All language subtitles for Episode 2 - The Path To Power

When your dream

is to lead the world,

what would it take to put
your family in the white house?

Charisma?

Vitality?

An adoring wife?

John F. Kennedy seems

the perfect candidate.

But behind the facade lurk dark secrets.

Jfk will need everything
his family can offer -

glamour, money and power -

to win the presidency
of the United States.

The Kennedys must be thrilled

that there's a change in decade.

They can try to put the war behind them.

Joe senior has lost his favorite son,

Joe junior,

his favorite daughter kick,

and yet

for a family that's
endured so much tragedy,

they don't look like it.

They look like they're
at play all the time.

25-year-old aspiring
attorney Robert Kennedy

has given the dynasty its newest member.

Bobby marries Ethel skakel

who gives birth to the first grandchild

of Joe and Rose Kennedy, Kathleen.

John, known as Jack,

is eight years older than Bobby

and, at 34,

is in his third term as a congressman.

Yet he still leads a bachelor's life.

Jack was having a lot
of fun not being married.

He had lots of girlfriends,

he was a party boy.

He was a playboy.

He was regarded by his peers in congress

as being a bit of a dilettante.

Joe yearns for his son
to become president.

And the next logical step

is a seat in the US senate.

But in Jack's first appearance
on national television

he seems undecided.

Are you going to run?

I think that we have a good chance

of carrying Massachusetts in 1952

and I'm seriously considering running,

I'm not sure yet what
exactly I'm going to do,

it's still a year away.

Jack felt the pressure.

I think papa really wanted him

to go for the top and that was it.

In the 1950s, it would be unheard of

in the United States

for anyone with presidential ambitions

to think of running as an unmarried man.

It was absolutely essential,

in Joe Kennedy senior's mind,

that Jack be married.

Jack's pal, Charles bartlett

plays matchmaker -

inviting Jack and a
female friend to dinner.

This young unmarried
lady was Jackie bouvier.

And actually Kennedy
followed her out to her car

after the dinner party was over.

So she had enormous appeal.

An aspiring reporter,

21-year-old Jackie has just completed

her bachelor's degree

at George Washington university.

Jackie had the reputation

of being what people then called a brain.

Very, very bright.

But at the same time very glamorous.

Jackie was different

from the kinds of women he
dated or had one night stands with,

and there was real chemistry between them.

Jackie saw a bigger world for herself

and she found that in Jack Kennedy.

In 1952,

Jack finally resolves to run

for a US senate seat in Massachusetts.

He's up against Henry cabot lodge,

who's from a great
Massachusetts political family,

whose grandfather had defeated
Jack Kennedy's grandfather

honey Fitz a half century before.

Now meet your candidate

for the United States senate.

How can this young

whippersnapper of a congressman

without much of a record

run against Henry cabot lodge junior?

Who has an ancestry

that is much more distinguished?

It was a brazen move,

a move that looked totally quixotic

and nobody gave him much of a shot.

Jack needs all the help he can get.

And his mother Rose

is one of his most important assets.

Rose was the expert at campaigning

because she had been campaigning

with her father from the
time she was a teenager,

when he had run for mayor of Boston.

Rose Kennedy was fantastic

in front of an audience.

She knew exactly what to say

and she knew exactly how to say it.

She was extremely smart about politics

but she was also very
smart about human nature.

There was an idea to
have formal tea parties

where Rose Kennedy and her daughters,

and Jack Kennedy,

would go to a fancy
hotel in Massachusetts,

and they would invite
all the ladies of the town

to dress in their best finery,

and come to have formal
tea with the Kennedys.

It was really one of the first times

that women got involved in politics

in a very sustained way.

Jack's sisters and his mother Rose

would wear what we call poodle skirts.

And then they would stand up,

and they reveal that their skirts

are embroidered 'jfk'.

But his father Joe understands

that Jack needs far more

than fashion and fine China.

Joe Kennedy didn't like

what he thought was a lethargic campaign

that the official campaign
manager was running.

Joe wants his third son Bobby,

now a lawyer at the department of justice,

to take charge.

Jack is unconvinced.

