Burt Lancaster character Gen. James Mattoon Scott
Kirk Douglas character Col. Martin 'Jiggs' Casey
Fredric March character President Jordan Lyman
Ava Gardner character Eleanor Holbrook
Edmond O'Brien character Sen. Raymond Clark
Martin Balsam character Paul Girard
Andrew Duggan character Col. William 'Mutt' Henderson
Hugh Marlowe character Harold McPherson
Whit Bissell character Sen. Frederick Prentice
Helen Kleeb character Esther Townsend
George Macready character Christopher Todd
Richard Anderson character Col. Murdock
Bart Burns character Art Corwin
John Houseman character Vice-Adm. Farley C. Barnswell
Malcolm Atterbury character Horace - White House Physician
Jack Mullaney character Lt. (j.g.) Dorsey Grayson
Robert Brubaker character Gen. Diefenbach
Chuck Hamilton character Reporter