THE MISSILES OF OCTOBER: GENERAL MAXWELL TAYLOR

GENERAL MAXWELL TAYLOR

AS SEEN IN:
"The Missiles Of October"

AS PLAYED BY:
Andrew Duggan

From Wikipedia:
General Maxwell Davenport "Max" Taylor (August 26, 1901 – April 19, 1987) was an United States Army general and diplomat of the mid-20th century.

Taylor was born in Keytesville, Missouri and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922.

Both President Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, had immense regard for Taylor, whom they saw as a man of unquestionable integrity, sincerity, intelligence, and diplomacy. After the April 1961 failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Kennedy, who felt the Joint Chiefs of Staff had failed to provide him with satisfactory military advice, appointed Taylor to head a task force to investigate the failure of the invasion.

The Cuba Study Group met for six weeks from April to May 1961 to perform an "autopsy" on the disastrous events surrounding the Bay of Pigs Invasion. In the course of their work together, Taylor developed a deep regard and a personal affection for Robert F. Kennedy, a friendship that was wholly mutual and which remained firm until Kennedy's assassination in 1968.

Shortly after the investigation concluded, the Kennedys' warm feelings for Taylor and the President's lack of confidence in the Joint Chiefs of Staff led John Kennedy to recall Taylor to active duty and install him in the newly created post of military representative to the president. His close personal relationship with the President and White House access effectively made Taylor the President's primary military adviser, cutting out the Joint Chiefs. On October 1, 1962, Kennedy ended this uncomfortable arrangement by appointing Taylor as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position in which he served until 1964.

Taylor was portrayed by Paul Maxwell in "A Bridge Too Far", Andrew Duggan in "The Missiles of October" and by Bill Smitrovich in "Thirteen Days".

BCnU!