Jack thought that Bobby was a prude

and a moralizer, and was annoyed by him.

He said that Bobby was a pain in the ass.

My father and John Kennedy

were not very close
as they were growing up

because there was a big
gap in age between them.

He was considered

as the runt of the family,

he was UN-athletic in
a very athletic family.

And, what that did with Bobby is,

it gave him the determination

to prove to his dad that he mattered,

that he could do these difficult tasks

that Joe threw his way.

And the most difficult
of all, at this point,

was making his brother a US senator.

Bobby rises to his father's challenge

and takes on a new role

as the Kennedy family fixer.

Bobby finds the campaign in a shambles.

All these old hacks sitting around,

and Bobby tells the hacks
to get out or shape up,

to stop loafing

and to get out and knock on some doors.

Daddy was organized,
he was straightforward,

he held people accountable

and Jack liked that.

Sometimes in politics

you need somebody to be the bad cop.

Bobby was willing to be the bad cop.

The charismatic Jack,

with his enforcer brother Bobby,

defeats Henry cabot lodge

to win the senate seat.

Kennedy wins what was
one of the biggest upsets

in maybe the state's political history.

Well I guess you're glad
it's all over aren't you Bobby?

I am Jack.

It was Jack's victory in 1952

that gave Kennedy the idea

that he in fact could win the presidency.

But if senator Kennedy

wants to make the white house his own

he needs to follow his father's advice

and show the world

he has a good woman at his side.

The social event

of the year.

The wedding of senator John F. Kennedy

to lovely Jacqueline Lee bouvier,

a radiant bride as she
arrives at Newport's

St. Mary's church...

Kennedy knew he was marrying someone

who ticked off a lot of boxes.

She was catholic,

she was from a very
socially prestigious family

and she would be a good
wife in the white house.

When you watch the
footage from their wedding,

it looks like you're watching a film.

It doesn't seem real.

You have jfk - he is so good looking.

He moves with ease. He's trim.

Even in black and white he
seems like he's made of gold.

And then you have Jackie.

And she just looks like a
star of stage and screen.

Everything seems perfect,
everyone seems at ease.

And yet we learn later that Jackie

was pretty unhappy with the wedding.

Joe wants the wedding

to be a place to invite people

who will be able to benefit his son

as he eventually

runs for president of the United States.

Jackie has this naive idea
that a wedding is a place

where you invite your friends and family

and celebrate because you're in love.

Joe wins.

She's thrust into the limelight.

She's almost crushed by photographers.

She has thousands of people literally

at her reception she doesn't know

because they've been
invited by her father-in-law.

And she's wearing a dress
that she doesn't care for,

that she says made her
look like a lampshade.

I'm sure Jackie would've liked

to have chosen her own dress,

but that's simply not how it worked out.

Joe senior chose her dress.

If Jackie didn't know that she wasn't

just marrying a person but a family

before the wedding,

she definitely learned
during the planning process,

that this was a group affair.

She was genuinely in love with jfk,

and she believed that they
would have a wonderful marriage.

The first moment in which
she may have realized

that was not her destiny

was on their honeymoon.

In the midst of the honeymoon,

Jack decides that they're
going to leave acapulco

and they're going to
go to northern California,

to visit with his Navy
mate red fay, Paul fay,

and Paul takes home movies of the visit.

In one scene Jack
grabs Jackie very briefly

and twirls her around.

But lets her go, almost
as if he's a teenage boy

and he feels a little bit awkward

to show affection towards his wife.

And then he grabs the
wife of his friend, Paul fay,

and he puts his hand on her derriere.

And so one wonders,

is this a foretaste

of what is coming in the marriage?

I asked him,

you're trying so hard to be president.

Why do you jeopardize it

by going around with girls?

And he said,

'because I can't help it.'

Jackie would always put on a brave face

regarding her husband's absences.

Jackie I think probably
being married to a senator

would compare to being a doctors wife

because a senator must
be on call at all times?

I suppose it is like
being married to a doctor

in that they have these late hours,

they go away at a moment's notice,

work late.

Jack's affairs

are not the only thing he's hiding.

The great secret about Jack Kennedy

is not his sex life.

