By RACHEL ZOLL

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Call it detente-by-film: President Bush has invited members of the Kennedy family to the White House to watch "Thirteen Days,'' the movie about John F. Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.

Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy have accepted the invitation for dinner and a movie Thursday. Also invited were Caroline Kennedy and her husband, whose representatives did not return calls for comment.

Sen. Kennedy has already met privately with Bush and praised his education plan. But he also is leading the fight against the nomination of Bush's nominee for attorney general, John Ashcroft.

And the senator's son, Rep. Kennedy, has accused Bush of stealing the election and condemned Ashcroft as an agent of the far right.

Rep. Kennedy, 33, said he is hopeful that Bush's invitation is a genuine attempt to reach out to Democrats. But the congressman said he plans to leave policy aside once the movie starts.

The film tells the story of the brief period in October 1962 when the United States and the Soviet Union teetered on the edge of nuclear war. It stars Kevin Costner as Kennedy aide Kenneth O'Donnell and Bruce Greenwood as JFK.

The dinner-and-a-movie night "is not just a social event,'' said Brown University political scientist Darrell West, author of "Patrick Kennedy: The Rise to Power.'' "Bush is trying to demonstrate that he is not a Newt Gingrich-style Republican, that he is tolerant of opposing views and that he is tolerant of individuals even if he doesn't agree with them.''

White House spokeswoman Jeannie Momo did not return calls for comment.