"Seven Days in May" - the movie - Is being shown on the Turner Classic Movies (TCM-TV) in one hour

[Jan Klimkowski]

Tracy - thank you. Lots of fascinating material.

I'm not sure the role of intriguing characters such as Frank Sinatra, Stanley Kubrick, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas has been considered strongly enough in the context of which films got made and when during the 60s and in Kubrick's case, throughout his curtailed career.

I note that Tina Sinatra was a producer on the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

The president's friend Paul Fay, Jr., told of an incident that showed JFK was keenly conscious of the peril of a military coup d'etat. One summer weekend in 1962 while out sailing with friends, Kennedy was asked what he thought of Seven Days in May, a best-selling novel that described a military takeover in the United States. JFK said he would read the book. He did so that night. The next day Kennedy discussed with his friends the possibility of their seeing such a coup in the United States. Consider that he said these words after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and before the Cuban Missile Crisis: " It's possible. It could happen in this country, but the conditions would have to be just right. If, for example, the country had a young President, and he had a Bay of Pigs, there would be a certain uneasiness. Maybe the military would do a little criticizing behind his back, but this would be written off as the usual military dissatisfaction with civilian control. Then if there were another Bay of Pigs, the reaction of the country would be, 'Is he too young and inexperienced ? ' The military would almost feel that it was their patriotic obligation to stand ready to preserve the integrity of the nation, and only God knows j ust what segment of democracy they would be defending if they overthrew the elected establishment. " Pausing a moment, he went on, "Then, if there were a third Bay of Pigs, it could happen. " Waiting again until his listeners absorbed his meaning, he concluded with an old Navy phrase, " But it won't happen on my watch. " (Fay, The Pleasure of His Company 190)

So that is the long version of the quote used by Oliver Stone in Untold History - see post #3 here.