It's his health. He is a sick man.

The joke always was
that if a mosquito bit Jack,

the mosquito would get sick.

There wasn't a day of Jack's life

that he wasn't in pain.

Jack suffered from a very debilitating

back issue.

Jack finds a doctor who says

the only way to relieve
this pain is surgery.

But there are really terrible risks.

The problem with operating on him

was that he had Addison's disease.

This is a potentially fatal disease,

a deficiency of the adrenal glands

that can kill you.

Those with Addison's
are very prone to infection.

The doctors were very honest and said,

first we don't know whether
we can cure your back ailment

and second, you could die

of an infection that could come from it.

The doctors tell him there's a 50% chance

it will kill him.

And in discussions with
his father Kennedy says,

'look, I'd rather take this chance,

because the alternative

is that I won't live a full life.'

Joe is terrified.

And he says to Jack
please don't do this surgery.

Joe has lost his daughter
through a botched lobotomy

and he has two other children who've died,

he doesn't want to lose Jack.

After enduring years

of severe back pain,

Jack Kennedy finally makes
a momentous decision.

He was having an operation

that could cost him his life.

The surgery goes very badly.

He develops a life-threatening infection.

His father wonders,

am I going to lose now my second son?

He is actually given the last rites.

And yet miraculously he pulls through.

The doctors had inserted a steel plate

to try settle his back.

And Jackie has to take over the job

of trying to change the dressings

on this gruesome wound.

Jack recovers with Jackie's support -

but he believes his days may be numbered.

If you think you are going to die young,

then you will act differently

because you know your
time is short on this earth.

Tension mounts around convention hall

in Chicago as nomination time approaches

and delegates stream
in for the big session.

It was not long after
Jack's back operation.

But he wanted to prove to everyone

that he was vital and fit.

At the Democratic national convention

Jack surprises everyone

by announcing his
candidacy for vice president.

So Jack looks at Bobby and says Bobby,

would you call dad and give him the news.

Joe Kennedy wanted his son

to be president of the United States.

But he didn't want him to
try for vice president and lose,

and somehow blot his copybook

before he was ready for the real run

for the white house.

The old man just rages
obscenely over the phone.

'You boys don't know what you're doing'

almost like a father

talking to a bunch of,
you know, five year olds.

At this point Jack Kennedy
for the first time in his life

disobeyed his father totally.

Bobby Kennedy and Jack Kennedy

run around on the convention floor

trying to round up delegates.

It's very unorganized, it's very amateur,

it's enthusiastic.

But they don't really know
what the hell they're doing.

Senator kefauver becomes

the vice presidential nominee

in one of the most
thrilling wire to wire finishes

that any convention has seen in years.

It's close, they almost do win.

Ultimately they lose.

Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts.

This was hard for him.

This was the first time
Jack Kennedy had ever lost.

Ladies and gentlemen,
recognizing that this convention

has selected a man who has campaigned

in all parts of the country.

He makes clear he
wants the entire convention

to rally around estes kefauver.

I hope that this convention

will make estes kefauver's
nomination unanimous.

Thank you.

There's a tradition in American politics

of knowing how to concede

so that this is the first
step to a future victory.

Jack has turned defeat on its head.

And there's more good news,

Jackie is expecting a baby.

By the mid '50s,

the Kennedy dynasty is growing.

Bobby has four children,

Jack's younger sister Patricia has one

and eunice has two.

Jack wants children of his own

and it would be the icing on the cake

for a young man seeking the presidency.

Jackie had already had a miscarriage

and in 1956 there was thrill

that she was pregnant again.

She went to stay with her mother

and await the birth of their child.

John F. Kennedy went to visit his father

in the south of France.

He then went on a cruise with his buddies.

While he was incommunicado from Jackie,

Jackie goes into labor
suddenly and prematurely.

She is raced off to the hospital

and has quite a bit of hemorrhaging

and it's a very fearful situation.

Jack couldn't be reached
for a couple of days

and it was Bobby

who went to the hospital.

Bobby tells her when she
comes out of anesthesia

that she has lost the baby.

Bobby's public image was as the hard guy.

But privately he was soft.

