Ken ODonnell

1
Ken ODonnell

• Born 1924, met Robert Kennedy at Harvard, on
  football team together
• John Kennedy assistant in the 1950s
• Assistant to the President gatekeeper, political
  advice
• 1968 campaign manager for Robert Kennedy
• Ran unsuccessfully for governor of MA
• Died of alcoholism in 1977
• Son (Kevin ODonnell) internet millionaire, owner
  of Beacon Pictures, involved in movie

2
ODonnell as adviser

• Deeply loyal to Kennedys
• Man of few words
• Not afraid to say no
• Politically focused, in conflict with more
  academic advisers

3
ODonnell role in movie

• Ficelle (observant minor character)
• no, not really
• Easier to tell story from point-of-view of
  someone who wasnt famous and who isnt now alive
• Link to the public, and his wife and children
  representatives of public sentiment

4
Meetings, bloody meetings

• Types of Meetings
• meeting before (or after) the meeting
• a meeting with a consensus, not a vote
• a for the record meeting
• a meeting to make a private deal, with public
  deniability
• Hijacked meeting

5
Nov. 17 -- The Fog of War

• Debate Robert McNamara is a war criminal and
  should be punished for crimes against humanity (2
  debaters needed for each side).
• 2.How successful has Robert McNamara been in
  terms of responding to the challenges of
  childhood (competence vs. inferiority),
  adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood,
  and late adulthood? Pay particular attention to
  the last, since that is the stage he is now in.

6
The Fog of War

• 3. Compare Air Force chief Curtis LeMay as
  presented in Thirteen Days and as discussed by
  McNamara in Fog of War. Discuss LeMays
  relationship with McNamara during i) World War
  II, ii) the Cuban Missile crisis, and iii) the
  Vietnam War.

7
The Fog of War

• 4.Roger Ebert describes Errol Morris as uncanny
  in his ability to bring life to the abstract and
  Bryan Johnson, film critic for Macleans, called
  The Fog of War strangely beautiful and
  haunting. Discuss as comprehensively as possible
  Morriss use of narrative and cinematic
  techniques in The Fog of War.