Red October (fictional submarine) the "Red October" adventure proved useful to Ryan's career. In later books, Ryan is able to use his heroism in obtaining the submarine as a lever with which to force a threatening KGB Secretary to defect to the U.S. against his will (in the novel "The Cardinal of the Kremlin"), ending the possibility of a Kremlin coup against a politically centrist Soviet government. Years later the truth of these events comes to light when political opponents of then-President Jack Ryan reveals his part in the affair. By this time in the early 1990s, the Soviet Union has collapsed and the
The Hunt for Red October the American “heroes”, which are U.S. military officers, who in turn are competent and dedicated in their professions, a central theme the author would explore in his later novels. In addition, "The Hunt for Red October" is considered as a coming-of-age story regarding the main character Jack Ryan. However, instead of running away from responsibilities, a theme common in contemporary American literature, Clancy subverts the convention by having Ryan rushing toward the burdens of the adult world. Moreover, it introduced Jack Ryan as a new archetype of the American hero — an everyman who uses his prior knowledge instead of