Jack's public image

was as the genial, graceful guy.

Privately Jack was hard.

The word back from jfk

to use his language

was "the baby is lost,

there's nothing I can do,

I'm sure Jackie will be fine".

His father and others in his life told him

"if you ever want to run for president,

you better get your ass back here".

He didn't come back because
he wanted to be with Jackie,

he came back because
he wanted to make sure

that he wasn't damaging his chances

for eventual presidency.

Meanwhile Bobby takes a job as an attorney

investigating corruption for the senate.

Bobby Kennedy's life had been defined

by serving his father and his brother.

But in the mid-50s you sense

that he's trying to
make a name for himself.

At christmastime 1956

the family is gathered in hyannis port,

and Bobby Kennedy comes to his father,

and says; I want to lead an investigation,

into organized crime.

My father said,

"either they're going to
own the country or we are."

So Joe Kennedy says:

"You don't know what you're getting into,

don't go near that."

And Bobby Kennedy says "I am,

and I'm going straight
up to capitol hill".

His father just jumps up from the table

and storms out and slams the door.

In 1957,

senate investigator Robert Kennedy

launches an all-out
assault on a growing threat -

corruption in organized labor.

The mob was moving into unions

and many aspects of American society.

The FBI wasn't doing anything about them.

Bobby Kennedy was a moralist.

He was a good catholic.

The idea of corruption within our society

was deeply offensive to him.

He really saw it as,

at that point,

the biggest threat to American democracy.

But Bobby's father is not happy.

Joe is furious.

It's possible that Joe
is afraid that Bobby,

if he investigates organized crime,

is going to trip over Joe's traces.

The gossip about Joe was
that he was a bootlegger.

That was never proved,

but he was shady,

with some shady friends.

Bobby was very conscious

of the sins of his father.

He wanted to cauterize this,

and cut this out,

and distance it from the family.

Bobby Kennedy ran this
extraordinary set of hearings.

Er, Mr. Hoffa...

And pity the witness who
had to be before Bob Kennedy.

Well, whose back were you
going to break, Mr. Hoffa?

Figure of speech.

I don't even know who I was talking about

and I don't know what
you're talking about.

He's interrupting,

he's bullying them...

Let's find out whose back
you were going to break.

- Well, I don't know - figuratively?

Bobby is not alone -

his wife Ethel

is his most loyal supporter.

Mrs. Kennedy,

do you attend many of
Bob's committee hearings?

Mr. Murrow, I do, yes, most all of them.

And you can really tell, I think,

when the witness is lying.

Ethel and Bobby

would strategize.

And Ethel would say,
"you've got to go in there

and you've just got
to give it to him good,

and don't you let him
get away with it, Bobby,

don't you let him get
away with any of it."

Atta boy!

Ethel shared his sense of the world,

and that's one of the many reasons

why they got along so brilliantly.

Do you two spend much time

discussing the senate hearings at home?

I can't think of anything else we discuss.

The way she phrased it was

"the world is divided into
white hats and black hats..."

No, it really fascinates me.

"The black hats are them,
the white hats are US."

When other parents

would take their kids to the playground

to swing on the swings or
go on the merry-go-round,

my mother took US to the
senate racket committee hearings

so that some of my first words were

"I refuse to answer that question..."

...upon the grounds that the answer

may tend to incriminate me.

Taking on the mob

is never a risk-free thing to do.

It put the family in peril.

There were a lot of death threats,

there were, you know, phone calls,

and Ethel Kennedy was
afraid for her children.

At one point, you know,

they threatened to

throw acid in our eyes.

These Kennedys shared

what Bobby called

the guts of a cat burglar.

They were not afraid

to go into areas

where other people

just would not go.

One of the toughest gangsters

that Bobby summons before the senate

is Sam giancana.

Sam giancana is the head

of the Chicago outfit.

This is the most powerful, wealthy

section of organized crime.

Would you tell US
about the vice operations

down in lake county, Indiana?

I decline to answer
because I honestly believe

my answer might tend to incriminate me.

Bobby presses him with questions

about bodies in trunks,

and giancana takes the fifth forty times

and finally starts laughing.

