The Movie “Thirteen Days” and Example of an Effective Leader

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Table of Contents

Background
Importance of Leadership
Internal Environment
Conclusion
References

Leadership is an integral part of any organization. Leadership is needed in homes, schools, companies and government. The lack of quality leadership in all sectors of society can easily mean failure and the emergence of problems that can lead to poverty, anarchy, and a sense of hopelessness (Manning & Curtis, 2003, p.5).

It is therefore important to study how a leader can become an effective leader. However, the topic is so broad and there are so many angles that one can use to analyze this important topic. In the case of this study the movie “Thirteen Days” will be used because in the heart of the film stands an effective leader. Through the leadership abilities of John F. Kennedy, the Cuban Missile Crisis was successfully resolved and through his decisions he prevented a nuclear holocaust that could have consumed the world.

Background

The Union Soviet Socialist Republic (“USSR”) is a loose organization of states ruled by the Communist Party. It was also known as the Soviet Union and after the Second World War there was no other government that was as powerful as the USSR except of course the United States of America.

Built on the ideals of communism it stood as at a sharp contrast to the political structure of democracy that is the feature of the U.S. government. Thus, after the rebuilding process that occurred immediately after World War II the United States could no longer deny the fact that the Soviet Union wanted to convert the world to communism.

This was achieved through creating alliances and supporting revolutionaries to overthrow conventional forms of government and transforming it into a version of the USSR. The rapid increase in the capability of the USSR has greatly alarmed the United States (Huston, 1988, p.7).

For many people it was clear as day that the Soviet Union is the oppressor and everything has to be done to prevent it from dominating the world. But it can be argued that the Soviet Union saw everything from a different perspective. The Soviets believed that they have what it takes to create a better world for everyone and they are willing to defend what they hold dear at all cost.

In their desire to advocate the communist ideals and to deter others from interfering with their plans the Soviet Union funded the stockpiling of nuclear weapons (Busch, 2001, p.21). In addition the Soviets established alliances with China, North Korea, Vietnam, East Berlin and most importantly Cuba. This resulted in greater conflict with the United States that paved way for series of proxy wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan (Malkasian, 2001, p.12).

But one of the most daring moves by the USSR was to ship and install nuclear weapons to Cuba (Divine, 1988, p.13). This is the subject of the movie “Thirteen Days” in reference to arguably the most nerve-racking period in October of 1962 when John F. Kennedy prevented World War III (Barnes, 2007, p.8).

Importance of Leadership

According to experts there are many ways to define leadership. There are those who said that leadership “is a trait or behavior, whereas others view leadership from an information processing perspective or relational standpoint” (Northhouse, 2009, p.1). This is easy to understand as one takes a quick survey of human history and examine the different types of leaders that help shape the present world.

However, there is a definition that can be helpful in analyzing the film. This definition says that “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northhouse, 2009, p.3). It is a fitting statement considering the demonstration of effective leadership skills in Thirteen Days.

Going back to the definition one can simplify it by pointing out three important concepts and these are: process; influence; and goal. A leader consciously or unconsciously follows a certain behavior pattern, a technique or process in order to create a following.

A leader uses influence in order to make his followers behave in a certain way so that together they can achieve a common goal. This is a common denominator when one examines famous leaders and the consequences of their actions. George Washington demonstrated effective leadership skills when he led a ragtag army composed of ill-equipped and poorly trained militia men to overcome a well-oiled army of Great Britain.

The same thing can be said of entrepreneurs who built a company from scratch. Effective leadership can also be seen in how leaders were able to deal with a crisis especially in times when hundreds of millions of lives are at stake (Schier, 2008, p.7). U.S. President John F. Kennedy found himself in such a situation that prompted one historian to remark, “There has probably never been a time when the fate of so many people depended on the decision of one man” (Byrne, 2006, p.38). In such a tense and critical moment in history one wrong move can trigger another global conflict the world has never seen before.

Inspiring Confidence

Kennedy was such an effective leader because he can inspire confidence from his followers, subordinates, high-ranking officials, and the general public. This ability is a byproduct of his charisma as well as his capabilities when it comes to dealing with problems and getting results.

It has to be made clear that before assuming the office of the president Kennedy was a respected U.S. Senator even though at that time his youthful looks could have easily fooled everyone that he does not know anything about politics.

His image received a major boost when he won the presidential election in the most convincing fashion considering the fact that he was very young when he decided to go for the highest office in America. His followers and his subordinates knew what he was capable of.

It is easier for people to follow a winner than to follow someone perceived to be incompetent. It was a tremendous boost to the morale of any follower that their leader is a champion and willing to go the distance with them.

