The Missiles of October
originally aired on ABC
The Missiles of October is a 1974 docudrama made-for-television play about the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The title evokes the 1962 book The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman about the missteps amongst the great powers and the failed chances to give an opponent a graceful way out, which led to World War I. The teleplay introduced William Devane as President John F. Kennedy and cast Martin Sheen as Attorney General. The script was based on Robert Kennedy's posthumously-published 1969 book Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Missile Crisis.