Can you tell US anything
about any of your operations,

or will you just giggle

every time I ask you a question?

I decline to answer
because I honestly believe

my answer might tend to incriminate me.

I thought only little girls giggled,

Mr. Giancana.

And then Bobby has an unexpected visitor.

Despite his opposition
to Bobby's involvement,

Joe Kennedy is finally endorsing

his courageous son.

When Joe came and watched Bobby perform,

I think it was an
extraordinary moment for Joe

in understanding that
this runt of his litter, Bobby,

was as tough and as smart as he was.

And for Bobby,

it was winning the
paternal acknowledgement

that he had spent his life trying to get.

As Bobby's reputation grows,

a young politician decides to join him

at the hearings.

At the time,

John F. Kennedy is a pretty
undistinguished senator,

one with great ambition.

He becomes part of that investigation

and really distinguishes himself

thanks to his younger brother.

Mr. Hoffa, this bill is
not a strike-breaking,

union-busting bill.

You're the best argument I know for it.

Your testimony here this afternoon,

your complete indifference to the fact

that numerous people...

It makes Jack look tougher.

He's not just an effete playboy,

he's chasing the mob.

And so this is good
publicity for the Kennedys.

Jack receives another boost.

After a miscarriage and a stillbirth,

Jackie gives birth to their first child.

I want you to meet my daughter Caroline

and my wife Jackie.

Admired as a principled politician

and a family man,

the young senator believes

his time has come.

I am today

announcing my candidacy

for the presidency of the United States.

The presidency is the most powerful office

in the free world.

Through its leadership
can come a more vital life

for all our people.

But first, Jack must mount

a primary campaign

with the aim of winning the
Democratic party's nomination.

The Kennedy family machine

kicks into high gear.

Er, thank you very much.

I'm sorry that my mother
couldn't be here tonight.

And my sister eunice,

and my sister Jean, and my brother Teddy.

And my cousin Jo garland, and my cousin.

So you're going to have to settle with me.

Thank you very much.

You're never running against one Kennedy.

You're running against every Kennedy.

It's a full family affair.

Jackie was willing to go with Jack

and campaign with him in small towns,

and go through poor homes
and meet with the people.

And because she was so glamorous

and yet down to earth,

she really connected with the people,

as did her husband.

She could make you feel

as if you were the only person in her life

at that moment

when she was talking to you.

But even the allure of Jackie Kennedy

cannot guarantee victory.

Kennedy is a very attractive candidate,

but he has three big weaknesses.

He's catholic,

he's a womanizer,

and he's deathly sick.

The womanizing and
the illness he can hide.

He can't hide that he's a catholic.

The Kennedys take on

the country to secure Jack's
Democratic nomination.

But opposition mounts.

Fellas like you will vote against Kennedy

because of his religion? Or will you?

- I will, yes. - You will?

- I will. - Why?

I just think that I should
vote for a protestant.

There was a lot of anti-catholic fervor

in 1960.

Billy Graham, the famous preacher,

along with Norman Vincent peale,

head of a church,
co-signed a letter saying,

"don't vote for John Kennedy,

because then we'll have the pope

telling US what to do."

It's a reminder that,

for all their wealth and power,

the Kennedys are still outsiders.

My grandmother Rose, being Irish catholic,

always felt that she was not accepted

by the wasps - the white
anglo Saxon protestants.

My grandfather Joe Kennedy

once read in the paper

a description of himself as an irishman.

And he said, "when are they going to stop

calling me Irish? I'm an American."

As the people of West
Virginia prepare to vote,

what do you think the result will be?

Well, I hope we're going to do well,

but I guess we'll know better

by the time the votes are counted.

The West Virginia primary

is a make-or-break
moment for the Kennedys.

Jack Kennedy had to show that he could win

in a state that was 98% protestant.

If you could win in West Virginia,

you could prove that a catholic could win.

Jack and Bobby

made a brilliant strategic decision,

which was rather than let

the issue of his catholic faith

fester in the background,

they were going to take it on head-on.

For the past months and years,

I have answered almost
daily enquiries from the press

about my religious views.

He described that

he didn't have a religious test

when he went into the service.

