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Tonight...
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MAN:
He suspected that
his time on earth was limited
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and that he had to make
the most of it.
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MAN:
He taught himself
how to be a candidate.
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The torch has been passed
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to a new generation
of Americans.
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MAN:
Kennedy couldn't
have been prepared
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for what he was up against.
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A two-night event, "JFK,"
starts now
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on American Experience.
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Exclusive corporate funding
for American Experience
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00:01:05,310 --> 00:01:06,310
is provided by:
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And by contributions
to your PBS station from:
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NARRATOR:
Only a few people knew
of the existence
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of the surveillance photographs,
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much less the terrifying
revelations they held.
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In October 1962,
the Soviet Union
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was constructing
nuclear launch sites in Cuba
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within range of every major city
on the Eastern Seaboard,
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including the U.S. capital.
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It's hard to realize
how frightened they were.
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They had conversations
about evacuating
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great parts
of the United States.
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They had estimates
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about how many tens of millions
of people would die.
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They really thought
that war was near.
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NARRATOR:
Managing this crisis fell
to a rookie president:
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John F. Kennedy.
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He was less than two years
on the job,
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the youngest man
ever elected to the office.
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THOMAS HUGHES:
Nothing prepared him for this.
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The things that
got him elected--
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the acute politician,
the charming vote getter,
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the money, the glamour--
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none of it had any bearing
at all on his situation.
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NARRATOR:
The qualities that had carried
John Kennedy to the presidency--
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natural rebelliousness,
stubborn self-reliance,
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spectacular self-confidence--
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had also led him to make
mistakes and missteps
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that helped put the country
in mortal danger.
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His predecessor in the
White House, Dwight Eisenhower,
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had called him "Little Boy Blue"
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and thought his wealthy father
had bought him the office.
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The Soviet premier,
Nikita Khrushchev,
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had taken Kennedy's measure
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at their first meeting
a year earlier,
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and he walked away believing
he could get the better
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of the untested president.
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If John F. Kennedy
doubted himself
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or quailed at the enormity
of the situation,
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he didn't show it.
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EVAN THOMAS:
He had a very great ability
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to step back, to be cool,
to be detached,
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to not get sucked in
by the passions of the moment,
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to not just ride the wave.
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MICHAEL DOBBS:
When he became angry,
he tended to become very calm.
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There was a kind of burning
anger in him
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that he didn't express
very openly.
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TIMOTHY NAFTALI:
This man was fiercely
independent,
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intellectually independent.
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Fiercely.
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Kennedy had an unshakable sense
of his own skills.
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He was confident
about his ability
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to come up
with the right answer.
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He wasn't bringing people
together in a room
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to hammer out a consensus.
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He was bringing people in a room
to give him the best information
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so that he could
make the decision.
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SALLY BEDELL SMITH:
He had what he called the "great
man" theory of governing.
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As a consequence,
it put a lot of pressure on him.
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NARRATOR:
Now, at a moment of peril
and uncertainty,
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he would be forced
to answer the question
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that had dogged him
his entire career:
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Was he as tough, as smart,
as capable as he appeared?
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Good evening,
my fellow citizens.
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Within the past week,
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unmistakable evidence
has established the fact
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that a series of offensive
missile sites
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are now in preparation
on that imprisoned island...
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(static)
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KENNEDY (on tape):
Mrs. Lincoln?
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Is this tape in?
Is this plugged in?
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(static)
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Is this plugged in?
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One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
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I was the descendant
of three generations
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on both sides of my family
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of, uh, men who had followed,
uh, the political profession.
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In my early life, uh, comma,
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the conversation was nearly
always about politics.
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Period.
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NARRATOR:
By the time he came of age,
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
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inhabited a world
special exemption:
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the family estate
in suburban New York,
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the summer compound
in Hyannisport,
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the winter retreat
in Palm Beach.
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The story of his family's heroic
multigenerational rise
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from the want of Irish famine
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might well have been
a misty old folktale.
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The past was not the point
in the Kennedy household.
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Jack's father,
Joseph P. Kennedy,
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was one of the wealthiest men
in America,
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an Irish Catholic businessman
who had grabbed his fortune
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in the WASP-dominated world
of high finance
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and then became
a celebrated administrator
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in President Franklin
Roosevelt's momentous
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New Deal government.
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Joe Kennedy expected his sons
in particular
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to have a large effect
on the world.
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ROBERT DALLEK:
He's a model of what
they're taught to emulate.
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He's striving,
he's reaching,
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he's always on the move,
he's accomplishing,
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and it was expected of them
to do the same thing.
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EVAN THOMAS:
They were very pampered
and enabled.
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They were made to feel special,
which is good,
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and they were special,
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and they were made to feel
obliged to serve their country.
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That was great.
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But they were also given
a kind of confidence
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that it would always
go well for them.
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DALLEK:
After the stock market crash
occurred in 1929,
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John Kennedy didn't know that
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there was all this privation
in the country.
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He never wanted for a meal.
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And it wasn't until he read
something later
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in high school and college
about the Depression
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that it registered
on his consciousness.
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NARRATOR:
Even in the raucous
Kennedy clan--
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even among his eight brothers
and sisters--
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Jack stood out.
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He kept his own schedule--
usually late.
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He was apt to test the patience
of his elders,
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unconcerned with rules
and loose with money.
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He plied shopkeepers
with the promise
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that his father would pay
the bill, whatever it was.
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Jack would expect maids
to take care of him,
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cook his meals, do his laundry,
pick up his clothes.
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And so he has a very privileged
childhood, except for one thing:
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that he is burdened by a series
of considerable health problems.
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NARRATOR:
Jack almost died
of scarlet fever in 1920,
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just before his third birthday.
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Two years later,
a case of whooping cough
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landed him in another
quarantine ward.
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Soon after his parents
shipped him off
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to a prestigious boarding school
in Connecticut,
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Jack's letters home
began to include reports
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of his shaky health.
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At Choate, Jack's ongoing
digestive ailments
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made him a reliable customer
of the campus infirmary.
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DAVID NASAW:
Jack didn't know
what was wrong with him.
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All he knew was that
on a regular basis,
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he would take sick,
get a high fever,
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end up in the hospital,
that he couldn't gain weight,
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00:10:05,583 --> 00:10:08,719
that he couldn't run around
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and play sports
the way he wanted to.
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ROBERT CARO:
He was terribly thin.
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He had recurrent bouts
of nausea and vomiting,
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continual bouts of high fever,
and he was tired all the time.
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DALLEK:
Joe Sr. worried that Jack
might take on the image
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of someone who lacked
the physical strength
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to achieve great things in life.
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By the time he was 17 years old,
his health was so questionable
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they sent him off to the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,
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to try and figure out
what his problems were.
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NAATOR:
Test results at Mayo indicated
that Jack suffered
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an intestinal inflammation
called colitis.
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But the doctors warned him
that he might have hepatitis,
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or worse, leukemia.
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When his blood count dropped
to near-fatal readings,
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he made light.
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"They call me
'2000 to go Kennedy,'"
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he wrote a friend.
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"Took a peek at my chart
yesterday and could see
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that they were mentally
measuring me for a coffin."
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CARO:
He never stops joking
and laughing,
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even in the worst circumstances.
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When the wife of his headmaster
at Choate comes,
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she says, "Jack never stopped
kidding around with me
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the whole time I was there."
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SALLY BEDELL SMITH:
He had to become very stoic,
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and at the same time he had
to project an image of vitality.
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So although he was feeling
poorly a lot of the time,
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hee waldfeeling poorly.
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NARRATOR:
Joe Sr. refused to lower
expectations for his second son,
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whatever his illness.
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"Don't let me lose confidence
in you again," Joe wrote to Jack
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after a less-than-sterling
report
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from the headmaster at Choate,
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"because it will be nearly an
impossible task to restore it."
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00:12:08,811 --> 00:12:14,982
DALLEK:
Joe Kennedy, Sr. drives this
point home to his sons.
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00:12:15,050 --> 00:12:16,551
Joe Kennedy's message
to them is
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00:12:16,618 --> 00:12:18,853
second is never good enough.
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Only first.
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Only winning.
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00:12:21,190 --> 00:12:22,490
Only being at the top.
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THOMAS:
Joe Jr. was picked out--
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00:12:25,294 --> 00:12:27,528
"You're going to be president"--
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00:12:27,596 --> 00:12:30,431
and Joe was determined
to please Dad
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00:12:30,499 --> 00:12:32,133
and was going to do
whatever Dad wanted.
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00:12:32,201 --> 00:12:35,470
He was a familiar type:
student body president,
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captain of teams, best-looking
boy, destined for success.
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Jack was one step away.
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00:12:41,643 --> 00:12:43,010
Yes, he wanted to please Dad,
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00:12:43,078 --> 00:12:44,812
but he might think about it
for a second.
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And there stirred in him
a little quiet,
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00:12:47,449 --> 00:12:49,350
and maybe even more than quiet,
rebellion.
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00:12:52,321 --> 00:12:56,391
NASAW:
The problem with Jack,
at least for his father,
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00:12:56,458 --> 00:12:59,394
is he doesn't take
anything seriously.
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00:12:59,461 --> 00:13:01,396
Nothing.
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00:13:01,463 --> 00:13:02,997
At Choate,
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where there is a strict
prep school behavioral code,
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00:13:08,237 --> 00:13:13,297
where the last thing you do
is snicker
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00:13:13,397 --> 00:13:16,942
or make fun of your teachers
or talk behind their backs,
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00:13:17,897 --> 00:13:21,234
Jack just can't help himself.
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00:13:21,604 --> 00:13:23,471
The more pompous the headmaster,
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00:13:23,539 --> 00:13:29,043
the more ridiculous the speeches
at chapel,
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00:13:29,111 --> 00:13:31,813
the more he feels
absolutely compelled
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00:13:31,881 --> 00:13:34,416
not only to make fun himself,
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00:13:34,483 --> 00:13:38,019
but to draw his circle
of friends in.
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00:13:38,087 --> 00:13:43,124
When he organizes a prank,
all the other boys are in.
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00:13:43,192 --> 00:13:47,929
NARRATOR:
Jack Kennedy was a capable
student in the courses he liked,
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00:13:47,997 --> 00:13:50,732
indifferent to those he didn't.
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00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,334
His acquaintance with the rules
of spelling and grammar
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00:13:53,402 --> 00:13:55,937
appeared fleeting.
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00:13:56,005 --> 00:13:58,306
He spent much of his depleted
energy on campus high jinks
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00:13:58,374 --> 00:14:01,443
or romance.
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00:14:01,510 --> 00:14:03,344
Even in high school,
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his roster of conquests
was a source of wonderment.
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00:14:06,982 --> 00:14:10,084
"It can't be my good looks,"
he wrote to a Choate friend,
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00:14:10,152 --> 00:14:12,620
"because I'm not much handsomer
than anybody else.
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00:14:12,688 --> 00:14:15,890
It must be my personality."
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00:14:15,958 --> 00:14:18,993
When Jack announced his decision
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00:14:19,061 --> 00:14:20,795
to join his prep-school friends
at Princeton
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00:14:20,863 --> 00:14:24,032
instead of following Joe Jr.
to Harvard,
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00:14:24,099 --> 00:14:26,868
his father made
his disappointment known:
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00:14:26,936 --> 00:14:30,071
"You want to get away
from your brother, I take it.
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00:14:30,139 --> 00:14:33,741
Too much competition."
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00:14:37,146 --> 00:14:40,715
Fall term 1936,
Jack enrolled at Harvard.
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00:14:40,783 --> 00:14:43,151
THOMAS:
The Kennedys were
a loving family,
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00:14:43,219 --> 00:14:45,854
but bitterly competitive.
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00:14:45,921 --> 00:14:50,325
This comes from the father, but
it becomes entrenched with them.
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00:14:50,392 --> 00:14:52,594
They were always putting
each other down:
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00:14:52,661 --> 00:14:56,965
verbally, games, sailing,
touch football,
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00:14:57,032 --> 00:14:58,533
And a lot of it's joyous,
245
00:14:58,601 --> 00:15:00,935
but there's an edge there too,
almost a meanness.
246
00:15:01,003 --> 00:15:04,506
NARRATOR:
Where Joe Jr. and Jack were
concerned, friends remembered,
247
00:15:04,573 --> 00:15:09,844
"Everything was a contest,
whether a swim in the pool
248
00:15:09,912 --> 00:15:13,448
or a race
to the breakfast table."
249
00:15:13,516 --> 00:15:15,083
Jack was always smaller, punier.
250
00:15:15,150 --> 00:15:17,252
He never gave up,
and he always got beat up.
251
00:15:17,319 --> 00:15:19,554
It was par for the course.
252
00:15:19,622 --> 00:15:24,492
DALLEK:
Jack would indulge in these
sort of hit-and-run attacks.
253
00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:27,762
And it would frustrate Joe Jr.,
who would dash after him.
254
00:15:27,830 --> 00:15:31,366
But Jack was fast, and Joe
wouldn't necessarily catch him.
255
00:15:31,433 --> 00:15:35,136
And so Jack learned how
to compete in an effective way
256
00:15:35,204 --> 00:15:38,006
in a world where he wasn't
always the biggest,
257
00:15:38,073 --> 00:15:41,342
the strongest, the smartest.
258
00:15:44,947 --> 00:15:45,947
Bye, Rosie.
259
00:15:46,015 --> 00:15:46,881
Bye, Jack.
260
00:15:54,356 --> 00:15:57,425
NARRATOR:
At the end of Jack's
sophomore year at Harvard,
261
00:15:57,493 --> 00:15:59,460
Joe Kennedy took a new job
in London
262
00:15:59,511 --> 00:16:04,232
as ambassador to America's
most important ally.
263
00:16:04,300 --> 00:16:09,103
Jack trailed his father across
the Atlantic a few months later
264
00:16:09,171 --> 00:16:13,241
for a summer's work
in his father's new office.
265
00:16:13,309 --> 00:16:14,876
DALLEK:
When Joe Kennedy, Sr.
266
00:16:14,944 --> 00:16:18,012
became ambassador
to Great Britain in 1938,
267
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:20,248
it opened up a world for Jack
268
00:16:20,316 --> 00:16:22,617
which he had not
quite glimpsed before.
269
00:16:22,685 --> 00:16:27,522
There was his father at the
center of British social life,
270
00:16:27,589 --> 00:16:30,291
and it allowed Jack
to make intellectual
271
00:16:30,342 --> 00:16:32,210
as well as social contacts
272
00:16:32,294 --> 00:16:36,631
with the most important people
in Great Britain,
273
00:16:36,699 --> 00:16:40,501
and to engage in conversation
and intellectual exchange,
274
00:16:40,569 --> 00:16:42,670
which stimulated him greatly.
275
00:16:42,738 --> 00:16:44,672
These were the roots
of his interest
276
00:16:44,740 --> 00:16:47,408
in international affairs.
277
00:16:47,476 --> 00:16:51,846
(soldiers chanting)
278
00:16:51,914 --> 00:16:54,182
NARRATOR:
Jack had a front row seat
that summer
279
00:16:54,249 --> 00:16:57,852
in the most consequential season
of international gamesmanship
280
00:16:57,920 --> 00:16:59,420
in a generation.
281
00:16:59,488 --> 00:17:02,724
The German leader, Adolf Hitler,
282
00:17:02,791 --> 00:17:04,492
had spent the previous
five years
283
00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:07,829
building the most powerful
military Europe had ever seen,
284
00:17:07,896 --> 00:17:10,264
and in 1938,
285
00:17:10,332 --> 00:17:14,969
he was showing signs
he might use it.
286
00:17:15,037 --> 00:17:17,772
Hitler had already
frightened Austria
287
00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:19,707
into accepting annexation,
288
00:17:19,775 --> 00:17:23,878
and he was menacing
Czechoslovakia and Poland.
289
00:17:23,946 --> 00:17:27,115
The rest of Europe,
and America too,
290
00:17:27,182 --> 00:17:31,953
was trying to figure out how
to handle the German threat.
291
00:17:32,021 --> 00:17:34,956
Joe Sr. knew what was at stake
292
00:17:35,024 --> 00:17:37,792
for his country,
and for himself.
293
00:17:37,860 --> 00:17:40,461
There was talk
among serious Democrats
294
00:17:40,529 --> 00:17:43,330
that Joe Kennedy was in line
for the presidency
295
00:17:43,382 --> 00:17:48,436
if Franklin Roosevelt decided
not to run in 1940.
296
00:17:48,504 --> 00:17:52,373
The ambassador never stopped
talking politics and policy,
297
00:17:52,441 --> 00:17:54,542
even when the workday was over,
298
00:17:54,610 --> 00:17:56,844
at the family's
temporary residence,
299
00:17:56,912 --> 00:18:00,782
14 Princes Gate,
Westminster, London.
300
00:18:03,986 --> 00:18:06,487
Joe Sr. loved to encourage
spirited debate
301
00:18:06,555 --> 00:18:08,690
among his children,
particularly at mealtime.
302
00:18:08,757 --> 00:18:11,459
One of his friends said
303
00:18:11,527 --> 00:18:14,362
that she liked to watch what
happened at the dinner table.
304
00:18:14,430 --> 00:18:17,398
It was sort of like Joe
would drop a depth charge
305
00:18:17,466 --> 00:18:20,168
and wait for something
to explode.
306
00:18:20,235 --> 00:18:23,371
JEAN KENNEDY SMITH:
There was a lot of conversation
about France and England
307
00:18:23,439 --> 00:18:25,406
and what was going to happen
with England,
308
00:18:25,474 --> 00:18:28,076
what would happen with America,
and would we enter the war.
309
00:18:28,143 --> 00:18:31,279
NASAW:
Joseph P. Kennedy was convinced
310
00:18:31,346 --> 00:18:34,782
that if the United States
was drawn into a war in Europe
311
00:18:34,850 --> 00:18:39,020
that it would ruin the economy.
312
00:18:39,088 --> 00:18:40,621
Democracy would be lost.
313
00:18:40,689 --> 00:18:43,591
The millions of dollars
he had put aside for his boys
314
00:18:43,659 --> 00:18:46,461
would be lost, the America he
knew and loved would be lost,
315
00:18:46,528 --> 00:18:48,563
and it wasn't worth it.
316
00:18:48,630 --> 00:18:50,364
Europe was Europe.
317
00:18:50,432 --> 00:18:51,866
It was an ocean away.
318
00:18:51,934 --> 00:18:54,902
And he figured anything
was better
319
00:18:54,970 --> 00:18:57,772
than going to war with Hitler.
320
00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:01,442
So why not try to make a deal
with Hitler?
321
00:19:01,510 --> 00:19:04,479
Jack Kennedy listened
to his father
322
00:19:04,546 --> 00:19:07,715
and he sat and argued with his
father at the dinner table
323
00:19:07,783 --> 00:19:11,152
about economics
and world affairs.
324
00:19:15,524 --> 00:19:20,194
NARRATOR:
Jack was back at Harvard
in the fall of 1938.
325
00:19:20,262 --> 00:19:23,714
He monitored from afar the
international summit in Munich,
326
00:19:23,799 --> 00:19:25,967
where British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain
327
00:19:26,034 --> 00:19:27,902
struck a deal
328
00:19:27,970 --> 00:19:30,872
to cede a small piece
of Czechoslovakia to Germany
329
00:19:30,923 --> 00:19:32,907
in exchange for a promise
from Hitler
330
00:19:32,975 --> 00:19:36,210
that he would stop there.
331
00:19:36,278 --> 00:19:39,981
He also saw his father
congratulating Chamberlain
332
00:19:40,048 --> 00:19:41,916
for keeping the peace.
333
00:19:41,984 --> 00:19:44,952
When asked by the newspapermen
this afternoon
334
00:19:45,003 --> 00:19:47,788
what I thought the chances were
of appeasement succeeding,
335
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,341
I told them
I wasn't sure at all,
336
00:19:50,425 --> 00:19:52,343
but it was certainly
worthwhile trying.
337
00:19:52,427 --> 00:19:55,129
NARRATOR:
Jack asked permission
338
00:19:55,197 --> 00:19:57,732
to spend the next semester
back in Europe
339
00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:01,202
so he could gather material
for a senior thesis.
340
00:20:01,270 --> 00:20:03,471
U.S. embassies and consulates
341
00:20:03,539 --> 00:20:07,575
would be obliged to welcome
Joe Kennedy's boy.
342
00:20:07,643 --> 00:20:12,547
He was back at his parents' home
in London by March 1939,
343
00:20:12,614 --> 00:20:15,750
right around the time Hitler
broke his promise to Chamberlain
344
00:20:15,818 --> 00:20:20,054
and seized the rest
of Czechoslovakia.
345
00:20:23,275 --> 00:20:26,093
Jack headed straight
for the Continent and beyond
346
00:20:26,161 --> 00:20:28,963
to see for himself
what was happening.
347
00:20:29,031 --> 00:20:30,698
NASAW:
He questions people.
348
00:20:30,766 --> 00:20:31,766
He talks.
349
00:20:31,834 --> 00:20:33,367
He listens.
350
00:20:33,435 --> 00:20:35,369
He reads the headlines.
351
00:20:35,437 --> 00:20:40,041
He hangs out in the consulates.
352
00:20:40,108 --> 00:20:42,210
He tries to talk
to the diplomats
353
00:20:42,277 --> 00:20:43,878
in each of these countries,
354
00:20:43,946 --> 00:20:45,646
and to the newsmen,
the journalists.
355
00:20:53,555 --> 00:20:56,874
NARRATOR:
Jack got as near the action
as he could get:
356
00:20:56,959 --> 00:21:00,011
the border between Germany
and Poland,
357
00:21:00,095 --> 00:21:02,463
where Hitler's powerful
war machine
358
00:21:02,514 --> 00:21:06,000
appeared to be massing
for attack.
