Narrator: Kennedy arrived in the Solomon Islands in the spring of 1943, and took command of a 56-ton attack boat, PT-109. The shooting took seven hours. John F. Kennedy (archival): And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. John F. Kennedy (archival): .that we just look to our own private interests Let us cut the budget and let us save on foreign aid. And he regards all these things as terrible, competitive distractions. Thomas Hughes, Aide to Sen. Hubert Humphery: I remember how haggard Bobby looked, Johnson obviously had told him that he didn't want to speak to his brother's spokesman, he wanted to speak to his brother. Only winning. Pamela Gaudiano, Assistant Editors And his response was, "What the hell is this?". John Steele, Journalist, Time magazine (archival): Senator Jack Kennedy of Massachusetts has won every primary in which he's entered. Wasn't that something? Narrator: The general election campaign of 1960 featured a new wrinkle: the first ever one-on-one debates between the major party candidates, broadcast live, across the nation. Narrator: For seven weeks, the young Congressman traveled through Israel, Iran, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Thailand, French Indo-china, Korea and Japan. Cabots - definition and meaning - Wordnik Matt Hamilton Jacqueline Kennedy (archival): Good evening. The man whose government Kennedy was backing, Ngo Dinh Diem, had dwindling popular support there. eFootage.com Kennedy's nightmare scenario during the missile crisis was that war would start without either him or Nikita Khrushchev really wanting it. ", Narrator: The First Lady was so pleased with the results that she agreed to unveil her handiwork to the American people, in an hour-long television special: "A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. He was always running late; left a trail of clothes and unfinished meals in his Georgetown townhouse for his valet to clean up. Timothy Naftali, Historian: His preference is to use covert action and the CIA to build up allies in a state and let them fight the overt military conflict. And it failed. There's a medium-range ballistic missile launch site and two new military encampments. John F. Kennedy (archival): if we appoint people to ambassadorships and positions in Washington Narrator: Among television viewers, the clear winner was Kennedy. His back was so bad, he needed a brace and a cane to walk. We're going to make bombs better and more effective, more efficient. You can't imagine that this man isn't dreadfully, dreadfully sick. John F. Kennedy (archival): It's a pleasure to have you here, and I want you to meet my daughter Caroline, and my wife Jackie. Jackie Kennedy would say it was the most time the family ever shared. Bring to a simmer and cook until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. Globe Photos, Inc. The young Senator's way of being set Democratic leader Lyndon Johnson's teeth to grinding. When a German U-boat sank a British passenger liner with more than 300 Americans on board, Ambassador Kennedy sent 22-year-old Jack to reassure the survivors that the Embassy would get them safely home. Jonathan Nee Narrator: The Kennedys told reporters that Jack's back problems were a result of war injuries; they did not disclose his ongoing need of steroids, or his Addison's disease. It's unimaginable that he will be able to campaign for office, or hold office. He says, "Count up how many votes we have if we take the Northeast, the eastern states, plus Texas." Kennedy called his closest advisors together and they met in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Narrator: John Kennedy had come to fatherhood relatively late, but he clearly enjoyed the role, as he enjoyed being an uncle, and, with Joe Sr. debilitated, the Kennedy family patriarch. Many things started happening on Black Saturday, including a U-2 spy plane stumbling over the Soviet Union, which Kennedy reacted to that by saying, "There's always some son-of-a-bitch that doesn't get the word." What is Julia Child's accent? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Mackenzie K. Stewart Mary Price He has taken this dangerous political gamble because the fate of his legislative program for the next two years hangs in the balance. "These are extraordinary times," Kennedy explained, and we needed to keep our eye on the most important issue -- the global struggle for freedom. West Virginia State Archives Castro bragged about his stunning defiance of the United States; his popularity in Cuba soared. Robert Caro, Writer: In fact, one point of the collar of his shirt is sticking out. George Wallace, Governor of Alabama (archival): I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the seat of tyranny and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever. You're the best argument