Thirteen Days Fallacies Analysis

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Fallacies in Thirteen Days The movie begins on October 1962 with, John F. Kennedy’s political advisor Kenneth O’Donnell, in the scene O’Donnell is sitting at the breakfast table with his family. O’Donnell’s eldest son hands him permission slip for school, upon examination of the permission slip O’Donnell realizes it’s the boys report card. O’Donnell’s son used a “Red Herring” fallacy (Pirie) to try and trick his father into signing his report card by engaging in conversation with his father hoping his father would sign the actual report card without looking at it. This movie is infested with such fallacies throughout, different types of fallacies, used to sway or detour an action or thought. During the Kennedy presidency, JFK relied on many different groups to aid him in the decisions he would make for our country. He had his lead advisors which consisted of people like Mr. O’Donnell and his brother Robert. He also relied on the CIA, Pentagon, and UN advisors to provide him with factual information. …show more content…

General Taylor remarks Russians are doing whatever they want when they want (Thirteen Days), he also makes reference to the Bay of Pigs. A false analogy fallacy (Fujishin 112), trying to put two events that are different from each other together. And so begins the cat and mouse game deciding what to do and how to react to this discovery. Many of JFK’s military advisors were in favor of striking now before weapons were active. JFK and his closest of advisors knew that if they reacted with force it could start a chain reaction beginning WWIII (a nuclear war of mass destruction). JFK decided against his advisement to wait and look for alternative

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