359
00:21:06,068 --> 00:21:11,572
(plane engines roaring)
360
00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:12,773
(loud explosions)
361
00:21:15,244 --> 00:21:18,379
He was safely back at his
father's embassy in London
362
00:21:18,447 --> 00:21:22,149
on September 1, when German
soldiers crossed into Poland
363
00:21:22,217 --> 00:21:24,452
and German planes
began bombing cities,
364
00:21:24,519 --> 00:21:26,754
killing innocent civilians.
365
00:21:28,690 --> 00:21:33,828
Britain was bound by treaty
to defend its ally, Poland,
366
00:21:33,896 --> 00:21:38,199
and Jack was at the House
of Commons to hear the war talk.
367
00:21:38,267 --> 00:21:42,370
He was on the streets, watching,
as England prepared for war
368
00:21:42,437 --> 00:21:45,573
and he listened in on Prime
Minister Chamberlain's address
369
00:21:45,641 --> 00:21:47,675
to a nervous nation.
370
00:21:47,743 --> 00:21:52,847
CHAMBERLAIN:
You can imagine what
a bitter blow it is to me
371
00:21:52,915 --> 00:21:57,952
that all my long struggle
to win peace has failed.
372
00:21:58,020 --> 00:22:00,521
Yet I cannot believe
that there is anything more
373
00:22:00,589 --> 00:22:04,625
or anything different
that I could have done...
374
00:22:04,693 --> 00:22:10,431
NARRATOR:
Chamberlain's weakness--
his dispirited call to arms--
375
00:22:10,499 --> 00:22:13,734
was something Jack Kennedy
would never forget.
376
00:22:24,211 --> 00:22:30,083
The onset of war did offer Jack
his first shot at public service
377
00:22:30,151 --> 00:22:32,485
and at public attention.
378
00:22:32,553 --> 00:22:37,323
When a German U-boat sank
a British passenger liner
379
00:22:37,391 --> 00:22:40,727
with more than 300 Americans
on board,
380
00:22:40,795 --> 00:22:43,630
Ambassador Kennedy sent
22-year-old Jack
381
00:22:43,698 --> 00:22:44,964
to reassure the survivors
382
00:22:45,032 --> 00:22:46,866
that the embassy would
get them safely home.
383
00:22:49,470 --> 00:22:53,907
"Mr. Kennedy,"
wrote a British newspaperman,
384
00:22:53,974 --> 00:22:57,811
"displayed a wisdom and sympathy
of a man twice his years."
385
00:23:03,484 --> 00:23:07,721
He arrived for his final year at
Harvard with a self-confidence
386
00:23:07,772 --> 00:23:11,858
that surprised his professors,
and a new sense of purpose.
387
00:23:11,925 --> 00:23:15,528
He spent his last semester
grinding away
388
00:23:15,596 --> 00:23:20,200
at his honors thesis,
"Appeasement at Munich."
389
00:23:20,267 --> 00:23:24,871
Jack's thesis cut against
prevailing public sentiment,
390
00:23:24,939 --> 00:23:28,007
which held that British Prime
Minister Chamberlain's actions
391
00:23:28,075 --> 00:23:31,511
at Munich had been dishonorable,
even cowardly.
392
00:23:31,579 --> 00:23:35,315
Chamberlain's appeasement
of Hitler, he argued,
393
00:23:35,382 --> 00:23:37,117
had been understandable.
394
00:23:37,184 --> 00:23:39,786
Britain had been so lax
395
00:23:39,854 --> 00:23:43,156
in building its military
in the previous decade
396
00:23:43,224 --> 00:23:45,291
that the prime minister
had little choice
397
00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:51,030
but to go to the negotiating
table and buy time.
398
00:23:51,098 --> 00:23:55,435
The 150-page paper
got mixed reviews.
399
00:23:55,503 --> 00:23:58,571
His professors found it "wordy"
and "repetitious."
400
00:23:58,639 --> 00:24:01,941
But they had to admit
it was an intelligent discussion
401
00:24:02,009 --> 00:24:07,113
of complacency
in pre-war Britain.
402
00:24:07,181 --> 00:24:13,853
Joe Sr. was impressed enough to
help get the thesis published.
403
00:24:17,258 --> 00:24:19,559
By the time John Kennedy
graduated Harvard
404
00:24:19,627 --> 00:24:25,198
in June of 1940, his first book,
Why England Slept,
405
00:24:25,266 --> 00:24:28,234
was on its way
to the reading public.
406
00:24:33,073 --> 00:24:38,945
He hustled hard promoting
his book and his big idea:
407
00:24:39,013 --> 00:24:42,549
Democracies had to be armed
and ready to fight at all times,
408
00:24:42,616 --> 00:24:47,387
he said,
the United States included.
409
00:24:47,454 --> 00:24:49,189
ANNOUNCER:
Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.
410
00:24:49,256 --> 00:24:51,124
At this time,
we're indeed pleased
411
00:24:51,192 --> 00:24:54,093
to have with us in our studios
Mr. John F. Kennedy.
412
00:24:54,161 --> 00:24:56,596
This young man has
a clear-headed, realistic,
413
00:24:56,664 --> 00:25:00,600
unhysterical message for his
countrymen and for his elders.
414
00:25:00,668 --> 00:25:03,803
KENNEDY:
We must realize that we must
always keep our armaments
415
00:25:03,871 --> 00:25:05,972
equal to our commitments.
416
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,408
We cannot tell anyone
to keep out of our hemisphere
417
00:25:08,475 --> 00:25:11,845
unless our armaments and the
people behind these armaments
418
00:25:11,912 --> 00:25:14,380
are prepared to back up
the command
419
00:25:14,448 --> 00:25:16,649
even to the ultimate point
of going to war.
420
00:25:16,717 --> 00:25:19,252
NARRATOR:
The book was timely;
421
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,055
Americans were beginning
to wonder
422
00:25:22,122 --> 00:25:25,458
if Hitler's military
could reach the United States.
423
00:25:25,526 --> 00:25:29,662
Why England Slept
became a surprise best-seller.
424
00:25:29,730 --> 00:25:34,033
His father was near preening
about Jack's literary success,
425
00:25:34,101 --> 00:25:36,736
a first in the Kennedy clan.
426
00:25:36,804 --> 00:25:39,372
When the Duchess of Kent
told the ambassador
427
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,441
she thought the boy
was awfully young
428
00:25:41,508 --> 00:25:44,844
to be writing a serious book,
Joe said simply,
429
00:25:44,912 --> 00:25:50,016
"My experience is that my sons
are very precocious."
430
00:25:57,257 --> 00:26:00,777
They were headed in different
directions, Jack and his father,
431
00:26:00,861 --> 00:26:02,462
on account of this war
in Europe.
432
00:26:02,529 --> 00:26:08,201
The German Army had already
occupied Paris
433
00:26:08,269 --> 00:26:10,403
and appeared to be headed
toward London,
434
00:26:10,471 --> 00:26:13,506
and Joe Kennedy was still
advising President Roosevelt
435
00:26:13,574 --> 00:26:16,309
to keep the U.S.
out of the fight.
436
00:26:16,377 --> 00:26:18,711
This was England's war, he said,
437
00:26:18,779 --> 00:26:21,614
and one they were
likely to lose.
438
00:26:21,682 --> 00:26:24,584
Roosevelt was actively
distancing himself
439
00:26:24,652 --> 00:26:27,503
from his wayward ambassador.
440
00:26:27,588 --> 00:26:30,256
By the time Joe Sr.
was recalled from London,
441
00:26:30,324 --> 00:26:32,792
reporters on both sides
of the Atlantic
442
00:26:32,860 --> 00:26:36,496
were calling him a Hitler
apologist, a defeatist.
443
00:26:39,300 --> 00:26:41,301
Nothing to say
until I've seen the president.
444
00:26:41,368 --> 00:26:45,705
NASAW:
Joe Kennedy returned in disgrace
445
00:26:45,772 --> 00:26:49,208
and in the minority,
and at some point,
446
00:26:49,276 --> 00:26:52,512
he decided he was going to make
a speech defending his position.
447
00:26:52,579 --> 00:26:57,684
Joe had dozens of people
he could have called on:
448
00:26:57,751 --> 00:27:01,321
journalists, newspapermen,
historians, researchers.
449
00:27:01,388 --> 00:27:04,223
He had professional
speechwriters working for him.
450
00:27:04,291 --> 00:27:07,760
But he asked Jack to do it.
451
00:27:07,828 --> 00:27:09,896
Jack Kennedy wasn't a puppet.
452
00:27:09,964 --> 00:27:14,067
He didn't swallow his father's
beliefs, and he said to him,
453
00:27:14,134 --> 00:27:20,039
you can talk about the need for
compromise and for negotiations,
454
00:27:20,107 --> 00:27:24,210
but say over and over and over
again that you hate Nazism,
455
00:27:24,278 --> 00:27:27,447
you hate fascism,
you hate Hitler,
456
00:27:27,514 --> 00:27:31,617
and don't use the word
"isolationist" or "appeaser."
457
00:27:31,685 --> 00:27:35,788
Joe eventually gave that speech,
and he followed some
458
00:27:35,856 --> 00:27:40,393
but not enough
of his son's recommendations
459
00:27:40,461 --> 00:27:43,029
and ended up further on the outs
460
00:27:43,097 --> 00:27:45,264
with the Roosevelt
administration.
461
00:27:45,315 --> 00:27:48,017
Of course there's a risk
462
00:27:48,102 --> 00:27:50,803
in any course of action.
463
00:27:50,854 --> 00:27:55,525
But all doubts as to what
is the best thing we can do
464
00:27:55,609 --> 00:28:01,497
should be resolved
in the one statement:
465
00:28:01,582 --> 00:28:05,501
"How can we best
keep out of war?"
466
00:28:05,586 --> 00:28:08,521
Jack initially defended
his father's isolationism,
467
00:28:08,589 --> 00:28:10,056
but as time went on,
468
00:28:10,124 --> 00:28:12,759
he realized that the United
States needed to help Britain,
469
00:28:12,826 --> 00:28:15,094
to get in the game,
to fight for freedom.
470
00:28:15,162 --> 00:28:17,430
His father was dead set
against American intervention;
471
00:28:17,498 --> 00:28:20,033
Jack becomes for it.
472
00:28:25,506 --> 00:28:27,206
ANNOUNCER:
Air cadet Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.
473
00:28:27,274 --> 00:28:28,708
reports for preliminary
training.
474
00:28:28,776 --> 00:28:31,427
With other college men,
he'll try for Navy wing.
475
00:28:31,512 --> 00:28:34,113
NARRATOR:
The older Kennedy boys
476
00:28:34,181 --> 00:28:38,801
were doing more
than talking war in 1941.
477
00:28:38,886 --> 00:28:42,588
Joe Jr. signed on as a flier
for the Navy,
478
00:28:42,656 --> 00:28:45,658
even though the U.S.
had not yet entered the fight.
479
00:28:48,595 --> 00:28:55,568
Jack was no less keen to get
his shot at glory if war came.
480
00:28:55,636 --> 00:28:58,037
But he was unable to get past
the military doctors.
481
00:28:58,105 --> 00:29:02,041
His poor health
was impossible to miss.
482
00:29:02,109 --> 00:29:07,647
DALLEK:
When he was 20 years old,
he began using steroids.
483
00:29:07,714 --> 00:29:10,583
It reined in his colitis,
484
00:29:10,651 --> 00:29:13,920
but it had terrible
side effects.
485
00:29:13,987 --> 00:29:19,525
And it also began to cause
deterioration of the bones
486
00:29:19,593 --> 00:29:22,528
in his lower back.
487
00:29:22,596 --> 00:29:27,867
So he was rejected as someone
who would be what was called 4F.
488
00:29:27,935 --> 00:29:31,404
He spends five months doing
calisthenics, lifting weights,
489
00:29:31,472 --> 00:29:33,439
trying to build himself up
enough.
490
00:29:33,507 --> 00:29:35,842
He still fails the examination.
491
00:29:35,909 --> 00:29:38,878
He tells his father that
he has to arrange for him
492
00:29:38,946 --> 00:29:41,948
to have a special medical exam,
493
00:29:42,015 --> 00:29:44,267
which basically means
a fixed medical exam,
494
00:29:44,351 --> 00:29:48,437
to clear him so he can
get into the Navy.
495
00:29:48,522 --> 00:29:52,408
NARRATOR:
The new ensign was assigned
to Naval Intelligence
496
00:29:52,493 --> 00:29:57,897
in Washington, where he became
an instant, if minor, celebrity.
497
00:29:57,965 --> 00:30:02,101
The ambassador's son
found himself at cocktail hours
498
00:30:02,169 --> 00:30:05,238
and dinner parties
with senators, admirals,
499
00:30:05,305 --> 00:30:09,208
foreign diplomats,
newspaper publishers.
500
00:30:09,276 --> 00:30:11,444
They all wanted to know
what the boy author thought
501
00:30:11,512 --> 00:30:13,913
about the big question
of the day:
502
00:30:13,981 --> 00:30:17,316
Should the U.S.
get into the war?
503
00:30:20,654 --> 00:30:22,255
(explosions)
504
00:30:25,993 --> 00:30:28,027
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT:
The sudden criminal attacks
505
00:30:28,095 --> 00:30:32,098
perpetrated by the Japanese
in the Pacific
506
00:30:32,166 --> 00:30:37,336
provide the climax of a decade
of international immorality.
507
00:30:37,404 --> 00:30:42,241
Powerful and resourceful
gangsters have banded together
508
00:30:42,309 --> 00:30:45,127
to make war
upon the whole human race.
509
00:30:45,212 --> 00:30:48,080
Their challenge
has now been flung
510
00:30:48,148 --> 00:30:50,783
at the United States of America.
511
00:30:50,851 --> 00:30:53,386
NARRATOR:
After Pearl Harbor,
512
00:30:53,453 --> 00:30:57,023
America needed warriors
like never before,
513
00:30:57,090 --> 00:30:59,759
but Kennedy remained
at safe remove
514
00:30:59,826 --> 00:31:02,328
in Naval Intelligence.
515
00:31:02,396 --> 00:31:05,898
When he finally, with the help
of family connections,
516
00:31:05,966 --> 00:31:09,135
landed an assignment to train
with a new combat unit,
517
00:31:09,203 --> 00:31:14,640
PT boats, he pronounced himself
"delighted."
518
00:31:18,345 --> 00:31:20,263
CARO:
Now, you know, PT boats,
519
00:31:20,347 --> 00:31:22,782
they're known as the bucking
broncos of the Navy
520
00:31:22,849 --> 00:31:24,517
because they're very
light-hulled,
521
00:31:24,585 --> 00:31:27,019
and they skim so fast
over the waves
522
00:31:27,087 --> 00:31:31,224
so that each wave is a bounce,
each wave is a jolt.
523
00:31:31,291 --> 00:31:34,677
The men who served with him
said he was always in pain.
524
00:31:34,761 --> 00:31:40,266
DALLEK:
This was rough service,
and it was terrible on his back.
525
00:31:40,334 --> 00:31:42,969
Nevertheless, he perseveres
526
00:31:43,036 --> 00:31:45,972
and gets assigned
to the Southwest Pacific,
527
00:31:46,039 --> 00:31:48,541
which is where the action is,
fighting the Japanese.
528
00:31:51,678 --> 00:31:56,249
NARRATOR:
Kennedy arrived in the Solomon
Islands in the spring of 1943
529
00:31:56,300 --> 00:32:01,470
and took command of a 56-ton
attack boat, PT-109.
530
00:32:01,555 --> 00:32:04,390
He liked his 12-man crew,
531
00:32:04,457 --> 00:32:07,927
but was unimpressed
by the higher-ups.
532
00:32:07,995 --> 00:32:12,198
MICHAEL DOBBS:
He was a very junior officer
out in the Pacific.
533
00:32:12,266 --> 00:32:15,134
He was on the margins
of the war.
534
00:32:15,202 --> 00:32:18,804
But he saw how a military
operated not from the top down
535
00:32:18,872 --> 00:32:20,373
but from the bottom up.
536
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:23,643
And one of his favorite
expressions was,
537
00:32:23,710 --> 00:32:27,113
"The military screws up
everything."
538
00:32:27,180 --> 00:32:30,249
NARRATOR:
PT-109's skipper did little
to distinguish himself
539
00:32:30,317 --> 00:32:34,620
in his first four months
on duty.
540
00:32:34,688 --> 00:32:39,175
He and his men ran raids
on Japanese supply convoys.
541
00:32:41,862 --> 00:32:44,730
They were shot at
and they fired back,
542
00:32:44,781 --> 00:32:49,435
but steered clear
of major incident
543
00:32:49,503 --> 00:32:53,873
until a hot, starless night
that August.
544
00:32:53,940 --> 00:32:55,441
Out on a routine mission,
545
00:32:55,509 --> 00:33:00,046
Kennedy had his vessel idling
in open water
546
00:33:00,113 --> 00:33:03,482
when a Japanese destroyer
emerged out of the darkness,
547
00:33:03,533 --> 00:33:07,987
racing at 40 knots,
and split his boat in half.
548
00:33:13,293 --> 00:33:17,129
Two of his crewmen
were killed immediately.
549
00:33:17,197 --> 00:33:19,665
It took Kennedy
nearly three hours
550
00:33:19,733 --> 00:33:22,568
swimming around in the dark
551
00:33:22,636 --> 00:33:26,138
to gather the survivors onto
what was left of his PT boat.
552
00:33:26,206 --> 00:33:29,608
His engineer, Pappy McMahon,
was badly burned,
553
00:33:29,676 --> 00:33:32,778
in excruciating pain,
and helpless.
554
00:33:32,846 --> 00:33:37,550
They were still stranded
in open water at daybreak.
555
00:33:37,617 --> 00:33:42,321
Mid-afternoon, what was left
of PT-109 was beginning to sink,
556
00:33:42,389 --> 00:33:45,991
and it looked like
they had been left for dead.
557
00:33:46,059 --> 00:33:47,993
CARO:
They're drifting,
558
00:33:48,061 --> 00:33:50,129
holding onto the hull
and drifting in the water,
559
00:33:50,197 --> 00:33:53,833
when he sees a group of islands
about three miles off.
560
00:33:53,900 --> 00:33:56,769
He tells them they have
to swim to it to survive.
561
00:33:56,837 --> 00:33:58,904
But how is McMahon
going to swim?
562
00:33:58,972 --> 00:34:01,107
McMahon is wearing
a life jacket.
563
00:34:01,174 --> 00:34:04,343
Kennedy takes one of the straps,
cuts it,
564
00:34:04,411 --> 00:34:06,712
puts one end in his teeth,
565
00:34:06,780 --> 00:34:09,248
tells McMahon
to lay on his back,
566
00:34:09,316 --> 00:34:14,487
and then he tows him
the three miles to this island.
567
00:34:14,554 --> 00:34:17,823
And when he gets up
on the beach, he collapses.
568
00:34:22,829 --> 00:34:26,599
The men who were with Kennedy
that day,
569
00:34:26,666 --> 00:34:31,203
they all speak
of his sense of responsibility:
570
00:34:31,271 --> 00:34:34,507
that it was his job,
that he would spare no effort
571
00:34:34,574 --> 00:34:39,745
to try and get help
for his crew.
572
00:34:39,813 --> 00:34:45,251
NARRATOR:
It took a week, but Kennedy did
manage to get his crew rescued.
573
00:34:45,318 --> 00:34:48,988
"Fortunately,"
he wrote to his father,
574
00:34:49,055 --> 00:34:53,325
"they misjudged the durability
of a Kennedy."
575
00:34:53,393 --> 00:34:56,829
He made it out alive
a few months later,
576
00:34:56,897 --> 00:34:59,331
sent Stateside
for medical reasons,
577
00:34:59,399 --> 00:35:02,305
and when he arrived
at his parents' winter home
578
00:35:02,405 --> 00:35:03,753
in Palm Beach.
579
00:35:03,853 --> 00:35:06,569
His weight was down
to around 120.
580
00:35:06,669 --> 00:35:08,883
His back was so bad, he need
581
00:35:08,909 --> 00:35:11,478
a brace and a cane to walk.
582
00:35:15,125 --> 00:35:16,703
But he was also a war hero;
583
00:35:16,729 --> 00:35:20,140
the navy had made a public display
584
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:23,643
of putting two medals
on his bony chest.
585
00:35:23,710 --> 00:35:30,783
And the story of PT-109 made
great copy, read by millions.
586
00:35:34,888 --> 00:35:38,157
DALLEK:
The country needs heroes
at this point in the war.
587
00:35:38,225 --> 00:35:42,328
And so Jack, in a sense,
fulfills that role.
588
00:35:42,396 --> 00:35:47,934
Here is this wealthy son of the
famous ambassador to Britain,
589
00:35:48,001 --> 00:35:51,204
who didn't have to go into this
kind of combat service,
590
00:35:51,271 --> 00:35:53,072
and they don't talk
about the fact
591
00:35:53,140 --> 00:35:56,259
that maybe his seamanship was
in some ways deficient,
592
00:35:56,343 --> 00:35:58,077
in that his boat
was cut in half.
593
00:35:58,128 --> 00:36:02,965
His brother, who was in London
as an aviator,
594
00:36:03,050 --> 00:36:07,253
wrote some letters to him
that were kind of demonstrating
595
00:36:07,304 --> 00:36:10,640
in a subtle way
how envious he was.
596
00:36:14,228 --> 00:36:16,028
NARRATOR:
Joe Jr., of course,
597
00:36:16,096 --> 00:36:19,632
was not going to be outdone
by his kid brother.