I know for it, your testimony here this afternoon, your complete indifference to the fact Narrator: He dabbled in domestic issues where he saw opportunity, like in the nationally televised hearings into racketeering in the labor unions. Kennedy grew up in a family defined bywealth, Catholicism, Democratic politics, and patriarchal control. RockBeat Records You ask for water, but they give you gin. John Seigenthaler, Assistant to Robert Kennedy: There were people there that day who would have killed those kids just because they were black. Earl Warren, Chief Justice (archival): Do you John Fitzgerald Kennedy do solemnly swear John F. Kennedy (arhival): I John Fitzgerald Kennedy do solemnly swear Earl Warren, Chief Justice (archival): That you will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States John F. Kennedy (arhival): That I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States Sally Bedell-Smith, Writer: It was bitterly cold, and Kennedy made sure, even though nobody knew he was wearing thermal underwear, he made sure that he would take off his top coat. She went to Italy for a long time, and she basically every summer would spend her time in Hyannis, a good distance from the Kennedy compound and enjoy her solitude there. He was bringing people in a room to givehimthe best information so thathecould make the decision. The Boston commuter can only ask "what convention?". What the American voters craved, Kennedy had come to understand, was a good story. They were, however, quick to take advantage when Mrs. King went public about her sympathetic call from Kennedy. "This goddam civil rights mess," Kennedy complained. Robert Dallek, Historian: Bobby Kennedy cautioned his brother against letting this guy, who some said was a quack, letting him shoot him up with these kinds of painkillers. Jacqueline Kennedy wore white gowns to almost every event -- her choice. Mark Shaw / mptvimages.com "Who is this kid who's trying to displace me and take the nomination? Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary (archival): and a general exchange of views on the major issues which affect the relationship between the two countries. John F. Kennedy (archival): We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It was an ocean away. John F. Kennedy, Jr. (archival audio): Hello! ", When Jack announced his decision to join his prep-school friends at Princeton instead of following Joe Jr. to Harvard, his father made his disappointment known: "You want to get away from your brother, I take it. He occasionally snuck his favorite photographers into the White House for photo ops, when the First Lady wasn't around to run interference. I've lost Bay of Pigs. And he knew who was at fault. Cornell Capa/International Center of Photography/Magnum Photos Narrator: Kennedy parried Johnson with the grace of a sure winner. And he sat and argued with his father at the dinner table about economics and world affairs. ", Time and again, when the hawks in that room, when the Joint Chiefs of Staff are insisting on invading, Kennedy pulls them back. Narrator: Joe Sr. refused to lower expectations for his second son, whatever his illness. And she later said that instead of being put off by what Billings said, she actually viewed it as kind of a challenge. Timothy Naftali, Historian: This is a decision-making that depended on the guy in the middle asking the right questions and getting the right answers. Evan Thomas, Writer: Jack was losing weight. Out on a routine mission, Kennedy had his vessel idling in open water, when a Japanese destroyer emerged out of the darkness, racing at 40 knots, and split his boat in half. This morotcade will drive the three miles out here to the colleseum Narrator: John F. Kennedy had never lost an election, and now, against all odds, at age 43, he was just one win away from the Presidency. You never come out, the way you came in. He also called for a bold new move into the heavens. The purpose of the Press, as stated in its charter, is "to promote generally, by publishing deserving works, the advancement of the arts and sciences and the development of literature." Jean Kennedy Smith, Sister: Jack was very depressed, very upset. But it was getting so virulent and so scary that he then, in the fall campaign, went to Houston and spoke to the ministers, went sort of into the belly of the beast as it were. He and his men ran raids on Japanese supply convoys; they were shot at and they fired back, but steered clear of major incident until a hot, starless night that August. Don't humiliate him. Hubert Humphrey (archival): Nice to see you. And as he's talking, if you watch his hands, he has the gavel in his hands and he restlessly he turns it around. The President had also entrusted his brother with the continuing problem of Fidel Castro and Cuba. On