Group Members

Immediately after Kennedy heard the intelligence report about the buildup of missiles in Cuba he immediately called for a meeting to determine how to resolve the conflict. The assembled group was comprised of select members of the cabinet and experts in Soviet relations and together they formed what would be known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council or EXCOMM (Byrne, 2006, p.28). It can be said that President Kennedy surrounded himself with capable men.

Consider the following dream team of talent. The Vice-President was Lyndon Johnson. The Secretary of Defense was Robert McNamara. The Secretary of State was Dean Rusk and the Attorney General was Robert Kennedy. All of these men are great leaders in their own right.

If given the chance to shine and handle a crisis event each of these men can go through it and succeed. It is therefore important to realize that the president did not handle all the problems all by himself. He was assisted by equally capable and great men.

Although Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara are heavyweights when it comes to leadership and their presence is a tremendous asset to the EXCOMM, it was the president’s brother, Robert Kennedy who proved to be the most important person among the president’s men.

Since he is a brother, the blood- relations allowed a great degree of trust. John Kennedy can confide to his brother and he knew that he will not be betrayed. There is a commonality or a shared understanding that the success of one is also the success of the other.

Robert Kennedy was the president’s secret weapon because he can ask somebody for advice and he knew that there is no hidden agenda, he can be assured that Robert Kennedy is giving him an advice not because he can get something in return but simply because it is the best course of action that the president can take. In addition the brother was a sounding board and it is easier for the president to visualize the impact of a decision or an idea after he was able to go through it with his brother.

Characteristic and Traits

The successful resolution of the crisis is attributed to the leadership traits and character of President Kennedy. There are three things that has to be highlighted in this regard. The first one is his intelligence. The second one is his resolve. And finally his courage made the difference. Combining all these three characteristics produced in him leadership traits that did not only inspire confidence but respect. This is very important because at the end of the day the president was not only expected to influence his team, his subordinates and even his own countrymen; he also has to influence his enemies.

The first thing that strikes the audience while watching the film was the sharp intellect of the president (Koestenbaum, 2002, p.279). It is a given that a person cannot become the president of the United States if he does not possess above average IQ.

But in the case of the president the kind of intelligence that he brought with him to white house is beyond the academic type of knowledge. He combined everything with what he knew about politics, international relations, conflict resolution, and combined it all together with a wisdom that was beyond his years. He was able to rise up above the noise and the distractions to see the big picture and acted on it based on what he believes can diffuse the tension and save the world from total and imminent destruction.

The first demonstration of his intellect is his realization that the First World War was the by-product of a series of errors, assumptions, and forced moves. The president wondered aloud the possibility that the Cuban Missile Crisis is similar to what transpired in the early part of the 20^th century when nations were pulled into a conflict that forced them into a wall and that there was no other option but to fight (Hilsman, 1996, p.18). He made it clear that he is willing to explore alternative solutions because he believed that war should not be the last resort.

The decision of the president to take it slow and to use the power of diplomacy to diffuse the problem is a case study in how a president should behave in times of conflict, most especially a president who controls a powerful army that has a destructive capability that can destroy millions of lives. His example could easily benefit leaders in the 21^st century who seemed to be obligated to go to war instead of using every resource available to maintain peace.

While the rest of the national leaders were dictated by protocol and the bitter and negatively affected by the bitter outcome of the Cold War, John F. Kennedy refused to be swayed by the emotions that threatened to divide his team (Edwards, 2005, p.8).

Thus, it must be said that aside from his exceptional intelligence another characteristic of the former president was his resolve. The moment that he locked on to a particular course of action he stayed the course. He was not distracted and he was not forced to change his strategy.

While everyone was crying out that the president is about to commit a blunder, Kennedy was not persuaded to reconsider. This is not arrogance and this is not the behavior of a dictator but the action of a leader who believed that others are about to commit a major mistake by suggesting that they strike first.

Finally, the most important leadership trait that he demonstrated during those tense moment in October of 1962 that help averted disaster was courage. The president was under fire and there were so many people opposed to his strategy and yet he was not afraid to face them all. More importantly, many of the powerful leader under his command were making decisions out of fear of a Soviet nuclear attack. This fear clouded their judgment.

It is understandable why they feared the first strike capability of the Soviets. They knew what a long-range nuclear warhead can do. It can be launched from submarines and it can be launched from Cuba. If the Russians decided to launch the missiles then the United States had a few minutes to respond (Borovik, 1990, p.17).