598
00:36:19,700 --> 00:36:22,034
He volunteered
for a dangerous bombing run
599
00:36:22,102 --> 00:36:25,738
across the English Channel,
in spite of the fact
600
00:36:25,806 --> 00:36:29,141
that he had already flown enough
missions to earn a pass home.
601
00:36:34,515 --> 00:36:36,983
Just minutes
into that secret mission,
602
00:36:37,050 --> 00:36:39,986
Joe's bomber exploded
over the English countryside.
603
00:36:42,289 --> 00:36:45,157
His body was never recovered.
604
00:36:48,529 --> 00:36:52,498
"Joe's worldly success was
so assured and inevitable,"
605
00:36:52,566 --> 00:36:55,001
Jack wrote,
"that his death
606
00:36:55,068 --> 00:36:59,071
seems to have cut into
the natural order of things."
607
00:36:59,139 --> 00:37:03,843
The depth of his father's
despair was unsettling.
608
00:37:03,911 --> 00:37:06,712
"There is something
about the first-born
609
00:37:06,780 --> 00:37:10,449
that sets him a little apart,"
Joe Sr. wrote.
610
00:37:10,517 --> 00:37:14,387
"You know what great things
I saw in the future for him,
611
00:37:14,454 --> 00:37:18,224
and now it's all over."
612
00:37:18,292 --> 00:37:22,795
NASAW:
The thought never comes
to Joe Sr.
613
00:37:22,863 --> 00:37:24,597
or anybody else in the family
614
00:37:24,798 --> 00:37:27,199
that now that Joe Jr.
has been killed,
615
00:37:27,267 --> 00:37:30,803
Jack's got to step in and become
the leader of the family
616
00:37:30,871 --> 00:37:33,873
and run for political office
617
00:37:33,941 --> 00:37:36,375
and become the standard bearer
for the Kennedy family,
618
00:37:36,443 --> 00:37:40,346
because no one thinks Jack
is well enough in 1944.
619
00:37:40,414 --> 00:37:42,848
He's skeletal.
620
00:37:42,916 --> 00:37:46,986
You can't imagine
that this young man
621
00:37:47,054 --> 00:37:50,823
isn't dreadfully,
dreadfully sick.
622
00:37:50,891 --> 00:37:55,595
And the pain from his back is
such that he cannot stand up,
623
00:37:55,662 --> 00:37:57,964
sit down, lie down.
624
00:37:58,031 --> 00:38:04,337
It's unimaginable that he will
be able to campaign for office
625
00:38:04,404 --> 00:38:06,305
or hold office.
626
00:38:17,150 --> 00:38:19,018
JOHN KENNEDY:
Like many decisions in life,
627
00:38:19,086 --> 00:38:24,056
a combination of factors,
uh, pressed on me,
628
00:38:24,124 --> 00:38:26,859
which directed me
into my present profession.
629
00:38:26,927 --> 00:38:28,527
Period.
630
00:38:28,595 --> 00:38:33,232
I was at loose ends
at the end of the war, comma,
631
00:38:33,300 --> 00:38:38,371
I was not very interested
in following a business career.
632
00:38:38,438 --> 00:38:42,475
NARRATOR:
John Kennedy hinted
in later years
633
00:38:42,542 --> 00:38:45,878
that he had entered politics
to please his father,
634
00:38:45,946 --> 00:38:48,547
but friends who knew him best
635
00:38:48,615 --> 00:38:52,451
suspected the engine
that drove Jack was his own.
636
00:38:52,519 --> 00:38:56,055
When the Congressional seat
once held by his grandfather
637
00:38:56,123 --> 00:38:58,958
and namesake,
John Francis Fitzgerald,
638
00:38:59,026 --> 00:39:03,729
came open at the end of 1945,
Jack jumped in feet first;
639
00:39:03,797 --> 00:39:08,300
he didn't mind if it antagonized
every Democrat in the district
640
00:39:08,368 --> 00:39:12,371
who had dutifully waited
his turn, which it did.
641
00:39:12,439 --> 00:39:15,174
"You're not going
to win this fight,"
642
00:39:15,242 --> 00:39:18,177
one ward boss told Kennedy
to his face.
643
00:39:18,245 --> 00:39:20,746
"You don't belong here."
644
00:39:20,814 --> 00:39:23,949
He's seen as a kind
of carpetbagger, an interloper.
645
00:39:24,017 --> 00:39:25,351
He didn't live in Boston,
646
00:39:25,419 --> 00:39:31,290
and his opponents in the primary
attack him for being a rich boy.
647
00:39:33,894 --> 00:39:37,530
NARRATOR:
Even his best supporters
wondered if Jack had it in him
648
00:39:37,597 --> 00:39:40,032
to challenge the local
Democratic machine,
649
00:39:40,100 --> 00:39:43,235
or to win in a field
of better-known candidates.
650
00:39:43,303 --> 00:39:45,638
His health was still lousy:
651
00:39:45,706 --> 00:39:48,374
"Yellow as saffron,
thin as a rake,"
652
00:39:48,442 --> 00:39:50,342
one friend said.
653
00:39:50,410 --> 00:39:53,345
"He didn't seem built for
politics," admitted another.
654
00:39:53,413 --> 00:39:56,215
DALLEK:
His father, of course,
brings into the picture
655
00:39:56,283 --> 00:39:59,452
some of the very experienced
Boston pols,
656
00:39:59,519 --> 00:40:03,689
and they see him
as a work in progress.
657
00:40:03,757 --> 00:40:08,711
How is this really skinny guy
who doesn't seem all that eager
658
00:40:08,795 --> 00:40:13,199
to clap hands and "press
the flesh," as they say,
659
00:40:13,266 --> 00:40:16,335
how are we going to convert him
into a winning candidate?
660
00:40:16,403 --> 00:40:20,339
NASAW:
They sigh when they see
this kid.
661
00:40:20,407 --> 00:40:23,375
He looks like a high school
student.
662
00:40:23,443 --> 00:40:26,579
The major impediment to Jack
663
00:40:26,646 --> 00:40:29,448
is that he's not a very good
candidate in the beginning.
664
00:40:29,516 --> 00:40:31,317
He's shy, he's withdrawn,
665
00:40:31,384 --> 00:40:35,855
he doesn't like going up
to strangers or shaking hands.
666
00:40:35,922 --> 00:40:39,125
He talks much too fast
when he gives speeches.
667
00:40:39,192 --> 00:40:41,494
Can't look at his audience.
668
00:40:41,561 --> 00:40:44,563
His voice is too high-pitched.
669
00:40:44,631 --> 00:40:47,466
CARO:
He used to often read
from a prepared text,
670
00:40:47,534 --> 00:40:51,137
and he would do it
in a mechanical way.
671
00:40:51,204 --> 00:40:54,240
They were so afraid
that he would forget his speech
672
00:40:54,307 --> 00:40:56,709
that his sister Eunice
once sat in the front row,
673
00:40:56,777 --> 00:40:59,445
mouthing the words
like an opera prompter.
674
00:40:59,513 --> 00:41:02,248
NARRATOR:
Long odds or no,
675
00:41:02,315 --> 00:41:06,519
Joe Kennedy poured money
into his boy's race in 1946;
676
00:41:06,586 --> 00:41:10,122
he paid for thousands
of hand-painted yard signs,
677
00:41:10,190 --> 00:41:12,424
advertising in print and radio,
678
00:41:12,492 --> 00:41:14,693
a professional polling
operation.
679
00:41:14,761 --> 00:41:18,063
He distributed 100,000 copies
of the New Yorker article
680
00:41:18,131 --> 00:41:20,199
about Jack's war heroics.
681
00:41:20,267 --> 00:41:24,003
"With the money I spent, I could
have elected my chauffeur,"
682
00:41:24,070 --> 00:41:26,038
he liked to joke.
683
00:41:26,106 --> 00:41:29,842
But his pride
in his oldest remaining son grew
684
00:41:29,910 --> 00:41:32,144
as the campaign unfolded.
685
00:41:32,212 --> 00:41:34,513
His father is watching him
one day
686
00:41:34,581 --> 00:41:36,148
standing at the gates
of a factory,
687
00:41:36,216 --> 00:41:39,418
and this mob of factory workers
come out.
688
00:41:39,486 --> 00:41:42,521
Jack is standing there
shaking hands, asking for votes,
689
00:41:42,589 --> 00:41:45,224
and the father is standing
across the street with a friend.
690
00:41:45,292 --> 00:41:46,625
And he says,
691
00:41:46,693 --> 00:41:49,862
"I never in a million years
thought Jack could do that."
692
00:41:51,431 --> 00:41:53,232
NASAW:
He taught himself--
693
00:41:53,300 --> 00:41:55,668
with the help of lots of money
from his father
694
00:41:55,735 --> 00:41:59,271
and voice coaches
and political coaches--
695
00:41:59,339 --> 00:42:01,874
he taught himself
how to be a candidate.
696
00:42:01,942 --> 00:42:04,643
He taught himself how to look
at the people he was talking to,
697
00:42:04,711 --> 00:42:08,113
how to speak slowly.
698
00:42:08,181 --> 00:42:10,616
He spent twice as much time
699
00:42:10,684 --> 00:42:14,253
talking to the local parish
and the boys' clubs
700
00:42:14,321 --> 00:42:17,990
and the veterans' clubs
and the women's ' clubs.
701
00:42:18,058 --> 00:42:20,960
Whoever invited him, he went.
702
00:42:21,027 --> 00:42:24,830
He never, ever, ever stopped.
703
00:42:24,898 --> 00:42:28,200
CARO:
This is a man who's wearing
704
00:42:28,268 --> 00:42:32,071
this canvas-covered steel brace
all the time,
705
00:42:32,138 --> 00:42:34,607
and on long days of campaigning,
706
00:42:34,674 --> 00:42:38,777
that's not enough to try
and hold himself up.
707
00:42:38,845 --> 00:42:40,512
So he has an Ace bandage,
708
00:42:40,580 --> 00:42:42,214
and he wraps it
in a figure eight
709
00:42:42,282 --> 00:42:46,518
around his thighs and his back
to give him extra support.
710
00:42:46,586 --> 00:42:49,488
And this is the neighborhood
of three-deckers.
711
00:42:49,556 --> 00:42:51,523
So if you want
to knock on doors,
712
00:42:51,591 --> 00:42:53,525
which is what politics was then,
713
00:42:53,593 --> 00:42:56,295
you had to climb
over and over again
714
00:42:56,363 --> 00:42:58,564
one building
and then the next.
715
00:42:58,632 --> 00:43:01,033
And he couldn't climb stairs
in a normal way.
716
00:43:01,101 --> 00:43:05,037
What Jack Kennedy had to do
was do it one step at a time.
717
00:43:05,105 --> 00:43:06,739
He'd put his foot
on the next step
718
00:43:06,806 --> 00:43:08,440
and then pull his other leg up.
719
00:43:08,508 --> 00:43:12,745
And these old pols would see him
climbing these steps
720
00:43:12,812 --> 00:43:15,481
over and over,
and never complaining.
721
00:43:15,548 --> 00:43:16,882
And they'd say,
"How're you feeling?
722
00:43:16,950 --> 00:43:18,484
You're not feeling too good?"
723
00:43:18,551 --> 00:43:20,286
He said, "I'm feeling fine."
724
00:43:23,890 --> 00:43:26,058
NARRATOR:
He campaigned
from sunrise to midnight,
725
00:43:26,126 --> 00:43:32,064
house to house, pub to pub,
factory gate to factory gate,
726
00:43:32,132 --> 00:43:34,667
until he crumpled in a heap
at the Bunker Hill parade
727
00:43:34,734 --> 00:43:36,869
on the eve of the primary.
728
00:43:36,937 --> 00:43:40,973
Some of the staff thought
he was having a heart attack.
729
00:43:41,041 --> 00:43:43,542
Joe Kennedy told them
to give him his medicine
730
00:43:43,610 --> 00:43:46,946
and get him ready to campaign
the next day: Election Day.
731
00:43:47,013 --> 00:43:49,181
He'd be fine.
732
00:43:49,249 --> 00:43:52,418
Jack won going away,
733
00:43:52,485 --> 00:43:55,321
nearly doubling the second-place
finisher's vote total
734
00:43:55,388 --> 00:43:58,991
in the primary, and now a lock
to win the general election
735
00:43:59,059 --> 00:44:02,294
in the heavily Democratic
district in the fall.
736
00:44:02,362 --> 00:44:06,765
The kid was a winner after all.
737
00:44:15,342 --> 00:44:20,245
His likes had rarely been seen
on Capitol Hill.
738
00:44:20,313 --> 00:44:24,917
He looked a kid, skeleton-thin,
with wrinkled khakis, sneakers,
739
00:44:24,985 --> 00:44:28,320
seersucker jackets,
shirttails hanging out.
740
00:44:28,388 --> 00:44:30,122
And he lived like one.
741
00:44:30,190 --> 00:44:32,691
He was always running late;
742
00:44:32,759 --> 00:44:35,227
left a trail of clothes
and unfinished meals
743
00:44:35,295 --> 00:44:38,998
in his Georgetown townhouse
for his valet to clean up.
744
00:44:39,065 --> 00:44:42,801
He showed up at his office
as little as possible,
745
00:44:42,869 --> 00:44:45,671
took scant interest
in constituent services
746
00:44:45,739 --> 00:44:48,907
and only middling interest
in his committee assignments.
747
00:44:48,975 --> 00:44:50,642
He's very bored
748
00:44:50,710 --> 00:44:53,145
by the day-to-day
duties of a congressman,
749
00:44:53,213 --> 00:44:58,450
and he felt that he really
didn't have significant power.
750
00:44:58,518 --> 00:45:00,536
NARRATOR:
He spent his evenings
751
00:45:00,620 --> 00:45:02,821
racing to movie theaters
in his convertible,
752
00:45:02,889 --> 00:45:06,208
jockeying with the Washington
trolley,
753
00:45:06,292 --> 00:45:09,327
a different girl in the
passenger seat every night.
754
00:45:09,379 --> 00:45:12,197
"Was it a movie star?"
the newspapers wondered.
755
00:45:12,265 --> 00:45:13,665
"A socialite?
756
00:45:13,733 --> 00:45:15,567
Another airline hostess?"
757
00:45:15,635 --> 00:45:17,369
DALLEK:
He's a playboy.
758
00:45:17,437 --> 00:45:20,472
He's a handsome young man.
759
00:45:20,540 --> 00:45:22,975
He wins that office
when he's 29 years old,
760
00:45:23,043 --> 00:45:26,578
and he's really a celebrity.
761
00:45:26,646 --> 00:45:29,114
And he's enjoying himself.
762
00:45:29,182 --> 00:45:34,953
It was a period of great
self-indulgence.
763
00:45:35,021 --> 00:45:38,791
Even as he's this reckless,
glamorous, playful youth,
764
00:45:38,858 --> 00:45:41,794
there was a kind
of vulnerability.
765
00:45:41,861 --> 00:45:44,596
It's there.
766
00:45:44,664 --> 00:45:48,267
NARRATOR:
In the middle
of the 1947 recess,
767
00:45:48,334 --> 00:45:50,769
a half-year into his first term,
768
00:45:50,837 --> 00:45:53,338
the young Congressman
traveled to Britain
769
00:45:53,406 --> 00:45:55,874
to see his favorite sister,
Kathleen.
770
00:45:55,942 --> 00:45:59,078
"Kick," as the family
called her,
771
00:45:59,145 --> 00:46:01,280
was the Kennedy most like Jack:
772
00:46:01,347 --> 00:46:06,185
independent, rebellious,
full of fun.
773
00:46:06,252 --> 00:46:09,822
During the visit,
Jack collapsed.
774
00:46:09,889 --> 00:46:13,492
The diagnosis was grim:
775
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:17,830
a malfunctioning of the adrenal
glands called Addison's disease.
776
00:46:17,897 --> 00:46:22,634
A doctor in London
gave him a year to live.
777
00:46:22,702 --> 00:46:26,071
He crossed the Atlantic
in a ship's hospital.
778
00:46:26,139 --> 00:46:29,007
The family told reporters
waiting at the dock
779
00:46:29,075 --> 00:46:32,010
that Jack was suffering
from a flare-up of malaria
780
00:46:32,078 --> 00:46:36,915
he'd contracted
in the South Pacific.
781
00:46:36,983 --> 00:46:41,920
The good news was Joe Kennedy
could afford the latest medicine
782
00:46:41,988 --> 00:46:44,623
and there was a new treatment
for Addison's,
783
00:46:44,691 --> 00:46:47,459
a potent cortisone-based
steroid.
784
00:46:47,527 --> 00:46:51,463
It got him out of his deathbed
and bought him time.
785
00:46:51,531 --> 00:46:57,202
He told one friend he hoped
for maybe ten more years.
786
00:46:57,270 --> 00:47:00,372
Eight months later,
787
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,609
as he was beginning
to regain his strength,
788
00:47:03,676 --> 00:47:08,080
28-year-old Kathleen died
in a plane crash.
789
00:47:12,285 --> 00:47:14,453
NASAW:
Jack was devastated.
790
00:47:14,521 --> 00:47:18,056
He loved Kick.
791
00:47:18,124 --> 00:47:20,459
It was the first time
in his life really,
792
00:47:20,527 --> 00:47:25,797
and maybe the only time,
where he didn't know what to do.
793
00:47:25,865 --> 00:47:28,367
TIMOTHY NAFTALI:
It did make him a fatalist.
794
00:47:28,434 --> 00:47:31,036
He sent the signals
of a kind of person
795
00:47:31,104 --> 00:47:34,373
who suspected that his time
on earth was limited,
796
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:36,108
and that he had to make
the most of it.
797
00:47:36,176 --> 00:47:37,475
He's lost a brother.
798
00:47:37,527 --> 00:47:39,945
He's lost his sister Kick.
799
00:47:39,996 --> 00:47:42,247
He himself has been near death.
800
00:47:42,315 --> 00:47:45,617
There is a sense of mortality
that lurks in there
801
00:47:45,668 --> 00:47:47,669
but also drives him:
802
00:47:47,754 --> 00:47:50,038
that he's got to accomplish
something before he dies,
803
00:47:50,123 --> 00:47:52,174
that life is finite.
804
00:47:55,562 --> 00:47:58,430
NARRATOR:
In his second and third terms
in Congress,
805
00:47:58,498 --> 00:48:01,133
John Kennedy
seemed like a new man:
806
00:48:01,201 --> 00:48:02,935
a man in a hurry,
807
00:48:03,002 --> 00:48:06,405
always on the lookout
for ways to distinguish himself.
808
00:48:06,472 --> 00:48:09,007
He exploited his experience
809
00:48:09,075 --> 00:48:11,743
in foreign affairs
and defense policy;
810
00:48:11,811 --> 00:48:15,047
got himself invited
to Senate hearings
811
00:48:15,114 --> 00:48:16,815
as an expert witness
812
00:48:16,883 --> 00:48:20,152
on the military readiness
of our European allies;
813
00:48:20,220 --> 00:48:23,155
criticized President
Harry Truman
814
00:48:23,223 --> 00:48:25,724
for inadequate
civil defense preparations
815
00:48:25,792 --> 00:48:29,962
in the wake of the Russians'
first successful atom bomb test.
816
00:48:33,466 --> 00:48:35,667
DALLEK:
What interested him
was the question
817
00:48:35,735 --> 00:48:38,937
of the rising tensions
with the Soviet Union,
818
00:48:39,005 --> 00:48:41,039
with the civil war in China,
819
00:48:41,107 --> 00:48:44,009
with what was happening
in Greece and Turkey,
820
00:48:44,077 --> 00:48:47,946
and how Harry Truman was
responding to the dangers
821
00:48:48,014 --> 00:48:52,117
flowing out of the Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe.
822
00:49:00,593 --> 00:49:03,879
NASAW:
One of the great advantages
of having a very rich father
823
00:49:03,963 --> 00:49:06,531
who's willing to spend
whatever his sons ask for
824
00:49:06,599 --> 00:49:09,368
is that you can go on your own
fact-finding missions.
825
00:49:09,435 --> 00:49:11,103
You can travel the world.
826
00:49:11,170 --> 00:49:15,941
And Jack does that twice
in 1951.
827
00:49:18,244 --> 00:49:21,780
He talks to the journalists
and the military men.
828
00:49:21,848 --> 00:49:28,353
He talks to world leaders
and he talks to the opposition.
829
00:49:28,421 --> 00:49:32,791
NARRATOR:
For seven weeks,
the young congressman traveled
830
00:49:32,859 --> 00:49:37,929
through Israel, Iran, Pakistan,
India, Singapore,
831
00:49:37,997 --> 00:49:43,318
Thailand, French Indochina,
Korea and Japan.
832
00:49:43,403 --> 00:49:46,238
He returned home
with a new insight:
833
00:49:46,305 --> 00:49:50,575
the United States was making
few new friends in those places
834
00:49:50,643 --> 00:49:52,377
and losing old ones.
835
00:49:52,445 --> 00:49:55,781
And Jack Kennedy went
on national radio and television
836
00:49:55,848 --> 00:49:58,150
to deliver the message.
837
00:49:58,217 --> 00:50:01,219
ANNOUNCER:
Meet the Press!
838
00:50:01,287 --> 00:50:03,322
Our guest of the afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen,
839
00:50:03,389 --> 00:50:06,525
will be Congressman
John F. Kennedy of Boston.
840
00:50:06,592 --> 00:50:09,227
What do we do
in Indochina, then?
841
00:50:09,295 --> 00:50:11,363
Well, we've tied ourselves
completely with the French,
842
00:50:11,431 --> 00:50:13,365
and after all,
the natives are anxious.