the airplane, Salinger asked Kennedy, what -- "Did you do anything when we were all out?" He maintained absolute silence on the historic and crucial back-channel exchange of personal letters he'd opened with Nikita Khrushchev. He said, "My! He dispatched a Justice Department aide, a Southerner named John Seigenthaler, to try to keep a lid on situation and to explain to local authorities that it was their duty to protect the protesters from the white mobs. Janet Powell Pinci and Virginia P. Street Jack stayed cool. His brother, who was in London as an aviator, wrote some letters to him that were kind of demonstrating in a subtle way how envious he was. Butit was clearKhrushchev was unwilling to negotiate. Powerful and resourceful gangsters have banded together to make war from a whole human race Their challenge has now been flung at the United States of America. Robert Dallek, Historian: It came to a point that in order for him to walk from his office to the Senate floor, he had to move across a marble floor, and it was so hard on his back, he needed crutches to allow him to put one foot in front of another, without excruciating pain. He went out to dinner. I don't know how you did that. John F. Kennedy (archival): All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, "Ich bin ein Berliner. And Jack ran on that theme and ran hard. Robert Dallek, Historian: He's a playboy. Joe Kennedy told them to give him his medicine, and get him ready to campaign the next day, Election Day. I think the main one was that he wanted to win. There was a sense of joy about what he was doing, that he loved what he was doing. It took me a while to realize that it refers to the deep snobbery of the Boston elite. John F. Kennedy (archival): Now, to anyone who works in the laboratories today a 30 megaton weapon is perhaps not as sophisticated as a 60 or 70 or 80 megaton weapon, but it's still many, many, many times, dozens of times stronger, than the weapon that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Getty Images Evan Thomas, Writer: And the idea is that guerilla fighters are going to win the hearts and minds of the populace against the Communists, that they're going to fight fire with fire, they're going to fight dirty if they have to, but they're also going to build schools and hospitals. The President also understood the chance of unintended action sparking a war grew by the hour. You press us, that's your problem." Robert Caro, Writer: She comes down and there's this huge map of the United States, where his father and he are plotting out, you know, his next trips. ", Robert Caro, Historian: He never stops joking and laughing, even in the worst circumstances. He probably wasn't as great as he appeared to be. Narrator: Jackie Kennedy spent much of her time and energy in the first year restoring the White House. But all doubts as to what is the best thing we can do should be resolved in the one statement, how can we best keep out of war? This Cabot, Micheal (Tommy Schrider), is Dee's jazz-crazy white history teacher, high on the social change of the era. None of this stuff works. It's good enough.". Andrew Young, Southern Christian Leadership Conference: We were in the process of dispersing the crowd, because we did not want any violence. Jack was no less keen to get his shot at glory, if war came. The Cabots speak only to God." . Nobody but Jackie and Bobby knew about the injections. But surely the acquisition of such idle stockpiles -- which can only destroy and never create -- is not the only, much less the most efficient, means of assuring peace. Sally Bedell-Smith, Writer: Jackie was a great student of 18th and 19th century Europe. He was ready to unify the city under the control of his ally, East Germany, and to erase any U.S. and NATO presence in the city. The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics, whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. Jack was able to float up there, quoting poetry and being a sort of young Lancelot. There was talk among serious Democrats that Joe Kennedy was in line for the Presidency if Franklin Roosevelt decided not to run in 1940. Lyndon Johnson sat them out that year. Timothy Naftali, Historian: There was a code among the political press not to speak of it, partly because it was mutual assured destruction. Thank you very much. Donald J. Molner and Astrid Molner Kennedy believed his meeting with the Soviet premier would be a lesson in compromise. JFK's short time in office was marked by several major events. He looks like a high school student. Eight months later, as he was beginning to regain his strength, 28-year-old Kathleen died in a plane crash. We loved it, we clapped, and everything was wonderful. And don't use the wordisolationistorappeaser. Buyoutfootage.com He made it out alive a few months