By that time the response is not enough to counteract the destructive power of the nuclear warheads but to simply launch their missiles to destroy the Soviet Union – a mutually destructive course of action. It is therefore more beneficial to strike first. But it turned out that the Soviets had no plan to strike first. What would have happened if the president was terrified of what would happen to his life and decided to launch U.S. nuclear warheads? The Russians would respond and assure the mutual destruction of both countries.

Internal Environment

It has been said that effective leadership is the function of the leader, followers, and situational variables (Dubrin, 2010, p.19). This can be interpreted to mean that the leader is the by-product of his environment. In the case of John F. Kennedy his leadership brilliance found a platform wherein he can demonstrate what he can do. It can therefore be argued that without the institution of democracy in the United States and the laws and traditions that govern the election of a president as well as the creation of a system of checks and balances it would have been impossible for Kennedy to be in command of one of the most powerful nations in the world.

The democratic form of government created a division of power that prevented the president to act without consulting others and without gathering support from other branches of government. This enabled the president to tread carefully. One can just imagine if the American presidency has unlimited powers, then it is possible for Kennedy to act without consultation and no one knows what would be the outcome.

In addition the four year term of the presidency calls for election every four years. This ritual made it necessary to form a team and a party to handle the campaign. Through this process a team was built and relationships were formed. Kennedy used the people in his campaign to help run the country during his term as president.

The internal environment during the Cuban Missile Crisis was hostile to the president. The pressure that he felt from his own people and from his own generals forced him to become the best that he could be. The generals were men bound by rule and traditions.

They interpret actions based on these rules and therefore they could not understand why the president would deliberately delay the order to conduct preemptive strikes against Cuba. For them the mere fact that missiles are being installed is the signal to go to war and they cannot afford to place the U.S. in a disadvantage position. But Kennedy saw beyond the rules of engagement and made the decision not to provoke the Soviet Union into armed conflict.

External Environment

The greatest test to Kennedy’s leadership capabilities is the Soviet Union and its Communist Party headed by Secretary Khrushchev. The Soviet Union were determined to show the world that they are a dominant force. This means that they will not take orders from any president especially one coming from their arch-nemesis the United States government.

They can insist that there is nothing wrong with arming their ally Cuba. They can also argue that their action is not without precedent because the United States had installed missiles in other countries. The Russians could not afford to look weak in the international stage (Isby, 2002, p.10).

It was the careful handling of the situation that showed proof of Kennedy’s leadership capabilities. The most amazing example of leadership is when John Kennedy instructed Robert Kennedy to create a graceful exit strategy for the Soviet Union. He had a clear understanding of human nature.

He did not believe that people are moved by force alone. He also believed that people can be made to agree using diplomacy and respect. He respected the leader of the Soviet Union to the point that he did not want him to be embarrassed in international political arena. As a result Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the missiles in Cuba.

Conclusion

Leadership is the by-product of the characteristics of the leader, followers, and the environment. Nevertheless, a great leader shines though because of courage, resolve and intelligence. John F. Kennedy had an overabundant supply of all three.

He used his intellect to transcend beyond rules, traditions, and past conflicts and saw that a nuclear holocaust is not an option. He used his resolve to stand firm even though high-ranking officials of the U.S. government showed little faith with his proposed solution. Finally, he showed courage when everyone wanted to react in fear.

His courage gave him the ability to withstand the pressure and thus making the right decisions all the way. He may have saved the lives of millions of people because he demonstrated how to be an effective leader.

References

Barnes, John. (2007) John F. Kennedy on Leadership. New York: AMACOM.

Borovik, Artyom. (1990) The Hidden War: A Russian Journalist’s Account of the Soviet War in Afghanistan. New York: Grove Press.

Busch, Andrew. (2001) A Ronald Reagan and the Politics of Freedom. MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Byrne, Paul. (2006) The Cuban Missile Crisis: To the Brink of War. MN: Compass Point Books.

Divine, Robert. (1988) The Cuban Missile Crisis. New York: Markus Weiner Publishing.

Dubrin, Andrew. (2010) Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills, 6th ed. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Edwards, Lee. (2005) The Essential Ronald Reagan, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Hilsman, Roger. (1996) The Cuban Missile Crisis. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Huston, James. (1988) Outposts and Allies: U.S. Army Logistics in the Cold War. New Jersey: Associated University Press.

Isby, David. (2002) Russia’s War in Afghanistan. UK: Osprey Publishing.

Koestenbaum, Peter. (2002) Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Malkasian, Carter. (2001) The Korean War. University Park, IL: Osprey Publishing. Manning, George and Curtis, Kent. (2003). The Art of Leadership. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Northhouse, Peter. (2010) Leadership: Theory and Practice, CA: Sage Publications.

Schier, Helga. (2008) Cuban Missile Crisis. MN: ABDO Publishing.

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