843
00:50:13,433 --> 00:50:15,934
You can never defeat the
Communist movement in Indochina
844
00:50:16,002 --> 00:50:17,669
until you get the support
of the natives,
845
00:50:17,737 --> 00:50:19,204
and you won't get the support
of the natives
846
00:50:19,272 --> 00:50:21,139
as long as they feel the French
are fighting the Communists
847
00:50:21,207 --> 00:50:23,375
in order to hold
their own power there...
848
00:50:23,443 --> 00:50:27,813
NASAW:
Joe Kennedy had been invited to
be on Meet the Press early on.
849
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:29,848
He said, "No, I don't want
to do it,
850
00:50:29,916 --> 00:50:32,317
but why don't you
invite my son?"
851
00:50:32,385 --> 00:50:36,121
At the time, no junior
congressman had ever been on.
852
00:50:36,189 --> 00:50:38,390
Only the biggest of the biggest
stars in Washington
853
00:50:38,458 --> 00:50:39,858
were on Meet the Press.
854
00:50:43,129 --> 00:50:44,863
Mr. Kennedy, when I was
in Boston last week
855
00:50:44,931 --> 00:50:47,032
I heard a good deal of talk
about you:
856
00:50:47,100 --> 00:50:49,968
many who thought that you would
be the Democratic nominee
857
00:50:50,036 --> 00:50:54,139
for the Senate this year
against Henry Cabot Lodge.
858
00:50:54,207 --> 00:50:57,943
Are you going to run?
859
00:50:58,010 --> 00:51:01,513
NASAW:
When Jack told his friends
and his colleagues,
860
00:51:01,581 --> 00:51:05,150
"I'm going to run for the Senate
against Henry Cabot Lodge,"
861
00:51:05,218 --> 00:51:09,154
they were unanimous in saying,
"Don't do it.
862
00:51:09,222 --> 00:51:11,823
"Nobody can beat a Lodge
in Massachusetts.
863
00:51:11,891 --> 00:51:15,327
"And Lodge is as handsome
as you are, speaks as well,
864
00:51:15,395 --> 00:51:18,697
"is as rich,
and is a war hero.
865
00:51:18,765 --> 00:51:22,134
Don't even try."
866
00:51:22,201 --> 00:51:24,519
DALLEK:
This is a very storied family.
867
00:51:24,604 --> 00:51:26,304
As the old saying went,
"Up in Boston,
868
00:51:26,372 --> 00:51:28,774
"where the Lodges speak
only to Cabots
869
00:51:28,841 --> 00:51:31,410
and the Cabots speak
only to God."
870
00:51:31,477 --> 00:51:35,497
And so can he defeat
this Republican?
871
00:51:35,581 --> 00:51:38,550
And especially in 1952,
it's a Republican year.
872
00:51:38,618 --> 00:51:41,586
NAFTALI:
His closest advisors told him,
"Don't do it.
873
00:51:41,654 --> 00:51:44,589
"This isn't your time.
874
00:51:44,657 --> 00:51:45,874
"Maybe you should think
about running
875
00:51:45,958 --> 00:51:47,242
for governor of Massachusetts."
876
00:51:47,326 --> 00:51:48,660
No, no, no,
he wanted to run for Senate.
877
00:51:48,711 --> 00:51:52,781
This is a great state
with a great past
878
00:51:52,865 --> 00:51:55,333
and I believe
an even greater future.
879
00:51:55,401 --> 00:51:57,702
If elected
to the United States Senate,
880
00:51:57,753 --> 00:52:01,089
with all of my energies
and all of my resources,
881
00:52:01,174 --> 00:52:03,842
I will fight to secure
that future
882
00:52:03,909 --> 00:52:06,378
for the people of this state and
for the future of our country...
883
00:52:06,429 --> 00:52:07,846
Oh, sh...
884
00:52:07,914 --> 00:52:11,016
And I know that it is not
a one-way street...
885
00:52:11,083 --> 00:52:14,352
NARRATOR:
Whether 34-year-old John Kennedy
was ready or not
886
00:52:14,420 --> 00:52:18,240
was an open question
in the spring of 1952.
887
00:52:18,324 --> 00:52:21,376
And if elected to the Senate of
the United States this November,
888
00:52:21,461 --> 00:52:24,546
I will fight for the New England
industry, which is so vital...
889
00:52:24,630 --> 00:52:26,248
Uh, can you cut that?
890
00:52:29,969 --> 00:52:32,437
NARRATOR:
An uphill race
against Henry Cabot Lodge
891
00:52:32,505 --> 00:52:35,740
was just the sort of challenge
the Kennedys liked.
892
00:52:35,791 --> 00:52:39,177
"Run, Jack," was the word
at the family compound.
893
00:52:39,245 --> 00:52:42,247
"You'll knock his block off."
894
00:52:42,315 --> 00:52:47,419
The most gleeful warrior in the
clan was Jack's younger brother,
895
00:52:47,487 --> 00:52:53,158
26 years old, barely out of law
school, hungry to prove himself.
896
00:52:53,226 --> 00:52:55,860
Jack took a chance
on brother Bobby
897
00:52:55,912 --> 00:52:59,047
and put him in charge
of the campaign.
898
00:52:59,131 --> 00:53:00,799
THOMAS:
Bobby Kennedy had always wanted
899
00:53:00,867 --> 00:53:02,100
a role in the family,
and he found one.
900
00:53:02,168 --> 00:53:03,268
He was the tough guy.
901
00:53:03,336 --> 00:53:06,505
DALLEK:
He does not mince words.
902
00:53:06,572 --> 00:53:08,974
He's someone who is intent
903
00:53:09,041 --> 00:53:11,710
on winning this office
for his brother,
904
00:53:11,777 --> 00:53:14,646
and if it means
stepping on toes,
905
00:53:14,714 --> 00:53:17,148
hurting people's feelings,
so be it.
906
00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:20,318
THOMAS:
Bobby was able to come in
and discipline the old hacks
907
00:53:20,386 --> 00:53:22,554
who were hanging around
the campaign office,
908
00:53:22,622 --> 00:53:24,122
tell them to get off their duffs
909
00:53:24,190 --> 00:53:26,124
and go out and knock
on a few doors,
910
00:53:26,192 --> 00:53:28,560
get rid of the ones
who were truly useless.
911
00:53:28,628 --> 00:53:30,545
He passed around
old Joe's money,
912
00:53:30,630 --> 00:53:33,882
put down the politicians
they wanted to get rid of,
913
00:53:33,966 --> 00:53:35,400
made the deals
that had to be made.
914
00:53:35,468 --> 00:53:37,335
Bobby's doing all the hard work,
the dirty work,
915
00:53:37,403 --> 00:53:40,071
and it's liberating to Jack.
916
00:53:40,139 --> 00:53:43,141
Jack was able to float up there,
917
00:53:43,209 --> 00:53:47,679
quoting poetry and being
a sort of young Lancelot.
918
00:53:47,747 --> 00:53:51,049
NARRATOR:
The Kennedy campaign was not shy
919
00:53:51,117 --> 00:53:53,885
to exploit the special appeal
of the young congressman--
920
00:53:53,953 --> 00:53:57,222
the young bachelor congressman.
921
00:53:57,290 --> 00:54:01,826
His mother, his sisters,
even Bobby's bride, Ethel,
922
00:54:01,894 --> 00:54:05,463
fanned out into parlors
across Massachusetts
923
00:54:05,531 --> 00:54:08,917
to sell Jack to a rising
new bloc of voters.
924
00:54:15,274 --> 00:54:17,742
Women were not so involved
as they are today, of course.
925
00:54:17,810 --> 00:54:20,312
And I think they were
very struck
926
00:54:20,379 --> 00:54:22,681
by the fact that
we were wandering around,
927
00:54:22,748 --> 00:54:24,232
trying to get them
to get out and vote
928
00:54:24,317 --> 00:54:25,584
and get their friends to vote.
929
00:54:25,651 --> 00:54:30,689
Jack came at the end
and gave a very good speech.
930
00:54:30,890 --> 00:54:32,674
People were very
interested in him
931
00:54:32,758 --> 00:54:35,427
because they knew he was a hero
and he was young,
932
00:54:35,494 --> 00:54:37,929
and so they were very interested
in how he did all this
933
00:54:37,997 --> 00:54:39,464
and what he looked like
and everything.
934
00:54:39,532 --> 00:54:42,584
He was a very easy candidate
to sell
935
00:54:42,668 --> 00:54:46,638
because he was good-looking,
he had enormous charm,
936
00:54:46,689 --> 00:54:48,640
he had a great sense of humor.
937
00:54:48,691 --> 00:54:50,775
I mean, he was a real star.
938
00:54:58,751 --> 00:55:01,202
NARRATOR:
The polls showed Jack
trailing the incumbent senator
939
00:55:01,287 --> 00:55:02,587
as Election Day neared,
940
00:55:02,655 --> 00:55:06,558
but he was working hard
to close the gap.
941
00:55:06,626 --> 00:55:09,944
The demand of campaigning
statewide,
942
00:55:10,029 --> 00:55:11,663
the distances traveled
943
00:55:11,731 --> 00:55:13,999
across the rough
Massachusetts highways,
944
00:55:14,066 --> 00:55:18,236
was punishing,
especially on Jack.
945
00:55:18,304 --> 00:55:22,607
"His mental courage
is so much superior
946
00:55:22,675 --> 00:55:24,943
to his physical strength,"
Joe Kennedy wrote.
947
00:55:25,011 --> 00:55:29,297
"I sometimes wonder what
the final result will be."
948
00:55:29,382 --> 00:55:33,385
Joe had another fear
about his son's health:
949
00:55:33,452 --> 00:55:36,354
if Jack's Addison's disease
became public,
950
00:55:36,422 --> 00:55:41,993
it could cost him the race,
maybe even his political future.
951
00:55:42,061 --> 00:55:44,062
Jack was losing weight,
952
00:55:44,130 --> 00:55:47,449
but the Kennedys said,
"Well, it's just the campaign."
953
00:55:47,533 --> 00:55:49,284
Jack Kennedy
always had a suntan.
954
00:55:49,368 --> 00:55:52,270
Well, they said, "Well, he's out
and he's getting a suntan."
955
00:55:52,338 --> 00:55:54,005
Actually, that was
from his treatment,
956
00:55:54,073 --> 00:55:55,890
cortisone treatments
for Addison's
957
00:55:55,975 --> 00:55:57,375
that darkened his skin.
958
00:55:57,443 --> 00:56:00,145
They covered all that up.
959
00:56:00,212 --> 00:56:04,749
NAFTALI:
A man who focuses
on the word "vigor"
960
00:56:04,817 --> 00:56:07,802
in his public
and private conversations
961
00:56:07,887 --> 00:56:11,789
must have in mind
a sense of vitality,
962
00:56:11,841 --> 00:56:15,126
human vitality,
as an ideal.
963
00:56:15,194 --> 00:56:20,131
Imagine the distance
between the reality
964
00:56:20,199 --> 00:56:23,334
of his own physical troubles
965
00:56:23,402 --> 00:56:28,139
and his ideal of the vigorous,
vital leader.
966
00:56:28,207 --> 00:56:32,711
Such a smart man
would know this distance
967
00:56:32,778 --> 00:56:35,513
and understand the gap
between reality
968
00:56:35,581 --> 00:56:37,615
of his own physical being
969
00:56:37,683 --> 00:56:41,519
and the image
he wanted to project.
970
00:56:41,587 --> 00:56:44,756
NARRATOR:
Jack kept working down
to the wire.
971
00:56:44,807 --> 00:56:48,159
He still started his day
earlier than his opponent,
972
00:56:48,227 --> 00:56:53,465
traveled more miles,
campaigned later into the night.
973
00:56:53,532 --> 00:56:59,637
He would not allow himself
to lose for lack of effort.
974
00:56:59,705 --> 00:57:04,709
(crowd cheering)
975
00:57:04,777 --> 00:57:08,279
ANNOUNCER:
In Senate races,
Representative John F. Kennedy
976
00:57:08,347 --> 00:57:10,815
scores one of the few major
Democratic victories,
977
00:57:10,883 --> 00:57:13,284
decisively defeating
in a tough battle
978
00:57:13,352 --> 00:57:17,622
the Republican incumbent
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
979
00:57:17,690 --> 00:57:20,057
Well, I guess you're glad
it's over, aren't you, Bobby?
980
00:57:20,109 --> 00:57:21,493
I am, Jack.
981
00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:25,697
(crowd applauds)
982
00:57:36,075 --> 00:57:39,677
NARRATOR:
They were beginning to be seen
together around town
983
00:57:39,745 --> 00:57:45,183
soon after he entered the Senate
in 1953, two dazzling stars
984
00:57:45,251 --> 00:57:49,020
in Washington's
normally dull firmament.
985
00:57:49,088 --> 00:57:51,923
Jack Kennedy was 35 years old,
986
00:57:51,991 --> 00:57:55,193
the most sought-after bachelor
in the capital.
987
00:57:55,261 --> 00:58:00,198
Jacqueline Bouvier was a shy
23-year-old beauty,
988
00:58:00,266 --> 00:58:05,603
the belle of Manhattan,
Easthampton and Newport.
989
00:58:05,671 --> 00:58:08,706
The couple had met at a dinner
party two years earlier
990
00:58:08,774 --> 00:58:13,678
and had been warily circling
one another ever since.
991
00:58:13,746 --> 00:58:16,114
SALLY BEDELL SMITH:
She was engaged
when she met him,
992
00:58:16,182 --> 00:58:19,250
and she broke it off
very quickly.
993
00:58:19,318 --> 00:58:21,920
She wrote in her diary
that she had an intimation
994
00:58:21,987 --> 00:58:25,223
that Jack would have a profound
995
00:58:25,291 --> 00:58:28,159
and possibly disturbing effect
on her life,
996
00:58:28,227 --> 00:58:29,661
but he was worth it.
997
00:58:29,728 --> 00:58:35,400
She once said to her sister
that to her,
998
00:58:35,467 --> 00:58:38,403
imagination was
the most important thing
999
00:58:38,470 --> 00:58:40,605
she wanted to find in a man,
1000
00:58:40,673 --> 00:58:43,241
and she said that's very
difficult to find.
1001
00:58:43,309 --> 00:58:46,311
From his standpoint,
she was very different
1002
00:58:46,378 --> 00:58:48,646
from the women that he'd known,
1003
00:58:48,714 --> 00:58:51,182
which were primarily
his own sisters.
1004
00:58:51,250 --> 00:58:54,185
Eunice and Pat and Jean
1005
00:58:54,253 --> 00:58:57,488
were what one of his friends
said "tawny, coltish women."
1006
00:58:57,556 --> 00:58:59,724
They were energetic
1007
00:58:59,792 --> 00:59:02,193
and they were athletic
and they were outspoken.
1008
00:59:02,261 --> 00:59:07,832
Jackie, by contrast,
was cerebral and soft-spoken
1009
00:59:07,900 --> 00:59:11,669
and they both had a kind of dry.
1010
00:59:14,640 --> 00:59:19,010
NARRATOR:
The romance was carried out
largely in the public eye,
1011
00:59:19,078 --> 00:59:22,213
and when Jackie agreed
to marry the senator
1012
00:59:22,281 --> 00:59:24,916
in the summer of 1953,
1013
00:59:24,984 --> 00:59:28,186
the press was invited
to share the joy.
1014
00:59:34,426 --> 00:59:37,061
SALLY BEDELL SMITH:
They were so beautiful.
1015
00:59:37,129 --> 00:59:39,597
They were so young.
1016
00:59:39,665 --> 00:59:42,033
She was very stylish.
1017
00:59:42,101 --> 00:59:43,868
Somebody in the New York Times
1018
00:59:43,936 --> 00:59:46,404
wrote that she madthe world
safe for brunettes again.
1019
00:59:49,041 --> 00:59:52,577
NASAW:
Jackie was smart, gorgeous,
1020
00:59:52,645 --> 00:59:57,982
and although she had not been
born into a political family,
1021
00:59:58,050 --> 01:00:01,586
she knew precisely what to say.
1022
01:00:06,825 --> 01:00:11,529
SALLY BEDELL SMITH:
Jack's closest friend,
Lem Billings,
1023
01:00:11,597 --> 01:00:14,299
actually warned her
before they were married
1024
01:00:14,366 --> 01:00:16,634
that she was going to be
marrying a man
1025
01:00:16,702 --> 01:00:18,703
who was known
for his womanizing,
1026
01:00:18,771 --> 01:00:20,939
and that it was unlikely
that he would stop.
1027
01:00:21,006 --> 01:00:23,074
And she later said
1028
01:00:23,142 --> 01:00:26,344
that instead of being put off
by what Billings said,
1029
01:00:26,412 --> 01:00:30,248
she actually viewed it
as kind of a challenge.
1030
01:00:36,388 --> 01:00:39,123
NARRATOR:
"After the first year,
Jackie was wandering around
1031
01:00:39,191 --> 01:00:41,993
looking like the survivor
of an airplane crash,"
1032
01:00:42,061 --> 01:00:43,995
a friend later remembered.
1033
01:00:44,063 --> 01:00:46,464
Her new husband did not
go out of his way
1034
01:00:46,532 --> 01:00:49,500
to hide his dalliances from her.
1035
01:00:49,568 --> 01:00:52,870
Jack Kennedy treated this
as a matter of personal liberty
1036
01:00:52,938 --> 01:00:55,039
and betrayed little guilt.
1037
01:00:55,107 --> 01:00:56,908
"He had this thing about him,"
1038
01:00:56,976 --> 01:00:59,010
said the man
who introduced the Kennedys,
1039
01:00:59,078 --> 01:01:01,879
"which was not under control."
1040
01:01:01,947 --> 01:01:05,249
And it wasn't just his
womanizing that stunned Jackie.
1041
01:01:05,317 --> 01:01:09,320
"Politics was sort of my enemy,"
she confided.
1042
01:01:09,388 --> 01:01:12,690
"We had no home life
whatsoever."
1043
01:01:12,758 --> 01:01:14,592
EDWARD R. MURROW:
Let's go a meet the newlyweds.
1044
01:01:14,660 --> 01:01:15,827
Are you there, Senator?
1045
01:01:15,894 --> 01:01:17,128
Yes, right here,
Mr. Murrow.
1046
01:01:17,196 --> 01:01:18,229
Good evening, sir.
1047
01:01:18,297 --> 01:01:19,397
Thank you.
1048
01:01:19,465 --> 01:01:20,431
Good evening,
Mrs. Kennedy.
1049
01:01:20,499 --> 01:01:22,100
Good evening.
1050
01:01:22,167 --> 01:01:23,935
MURROW:
I understand that the two of you
had a very much publicized...
1051
01:01:24,003 --> 01:01:25,737
NARRATOR:
Whatever her misgivings,
1052
01:01:25,804 --> 01:01:27,739
Jackie Kennedy had married
a politician,
1053
01:01:27,806 --> 01:01:30,641
and she dutifully
accepted her role.
1054
01:01:30,709 --> 01:01:34,212
And you first met the senator
when you interviewed him?
1055
01:01:34,279 --> 01:01:37,348
Well, I interviewed him
shortly after I met him.
1056
01:01:37,416 --> 01:01:39,717
Well, now, which requires
the most diplomacy:
1057
01:01:39,785 --> 01:01:42,453
to interview senators
or to be married to one?
1058
01:01:42,521 --> 01:01:45,590
Um, well...
1059
01:01:45,657 --> 01:01:47,859
Being married to one,
I guess.
1060
01:01:47,926 --> 01:01:50,661
(Murrow laughs)
1061
01:01:50,729 --> 01:01:53,898
NARRATOR:
Over on Capitol Hill, however,
1062
01:01:53,966 --> 01:01:57,168
the Kennedys' star power
had less appeal.
1063
01:01:57,236 --> 01:01:59,971
The young senator's way of being
1064
01:02:00,039 --> 01:02:04,609
set Democratic leader Lyndon
Johnson's teeth to grinding.
1065
01:02:04,676 --> 01:02:09,147
THOMAS HUGHES:
Johnson looked at Jack
as a person who picked and chose
1066
01:02:09,214 --> 01:02:11,849
what he would like to do
in the Senate.
1067
01:02:11,917 --> 01:02:13,251
And the picking and choosing
1068
01:02:13,318 --> 01:02:16,254
wasn't Johnson's idea
of how the Senate ran,
1069
01:02:16,321 --> 01:02:18,589
nor was it the idea
of the other Southern moguls
1070
01:02:18,657 --> 01:02:19,791
who were in charge.
1071
01:02:19,858 --> 01:02:21,993
Kennedy was the troubadour
1072
01:02:22,061 --> 01:02:23,961
who came and played
before the banquet
1073
01:02:24,029 --> 01:02:26,631
and left before
the dishwashing began.
1074
01:02:26,698 --> 01:02:30,935
And I think Lyndon talked about
him in exactly those terms.
1075
01:02:31,003 --> 01:02:34,005
CARO:
Johnson says Kennedy
was pathetic
1076
01:02:34,073 --> 01:02:36,574
as a congressman and senator.
1077
01:02:36,642 --> 01:02:38,609
He didn't know
how to address the chair,
1078
01:02:38,677 --> 01:02:40,478
by which he meant
he didn't even know the rules.
1079
01:02:40,546 --> 01:02:46,117
NARRATOR:
What irked Johnson was that
he couldn't depend on the man.
1080
01:02:46,185 --> 01:02:48,386
Kennedy was often absent;
1081
01:02:48,454 --> 01:02:52,023
he ducked the controversial
censure vote on Joe McCarthy.
1082
01:02:52,091 --> 01:02:55,293
And Kennedy's insistence
on independence was maddening
1083
01:02:55,360 --> 01:02:57,495
for the majority leader.
