while ago in a letter.

  Helen O'Donnell : Thank god.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Jack kicked us out of his house for the night.

  Helen O'Donnell : Darn it. For a second there, I thought you'd been fired.

  Kenny O'Donnell : No such luck... I'm driving home, there was something I wanted to tell you.

  [the red phone begins ringing and Kenny steps toward it] 

  Helen O'Donnell : Finish that thought.

  Kenny O'Donnell : [answers the phone] 

• Robert Kennedy : [Kenny and Bobby arrive at the USSR embassy]  You smell that?

  Kenny O'Donnell : They're burning their documents.

  Robert Kennedy : They think we're going to war... God help us, Ken.

• Soviet Woman : Who are you?

  Kenny O'Donnell : [pause]  The friend.

• President Kennedy : [talking about the missiles in Turkey]  It's a goddamn trial balloon, Kenny!

  Kenny O'Donnell : Well, somebody better publicly deny it! Because there's only one way the world's gonna read this: we sell out one of our friends for our own safety!

  President Kennedy : [angrily yanks his tie off]  Fuck!

• Kenny O'Donnell : [about nuclear war]  There is no expert on this subject, I mean, there is no "wise old man," there's... shit, there's just *us*.

• Maj. Rudolf Anderson : This is Major Anderson." "Hello? Anyone there?

  Kenny O'Donnell : Major, my name is Kenneth O'Donnell. Special Assistant to the President. Major, a few days ago the President ordered me to help him keep control of what's going on out there. I've been browbeating pilots, navy guys left and right to make sure you don't get us here in Washington into trouble. But you know what? We're pretty damn good at getting ourselves into trouble. So instead of riding your ass, I'm just going to tell you what's going on, and let you figure out how best to help us out up here.

  Maj. Rudolf Anderson : Go ahead, sir.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Last night, we looked like we were going to cut a deal to get us all out of this mess. Today, the Soviets are reneging. We're going to try to salvage the situation, but a lot of things are going wrong today. It's making everyone nervous, and it will be very hard to avoid going to war. Don't get shot down, Major. Beyond that, whatever else you can do to help us, I'd really appreciate it.

  Maj. Rudolf Anderson : When you're up there at 72,000 feet, there's a million things that can go wrong. Is your oxygen mix right? Will your cameras freeze up? Are you leaving contrail... Those million things are beyond your control, mostly... But you know, when you realize that, there's a kind of peace. You don't need to be in control. You never were in control in the first place. If you're a good man, and your ground crew are good men, it's all you can ask for. And with the grace of G-d, it'll get you through. You sound like a good man. You'll be all right, Mr. O'Donnell. We believe in you guys down here. Thanks for the call.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Thank you, Major.

• Kenny O'Donnell : Yeah, I can... I can hear how grateful you are, but there's a word you need to learn. It's the only word in politics. It's called loyalty. Loyalty!

• Kenny O'Donnell : The point is, you trade our missiles in Turkey for theirs in Cuba, they're gonna force us into trade after trade, until finally, a couple of months from now they demand something we won't trade, like Berlin, and we do end up in a war. Not to mention that long before that happens this administration will be politically dead.

  Robert Kennedy : I don't care if this administration ends up in the freaking toilet! We don't do a deal tonight there won't be any administration.

• Robert F. Kennedy : Jack, I'm as conniving as they come, but a sneak attack is just wrong.

  Kenny O'Donnell : Listen, things are happening too fast - I mean, this is starting to smell like the Bay of Pigs all over again.

  President Kennedy : Well, tonight, listening to Taylor and Acheson, I kept seeing Lemnitzer and Dulles, telling me all I had to do was sign on the dotted line, and the invasion would succeed, and Castro -

  [pauses in a wave of pain and sits down] 

  President Kennedy : - and Castro would be gone, just, easy, just like that.