All language subtitles for S01E08 - A Legacy (June 1963 - November 1963)

- There is no treaty

between the United States
and the Soviet Union.

The idea emerges of a
nuclear test ban treaty.

- We must labor on,

not towards a strategy
of annihilation,

but towards a strategy of peace.

- Change is about to occur.

- You could almost feel
Kennedy understanding

what the Cold War meant
by seeing the Berlin Wall.

And so he said,

"For people who don’t understand

"what is this Cold War conflict,

’Come here. Come
look at this.’"

- To lead us to a
fruitful America,

from the state of Massachusetts,

John F. Kennedy!

John F.
Kennedy lived a life

that would help define
an entire generation.

- Together we shall
save our planet,

or together we shall
perish in its flames.

- What was it about that guy?

- Looks, style, empathy.

He was incredibly charming.

- Intellectual and progressive.

- He was the
future. He was next.

President for
just over 1,000 days,

Kennedy navigated
events and crises

that changed the world.

- Kennedy is
feeling the pressure

from civil rights activists.

- This was a country
on nuclear war footing.

- This could be the last mistake

that anybody makes, politically.

- He changed us in the
process of his own growth.

- We choose to go to
the moon in this decade

and do the other things,
not because they are easy,

but because they are hard.

60 years
after his assassination,

we are still fascinated
by the triumphs and flaws

of the youngest
president ever elected.

- I ask you to join us

in all the tomorrows
yet to come,

in building America,
moving America,

picking this country of ours up
and sending it into the ’60s.

Freedom has many difficulties,

and democracy is not perfect,

but we have never
had to put a wall up

to keep our people in,

to prevent them from leaving us.

There are some who say...
there are some who say

that communism is the
wave of the future.

Let them come to Berlin.

Two years after
the rise of the Berlin Wall,

President John F.
Kennedy visited Germany

to address the citizens
of West Berlin.

- He said, "In this day and age,

"you all can be proud to
be citizens of Berlin.

"You are at the front line

of this battle between
tyranny and freedom."

- All free men,
wherever they may live,

are citizens of Berlin.

And therefore, as a free man,

I take pride in the words,
"Ich bin ein Berliner."

- "And so I, too," he said,

"I am a Berliner
along with you."

The words
would go down in history

as an expression of
hope and solidarity

in a world threatened
by the Cold War.

- He understood the
iconic power of that.

I’m not with you, I am you.

He understood that these
moments would matter forever.

Everyone would
always remember it.

On the
plane leaving Berlin,

Kennedy turned to
his speechwriter

and longtime ally, Ted
Sorensen, and said,

"We’ll never have
another day like this one

as long as we live."

From West Berlin,
Kennedy visited Ireland,

where he was given
a roaring welcome.

While there, he visited the home

where his ancestors
had lived before coming

to the United States.

- I grew up very aware
that John F. Kennedy

changed things completely
for Irish people.

Every house that I went to,
both my grandparents’ homes

and any relative we visited,
had, when you walked in,

the same picture
of John F. Kennedy.

So he was the patron
saint of the Irish.

- The example of someone who
had risen to the very top

of the political world,

in the most important
country in the world,

had its effect on
attitudes in Ireland

and attitudes towards our
own horizon of ambition.

- Hello, people of Ireland.

I give you President
Kennedy of United States.

Kennedy’s visit to
Europe was a bright contrast

to the tensions he’d
experienced during

the Cuban Missile Crisis.

- For certainly, it was a
moment of reflection and...

and gratitude for what he had...

what he had achieved
and the shoulders

that he had stood
on to get there.

The exciting
trip to Europe

was followed by important news.

- For the first time,

an agreement has been reached

on bringing the forces

of nuclear destruction

under international control.

After decades of
destructive nuclear testing,

the treaty would eliminate
any such activity

in the atmosphere, in
space, and underwater.

- With our courage and
understanding enlarged

by this achievement, let
us press onward in quest

of man’s essential
desire for peace.

As President of
the United States,

and with the advice and
consent of the Senate,

I now sign the instruments of
ratification of this treaty.

Kennedy considered

the Partial Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty

his greatest accomplishment

to that point of his presidency,

but it came amid
personal heartache.

Days later, after Khrushchev
agreed to the terms,

Jackie Kennedy gave birth
to her fourth child,

Patrick Kennedy, by
cesarean section.

He weighed less than
five pounds and struggled

to breathe on his own.

Kennedy left the White House
and immediately boarded

a helicopter to the hospital

at Otis Air Force
Base in Massachusetts.

Arriving some 40 minutes
after the baby was born,

Kennedy saw his new
son for the first time.

The odds for little
Patrick’s survival were grim.

After wheeling the incubator
to Jackie’s bedside

so she could see Patrick,

Kennedy and his brother
Bobby went with the baby

to the Boston
Children’s Hospital.

They waited nervously
while the doctors worked

to save Patrick’s life.

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy
passed away two days later,

on August 9th, 1963.

"He put up quite a
fight," Kennedy said.

"He was a beautiful baby."

