The Year of
the Tiger JFK 1962
The Cuban Missile Crisis. The decisions behind the headlines.
Inside the White House, the choices were being debated—and recorded. A documentary built around the voices and documents of October 1962.
From the GI Film Festival to the National Archives and national-security audiences, the documentary sparked conversations about leadership, judgment, and the decisions that helped avert nuclear war.
View the 2016 screeningsSix events
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)NGA East Campus · Springfield, Virginia
- National ArchivesWilliam G. McGowan Theater · Washington, D.C.
- AFCEA International Intelligence CommitteeFairfax, Virginia
- GI Film Festival San DiegoUltraStar Cinemas Mission Valley · San Diego, California
- Intelligence Community Strategic Studies Group (ICSSG)CIA Dulles Discovery Campus · Chantilly, Virginia
- GI Film Festival XAngelika Film Center at Mosaic · Fairfax, Virginia
- 2016 documentary
- Written & directed by Joe Looby
- Archival recordings & film
The sound of a decision.
In October 1962, President John F. Kennedy faced Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba and the possibility that a single miscalculation could lead to war. His advisers considered diplomacy, a naval quarantine, airstrikes, and invasion—while the risk of escalation extended far beyond the Caribbean.
The Year of the Tiger: JFK 1962 draws on secretly recorded White House deliberations, declassified policy and planning documents, and archival images to illuminate how a president receives advice, weighs uncertain information, and communicates a decision under extraordinary pressure.
Watch the documentary.
A front-row seat to the decisions that shaped thirteen extraordinary days in October 1962.