1084
01:02:57,563 --> 01:03:00,865
Whether it was civil rights
or labor legislation,
1085
01:03:00,933 --> 01:03:04,001
Johnson couldn't count on the
Democrat from Massachusetts
1086
01:03:04,069 --> 01:03:07,538
to vote the party line.
1087
01:03:07,606 --> 01:03:11,008
Lyndon Johnson could be cutting
about Kennedy
1088
01:03:11,076 --> 01:03:13,177
in front of fellow senators,
1089
01:03:13,245 --> 01:03:14,912
said he looked like
a victim of rickets,
1090
01:03:14,980 --> 01:03:18,749
and joked about
his puny little ankles.
1091
01:03:18,817 --> 01:03:22,987
What Johnson didn't see was
how tough Jack Kennedy had to be
1092
01:03:23,055 --> 01:03:26,390
just to get out of bed
in the morning.
1093
01:03:26,458 --> 01:03:30,661
By 1954, the drug he took
to control his Addison's disease
1094
01:03:30,729 --> 01:03:34,132
was eating away at his spine.
1095
01:03:34,199 --> 01:03:37,502
DALLEK:
It came to a point
1096
01:03:37,569 --> 01:03:40,071
that in order for him to walk
from his office
1097
01:03:40,139 --> 01:03:41,272
to the Senate floor,
1098
01:03:41,340 --> 01:03:44,408
he had to move across
a marble floor,
1099
01:03:44,459 --> 01:03:48,446
and it was so hard on his back,
he needed crutches
1100
01:03:48,514 --> 01:03:51,883
to allow him to put one foot
in front of another
1101
01:03:51,950 --> 01:03:54,919
without excruciating pain.
1102
01:03:54,987 --> 01:03:59,023
And so what he decides to do
is to have surgery,
1103
01:03:59,091 --> 01:04:03,361
even though it is
a danger to his life.
1104
01:04:03,428 --> 01:04:07,765
CARO:
It requires the fusing of two
large sections of the spine
1105
01:04:07,833 --> 01:04:10,201
and a steel plate
inserted there.
1106
01:04:10,269 --> 01:04:13,304
What makes it risky is that
he has Addison's disease,
1107
01:04:13,372 --> 01:04:18,142
and Addison's disease leads to
infections often during surgery.
1108
01:04:18,210 --> 01:04:24,048
NASAW:
His father pleads with him,
"Don't do this operation."
1109
01:04:24,116 --> 01:04:26,951
And he holds out the example
of Roosevelt.
1110
01:04:27,019 --> 01:04:28,352
He said, "Roosevelt
was president
1111
01:04:28,420 --> 01:04:29,587
"and he was in a wheelchair.
1112
01:04:29,655 --> 01:04:30,755
You can do it."
1113
01:04:30,822 --> 01:04:33,157
CARO:
Jack said to him,
1114
01:04:33,208 --> 01:04:36,427
"I'd rather be dead
than be in a wheelchair
1115
01:04:36,494 --> 01:04:39,847
or hobbling around on crutches
in pain the rest of my life."
1116
01:04:39,932 --> 01:04:42,900
NASAW:Jack goes ahd
with the operation.
1117
01:04:42,968 --> 01:04:45,536
Hours afterwards,
an infection develops.
1118
01:04:45,604 --> 01:04:47,271
Fever spikes.
1119
01:04:47,339 --> 01:04:48,873
Last rites are performed.
1120
01:04:48,941 --> 01:04:51,609
Jack pulls out,
1121
01:04:51,677 --> 01:04:56,847
and Joe has him flown
to Palm Beach.
1122
01:04:59,484 --> 01:05:02,653
NARRATOR:
He would suffer a series
of setbacks in Florida.
1123
01:05:02,721 --> 01:05:06,057
The eight-inch incision
on his back would not close;
1124
01:05:06,124 --> 01:05:10,328
he developed an abscess,
needed a second surgery.
1125
01:05:10,395 --> 01:05:15,199
The convalescence dragged on
into 1955.
1126
01:05:15,250 --> 01:05:20,438
NASAW:
Joe watches over him,
hires his doctors, his nurses,
1127
01:05:20,505 --> 01:05:24,475
converts a large part
of their Palm Beach house
1128
01:05:24,543 --> 01:05:30,915
to a nursing facility,
and encourages Jack.
1129
01:05:30,983 --> 01:05:33,284
NARRATOR:
The Kennedys told reporters
1130
01:05:33,352 --> 01:05:36,487
that Jack's back problems
were a result of war injuries.
1131
01:05:36,555 --> 01:05:39,690
They did not disclose
his ongoing need of steroids
1132
01:05:39,758 --> 01:05:42,493
or his Addison's disease.
1133
01:05:42,561 --> 01:05:46,998
Jack, meanwhile,
began work on a second book:
1134
01:05:47,065 --> 01:05:49,734
a series of essays
about United States senators
1135
01:05:49,801 --> 01:05:52,103
who had risked
their political careers
1136
01:05:52,170 --> 01:05:56,307
bucking convention and party
for a greater purpose.
1137
01:05:56,375 --> 01:05:59,176
With the help of Library
of Congress research files,
1138
01:05:59,244 --> 01:06:02,146
Kennedy, his speechwriter
Ted Sorensen,
1139
01:06:02,214 --> 01:06:07,752
and a handful of Senate staffers
produced Profiles in Courage.
1140
01:06:07,819 --> 01:06:12,290
For seven, eight months,
Jack recuperates,
1141
01:06:12,357 --> 01:06:14,792
and only after a lengthy period
1142
01:06:14,860 --> 01:06:18,996
is he able to return
to the Senate.
1143
01:06:19,064 --> 01:06:21,832
INTERVIEWER:
How does it feel to be back?
1144
01:06:21,900 --> 01:06:23,401
Well, I'm glad
to be back here
1145
01:06:23,468 --> 01:06:26,437
and have a chance to take part
in what's going on.
1146
01:06:26,505 --> 01:06:28,873
I'm sure my wife is too.
1147
01:06:28,940 --> 01:06:31,909
NASAW:
He returns in pain,
1148
01:06:31,977 --> 01:06:35,946
and he will remain in pain
for the rest of his life.
1149
01:06:46,425 --> 01:06:52,196
KENNEDY:
It is now my privilege
to present to this convention,
1150
01:06:52,264 --> 01:06:55,633
as a candidate for president
of the United States,
1151
01:06:55,701 --> 01:06:58,936
the name of a man
uniquely qualified
1152
01:06:59,004 --> 01:07:01,706
by virtue of his compassion,
1153
01:07:01,773 --> 01:07:04,291
his conscience
and his courage...
1154
01:07:04,376 --> 01:07:08,462
NARRATOR:
The 1956 Democratic presidential
nominee, Adlai Stevenson,
1155
01:07:08,547 --> 01:07:11,832
gave his party's youngest
senator a starring role
1156
01:07:11,917 --> 01:07:15,953
at the convention:
the official nominating speech.
1157
01:07:16,004 --> 01:07:18,389
And his performance
helped ignite
1158
01:07:18,456 --> 01:07:20,791
a Kennedy-for-vice-president
boom.
1159
01:07:20,842 --> 01:07:22,393
...Adlai E. Stevenson!
1160
01:07:22,460 --> 01:07:25,529
(crowd cheering)
1161
01:07:25,597 --> 01:07:28,065
How would you like to be
vice president with him?
1162
01:07:28,116 --> 01:07:30,618
Well, I'd be honored,
of course, if chosen,
1163
01:07:30,702 --> 01:07:32,937
but I've always had my doubts
whether I'd ever be chosen.
1164
01:07:33,004 --> 01:07:37,174
NARRATOR:
He wasn't sure he even wanted
a place on the ticket--
1165
01:07:37,225 --> 01:07:41,178
Joe Kennedy had counseled him
to steer clear--
1166
01:07:41,229 --> 01:07:43,848
but Stevenson threw the choice
to a floor vote,
1167
01:07:43,915 --> 01:07:48,185
and Jack Kennedy had a hard time
backing down from a challenge,
1168
01:07:48,253 --> 01:07:51,255
even against the better-known
1169
01:07:51,323 --> 01:07:54,925
and esteemed senator
Estes Kefauver.
1170
01:07:54,993 --> 01:07:57,895
Jack Kennedy liked his chances,
1171
01:07:57,963 --> 01:08:00,664
and he liked the feeling
on the convention floor.
1172
01:08:00,732 --> 01:08:04,001
The delegates took
his candidacy seriously.
1173
01:08:04,069 --> 01:08:08,739
CARO:
This whole thing lasted
like 24 hours
1174
01:08:08,807 --> 01:08:11,542
before the vice-presidential
balloting.
1175
01:08:11,610 --> 01:08:13,944
And Kennedy makes
a real try for it.
1176
01:08:14,012 --> 01:08:20,918
LYNDON B. JOHNSON:
Texas proudly casts its vote
for that fighting sailor
1177
01:08:20,986 --> 01:08:24,872
who wears the scars of battle,
and that very senator,
1178
01:08:24,956 --> 01:08:27,958
the next vice president
of the United States,
1179
01:08:28,026 --> 01:08:31,162
John Kennedy of Massachusetts.
1180
01:08:31,213 --> 01:08:34,432
CARO:
For a moment, it seemed actually
like he's going to win.
1181
01:08:34,499 --> 01:08:39,136
But Kefauver beats him.
1182
01:08:39,204 --> 01:08:43,441
He has to make a concession
speech to Kefauver.
1183
01:08:43,508 --> 01:08:46,310
When he gets up there, he's
facing a sea of Kefauver signs.
1184
01:08:46,378 --> 01:08:47,678
They're all waving in his face.
1185
01:08:47,746 --> 01:08:50,181
And you look at Kennedy,
who's always immaculate.
1186
01:08:50,248 --> 01:08:54,952
At this moment,
he is not immaculate.
1187
01:08:55,019 --> 01:08:59,123
Ladies and gentlemen...
1188
01:08:59,191 --> 01:09:01,892
Ladies and gentlemen
of this convention...
1189
01:09:01,960 --> 01:09:05,629
CARO:
In fact, one point of the collar
of his shirt is sticking out.
1190
01:09:05,697 --> 01:09:08,399
And as he's talking,
if you watch his hands,
1191
01:09:08,467 --> 01:09:10,734
he has the gavel in his hands
1192
01:09:10,802 --> 01:09:12,970
and he restlessly
turns it around.
1193
01:09:13,038 --> 01:09:16,440
You saw a young man in defeat,
1194
01:09:16,508 --> 01:09:19,076
and you also see someone
who covers it up so well.
1195
01:09:19,144 --> 01:09:21,412
I hope that this convention
1196
01:09:21,480 --> 01:09:23,681
will make Estes Kefauver's
nomination unanimous.
1197
01:09:23,748 --> 01:09:25,082
Thank you.
1198
01:09:25,150 --> 01:09:29,587
(crowd cheering)
1199
01:09:29,654 --> 01:09:33,356
JEAN KENNEDY SMITH:
Jack was very depressed,
very upset.
1200
01:09:33,358 --> 01:09:37,962
And Bobby was there,
and he couldn't cheer him up.
1201
01:09:38,029 --> 01:09:40,564
And he said, "Let's call Dad."
1202
01:09:40,632 --> 01:09:44,001
So I remember when we
all went to call Dad,
1203
01:09:44,069 --> 01:09:46,237
and he said, "Congratulations!"
1204
01:09:46,304 --> 01:09:47,605
He said to Jack,
1205
01:09:47,672 --> 01:09:49,240
"That's the best thing
that ever happened to you.
1206
01:09:49,307 --> 01:09:50,508
"That was magnificent.
1207
01:09:50,575 --> 01:09:52,476
"I don't know how you did that.
1208
01:09:52,544 --> 01:09:53,978
It was absolutely great."
1209
01:09:54,045 --> 01:09:56,313
He said, "Adlai Stevenson
is going nowhere."
1210
01:09:56,381 --> 01:09:59,650
He said, "He's going nowhere,
and Kefauver's going nowhere.
1211
01:09:59,718 --> 01:10:01,385
"So you've just pulled it off,
1212
01:10:01,453 --> 01:10:03,587
and I can't tell you
how wonderful that was."
1213
01:10:03,655 --> 01:10:08,926
And Jack came out beaming--
beaming.
1214
01:10:08,994 --> 01:10:13,430
NARRATOR:
Joe Kennedy knew
what he was talking about.
1215
01:10:13,498 --> 01:10:16,500
Stevenson lost big
to Eisenhower,
1216
01:10:16,568 --> 01:10:19,069
which made the governor
a two-time loser
1217
01:10:19,137 --> 01:10:21,372
and left the Democratic
nomination wide open
1218
01:10:21,439 --> 01:10:25,309
next time round.
1219
01:10:25,377 --> 01:10:28,712
Jack Kennedy understood
the obstacles
1220
01:10:28,780 --> 01:10:31,282
to winning the presidency
in 1960,
1221
01:10:31,349 --> 01:10:33,217
and they were not small.
1222
01:10:33,285 --> 01:10:36,921
He was younger than anybody
ever elected to the office.
1223
01:10:36,988 --> 01:10:41,725
He had few legislative
achievements to run on.
1224
01:10:41,793 --> 01:10:46,864
And then too,
there was his religion.
1225
01:10:46,932 --> 01:10:50,968
In 1957, a quarter
of the electorate still said
1226
01:10:51,036 --> 01:10:55,973
they were unwilling to vote
for a Catholic for president.
1227
01:10:56,041 --> 01:10:59,543
There was a fear across the land
1228
01:10:59,611 --> 01:11:02,179
that Catholics would be
controlled by the Pope,
1229
01:11:02,247 --> 01:11:05,382
that they couldn't think
on their own,
1230
01:11:05,450 --> 01:11:07,084
and therefore they weren't
really Americans
1231
01:11:07,152 --> 01:11:09,670
in the way that
Protestants were.
1232
01:11:09,754 --> 01:11:13,924
NARRATOR:
Some in the party argued the
country would change in time,
1233
01:11:13,975 --> 01:11:18,963
that he was still a young man,
that he could wait it out.
1234
01:11:19,030 --> 01:11:21,565
Jack Kennedy thought otherwise.
1235
01:11:21,633 --> 01:11:25,502
His star turn
at the 1956 convention
1236
01:11:25,570 --> 01:11:28,672
meant he would be taken
seriously in 1960.
1237
01:11:28,740 --> 01:11:33,577
He was not going to let
this moment pass.
1238
01:11:33,645 --> 01:11:35,446
And I want to be sure
1239
01:11:35,513 --> 01:11:37,982
that we haven't lost something
important in this country,
1240
01:11:38,049 --> 01:11:39,950
that we haven't gone soft...
1241
01:11:40,018 --> 01:11:43,420
NARRATOR:
He had campaigned across the
country for Stevenson in '56.
1242
01:11:43,488 --> 01:11:45,422
...that we just look
to our own private interests.
1243
01:11:45,490 --> 01:11:48,726
Let us cut the budget
and let us save on foreign aid.
1244
01:11:48,793 --> 01:11:51,345
NARRATOR:
And with his speechwriter
Ted Sorensen riding shotgun,
1245
01:11:51,429 --> 01:11:54,431
he just kept going in 1957.
1246
01:11:54,499 --> 01:11:58,302
The reason the Communists
attack us is because they know
1247
01:11:58,370 --> 01:12:01,338
when the United States fails,
the cause of freedom fails.
1248
01:12:01,406 --> 01:12:03,874
NARRATOR:
There were county chairmen
to meet in every state,
1249
01:12:03,942 --> 01:12:06,877
delegates to woo.
1250
01:12:06,945 --> 01:12:12,016
Jackie was pregnant most
of that year, and nervously so.
1251
01:12:12,083 --> 01:12:14,485
She'd already had
one miscarriage
1252
01:12:14,552 --> 01:12:17,988
and delivered
a stillborn daughter.
1253
01:12:18,056 --> 01:12:21,125
But her husband
rarely stopped traveling.
1254
01:12:21,192 --> 01:12:24,795
When Kennedy's new back
specialist went to Palm Beach
1255
01:12:24,863 --> 01:12:29,266
for a consultation,
she, too, got the program.
1256
01:12:29,334 --> 01:12:30,934
CARO:
She comes down
1257
01:12:31,002 --> 01:12:33,303
and there's this huge map
of the United States
1258
01:12:33,371 --> 01:12:34,905
where his father and he
are plotting out, you know,
1259
01:12:34,973 --> 01:12:36,340
his next trips.
1260
01:12:36,408 --> 01:12:39,076
He's traveling
all around the United States,
1261
01:12:39,144 --> 01:12:41,779
trying to make contact
with politicians.
1262
01:12:41,846 --> 01:12:43,614
And she says, "Well, you know,
1263
01:12:43,682 --> 01:12:46,850
to do this,
you need periods of rest."
1264
01:12:46,918 --> 01:12:49,787
And he says, "Well,
there's no time for rest."
1265
01:12:49,854 --> 01:12:51,889
And she says, "Well, you have
to change the schedule."
1266
01:12:51,956 --> 01:12:55,859
And he said, "The schedule
will not be changed."
1267
01:13:01,066 --> 01:13:03,100
NARRATOR:
When he was in Washington,
1268
01:13:03,168 --> 01:13:04,601
Kennedy was always
on the lookout
1269
01:13:04,669 --> 01:13:07,337
for ways to take a stand apart
1270
01:13:07,405 --> 01:13:10,040
from the other would-be
presidents in the Senate:
1271
01:13:10,108 --> 01:13:13,677
Stuart Symington,
Hubert Humphrey
1272
01:13:13,745 --> 01:13:17,347
and, above all, the majority
leader, Lyndon Johnson.
1273
01:13:17,415 --> 01:13:18,599
KENNETH HARPER:
This is a strike-breaking,
1274
01:13:18,683 --> 01:13:20,117
union-busting bill,
in my opinion.
1275
01:13:20,185 --> 01:13:22,186
KENNEDY:
Mr. Harper, this bill is not
a strike-breaking,
1276
01:13:22,253 --> 01:13:23,854
union-busting bill.
1277
01:13:23,922 --> 01:13:25,723
You're the best argument
I know for it:
1278
01:13:25,790 --> 01:13:27,524
your testimony here
this afternoon,
1279
01:13:27,592 --> 01:13:29,226
your complete indifference
to the fact...
1280
01:13:29,294 --> 01:13:32,329
NARRATOR:
He dabbled in domestic issues
where he saw opportunity,
1281
01:13:32,397 --> 01:13:34,665
like in the nationally
televised hearings
1282
01:13:34,733 --> 01:13:37,101
into racketeering
in the labor unions.
1283
01:13:37,168 --> 01:13:39,737
...your complete
indifference to it
1284
01:13:39,804 --> 01:13:41,605
I think makes this bill
essential.
1285
01:13:41,673 --> 01:13:44,508
NARRATOR:
His chief interest
and his focus
1286
01:13:44,576 --> 01:13:48,145
remained foreign affairs.
1287
01:13:48,213 --> 01:13:50,731
His father even managed
to talk Lyndon Johnson
1288
01:13:50,815 --> 01:13:52,850
into giving Jack a coveted slot
1289
01:13:52,901 --> 01:13:55,569
on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
1290
01:13:55,653 --> 01:13:58,522
THOMAS:
When Kennedy said that
he would become chairman
1291
01:13:58,590 --> 01:14:00,357
of the African subcommittee
1292
01:14:00,425 --> 01:14:01,759
in the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee,
1293
01:14:01,826 --> 01:14:04,428
he sort of got a commitment that
it would never have to meet.
1294
01:14:04,496 --> 01:14:07,164
And Johnson thought that was
typical of the kind of committee
1295
01:14:07,232 --> 01:14:09,366
that Kennedy would like to run.
1296
01:14:13,004 --> 01:14:16,940
REPORTER:
Scenes like this are taking
place daily all over Algeria,
1297
01:14:16,991 --> 01:14:21,028
as French colonial troops round
up natives by the thousands
1298
01:14:21,112 --> 01:14:24,147
in a desperate attempt to halt
the guerrilla reign of terror
1299
01:14:24,199 --> 01:14:27,284
that has spread the length
and breadth of the colony.
1300
01:14:27,335 --> 01:14:29,286
NARRATOR:
The bloody escalation
1301
01:14:29,337 --> 01:14:31,538
of the three-year-old war
for independence in Algeria
1302
01:14:31,623 --> 01:14:34,758
gave Senator Kennedy
a shot at the spotlight
1303
01:14:34,826 --> 01:14:36,426
anone that played
1304
01:14:36,494 --> 01:14:40,430
to his long-held interest
in foreign policy.
1305
01:14:40,498 --> 01:14:44,868
DALLEK:
He identifies himself
1306
01:14:44,936 --> 01:14:46,904
with a kind of anti-colonial
posture,
1307
01:14:46,971 --> 01:14:50,140
with the idea
that the United States
1308
01:14:50,208 --> 01:14:53,677
is locked in a contest
with the Soviet Union
1309
01:14:53,745 --> 01:14:55,779
for hearts and minds
in the Third World,
1310
01:14:55,847 --> 01:14:57,080
in the developing world--
1311
01:14:57,148 --> 01:14:59,650
in Africa, in Asia,
in Latin America--
1312
01:14:59,717 --> 01:15:04,388
and he sees Algeria
as the case study of the time.
1313
01:15:04,455 --> 01:15:08,392
KENNEDY:
I am concerned today that we are
failing to meet the challenge
1314
01:15:08,459 --> 01:15:12,296
of imperialism on both counts,
both East and West,
1315
01:15:12,363 --> 01:15:14,898
and thus failing
in our responsibilities
1316
01:15:14,966 --> 01:15:16,934
to the free world
and to ourselves.
