Thirteen Days; a Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis Short Essay Assignments

Short Essay Questions

The 60 short essay questions listed in this section require a one to two sentence answer. They ask students to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the text. Students must describe what they've read, rather than just recall it.

Short Essay Question - Thirteen Days, to Page 34

1. What distinguishes Thirteen Days as a memoir (besides the subtitle) and not just an autobiography?

2. How did the US obtain their information about Russian activity in Cuba?

3. What did Ambassador Dobrynin provide as evidence that USSR would not be a threat to the United States?

4. Why did the Intelligence Community not believe Cuba was a threat to the United States?

5. What information did the Intelligence Community have about the missiles in September, but did not inform the President about...
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