later -- sent Stateside for medical reasons-- and when he arrived at his parents' winter home in Palm Beach his weight was down to around 120. Jam-packed full of articles of interest to you and to you only--surprise interviews, cartoons, puzzles, essays, and of course those full-color nude photo layouts of Freb Edelblieck for which we are so understandably famous. Elliott Choi William H. Lawrence, Journalist (archival): Senator, when are you going to drop this public pretense of non-candidacy and frankly admit that you already are seeking the Democratic presidential nomination of 1960? Evan Thomas, Writer: He had a very great ability to step back, to be cool, to be detached, to not get sucked in by the passions of the moment, to not just ride the wave. It's there. Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense (archival audio): Wright just said it was shot down. No. You saw a young man in defeat, and you also see someone who covers it up so well. Narrator: Kennedy kept his announced schedule, including a meeting with the Soviet Ambassador, at which he revealed nothing. West Virginia is a state with 97% Protestant population. There was no hotline between the White House and the Kremlin, no opportunity for real-time dialogue between himself and Khrushchev. Harris Wofford, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: He didn't want America's race problems to be splashed all over the press of the world, and therefore, out of the blue, learning about it, I answer his call on the phone when he suddenly discovers the Freedom Riders are riding, into danger. He was worried, he said, that "the Negroes will be uncontrollable.". Some of my family lived here. John F. Kennedy (archival): Yesterday a shaft of light cut into the darkness. BEING WITH JOHN F. KENNEDY Narrator: The new First Couple glided through a half-dozen ceremonials, including a gala produced by the President's friend, Frank Sinatra showcasing the brilliant sparkle of American celebrity. Timothy Naftali, Historian: A man who focuses on the word "vigor" in his public and private conversations must have in mind a sense of vitality, human vitality, as an ideal. The Soviets possessed, in addition to these longer-range missiles that could hit the United States, they also possessed shorter-range tactical nuclear weapons that could have been used to wipe out the U.S. naval base at Guantnamo or a U.S. invading force. Chamberlain's appeasement of Hitler, he argued, had been understandable. Narrator: Jack almost died of scarlet fever in 1920, just before his third birthday. Only the biggest of the biggest stars in Washington were onMeet the Press. He's showing the country what he is: this charming, incredible, adept campaigner. Evan Thomas, Writer: Jack Kennedy was the most glamorous, attractive President of the United States we've ever had, and that we'll ever have. The understanding is that those troops will not engage in combat. Robert Dallek, Historian: He's only 43 years old. Author: Beth Johnson Evan Thomas, Writer: He's lost a brother. And so he's badly frustrated. He would say not a single word about the Freedom Riders. Kennedy is not sophisticated enough, not experienced enough to understand that. The Press achieved this goal early on, and the excellence of its publishing program has been recognized for more than eight decades by scholars throughout the world. Jack was one step away. He hoped to overthrow Castro, without leaving behind American fingerprints -- and without poking a finger in Khrushchev's eye. I'm proud to tell you, that on those 50 quorum calls, Lyndon Johnson answered every one of 'em. Joe eventually gave that speech, and he followed some but not enough of his son's recommendations, and ended up further on the outs with the Roosevelt administration. Narrator: The moon-shot had less to do with science and discovery than it did with projecting to the Soviets American resolve. Timothy Naftali, Historian: The Cuban missile crisis establishes Kennedy's credibility at home. At first, Micheal appears to be simple comic relief, as does Grace Mahoney. We cannot tell anyone to keep out of our hemisphere unless our armaments and the people behind these armaments are prepared to back up the command even to the ultimate point of going to war Narrator: The book was timely; Americans were beginning to wonder if Hitler's military could reach the United States. Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation At this time we're indeed pleased to have with us in our studios, Mr. John F. Kennedy. And he says, "Well, there's no time for rest." Kennedy's trying to revive his presidency after the Bay of Pigs. Some of the staff thought he was having a heart attack. Narrator: Jack had a front row seat that summer, in the most consequential season of international gamesmanship in a generation. WFAA Collection (1998) She wrote in her diary that she had an intimation that Jack would have a profound and possibly disturbing effect on her life. Narrator: John Kennedy's taste ran more to political biography and spy novels, Sinatra and show tunes. And I think they were very struck by the fact that we were wandering around, trying to get them to get out and vote and get their friends to vote. George Tames/The New York Times/Redux Vaughn Meader, as John F. Kennedy (archival audio): No, speak English, Jackie. Narrator: The Kennedy campaign was not shy to exploit the special appeal of the young Congressman -- the youngbachelorCongressman. For weeks adoptee rights organizations and individuals have been trying to find out what's happening with SB 959, the no-brainer records bill that was expected to sail through. Robert Dallek, Historian: This is a very storied family. And yet they did it anyway. Protestants weren't voting for Jack Kennedy. No one suggested then that we might have a divided loyalty, that we did not believe in liberty, or that we belonged to a disloyal group that threatened, I quote, "the freedoms for which our forefathers died" Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Niece: And he said, "We would hate to have a country that millions of people who, on the day they're baptized, are told they can't be president of the United States.". He had professional speechwriters working for him. Karen Abramson Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! So he's like a politician, he looks for a compromise. Through its leadership can come a more vital life for all of our people Narrator: Kennedy officially announced his candidacy in January of 1960. It was sort of like Joe would drop a depth charge and wait for something to explode. He taught himself how to look at the people he was talking to, how to speak slowly. Narrator: The nuclear stand-down was the President's highest priority. U.S. Air Force bombers went on 24-hour alert. Thomas Hughes, Aide to Sen. Hubert Humphery: It used to drive Humphrey nuts, because he said, "Every time I go into the supermarket to go shopping for Muriel, I seeRedbookor I seeGood Housekeepingor I seeSaturday Evening Postall with the Kennedys smiling at me on the cover.". Like most Americans, the President was worried engagement with the Russians might spark a hot war, or nuclear catastrophe. The well-worn path to the Democratic presidential nomination went through the state party chairmen and the big city bosses, who still thought they could keep their delegations in line. He didn't swallow his father's beliefs, and he said to him: You can talk about the need for compromise and for negotiations, but say over and over and over again that you hate Nazism, you hate fascism, you hate Hitler. And calls were coming in from various states. It's their problem if it fails." "Kick," as the family called her, was the Kennedy most like Jack: independent, rebellious, full of fun. Jared Ames He also saw his father congratulating Chamberlain for keeping the peace. He decided to make a stand in a country in Southeast Asia few Americans had ever heard of: Vietnam. Narrator: He spent his evenings racing to movie theaters in his convertible, jockeying with the Washington trolley, a different girl in the passenger seat every night. Narrator: Wolff would later recall sitting behind the couple in the darkness, watching Jacqueline -- in an unguarded moment -- rest her head on her husband's shoulder as they watched her performance. The demand of campaigning statewide -- the distances traveled across the rough Massachusetts highways -- was punishing, especially on Jack. They really thought that war was near. Narrator: PT-109's skipper did little to distinguish himself in his first four months on duty. When the television cameras andLifemagazine arrived down South, that's the moment when the federal government cannot sit back anymore. And a woman says to him, "Young man, it's too soon." And he keeps putting it off, hoping that something will happen in the negotiations with the Soviets. This entry was posted on 08/29/2005, 2:21 pm and is filed under Musings about Life. CIA Analyst (archival audio): Sir, we've never seen this kind of installation before. And he holds out the example of Roosevelt. He talks much too fast when he gives speeches. I want to compare what Robert Dallek, Historian: Nixon was someone who would sweat under the Klieg lights, and his makeup ran, and somebody later said, "He looked like a sinister chipmunk.". There was his father at the center of British social life, and it allowed Jack to make intellectual as well as social contacts with the most important people in Great Britain, and to engage in conversation and intellectual exchange, which stimulated him greatly. If your not bad, they won't let you