1317
01:15:17,001 --> 01:15:19,453
What Kennedy was saying was,
1318
01:15:19,537 --> 01:15:24,341
"We know that French imperialism
is going to die out.
1319
01:15:24,409 --> 01:15:26,276
"The question is,
are we going to be
1320
01:15:26,344 --> 01:15:29,079
"on the right side
or the wrong side of history?
1321
01:15:29,147 --> 01:15:32,516
"If we make a choice now,
we can help shape the outcome.
1322
01:15:32,584 --> 01:15:36,186
"If we align ourselves
with Paris until the bitter end,
1323
01:15:36,254 --> 01:15:39,256
"the new generation of leaders
in Algeria will remember that
1324
01:15:39,324 --> 01:15:40,524
and won't talk to us."
1325
01:15:40,592 --> 01:15:42,659
KENNEDY:
I am introducing a resolution
1326
01:15:42,727 --> 01:15:45,929
which I believe outlines
the best hopes for peace
1327
01:15:45,997 --> 01:15:49,099
and a settlement in Algeria.
1328
01:15:49,167 --> 01:15:52,002
WOFFORD:
Dean Acheson,
the former secretary of state,
1329
01:15:52,070 --> 01:15:53,804
came out saying this speech was
1330
01:15:53,872 --> 01:15:58,876
"the irresponsible utterings
of a juvenile senator"
1331
01:15:58,943 --> 01:16:01,511
because it was throwing aside
our alliance
1332
01:16:01,579 --> 01:16:04,181
with Portugal and France
and England
1333
01:16:04,249 --> 01:16:08,118
in support of Africa
and Asia, etcetera.
1334
01:16:08,186 --> 01:16:12,689
NAFTALI:
France was a NATO ally of ours
in Europe.
1335
01:16:12,757 --> 01:16:14,625
Were we going to abandon
our ally
1336
01:16:14,692 --> 01:16:18,896
for the sake of a group
of revolutionaries
1337
01:16:18,963 --> 01:16:21,398
who might turn out
to be Communists?
1338
01:16:21,466 --> 01:16:23,133
Kennedy said, "Yeah,
you take that chance
1339
01:16:23,201 --> 01:16:27,104
because you want to vote with
the future, not with the past."
1340
01:16:27,171 --> 01:16:29,406
TV HOST:
Senator, what do you feel is
the single most critical issue
1341
01:16:29,474 --> 01:16:31,475
facing the Congress
at this time?
1342
01:16:31,542 --> 01:16:33,210
Well, I think
it's the same issue
1343
01:16:33,261 --> 01:16:34,928
which has been facing us
for ten years,
1344
01:16:35,013 --> 01:16:36,763
and that's our relations
with the Soviet Union
1345
01:16:36,848 --> 01:16:39,016
and this question
of war and peace
1346
01:16:39,083 --> 01:16:42,936
and also the question of whether
the uncommitted countries--
1347
01:16:43,021 --> 01:16:44,521
the Middle East,
Africa and Asia--
1348
01:16:44,588 --> 01:16:46,556
will move to the Communist bloc
or our own
1349
01:16:46,608 --> 01:16:50,143
and turn the balance of power
for us or against us.
1350
01:16:50,228 --> 01:16:52,396
And that's obviously the most
important issue today
1351
01:16:52,447 --> 01:16:55,499
and will be during,
I think, our lifetime.
1352
01:17:12,951 --> 01:17:15,669
RICHARD REEVES:
When Sputnik went up
by the Russians,
1353
01:17:15,753 --> 01:17:18,088
the surprise
could not have been greater.
1354
01:17:18,156 --> 01:17:23,076
How did they get ahead of us?
1355
01:17:23,161 --> 01:17:25,912
The Russians claimed
they invented everything:
1356
01:17:25,997 --> 01:17:29,249
the car, the plane, penicillin,
whatever it was.
1357
01:17:29,334 --> 01:17:31,534
The Russians would always say,
"Oh no, we had that first."
1358
01:17:31,586 --> 01:17:34,838
This they had first,
and they proved it.
1359
01:17:34,906 --> 01:17:39,343
NARRATOR:
The October 1957 launch
of Sputnik,
1360
01:17:39,410 --> 01:17:43,013
a 184-pound,
beach-ball sized satellite,
1361
01:17:43,081 --> 01:17:46,083
spurred an instant jump
in cold war hysteria,
1362
01:17:46,150 --> 01:17:49,019
and not without reason.
1363
01:17:49,087 --> 01:17:53,090
If the Soviets were able to
launch a satellite into space,
1364
01:17:53,157 --> 01:17:57,160
could they also reach the U.S.
with nuclear-armed missiles?
1365
01:17:57,228 --> 01:18:01,264
U.S. Air Force bombers
went on 24-hour alert.
1366
01:18:05,136 --> 01:18:07,337
began sending extra planes
The into Soviet airspace,tion
1367
01:18:07,405 --> 01:18:11,274
just to remind Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev
1368
01:18:11,342 --> 01:18:13,677
who had the upper hand
in bombers.
1369
01:18:13,745 --> 01:18:15,479
(explosion)
1370
01:18:15,546 --> 01:18:20,317
When President Eisenhower
pursued more, and more potent,
1371
01:18:20,385 --> 01:18:26,490
nuclear warheads for the U.S.
arsenal, the Soviets answered.
1372
01:18:26,557 --> 01:18:30,560
Six in ten Americans believed
nuclear war was imminent
1373
01:18:30,628 --> 01:18:32,763
and would be catastrophic.
1374
01:18:41,572 --> 01:18:43,340
Kennedy appeared unruffled
1375
01:18:43,408 --> 01:18:46,109
by the rising dangers
of the cold war;
1376
01:18:46,160 --> 01:18:49,846
he increased
his travel schedule,
1377
01:18:49,914 --> 01:18:52,282
running harder state to state,
1378
01:18:52,333 --> 01:18:54,751
the list of delegates
who had supported
1379
01:18:54,802 --> 01:18:57,137
his vice-presidential candidacy
tucked in his pocket.
1380
01:18:59,273 --> 01:19:01,691
CARO:
Jack Kennedy could learn
on the run.
1381
01:19:01,759 --> 01:19:04,861
So he's traveling
around the country,
1382
01:19:04,912 --> 01:19:07,631
and he's seeing
that politics is changing.
1383
01:19:07,698 --> 01:19:09,433
He's learning that the power
1384
01:19:09,500 --> 01:19:11,735
isn't back
in Washington anymore;
1385
01:19:11,803 --> 01:19:14,037
the power is with these younger
people in the states,
1386
01:19:14,105 --> 01:19:17,007
if he can just line them up
for him.
1387
01:19:17,075 --> 01:19:20,610
He's learning that the old
party machinery doesn't work.
1388
01:19:20,678 --> 01:19:23,146
NASAW:
He knows that he's got the money
1389
01:19:23,214 --> 01:19:26,216
to mount an independent
campaign,
1390
01:19:26,284 --> 01:19:28,018
that he's got the charisma,
1391
01:19:28,086 --> 01:19:29,719
without the help
of any party bigwigs
1392
01:19:29,787 --> 01:19:33,590
or any party establishment,
1393
01:19:33,658 --> 01:19:37,194
to get his photo
on the cover of Time
1394
01:19:37,261 --> 01:19:40,397
and the Saturday Evening Post
and Look.
1395
01:19:40,465 --> 01:19:45,068
He begins a change
in American politics
1396
01:19:45,136 --> 01:19:47,938
that is quite significant.
1397
01:19:48,005 --> 01:19:50,307
He signals the beginning
of a move
1398
01:19:50,374 --> 01:19:54,978
from party dominance
and party candidates
1399
01:19:55,046 --> 01:19:58,498
to the individual,
to the personality
1400
01:19:58,583 --> 01:20:03,720
who can speak to the people
not through the party
1401
01:20:03,787 --> 01:20:08,074
but through television
and the mass media directly.
1402
01:20:08,159 --> 01:20:10,193
It's a pleasure
to have you here,
1403
01:20:10,261 --> 01:20:12,028
and I want you to meet
my daughter Caroline
1404
01:20:12,079 --> 01:20:14,898
and my wife Jackie.
1405
01:20:14,949 --> 01:20:20,670
NARRATOR:
Joe Kennedy was nudging
every editor he knew in 1959:
1406
01:20:20,738 --> 01:20:22,672
"You want to sell magazines?
1407
01:20:22,740 --> 01:20:26,209
Put Jack and Jackie
on your cover."
1408
01:20:26,277 --> 01:20:30,881
Jackie Kennedy chafed at the
requirement of public display,
1409
01:20:30,948 --> 01:20:33,383
but when the photographers
showed up
1410
01:20:33,451 --> 01:20:36,820
on the Kennedy doorstep,
she did not disappoint.
1411
01:20:36,888 --> 01:20:38,421
HUGHES:
It used to drive Humphrey nuts,
1412
01:20:38,489 --> 01:20:40,690
because he said, "Every time
I go into the supermarket
1413
01:20:40,758 --> 01:20:42,325
"to go shopping for Muriel,
1414
01:20:42,393 --> 01:20:45,061
"I see Redbook
or I see Good Housekeeping
1415
01:20:45,129 --> 01:20:46,763
"or I see Saturday Evening Post,
1416
01:20:46,831 --> 01:20:50,867
all with the Kennedys
smiling at me on the cover."
1417
01:20:50,935 --> 01:20:52,602
WILLIAM H. LAWRENCE:
Senator, when are you
going to drop
1418
01:20:52,670 --> 01:20:55,805
this public pretense
of non-candidacy
1419
01:20:55,873 --> 01:20:58,108
and frankly admit that
you already are seeking
1420
01:20:58,176 --> 01:21:01,444
the Democratic presidential
nomination of 1960?
1421
01:21:01,512 --> 01:21:03,897
Well, Mr. Lawrence, I think
there's an appropriate time
1422
01:21:03,981 --> 01:21:07,033
for anyone to make a decision
and a final announcement
1423
01:21:07,118 --> 01:21:09,286
as to whether he's going
to be a candidate...
1424
01:21:19,897 --> 01:21:21,631
JOHN SEIGENTHALER:
It seemed to me
1425
01:21:21,699 --> 01:21:24,668
that there was a sort
of perpetual half-smile
1426
01:21:24,735 --> 01:21:26,937
on his face.
1427
01:21:27,004 --> 01:21:29,773
There was a sense of joy
about what he was doing,
1428
01:21:29,840 --> 01:21:31,157
that he loved what he was doing.
1429
01:21:31,242 --> 01:21:32,976
DALLEK:
He's only 43 years old.
1430
01:21:33,044 --> 01:21:35,645
And a woman says to him,
"Young man, it's too soon."
1431
01:21:35,713 --> 01:21:38,014
And he says, "No, ma'am,
this is my time."
1432
01:21:38,082 --> 01:21:41,151
I am today announcing
my candidacy
1433
01:21:41,219 --> 01:21:44,020
for the presidency
of the United States.
1434
01:21:44,088 --> 01:21:46,489
The presidency
is the most powerful office
1435
01:21:46,557 --> 01:21:48,959
in the free world.
1436
01:21:49,026 --> 01:21:50,894
Through its leadership
can come a more vital life
1437
01:21:50,962 --> 01:21:54,130
for all of our people.
1438
01:21:54,198 --> 01:21:59,636
NARRATOR:
Kennedy officially announced his
candidacy in January of 1960.
1439
01:21:59,687 --> 01:22:02,839
Political odds-makers
put his chances
1440
01:22:02,907 --> 01:22:05,308
well below Senators Symington,
Humphrey and Johnson.
1441
01:22:05,376 --> 01:22:07,543
Thanks for coming today.
1442
01:22:07,595 --> 01:22:09,312
All the luck
in the world.
1443
01:22:09,380 --> 01:22:13,984
NARRATOR:
And if the old rules applied,
Kennedy was surely in trouble.
1444
01:22:14,035 --> 01:22:15,402
The well-worn path
1445
01:22:15,486 --> 01:22:17,187
to the Democratic
presidential nomination
1446
01:22:17,255 --> 01:22:20,190
went through the state party
chairmen
1447
01:22:20,241 --> 01:22:22,659
and the big city bosses
1448
01:22:22,726 --> 01:22:26,963
who still thought they could
keep their delegations in line.
1449
01:22:27,031 --> 01:22:29,749
But Kennedy already had
a handful of key players
1450
01:22:29,834 --> 01:22:32,202
in every state
1451
01:22:32,270 --> 01:22:35,171
and a way to show himself
a winner: the primaries.
1452
01:22:38,242 --> 01:22:40,076
The few state primaries
1453
01:22:40,144 --> 01:22:43,280
were regarded as side events
before 1960,
1454
01:22:43,347 --> 01:22:46,616
fine for junior senators
like Jack Kennedy,
1455
01:22:46,684 --> 01:22:48,718
but not worthy
of serious candidates.
1456
01:22:48,786 --> 01:22:52,922
Lyndon Johnson sat them out
that year.
1457
01:22:52,990 --> 01:22:56,393
HUGHES:
Johnson stayed in the Senate,
stayed as majority leader,
1458
01:22:56,460 --> 01:22:57,961
told everybody else
who was leaving town
1459
01:22:58,029 --> 01:22:59,896
that they should be ashamed
of themselves
1460
01:22:59,964 --> 01:23:01,998
and they should be back
legislating, not speaking.
1461
01:23:02,066 --> 01:23:07,237
DALLEK:
Johnson's supposition is that
he's earned the nomination
1462
01:23:07,305 --> 01:23:11,241
by dint of his role
as Senate majority leader,
1463
01:23:11,309 --> 01:23:13,109
he has very good relations
1464
01:23:13,177 --> 01:23:16,179
with various party bosses
across the country,
1465
01:23:16,230 --> 01:23:18,648
and that Jack Kennedy
is an upstart.
1466
01:23:18,716 --> 01:23:20,750
"Who is this kid
who's trying to displace me
1467
01:23:20,818 --> 01:23:22,419
"and take the nomination?
1468
01:23:22,486 --> 01:23:24,453
I deserve it."
1469
01:23:24,455 --> 01:23:25,989
Nice to see you.
1470
01:23:26,040 --> 01:23:28,041
I'm Senator Humphrey,
just stopping by to say hello.
1471
01:23:28,125 --> 01:23:32,712
NARRATOR:
The most important early primary
was in Wisconsin,
1472
01:23:32,797 --> 01:23:35,298
where Kennedy had
a real opponent:
1473
01:23:35,366 --> 01:23:38,051
the popular senator
from neighboring Minnesota,
1474
01:23:38,135 --> 01:23:39,753
Hubert Humphrey.
1475
01:23:39,837 --> 01:23:41,371
Say, that's just what I need
for my campaign.
1476
01:23:41,422 --> 01:23:42,806
Can I have that?
1477
01:23:42,873 --> 01:23:44,140
I'm running short!
1478
01:23:44,208 --> 01:23:46,543
You should realize
that you are voting
1479
01:23:46,594 --> 01:23:48,211
for the most important
individual
1480
01:23:48,262 --> 01:23:50,246
in the entire free world.
1481
01:23:50,297 --> 01:23:54,217
NARRATOR:
He cast Humphrey
as the establishment candidate
1482
01:23:54,285 --> 01:23:57,237
and ran against
the party bosses.
1483
01:23:57,321 --> 01:24:00,523
And he cast himself
as the underdog
1484
01:24:00,591 --> 01:24:03,326
in spite of a huge advantage
in money and television exposure
1485
01:24:03,394 --> 01:24:07,063
and having celebrity backers
like Frank Sinatra.
1486
01:24:10,468 --> 01:24:14,104
¶ K-E-double-N-E-D-Y
1487
01:24:14,171 --> 01:24:17,974
¶ Jack's the nation's
favorite guy ¶
1488
01:24:18,042 --> 01:24:23,012
¶ Everyone wants to back Jack,
Jack is on the right track ¶
1489
01:24:23,080 --> 01:24:27,417
¶ Come on and vote for Kennedy,
vote for Kennedy ¶
1490
01:24:27,485 --> 01:24:31,087
¶ Keep American strong
1491
01:24:31,155 --> 01:24:33,890
¶ Kennedy, he just keeps
rolling a... ¶
1492
01:24:33,958 --> 01:24:36,960
¶ Kennedy, he just
keeps rolling a... ¶
1493
01:24:37,027 --> 01:24:41,998
¶ Kennedy, he just keeps
rolling along ¶
1494
01:24:42,066 --> 01:24:45,802
¶ Vote for Kennedy!
1495
01:24:45,870 --> 01:24:46,820
Good evening.
1496
01:24:46,904 --> 01:24:48,521
How does the evening
look to you?
1497
01:24:48,606 --> 01:24:50,323
Well, as all these
election nights are,
1498
01:24:50,408 --> 01:24:51,775
it's a very interesting evening.
1499
01:24:51,826 --> 01:24:54,644
NARRATOR:
He knew on Election Day
he was going to win,
1500
01:24:54,712 --> 01:24:57,881
but as the results came in
1501
01:24:57,948 --> 01:25:00,784
and his margin was narrower
than he'd expected,
1502
01:25:00,851 --> 01:25:03,920
Kennedy began to understand
there would be a caveat:
1503
01:25:03,988 --> 01:25:08,491
the party elders could argue
that his victory in Wisconsin
1504
01:25:08,559 --> 01:25:11,628
owed to his overwhelming margin
1505
01:25:11,695 --> 01:25:14,297
in the state's large bloc
of big-city Catholic voters,
1506
01:25:14,365 --> 01:25:16,800
as if his religion had been
an unfair advantage.
1507
01:25:16,867 --> 01:25:21,321
DALLEK:
He understands
this is not enough.
1508
01:25:21,405 --> 01:25:23,673
If he's going to win
that nomination,
1509
01:25:23,741 --> 01:25:25,742
he has to convince people
in the Democratic Party
1510
01:25:25,810 --> 01:25:28,344
and around the country that
he can win Protestant votes,
1511
01:25:28,412 --> 01:25:30,880
that he's more than just
a Catholic candidate.
1512
01:25:30,948 --> 01:25:35,118
His sister, after the victory
in Wisconsin, says to him,
1513
01:25:35,186 --> 01:25:36,552
"Well, what does it mean?"
1514
01:25:36,604 --> 01:25:39,622
He says, "It means we've got
to go on to West Virginia."
1515
01:25:39,690 --> 01:25:43,126
West Virginia is a state
with 97% Protestant population.
1516
01:25:52,203 --> 01:25:56,706
NARRATOR:
Humphrey started with a 20-point
lead in West Virginia
1517
01:25:56,774 --> 01:26:01,277
and the backing of the state's
popular senator, Robert Byrd.
1518
01:26:01,345 --> 01:26:04,280
He also got
a new campaign theme song,
1519
01:26:04,348 --> 01:26:06,783
the anti-Catholic dog-whistle,
1520
01:26:06,851 --> 01:26:11,988
"Give Me That
Old Time Religion."
1521
01:26:12,056 --> 01:26:14,424
The Kennedys answered in kind.
1522
01:26:14,492 --> 01:26:17,360
Joe blanketed the state
with money,
1523
01:26:17,428 --> 01:26:20,196
buying the support
of crucial local bosses.
1524
01:26:20,264 --> 01:26:24,367
Bobby recruited
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.
1525
01:26:24,435 --> 01:26:26,653
to allege that Humphrey
had shirked his military duty
1526
01:26:26,737 --> 01:26:28,404
in World War II.
1527
01:26:28,472 --> 01:26:29,973
Jack Kennedy and I
1528
01:26:30,040 --> 01:26:32,225
served in the United States Navy
for five years...
1529
01:26:32,309 --> 01:26:35,478
DALLEK:
And John Kennedy
then dismisses this
1530
01:26:35,546 --> 01:26:39,516
as a terrible thing
to have been said about Hubert.
1531
01:26:39,583 --> 01:26:41,618
And he keeps going
around the state saying,
1532
01:26:41,685 --> 01:26:43,953
"It's a terrible thing to say
that Hubert's a draft dodger,
1533
01:26:44,004 --> 01:26:45,421
a terrible thing,"
1534
01:26:45,472 --> 01:26:47,456
until it fastened itself
on people's minds
1535
01:26:47,508 --> 01:26:49,559
that Hubert maybe was
a draft dodger.
1536
01:26:49,626 --> 01:26:55,848
NARRATOR:
Kennedy left West Virginia
on May 11, 1960 with a win.
1537
01:26:55,933 --> 01:26:58,101
He got in his private plane,
1538
01:26:58,152 --> 01:26:59,769
outfitted to carry staff
and press--
1539
01:26:59,837 --> 01:27:02,539
a first in presidential
campaigns--
1540
01:27:02,606 --> 01:27:06,142
and flew off to primaries
in Maryland and then Oregon
1541
01:27:06,210 --> 01:27:08,278
to pile up more delegates
1542
01:27:08,345 --> 01:27:12,015
to take to the nominating
convention that July.
1543
01:27:12,082 --> 01:27:15,418
CARO:
Jack Kennedy is going
around the country.
1544
01:27:15,486 --> 01:27:17,620
He's showing the country
what he is:
1545
01:27:17,688 --> 01:27:21,824
this charming, incredible,
adept campaigner.
1546
01:27:21,892 --> 01:27:23,760
The New York Times says,
1547
01:27:23,827 --> 01:27:25,862
"The calliope sound
of a bandwagon
1548
01:27:25,930 --> 01:27:27,597
is being heard
in the Democratic Party."
1549
01:27:27,665 --> 01:27:31,100
All of a sudden,
Lyndon Johnson wakes up.
1550
01:27:31,168 --> 01:27:33,770
Senator Jack Kennedy
of Massachusetts
1551
01:27:33,837 --> 01:27:36,105
has won every primary
in which he's entered.