There was no religious
test when his brother

went into the service and got killed.

Little or no attention
was paid to my religion

when I came to the house,

and when I came to the senate,

though I take almost the same oath

as the president of the United States

now takes.

He played it smart.

He said, "I'm not gonna
take orders from the pope.

I'm gonna represent the people."

The presidency is not elected

to be the protector of the faith.

And he essentially said
to the people of america,

"I know you're a more tolerant country

than to let the simple fact of my faith

stop you from voting for me."

Jack defies all odds

and wins the critical
West Virginia primary.

He arrives at the Democratic
national convention

in Los Angeles exuding confidence.

We're with Kennedy!

I don't think that there has been

a more anticipated candidate

at the Democratic national convention

since jfk,

and definitely not before him.

He was fresh, he was attractive,

he was charismatic...

Everybody seemed to be

spinning their heads.

He was just an enormously
impressive figure.

Well, I went to the
convention with my parents.

My father was

the Democratic national
committeeman from Maryland.

The excitement of it was great

because my father had
been a big supporter.

Jack Kennedy's main rival

for the Democratic nomination is lbj.

I do here and now

solicit the votes

of every delegate present in this room

by the sound of my voice.

Lyndon Johnson,

the majority leader of
the United States senate,

the senator from Texas,

thinks Kennedy is sort of a lightweight.

Some of US talk about

how we ought to do it

and then, when we get down to doing it,

just don't get it done.

But Kennedy is rolling with this stuff.

I appreciate what senator
Johnson had to say.

He made some general
references to, perhaps,

the shortcomings of other
presidential candidates,

but as he was not specific, I
assume he was talking about

some of the other
candidates, and not about me.

With his ego bruised,

Johnson gets personal.

Lbj began to disparage Joe Kennedy senior

as being an appeaser
back there with Hitler

in the pre-war era.

Johnson not only smears Jack's family,

he also attempts to expose
Jack's deepest secret.

The day before the vote,

the Johnson people

put under the hotel room doors

of every delegate

a yellow sheet of paper

saying that Kennedy had Addison's disease.

For Bobby Kennedy,

that was absolutely verboten.

From that point forward,

he considered lbj to be the enemy.

Bobby wouldn't let him get away with it.

Running the kind of war room

that campaigns salivate over,

he responds almost immediately.

Bobby rallies the doctors to lie,

to say that Jack is healthy as can be.

Will Bobby's damage control

pay off?

Climactic moments

of the Democratic convention.

Before the first ballot is completed,

Wyoming clinches the Kennedy triumph

with the deciding votes.

John F. Kennedy

fights off strong opposition

to win the nomination.

He is now the Democratic party's

presidential candidate.

We will carry the fight
to the people in the fall,

and we shall win.

Jack faces a tough decision -

he must pick a running mate.

When it comes to picking a vice president,

the obvious candidate, in a way, is lbj.

What did you and senator
Johnson talk about?

Well, I thanked him for a
very generous message,

which he sent me.

Johnson is a southern democrat.

Jack Kennedy needs the southern vote.

Did you talk with him
about the vice presidency?

No, no. Well, in a
general way, that's right...

Jack Kennedy never liked lyndon Johnson.

Bobby Kennedy despised lyndon Johnson.

They were like dogs

with the hair standing up
on the back of their neck.

Joe Kennedy didn't feel that way.

He was looking,

in strategic terms,

at the map

and realized that his son needed Texas.

So the two brothers tapped lyndon Johnson

to be Jack's vice
presidential running mate,

and they did that for one reason.

They were going to do anything it took

to get Jack elected president.

First, Kennedy must beat

one of the most experienced
politicians in america -

republican nominee
and sitting vice president

Richard Nixon.

Six weeks

before election day,

Democratic candidate Jack Kennedy

and vice president Richard Nixon

are in a dead heat.

The critical moment in the entire election

was when the two candidates would be

appearing side by side

in the first televised presidential debate

in the history of america.

Nixon was considered

a larger figure.

He was presidential.

The question was, could Kennedy,

this young fella,

be president of the United States?

The candidates need no introduction.