in. When he gets up there, he's facing a sea of Kefauver signs. Evan Thomas, Writer: The fact that the military's signing off on it just means, what they're really saying is, "This is a CIA operation. He gave him space when other people were unwilling to give him any space at all. They took him to Boston and Jack sat there in a chair outside this hyperbaric chamber and waited. A Lodge Out West - Harvard Law School | Harvard Law School He was less than two years on the job, the youngest man ever elected to the office. The question is: Are we going to be on the right side or the wrong side of history? This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. The Communist-backed Viet Cong appeared to be winning there. Jacqueline doesn't really want to go, but he's asked her to come with him. What Makes a "New England First Family"? - New England I think he made many blunders, but he managed to get the Soviet missiles removed from Cuba, and he did so without triggering a nuclear war. "You'll knock his block off.". Five days into the crisis, with more Soviet ships steaming toward Cuba, and the Joint Chiefs pushing the President to begin bombing the island nation, Kennedy was still insisting on restraint. Narrator: The President found it increasingly difficult to read Nikita Khrushchev in the months after Vienna. This is what we're talking about, and this is a matter which concerns this country and what it stands for, and in meeting it I ask the support of all of our citizens. And Jack said, "I don't care if it's dog piss. Narrator: Only a few people knew of the existence of the surveillance photographs, much less the terrifying revelations they held. Sally Bedell-Smith, Writer: Joe Sr. loved to encourage spirited debate among his children, particularly at mealtime. "Mr. Kennedy," wrote a British newspaperman, "displayed a wisdom and sympathy of a man twice his years.". His mane was James Michael Curley "We had no home life whatsoever.". I called Mrs. Martin Luther King." While Jack remained stoic, as always, the depth of his father's despair was unsettling. A U.S. ship dropped depth charges on a Soviet submarine in the Caribbean. And one of Kennedy's aides, Larry O'Brien, says, "Kennedy weather.". He returned home with a new insight: the United States was making few new friends in those places, and losing old ones. This young man has a clear-headed, realistic, un-hysterical message for his countrymen, and for his elders. When the 44-year-old President was feeling down, or awake and pacing in the middle of the night, he would pick up the phone and call New York or Palm Beach or Hyannis Port, and hear the friendly voice of Joe Sr. Sally Bedell-Smith, Writer: He didn't intrude on specific policies, but the fact that he was there, that he could share his experience and his point of view, was very important to Jack. MacDonald & Associates And the pain from his back is such that he cannot stand up, sit down, lie down. So although he was feeling poorly a lot of the time, he couldn't let on that he was feeling poorly. The issue of segregation -- in Alabama in particular -- was a loaded powder keg. Jack won going away, nearly doubling the second-place finisher's vote total in the primary, and now a lock to win the general election in the heavily Democratic district in the fall. The quotation is from a toast given in 1910 at a Holy Cross alumni dinner: "Here's to dear old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where Lowells speak only to Cabots, And Cabots. Edward R. Murrow, CBS News (archival): Let's go and meet the newlyweds. Evan Thomas, Writer: Jack Kennedy was very conscious of images. He didn't know how to address the chair, by which he meant he didn't even know the rules. But how is McMahon going to swim? Recent assessments have revealed an administration long on promise and vigor, and somewhat lacking in tangible accomplishment. The campaign printed hundreds of thousands of pamphlets telling the story of Kennedy's kindness to the King family -- and Nixon's silence -- and shipped those pamphlets across the country, many by Greyhound bus, to be distributed at black churches. Kennedy bought into this idea that you could fight small wars, win them, check Communism that way. CIA Analyst (archival audio): The length, sir. Narrator: His chief interest, and his focus, remained foreign affairs. Silence B. U. G. S. And he keeps going around the state saying, "It's a terrible thing to say that Hubert's a draft dodger, a terrible thing," until it fastened itself on people's minds that Hubert maybe was a draft dodger. Sync Sound/Digital Cinema, Sound Editing He meant to reassure historic allies, and to exalt the virtues of democracy for new governments emerging in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
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