1552
01:27:36,173 --> 01:27:37,373
He's won them in a breeze.
1553
01:27:37,441 --> 01:27:39,459
Does this entitle him...
1554
01:27:39,543 --> 01:27:41,277
Senator Kennedy is a very
attractive and able young man.
1555
01:27:41,328 --> 01:27:42,945
Let me finish my question:
does this entitle him
1556
01:27:42,997 --> 01:27:44,964
to the Democratic
presidential nomination?
1557
01:27:45,049 --> 01:27:47,133
Well, I wouldn't think
1558
01:27:47,217 --> 01:27:49,385
that we would want to nominate
our president
1559
01:27:49,453 --> 01:27:53,172
on the basis of what four states
or five states or six states
1560
01:27:53,257 --> 01:27:57,460
or eight states might say
in a limited primary system
1561
01:27:57,511 --> 01:28:01,230
where only a few people
participate.
1562
01:28:04,201 --> 01:28:07,570
NARRATOR:
By the time he got around
to announcing his candidacy
1563
01:28:07,638 --> 01:28:10,139
for the Democratic
presidential nomination,
1564
01:28:10,207 --> 01:28:13,076
just a week before the party
convention in Los Angeles,
1565
01:28:13,143 --> 01:28:15,411
Johnson needed a miracle.
1566
01:28:15,479 --> 01:28:19,449
So he pulled out
his last best hope:
1567
01:28:19,516 --> 01:28:21,250
he sent a private investigator
1568
01:28:21,318 --> 01:28:23,186
to dig up Kennedy's
health records.
1569
01:28:23,253 --> 01:28:29,158
DALLEK:
They get to the Democratic
convention in Los Angeles,
1570
01:28:29,226 --> 01:28:32,795
and Johnson unleashes his aide,
a man named John Connally,
1571
01:28:32,863 --> 01:28:36,499
and Connally will issue a story
1572
01:28:36,567 --> 01:28:39,302
about Kennedy's
Addison's disease,
1573
01:28:39,370 --> 01:28:43,873
raising the question of whether
Kennedy is physically capable
1574
01:28:43,941 --> 01:28:46,042
of serving as president.
1575
01:28:48,545 --> 01:28:51,748
NARRATOR:
That Jack Kennedy suffered
from Addison's disease
1576
01:28:51,815 --> 01:28:54,584
was a fact beyond dispute.
1577
01:28:54,652 --> 01:28:57,420
But the Kennedys disputed it.
1578
01:28:57,488 --> 01:29:01,257
"John F. Kennedy does not now
nor has he ever had an ailment
1579
01:29:01,325 --> 01:29:04,193
described classically
as Addison's disease,"
1580
01:29:04,261 --> 01:29:06,129
Bobby claimed.
1581
01:29:06,196 --> 01:29:09,332
The Addison's story
didn't stick,
1582
01:29:09,400 --> 01:29:12,785
but Johnson
kept fighting anyway;
1583
01:29:12,870 --> 01:29:15,872
he still couldn't believe
Jack Kennedy, of all people,
1584
01:29:15,939 --> 01:29:19,308
could take the nomination
away from him.
1585
01:29:21,878 --> 01:29:26,099
For six days and nights,
we had 24-hour sessions.
1586
01:29:26,183 --> 01:29:32,405
Six days and nights, I had
to deliver a quorum of 51 men,
1587
01:29:32,489 --> 01:29:36,325
on a moment's notice,
to keep the Senate in session
1588
01:29:36,393 --> 01:29:38,945
to get any bill at all.
1589
01:29:39,029 --> 01:29:43,116
I'm proud to tell you that
on those 50 quorum calls,
1590
01:29:43,200 --> 01:29:47,336
Lyndon Johnson answered
every one of them.
1591
01:29:47,404 --> 01:29:50,289
(crowd cheering)
1592
01:30:00,684 --> 01:30:09,108
Although some men
who would be president
1593
01:30:09,193 --> 01:30:13,596
on a civil rights platform
answered none.
1594
01:30:13,664 --> 01:30:17,266
Let me just say I appreciate
what Senator Johnson had to say.
1595
01:30:17,317 --> 01:30:21,404
He made some general references
to, uh, perhaps the shortcomings
1596
01:30:21,471 --> 01:30:23,523
of other presidential
candidates,
1597
01:30:23,607 --> 01:30:25,858
but as he was not specific,
I assume he was talking
1598
01:30:25,943 --> 01:30:28,911
about some of the other
candidates and not about me.
1599
01:30:28,979 --> 01:30:30,696
(crowd laughing)
1600
01:30:30,781 --> 01:30:33,649
NARRATOR:
Kennedy parried Johnson
with the grace of a sure winner.
1601
01:30:33,717 --> 01:30:36,619
Bobby, meanwhile,
was working the phones,
1602
01:30:36,686 --> 01:30:38,221
keeping a white-knuckle grip
1603
01:30:38,288 --> 01:30:40,790
on his brother's
committed delegates.
1604
01:30:40,858 --> 01:30:46,229
He knew Johnson operatives were
still trying to peel them away.
1605
01:30:46,296 --> 01:30:54,003
California casts seven-and-one-
half votes for Johnson,
1606
01:30:54,071 --> 01:30:58,274
33-and-one-half votes
for Kennedy.
1607
01:30:58,342 --> 01:31:06,749
SEIGENTHALER:
The Kennedy campaign thought
they had every hole plugged,
1608
01:31:06,817 --> 01:31:13,256
and were aware that
if something came unplugged,
1609
01:31:13,323 --> 01:31:16,592
they wanted to be
on top of it immediately.
1610
01:31:16,660 --> 01:31:20,663
Senator Kennedy,
104-and-a-half votes.
1611
01:31:20,731 --> 01:31:25,067
And every delegation
was covered.
1612
01:31:25,135 --> 01:31:29,872
Wyoming votes from its majority
for Senator Kennedy.
1613
01:31:29,940 --> 01:31:33,442
(crowd cheering)
1614
01:31:33,510 --> 01:31:36,646
The motion is that
the rules be suspended
1615
01:31:36,713 --> 01:31:39,582
and that John F. Kennedy
be nominated
1616
01:31:39,650 --> 01:31:43,820
for president of the United
States by acclamation!
1617
01:31:43,887 --> 01:31:49,725
(crowd cheering)
1618
01:31:52,663 --> 01:31:55,014
Ladies and gentlemen,
your nominee
1619
01:31:55,098 --> 01:31:57,316
and the next president
of the United States,
1620
01:31:57,401 --> 01:31:59,769
John F. Kennedy!
1621
01:32:05,375 --> 01:32:07,877
CARO:
The next morning at 6:30,
1622
01:32:07,945 --> 01:32:10,880
the phone rings
in Bobby Kennedy's suite.
1623
01:32:10,931 --> 01:32:12,648
It's his brother.
1624
01:32:12,716 --> 01:32:16,002
He says, "Count up
how many votes we have
1625
01:32:16,086 --> 01:32:20,823
if we take the Northeast,
the Eastern states, plus Texas."
1626
01:32:20,891 --> 01:32:24,794
Bobby Kennedy calls in
two of his top advisors,
1627
01:32:24,862 --> 01:32:27,163
Ken O'Donnell
and Pierre Salinger.
1628
01:32:27,231 --> 01:32:31,334
He says to them, "Count up
these votes, plus Texas."
1629
01:32:31,401 --> 01:32:33,669
Salinger, as he calls, says,
1630
01:32:33,737 --> 01:32:35,872
"You're not thinking
of nominating Lyndon Johnson.
1631
01:32:35,939 --> 01:32:37,340
You can't do that!"
1632
01:32:37,407 --> 01:32:41,978
NARRATOR:
Kennedy knew how Johnson
talked about him:
1633
01:32:42,045 --> 01:32:44,413
"Little Johnny,"
or "Sonny Boy,"
1634
01:32:44,481 --> 01:32:46,582
"heard his pediatricians
have given him
1635
01:32:46,650 --> 01:32:49,619
a clean bill of health."
1636
01:32:49,686 --> 01:32:53,756
And he knew his brother Bobby
despised Johnson.
1637
01:32:53,824 --> 01:32:56,425
But hatred was
one of the few luxuries
1638
01:32:56,493 --> 01:33:01,264
Kennedy could not afford,
not in picking a running mate.
1639
01:33:01,331 --> 01:33:05,167
The numbers said he needed to
win Texas to win the presidency,
1640
01:33:05,235 --> 01:33:08,404
and there was one man
who could deliver the state.
1641
01:33:08,472 --> 01:33:13,943
WOFFORD:
Robert Kennedy tried to stop it.
1642
01:33:14,011 --> 01:33:16,946
He went down to try to persuade
Johnson not to accept it,
1643
01:33:17,014 --> 01:33:19,415
that the opposition to him
was too great.
1644
01:33:19,483 --> 01:33:22,919
HUGHES:
I remember how haggard
Bobby looked.
1645
01:33:22,986 --> 01:33:24,720
Johnson obviously had told him
1646
01:33:24,788 --> 01:33:27,056
that he didn't want to speak
to his brother's spokesman;
1647
01:33:27,124 --> 01:33:29,458
he wanted to speak
to his brother.
1648
01:33:29,526 --> 01:33:31,327
"If Jack had anything to say,
he can call me.
1649
01:33:31,395 --> 01:33:33,429
Here's my phone number."
1650
01:33:33,497 --> 01:33:35,932
Senator Kennedy
announced his choice
1651
01:33:35,999 --> 01:33:39,402
is Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson
of the state of Texas,
1652
01:33:39,469 --> 01:33:41,304
the Senate majority leader
1653
01:33:41,371 --> 01:33:43,973
and his foremost rival
for the presidential nomination.
1654
01:33:44,041 --> 01:33:47,810
HUGHES:
There are many compartments
in Jack's mind.
1655
01:33:47,878 --> 01:33:50,947
I think the main one was that
he wanted to win.
1656
01:33:51,014 --> 01:33:54,116
WALTER CRONKITE:
And there is the presidential
candidate,
1657
01:33:54,184 --> 01:33:57,086
Senator John Kennedy
of Massachusetts,
1658
01:33:57,154 --> 01:34:00,823
as he comes out of the Biltmore
Hotel to come to his car.
1659
01:34:00,891 --> 01:34:04,644
This motorcade will drive
the three miles out here...
1660
01:34:04,728 --> 01:34:07,813
to the Coliseum.
1661
01:34:07,898 --> 01:34:11,767
NARRATOR:
John F. Kennedy
had never lost an election,
1662
01:34:11,818 --> 01:34:16,806
and now, against all odds,
at age 43,
1663
01:34:16,873 --> 01:34:20,609
he was just one win away
from the presidency.
1664
01:34:20,677 --> 01:34:25,031
He was confident
he could get there.
1665
01:34:25,115 --> 01:34:28,150
What the American voters craved,
Kennedy had come to understand,
1666
01:34:28,201 --> 01:34:31,037
was a good story,
1667
01:34:31,121 --> 01:34:33,172
and the set piece Kennedy
would campaign on
1668
01:34:33,256 --> 01:34:35,958
in the general election
had it all:
1669
01:34:36,009 --> 01:34:40,162
good versus evil;
freedom versus slavery;
1670
01:34:40,213 --> 01:34:43,099
a youthful paladin--
that would be himself--
1671
01:34:43,166 --> 01:34:45,301
and his powerful antagonist:
1672
01:34:45,352 --> 01:34:47,269
the Soviet premier,
Nikita Khrushchev,
1673
01:34:47,337 --> 01:34:51,457
who proved the perfect foil
in 1960.
1674
01:34:53,543 --> 01:34:55,244
KENNEDY:
For the world is changing.
1675
01:34:55,312 --> 01:34:57,363
The old era is ending.
1676
01:34:57,447 --> 01:34:59,915
The old ways will not do.
1677
01:34:59,983 --> 01:35:03,119
Abroad, the balance of power
is shifting.
1678
01:35:03,170 --> 01:35:06,422
New and more terrible weapons
are coming into use.
1679
01:35:06,489 --> 01:35:09,508
One third of the world
may be free,
1680
01:35:09,593 --> 01:35:13,963
but one third is the victim
of a cruel repression
1681
01:35:14,014 --> 01:35:18,901
and the other third is racked by
poverty and hunger and disease.
1682
01:35:18,969 --> 01:35:22,788
Communist influence
has penetrated into Asia.
1683
01:35:22,873 --> 01:35:24,907
It stands in the Middle East
1684
01:35:24,958 --> 01:35:28,744
and now festers some 90 miles
off the coast of Florida.
1685
01:35:28,795 --> 01:35:30,980
DALLEK:
Khrushchev had come
to the United States
1686
01:35:31,048 --> 01:35:35,501
and the United Nations session
in September of 1960,
1687
01:35:35,585 --> 01:35:39,055
banged the shoe on the desk,
and said, "We will bury you.
1688
01:35:39,122 --> 01:35:42,058
We are grinding out missiles
like sausages."
1689
01:35:42,125 --> 01:35:45,261
So there was a heightened sense
of competition,
1690
01:35:45,328 --> 01:35:49,165
and this appealed to Kennedy's
competitive spirit.
1691
01:35:49,232 --> 01:35:52,601
And I say we can't afford
to have the White House
1692
01:35:52,652 --> 01:35:56,122
as a training ground
for an inexperienced man...
1693
01:35:56,206 --> 01:35:59,575
NARRATOR:
Kennedy was certain he could
show himself the better man
1694
01:35:59,626 --> 01:36:03,779
in a race against the sitting
vice president, Richard Nixon.
1695
01:36:03,847 --> 01:36:05,681
But I am not satisfied
as an American
1696
01:36:05,749 --> 01:36:09,485
to be second to the Soviet Union
in sending a missile to the Moon
1697
01:36:09,553 --> 01:36:11,754
or sending Sputnik
around the globe
1698
01:36:11,822 --> 01:36:13,622
or having the second
strongest...
1699
01:36:13,690 --> 01:36:16,058
NARRATOR:
The polls, however,
showed a dead heat
1700
01:36:16,126 --> 01:36:17,726
coming out of the conventions,
1701
01:36:17,794 --> 01:36:21,630
and Kennedy could not shake free
from the mire of religion.
1702
01:36:21,698 --> 01:36:24,967
He watched with increasing ire
1703
01:36:25,035 --> 01:36:27,803
as Protestant ministers
across the country
1704
01:36:27,871 --> 01:36:31,273
stirred opposition
among their parishioners.
1705
01:36:31,341 --> 01:36:33,776
The Reverend
Martin Luther King Sr.
1706
01:36:33,844 --> 01:36:37,780
said he could not in good
conscience vote for a Catholic.
1707
01:36:37,848 --> 01:36:40,783
He instructed his flock
to vote for Nixon.
1708
01:36:40,851 --> 01:36:43,285
KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND:
It was very nasty.
1709
01:36:43,353 --> 01:36:45,020
I mean, let's just be blunt
about it.
1710
01:36:45,088 --> 01:36:48,891
For a while, he didn't really
want to have to deal with it.
1711
01:36:48,959 --> 01:36:52,094
He just wanted people
to look at him
1712
01:36:52,162 --> 01:36:54,797
and judge him on his own record.
1713
01:36:54,865 --> 01:36:58,567
But it was getting so virulent
and so scary
1714
01:36:58,635 --> 01:37:00,202
that he then,
in the fall campaign,
1715
01:37:00,253 --> 01:37:01,837
went to Houston
and spoke to the ministers,
1716
01:37:01,905 --> 01:37:05,741
went sort of into the belly
of the beast, as it were.
1717
01:37:08,678 --> 01:37:11,697
Reverend Meza, Reverend Rock,
1718
01:37:11,781 --> 01:37:16,485
I'm grateful for your generous
invitation to state my views.
1719
01:37:16,553 --> 01:37:18,637
NAFTALI:
His advisors said,
"Don't do this.
1720
01:37:18,722 --> 01:37:22,224
"You are just making religion
an issue.
1721
01:37:22,292 --> 01:37:24,426
"You are actually speaking
to the bigots.
1722
01:37:24,477 --> 01:37:26,178
"The bigots want you to remind
people that you're a Catholic.
1723
01:37:26,263 --> 01:37:27,429
Don't do this!"
1724
01:37:27,480 --> 01:37:28,814
He did it.
1725
01:37:28,899 --> 01:37:31,984
So it is apparently necessary
for me to state once again
1726
01:37:32,068 --> 01:37:35,271
not what kind of church
I believe in,
1727
01:37:35,322 --> 01:37:38,307
for that should be important
only to me,
1728
01:37:38,358 --> 01:37:41,477
but what kind of America
I believe in.
1729
01:37:41,545 --> 01:37:44,213
I believe in an America
1730
01:37:44,281 --> 01:37:47,917
where the separation
of church and state is absolute.
1731
01:37:47,984 --> 01:37:51,554
He was making sort of a moral,
ethical argument
1732
01:37:51,621 --> 01:37:53,889
about what it means
to be American.
1733
01:37:53,957 --> 01:37:56,925
And this is the kind of America
I fought for
1734
01:37:56,977 --> 01:37:58,694
in the South Pacific
1735
01:37:58,761 --> 01:38:00,496
and the kind my brother
died for in Europe.
1736
01:38:00,564 --> 01:38:05,668
No one suggested then that
we might have a divided loyalty,
1737
01:38:05,735 --> 01:38:07,770
that we did not believe
in liberty,
1738
01:38:07,837 --> 01:38:10,573
or that we belonged
to a disloyal group
1739
01:38:10,640 --> 01:38:12,708
that threatened, I quote,
1740
01:38:12,776 --> 01:38:14,510
"The freedoms for which
our forefathers died."
1741
01:38:14,578 --> 01:38:18,013
KATHLEEN KENNEDY TOWNSEND:
And he said, "We would hate
to have a country
1742
01:38:18,081 --> 01:38:20,482
"that millions of people who,
on the day they're baptized,
1743
01:38:20,550 --> 01:38:22,451
are told they can't be president
of the United States."
1744
01:38:22,519 --> 01:38:24,737
So I want you to know
that I'm grateful to you
1745
01:38:24,821 --> 01:38:26,288
for inviting me tonight.
1746
01:38:26,356 --> 01:38:28,624
I'm sure that I have made
no converts to my church...
1747
01:38:28,691 --> 01:38:30,092
(crowd laughing)
1748
01:38:30,160 --> 01:38:33,028
...but I do hope that
at least my view,
1749
01:38:33,096 --> 01:38:36,131
which I believe to be the view
1750
01:38:36,199 --> 01:38:39,534
of my fellow Catholics
who hold office,
1751
01:38:39,586 --> 01:38:41,387
I hope that it may be
of some value
1752
01:38:41,471 --> 01:38:43,389
in at least assisting you
to make a careful judgment.
1753
01:38:43,473 --> 01:38:46,008
Thank you.
1754
01:38:46,076 --> 01:38:48,827
(applause)
1755
01:39:00,223 --> 01:39:07,296
NARRATOR:
The general election campaign
of 1960 featured a new wrinkle:
1756
01:39:07,364 --> 01:39:10,399
the first-ever one-on-one
debates
1757
01:39:10,467 --> 01:39:12,434
between the major-party
candidates,
1758
01:39:12,502 --> 01:39:15,204
broadcast live
across the nation.
1759
01:39:19,209 --> 01:39:21,944
NASAW:
In every campaign from '46 on,
1760
01:39:22,012 --> 01:39:27,483
his father taught Jack how to
use the camera as his friend,
1761
01:39:27,550 --> 01:39:29,752
how to look into the camera,
1762
01:39:29,819 --> 01:39:33,022
to smile, look charming,
but be serious.
1763
01:39:33,089 --> 01:39:36,158
It was no accident,
no accident at all,
1764
01:39:36,226 --> 01:39:40,963
that when Jack Kennedy
debates Nixon,
1765
01:39:41,031 --> 01:39:45,634
Nixon, the champion debater,
comes off worse
1766
01:39:45,702 --> 01:39:49,338
because Nixon doesn't know
how to look into a camera.
1767
01:39:49,406 --> 01:39:51,807
He doesn't know how to connect
with an audience.
1768
01:39:51,875 --> 01:39:55,477
He looks stiff, sweaty, scared.
1769
01:39:55,545 --> 01:40:00,249
And Jack is totally,
absolutely composed.
1770
01:40:00,317 --> 01:40:02,250
This is not to compare
what might have been done
1771
01:40:02,302 --> 01:40:04,269
eight years ago
or ten years ago
1772
01:40:04,354 --> 01:40:06,288
or 15 years ago
or 20 years ago.
1773
01:40:06,356 --> 01:40:08,123
I want to compare
what we're doing...
1774
01:40:08,191 --> 01:40:12,127
DALLEK:
Nixon was someone who would
sweat under the Klieg lights,
1775
01:40:12,178 --> 01:40:15,597
and his makeup ran,
and somebody later said,
1776
01:40:15,665 --> 01:40:19,435
"He looked like
a sinister chipmunk."
1777
01:40:19,502 --> 01:40:22,237
NIXON:
I will concede
1778
01:40:22,305 --> 01:40:24,506
that in all the areas
to which I have referred...
1779
01:40:24,574 --> 01:40:26,675
NARRATOR:
According to opinion polling,
1780
01:40:26,743 --> 01:40:29,595
the majority of people
who listened in on radio
1781
01:40:29,679 --> 01:40:32,548
thought Nixon won
the first debate.
1782
01:40:32,599 --> 01:40:34,083
KENNEDY:
If we appoint people
1783
01:40:34,150 --> 01:40:36,251
to ambassadorships
and positions in Washington...
1784
01:40:36,319 --> 01:40:38,787
NARRATOR:
Among television viewers,
the clear winner was Kennedy.