The republican candidate,

vice president Richard m. Nixon,

and the Democratic candidate,

senator John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy? Awful attractive,

rich kid,

seen pictures of him on
the cover of life magazine.

But does he have anything?

The stakes could not be higher.

But Jack has a critical advantage.

Joe Kennedy knew his way around Hollywood.

And so all the tricks

to turn a jock into a leading man,

he knew all those tricks.

And he used them with Jack Kennedy.

It's fascinating. In the early footage,

you can see the Kennedy nannies,

the kids' nannies,

carrying movie cameras.

They played with them

and made home movies.

But they also

learned what looked best,

how to appear.

And that would stand Jack very well

when it came time to run for president.

This is a great country,

but I think it could be a greater country.

And this is a powerful country,

but I think it could be a
more powerful country.

His answers were so crisp,
and clear, and confident.

His body language was so powerful.

Whereas, Nixon,

it wasn't just that he's sweating,

or needed a shave, or something,

but he was so antsy and uncertain.

Mr. Nixon, would you like

to comment on that statement?

I have no comment.

Kennedy, from then on,

never had to answer the question,

"am I serious enough
and am I equal to this guy

who's had eight years in the white house?"

Kennedy and Nixon slug it out

for six more weeks

in one of the hardest-fought
presidential campaigns

in history.

Today, on election day,

the big question is,
how will the people vote?

America may be choosing a president,

but they're also determining the destiny

of the Kennedy dynasty.

The whole family gathered

in hyannis port.

They set up

a war room,

they brought in dozens
and dozens of phone lines

to communicate with campaign directors

all over the country...

And they waited.

It appears that senator Kennedy

is moving into the lead.

But as the night went on,

the early lead that Kennedy had

seemed to drift away.

When Ohio went for Nixon,

the Kennedy team began to wonder

whether they would win this at all.

Senator Kennedy's early
lead of two million votes

dwindles perilously

as the returns come in
from the western states.

The suspense very much focused

on Illinois, which reported very late.

Northern Illinois, Chicago,

was controlled by mayor daley

and southern Illinois was controlled

by the Republicans.

Richard j. Daley

was a very powerful mayor of Chicago,

and he had a relationship
with Joe Kennedy.

So Jack gets daley on the phone.

And mayor daley says,

"we're going to win Illinois

with the help of a few close friends."

There are stories to this day

that dead people voted in Chicago.

There's no doubt that the daley machine

helped the Kennedys.

But whether it engaged
in massive fraud or not,

I think, remains to be seen.

Back in hyannis port,

the Kennedys wait...

And wait.

In the still of the night,

the secret service moved in.

And when they saw the secret service

surrounding the Kennedy houses,

they knew that they had won.

The president elect came out

to read congratulatory wires

from the president and vice president.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

is elected president.

Just over 100 years

after arriving penniless in Boston,

the Kennedys are now

the most powerful family in the world.

As a catholic,

it was something quite remarkable

but John F. Kennedy

was an inspirational
figure, whatever your faith.

It is the climax of one of the closest,

most dramatic elections
in American history.

We were there, smiling

and hugging each other.

And here's a guy that
wasn't favored to win,

and he won.

What a result!

The election may have been a close one,

but I think that there
is general agreement

by all of our citizens

that a supreme national effort

will be needed in the years ahead

to move this country
safely through the 1960s.

It's hard to describe the
atmosphere at the cape

after Jack's victory.

We had a family that
was on top of the world.

Think of the geography of hyannis port.

You have the main house,

where Rose and Joseph p. Kennedy live.

Next to it, you have the house

where Bobby and Ethel live.

Behind it, you have the house

where Jack Kennedy
and Jackie Kennedy live.

And now this compound
is the center of the world.

This was the realization

of the dynastic dream

of Joseph p. And Rose Kennedy.

Next on American dynasties:

The Kennedys...

Ask what you can do for your country.

Jack believed in

the promise of america.

Kennedy was walking into an ambush

and he had no idea.

It turns out to be an
unmitigated disaster.

Jack needed someone to watch his back.

I am pleased to accept the position

of the attorney generalship.

He says, "Bobby, grab
your balls, let's go."