1785
01:40:38,855 --> 01:40:43,258
KENNEDY:
...then the United States
does not maintain its influence.
1786
01:40:43,326 --> 01:40:45,794
NARRATOR:
The split decision
in the opening debate
1787
01:40:45,862 --> 01:40:47,830
was a wake-up call,
1788
01:40:47,897 --> 01:40:49,498
and through the next
three debates
1789
01:40:49,566 --> 01:40:51,567
and every day in between,
1790
01:40:51,634 --> 01:40:54,803
Kennedy kept hammering
at Eisenhower and Nixon.
1791
01:40:54,871 --> 01:40:58,674
(crowd cheering)
1792
01:40:58,742 --> 01:41:00,776
Can you imagine if this country
elects Dick Nixon
1793
01:41:00,843 --> 01:41:03,896
Republican president
of the United States?
1794
01:41:03,980 --> 01:41:05,714
NARRATOR:
He hit them
for allowing Americans
1795
01:41:05,782 --> 01:41:08,033
to lose their sense
of national purpose,
1796
01:41:08,118 --> 01:41:10,953
for allowing the U.S.
economic engine to sputter
1797
01:41:11,020 --> 01:41:13,122
as compared to the Soviets',
1798
01:41:13,189 --> 01:41:16,825
for allowing the United States
to fall behind the Soviet Union
1799
01:41:16,876 --> 01:41:19,044
in science and technology,
1800
01:41:19,129 --> 01:41:22,498
and most dangerously,
in nuclear arms:
1801
01:41:22,549 --> 01:41:25,067
what Kennedy called
the "missile gap."
1802
01:41:25,135 --> 01:41:27,319
If there is any lesson
of the summit,
1803
01:41:27,404 --> 01:41:29,604
it is that the Communists
believe that
1804
01:41:29,656 --> 01:41:32,908
the military balance of power
is shifting in their direction.
1805
01:41:32,976 --> 01:41:35,143
Why was the United States unable
1806
01:41:35,195 --> 01:41:37,880
to get an indictment
of Castro by name?
1807
01:41:37,947 --> 01:41:40,682
Jack was the representative
1808
01:41:40,750 --> 01:41:43,485
of the new, young,
vibrant generation.
1809
01:41:43,553 --> 01:41:49,725
And Jack ran on that theme
and ran hard.
1810
01:41:49,793 --> 01:41:51,977
The United States looks tired.
1811
01:41:52,061 --> 01:41:55,063
It looks like our brightest days
have been in the past.
1812
01:41:55,131 --> 01:41:58,066
It looks like the Communists
are reaching for the future,
1813
01:41:58,134 --> 01:42:00,519
and we sit back and talk
about the ideals
1814
01:42:00,603 --> 01:42:03,238
of the American Revolution.
1815
01:42:03,306 --> 01:42:06,108
NASAW:
He says Eisenhower
was an old man
1816
01:42:06,176 --> 01:42:09,445
who wasn't watching
over the store anymore,
1817
01:42:09,512 --> 01:42:13,215
and Nixon was his accomplice.
1818
01:42:13,283 --> 01:42:16,819
And only this young hero,
Jack Kennedy,
1819
01:42:16,886 --> 01:42:18,921
who knew how to fight
and knew how to win
1820
01:42:18,988 --> 01:42:20,389
was going to put
the United States
1821
01:42:20,457 --> 01:42:22,658
back in its commanding
position again.
1822
01:42:22,725 --> 01:42:26,428
And there's a direct line
between what Jack says in 1960
1823
01:42:26,496 --> 01:42:29,298
and what he writes in 1939,
Why England Slept:
1824
01:42:29,365 --> 01:42:33,235
the only way to deter aggression
1825
01:42:33,303 --> 01:42:38,841
is to have an impregnable
military defense,
1826
01:42:38,908 --> 01:42:41,810
and I'm the one who can build
that military
1827
01:42:41,878 --> 01:42:45,314
because I'm the new man,
the man of the future,
1828
01:42:45,381 --> 01:42:50,185
the new generation,
not an old, tired Republican.
1829
01:42:50,253 --> 01:42:53,822
(applause)
1830
01:42:53,890 --> 01:42:55,557
NARRATOR:
Kennedy opened
a comfortable lead
1831
01:42:55,625 --> 01:42:57,359
in the polls in mid-October,
1832
01:42:57,427 --> 01:42:59,995
but he was careful
not to get swept up
1833
01:43:00,063 --> 01:43:03,232
in the energy and excitement
of his rallies.
1834
01:43:03,299 --> 01:43:07,035
The Catholic question
still worried him,
1835
01:43:07,103 --> 01:43:09,204
and the issue of civil rights
1836
01:43:09,272 --> 01:43:11,573
demanded cunning
political calculation.
1837
01:43:11,641 --> 01:43:16,311
He placated white-supremacist
Democrats in the South,
1838
01:43:16,379 --> 01:43:19,147
who insisted on their right
to enforce segregation
1839
01:43:19,215 --> 01:43:21,850
in their own states.
1840
01:43:21,918 --> 01:43:23,352
But he also meant
to signal his sympathy
1841
01:43:23,419 --> 01:43:26,822
to the growing number
of African-American voters,
1842
01:43:26,890 --> 01:43:29,725
North and South.
1843
01:43:29,792 --> 01:43:33,262
ANDREW YOUNG:
At that time, the 1960s,
1844
01:43:33,329 --> 01:43:37,466
the black community
across the South
1845
01:43:37,534 --> 01:43:39,902
were largely Abraham Lincoln
Republicans.
1846
01:43:39,953 --> 01:43:42,404
My parents were Republicans.
1847
01:43:42,455 --> 01:43:49,845
And I was rather cynical
about the Kennedy family,
1848
01:43:49,913 --> 01:43:52,281
that they didn't know
any black people.
1849
01:43:52,348 --> 01:43:55,484
There was a deep-seated
personal suffering
1850
01:43:55,552 --> 01:43:58,687
that we had known
in rural South,
1851
01:43:58,755 --> 01:44:01,757
but Kennedy didn't know
any of that.
1852
01:44:01,824 --> 01:44:06,411
NARRATOR:
Kennedy shadowed Nixon's
position on civil rights:
1853
01:44:06,496 --> 01:44:08,914
both candidates talked
of promoting equal opportunity
1854
01:44:08,998 --> 01:44:10,282
for everyone,
1855
01:44:10,366 --> 01:44:13,285
but neither was willing
to pledge federal power
1856
01:44:13,369 --> 01:44:16,471
to actually enforce
court-ordered integration
1857
01:44:16,539 --> 01:44:19,374
of schools and public
accommodations.
1858
01:44:19,442 --> 01:44:23,779
As the campaign headed
into its final days, though,
1859
01:44:23,846 --> 01:44:26,715
Kennedy found a way
to separate himself from Nixon.
1860
01:44:26,783 --> 01:44:29,484
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
1861
01:44:29,552 --> 01:44:32,187
the nation's most respected
civil rights leader,
1862
01:44:32,255 --> 01:44:35,057
was arrested at a protest
in Georgia.
1863
01:44:35,124 --> 01:44:39,328
YOUNG:
They put him in chains and put
him in the back of a paddy wagon
1864
01:44:39,395 --> 01:44:45,300
and drove him 300 miles south
to Reidsville Penitentiary
1865
01:44:45,368 --> 01:44:49,404
in the middle of the night,
and nobody knew where he was.
1866
01:44:49,455 --> 01:44:53,108
WOFFORD:
Coretta King was
six months pregnant,
1867
01:44:53,159 --> 01:44:57,796
and I had never seen her panic,
but she was panicked by this
1868
01:44:57,880 --> 01:44:59,414
and called me and said,
1869
01:44:59,465 --> 01:45:02,384
"I think they're going
to kill him,"
1870
01:45:02,452 --> 01:45:04,386
and, you know,
"Can't you do anything?"
1871
01:45:04,454 --> 01:45:08,123
NARRATOR:
Kennedy's brother-in-law,
Sargent Shriver,
1872
01:45:08,191 --> 01:45:10,158
went to see if the candidate
1873
01:45:10,226 --> 01:45:13,462
might be willing to reach out
to Dr. King's wife.
1874
01:45:13,529 --> 01:45:15,998
Shriver knew the Kennedy
political operation
1875
01:45:16,065 --> 01:45:18,867
wanted no part
of a civil rights controversy
1876
01:45:18,935 --> 01:45:21,570
in the final days
of the campaign.
1877
01:45:21,638 --> 01:45:24,139
WOFFORD:
He said, "You know, you've been
trying to figure out
1878
01:45:24,207 --> 01:45:26,842
"what you could do that would
help in this situation.
1879
01:45:26,909 --> 01:45:29,378
"You can't issue
a public statement,
1880
01:45:29,445 --> 01:45:33,582
but what about calling her
and conveying your sympathy?"
1881
01:45:33,650 --> 01:45:36,151
He said Kennedy thought
for a couple of minutes,
1882
01:45:36,219 --> 01:45:39,121
and then a good Kennedy grin,
said, "That's a very good idea.
1883
01:45:39,188 --> 01:45:40,989
Do you have her number?"
1884
01:45:41,057 --> 01:45:44,326
On the airplane,
Salinger asked Kennedy,
1885
01:45:44,394 --> 01:45:47,062
"Did you do anything
when we were all out?"
1886
01:45:47,130 --> 01:45:50,232
And he said, "Yeah, I called
Mrs. Martin Luther King."
1887
01:45:50,299 --> 01:45:51,800
And they went wild,
1888
01:45:51,868 --> 01:45:55,437
and Bobby was just livid
with anger and fury,
1889
01:45:55,505 --> 01:45:58,073
and fear that it was going
1890
01:45:58,141 --> 01:46:01,209
to lose a number
of Southern states.
1891
01:46:01,277 --> 01:46:04,479
NARRATOR:
Bobby eventually calmed down
1892
01:46:04,547 --> 01:46:08,850
and made a series of discreet
phone calls to help free King.
1893
01:46:08,918 --> 01:46:14,289
But Kennedy's team kept most
of the maneuvering under wraps,
1894
01:46:14,357 --> 01:46:16,391
and they did not talk up
the call to Coretta
1895
01:46:16,459 --> 01:46:18,126
to the national press.
1896
01:46:18,194 --> 01:46:20,629
They were, however,
quick to take advantage
1897
01:46:20,697 --> 01:46:22,998
when Mrs. King went public
1898
01:46:23,066 --> 01:46:25,567
about her sympathetic call
from Kennedy.
1899
01:46:25,635 --> 01:46:29,638
The campaign printed hundreds
of thousands of pamphlets
1900
01:46:29,706 --> 01:46:32,908
telling the story of Kennedy's
kindness to the King family
1901
01:46:32,975 --> 01:46:34,976
and Nixos silence,
1902
01:46:35,044 --> 01:46:37,579
and shipped those pamphlets
across the country,
1903
01:46:37,647 --> 01:46:42,250
many by Greyhound bus, to be
distributed at black churches.
1904
01:46:42,318 --> 01:46:46,421
YOUNG:
The reaction that got the
publicity was Daddy King saying,
1905
01:46:46,489 --> 01:46:49,991
"I got a whole suitcase
full of votes,
1906
01:46:50,059 --> 01:46:53,462
"and I'm going to throw them
toward this Kennedy boy.
1907
01:46:53,529 --> 01:46:57,232
"I wasn't sure about a Catholic
in the White House,
1908
01:46:57,300 --> 01:47:00,368
but he's won me over."
1909
01:47:04,841 --> 01:47:07,576
(lively big band music playing)
1910
01:47:07,643 --> 01:47:14,182
¶ Kennedy is showing,
that's why Kennedy is going... ¶
1911
01:47:14,250 --> 01:47:16,952
NARRATOR:
In the final push
of the campaign,
1912
01:47:17,019 --> 01:47:19,154
the crowds that came out
1913
01:47:19,222 --> 01:47:22,324
were the biggest Kennedy
had ever seen,
1914
01:47:22,391 --> 01:47:25,927
but the candidate was spent
and edgy.
1915
01:47:28,364 --> 01:47:30,499
He didn't like the feel
of the race;
1916
01:47:30,566 --> 01:47:32,901
on the eve of the election,
1917
01:47:32,969 --> 01:47:36,138
he was sure Nixon
was closing on him.
1918
01:47:36,205 --> 01:47:41,176
He wanted to fly west
for a little extra campaigning.
1919
01:47:41,244 --> 01:47:43,211
His advisors insisted
there was little left to do,
1920
01:47:43,279 --> 01:47:47,849
and so Kennedy settled in at the
family compound in Hyannisport
1921
01:47:47,917 --> 01:47:49,851
to watch the results come in.
1922
01:47:49,919 --> 01:47:54,856
¶ All the way!
1923
01:47:58,094 --> 01:48:01,163
NASAW:
The house next door,
which was Bobby's house,
1924
01:48:01,214 --> 01:48:03,431
was set up as
campaign headquarters,
1925
01:48:03,499 --> 01:48:08,236
and all the children's bedrooms
were turned into research rooms.
1926
01:48:08,304 --> 01:48:14,743
As the returns came in,
it was frighteningly close.
1927
01:48:14,811 --> 01:48:18,013
There was a problem
with the Catholic vote,
1928
01:48:18,080 --> 01:48:22,584
which they had hoped
would be 90%, was 80%.
1929
01:48:22,652 --> 01:48:27,355
But worse,
traditional Democratic votes
1930
01:48:27,423 --> 01:48:33,261
in Protestant areas
were not coming in Democratic.
1931
01:48:33,329 --> 01:48:34,729
Protestants weren't voting
for Jack Kennedy.
1932
01:48:34,797 --> 01:48:37,299
They were either just not voting
or they were voting for Nixon.
1933
01:48:37,366 --> 01:48:40,402
DAVID BRINKLEY:
We're trying to settle here,
1934
01:48:40,469 --> 01:48:42,904
so far without any success,
or without enough success,
1935
01:48:42,972 --> 01:48:45,507
one of the closest elections
1936
01:48:45,575 --> 01:48:47,309
in the history
of the United States.
1937
01:48:47,376 --> 01:48:50,078
And so we just waited.
1938
01:48:50,146 --> 01:48:52,547
Nobody could eat much.
1939
01:48:52,615 --> 01:48:55,283
And calls were coming in
from various states.
1940
01:48:55,351 --> 01:48:57,319
Jack was over at his house,
1941
01:48:57,386 --> 01:49:00,856
and Bobby would keep in touch
with him.
1942
01:49:00,923 --> 01:49:03,124
That's the way it lasted
through the night.
1943
01:49:03,192 --> 01:49:04,593
I finally went to bed,
1944
01:49:04,660 --> 01:49:06,061
and it still hadn't
been decided.
1945
01:49:06,128 --> 01:49:09,531
NARRATOR:
Kennedy didn't know
if he'd won or not
1946
01:49:09,599 --> 01:49:11,366
when he went to sleep
that night;
1947
01:49:11,434 --> 01:49:15,120
the press was unable
to make sense of the vote totals
1948
01:49:15,204 --> 01:49:17,739
out of Cook County, Illinois.
1949
01:49:17,807 --> 01:49:20,408
We still have some states
that aren't certain...
1950
01:49:20,459 --> 01:49:23,979
NARRATOR:
Texas was neck-and-neck.
1951
01:49:24,046 --> 01:49:26,815
Nobody could call California.
1952
01:49:26,883 --> 01:49:29,751
BRINKLEY:
So it's 6:00 a.m. in New York,
1953
01:49:29,802 --> 01:49:31,303
and I don't know
how long we'll be here.
1954
01:49:31,387 --> 01:49:33,188
Nobody's told us yet.
1955
01:49:33,256 --> 01:49:36,625
CHET HUNTLEY:
Ray Sherer, NBC's campaign
and election reporter,
1956
01:49:36,692 --> 01:49:40,896
is now standing by
at Hyannis, Massachusetts.
1957
01:49:40,963 --> 01:49:43,632
Is Senator Kennedy asleep,
do you know?
1958
01:49:43,699 --> 01:49:45,901
RAY SHERER:
He's asleep, Dave,
he's gonna rise at 9:15.
1959
01:49:45,968 --> 01:49:47,569
He got in the sack about 4:30.
1960
01:49:47,637 --> 01:49:49,104
That'll give him
about five hours,
1961
01:49:49,171 --> 01:49:52,173
and he's gonna check first thing
1962
01:49:52,241 --> 01:49:54,509
to see if there has been
any word from Mr. Nixon,
1963
01:49:54,577 --> 01:49:56,278
and maybe there won't,
1964
01:49:56,345 --> 01:49:58,513
in which case you fellas will
have to stay on the air all day.
1965
01:49:58,581 --> 01:50:02,017
NARRATOR:
When he did wake up
the next morning,
1966
01:50:02,084 --> 01:50:05,954
Jack Kennedy was
president-elect.
1967
01:50:06,022 --> 01:50:07,856
He had won the popular vote
1968
01:50:07,924 --> 01:50:10,358
by less than one quarter
of one percent.
1969
01:50:10,426 --> 01:50:15,230
JEAN KENNEDY SMITH:
It was very nerve wracking,
and then it was done.
1970
01:50:15,298 --> 01:50:17,732
So we went out
and played touch football.
1971
01:50:17,800 --> 01:50:22,470
And our father came out, said,
"It's time for lunch."
1972
01:50:22,538 --> 01:50:26,675
And whenever he wanted,
he got immediately.
1973
01:50:26,742 --> 01:50:30,011
He was a stickler for time.
1974
01:50:30,079 --> 01:50:32,213
Jack and I were the last ones
to go up,
1975
01:50:32,281 --> 01:50:33,782
and he turned to me and said,
1976
01:50:33,849 --> 01:50:35,784
"Doesn't he know I'm president
of the United States?"
1977
01:50:35,851 --> 01:50:38,586
And I thought, "That's a perfect
ending to a day."
1978
01:50:38,654 --> 01:50:45,527
NARRATOR:
Kennedy's razor-thin advantages
in Illinois and ten other states
1979
01:50:45,594 --> 01:50:48,630
had made the difference
in electoral votes.
1980
01:50:48,698 --> 01:50:51,266
His huge margin
among black voters
1981
01:50:51,334 --> 01:50:53,335
helped pull him through
1982
01:50:53,402 --> 01:50:56,705
in as many as five
of those key states.
1983
01:50:56,772 --> 01:50:59,808
And the bet on Lyndon Johnson
had paid off;
1984
01:50:59,875 --> 01:51:04,312
the Kennedy-Johnson ticket
had carried Texas.
1985
01:51:04,380 --> 01:51:08,116
JOHN CHANCELLOR:
There he is, there he is,
1986
01:51:08,167 --> 01:51:11,002
the next president
of the United States.
1987
01:51:11,087 --> 01:51:12,971
He always sits
in the front seat,
1988
01:51:13,055 --> 01:51:15,557
and incidentally,
so does Mr. Khrushchev.
1989
01:51:15,624 --> 01:51:18,660
These people find you can wave
more easily from that point.
1990
01:51:18,728 --> 01:51:21,930
And I can assure you
1991
01:51:21,998 --> 01:51:25,283
that every degree of mind
and spirit that I possess
1992
01:51:25,368 --> 01:51:27,786
will be devoted
to the long-range interest
1993
01:51:27,870 --> 01:51:29,788
of the United States
1994
01:51:29,872 --> 01:51:32,741
and to the cause
of freedom around the world.
1995
01:51:32,792 --> 01:51:37,078
So now my wife and I prepare
for a new administration
1996
01:51:37,129 --> 01:51:39,964
and for a new baby.
1997
01:51:40,049 --> 01:51:41,049
Thank you.
1998
01:51:41,117 --> 01:51:45,754
(applause)
1999
01:51:45,805 --> 01:51:49,624
NARRATOR:
John F. Kennedy had spent
the campaign of 1960
2000
01:51:49,675 --> 01:51:51,226
telling the American people
2001
01:51:51,293 --> 01:51:54,145
he would be a new kind
of president.
2002
01:51:54,230 --> 01:51:57,482
He'd promised not st dynamism,
but strength.
2003
01:51:57,566 --> 01:52:00,535
He had promised to stand up
to the Soviets
2004
01:52:00,603 --> 01:52:05,573
and to protect American
preeminence in the world.
2005
01:52:05,641 --> 01:52:07,842
His stubborn insistence
2006
01:52:07,910 --> 01:52:10,578
on being the kind of leader
he'd vowed to be
2007
01:52:10,646 --> 01:52:14,015
would make his presidency
among the most energetic,
2008
01:52:14,083 --> 01:52:17,919
the most far-reaching,
the most perilous,
2009
01:52:17,987 --> 01:52:21,022
and the most tragic
in American history.
2010
01:52:28,597 --> 01:52:30,965
Exclusive corporate funding
for American Experience
2011
01:52:31,033 --> 01:52:32,033
is provided by:
2012
01:52:38,774 --> 01:52:41,409
And by contributions
to your PBS station from:
2013
01:52:50,319 --> 01:52:53,354
Closed Captioning by
Media Access Group at WGBH
access.wgbh.org
2014
01:53:08,971 --> 01:53:12,907
There's more American Experience
online at pbs.org,
2015
01:53:12,975 --> 01:53:15,110
where you can find out
how to join the discussion
2016
01:53:15,177 --> 01:53:16,744
on Facebook and Twitter.
2017
01:53:16,812 --> 01:53:22,250
American Experience "JFK"
is available on Blu-ray and DVD.
2018
01:53:22,318 --> 01:53:27,088
To order, visit shopPBS.org
or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
2019
01:53:27,156 --> 01:53:30,258
American Experience is also
available to download on iTunes.
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