- He was there watching him die,

uh, holding his hand in the...
holding his little hand,

touching his little
hand in the hospital,

and had to go back

and give Jackie the
news and comfort her.

Over the
next few weeks,

Kennedy flew to Hyannis
Port several times

to be with his wife.

Together, they grieved
and reportedly grew closer

than they had ever been before.

- I think after Patrick died,
there is that great scene

of him holding her hand
coming out of the hospital.

They never were affectionate
publicly before then.

Maybe he finally realized

that he needed to be that
man for her and that support

that she had always
been for him.

- The people who knew him well
said they had never seen him

so devastated and moved

as he had been by
Patrick’s death.

And I think that set the table,

not just for his personal
relations with Jackie,

but also for the kind of
determination and dedication

that he brought to things,

to the understanding
of how fragile life is.

In August of 1963,
following Patrick’s death,

Kennedy turned his attention

to a long-simmering
conflict abroad.

In 1954, the French
colonial rulers of Vietnam

were defeated by Vietcong forces

under Communist
leader Ho Chi Minh.

The country was divided in two,

a Communist north and an
American-supported south.

Afraid that communism
would gain strength

throughout Indochina, the
U.S. gradually increased funds

and military advice
to South Vietnam.

It was a policy JFK had
inherited from Eisenhower.

- He heard the warnings
about what can happen,

domino theory warnings,

where if one small country
falls to communism,

others would follow.

But he was not all-in

in sending U.S. troops there.

Kennedy would do
what he thought necessary

in order to contain communism.

He sent thousands of
military advisors there,

hoping to stabilize
the conflict.

These military personnel
were sent to train,

support, and advise
South Vietnamese forces,

but not participate in combat.

However, by 1962, some
American advisors had begun

to engage in combat operations.

In early 1963, the situation
in Vietnam was worsening.

The United States had more
than 14,000 military advisors

in Vietnam,

but Kennedy was still opposed
to sending combat troops.

- The idea that there would be

a military solution for
Kennedy was something

that he was trying to
avoid, as many others

in his administration
were trying to avoid,

because it wasn’t
a military problem.

It was a political stability
problem, and, you know,

it’s hard enough managing
your own government.

Try managing another government
halfway across the world

that’s having a
civil war going on.

South
Vietnam was led

by self-proclaimed
President Ngô Dinh Diem.

Diem was backed by many
anti-communist countries,

including the United States.

In 1963, Diem began persecuting

South Vietnam’s
Buddhist population.

On June 11th, the same day
Kennedy navigated the stand

at the schoolhouse
door in Alabama,

he saw the grisly image

of the Buddhist monk Quang Duc,

who had set himself
on fire in Saigon

to protest the Diem
administration.

Now more than ever, Kennedy
knew that Diem’s hold

on South Vietnam
was falling apart.

Throughout 1963,

Kennedy tried to
impress upon Diem

the necessity for major reforms,

but his suggestions
were ignored.

- I think, as I’ve
said, the events

of the last two months have
not helped that struggle.

We’re anxious to see the
situation develop there

so that the struggle
will be aided.

- May we reduce some of
our aid to South Vietnam?

- We would reduce
it only if we felt

that such a reduction would
aid the struggle there.

As of today, we have
not made that judgment.

We’ve not decided to
reduce it as of yet.

As the
possibility of a coup

in South Vietnam
became more apparent,

Kennedy met with his
advisors to discuss

how the United
States should react.

While Kennedy had reservations
about U.S. support

for a military coup,
on August 24th, 1963,

a cable was dispatched
to the U.S. ambassador

to South Vietnam,
giving the coup

the administration’s
tacit approval.

On November 2nd, 1963,

Diem and his brother, Ngô
Dinh Nhu, were overthrown

by a group of South
Vietnamese soldiers.

After being captured,

Diem and Nhu were
executed by their own men.

In the end, Kennedy had
agreed to the idea of a coup,

but after seeing photos

of Diem and Nhu’s
lifeless bodies

in the back of a van,
brutalized and shot,

he was appalled.

- One of his senior advisors,
after he ran out of the room

when he heard the details,

whispered softly, "Well,
what did he expect?"

After the coup,
Kennedy asked an aide,

Michael Forrestal,
to organize a study

of every option in Vietnam,
including withdrawal.

The coup had sent Kennedy
a clear message...

the chaos in Vietnam would
need to be dealt with.

However, to avoid
hurting his chances

for reelection in 1964,

he decided he would address it
upon entering a second term.

- He really wasn’t sure
what he was going to do,

but at least something
in him told him

that Vietnam was an
enormous threat to history,

to his history, to
his administration,

to the future of the country.

- Kennedy saw the insurgency
as a anti-colonial, essentially

nationalist movement feeding
on social discontent.

You try to remove the
causes of social discontent,

and you try to
build nationalism.

You can’t use Americans

to build Vietnamese
nationalists.

Vietnamese must do it,
or it cannot be done.

That’s what Kennedy meant
when he used to say,

"It is their war. They
must win it or lose it."

As autumn
fell on Washington,

Kennedy set out
on a new campaign.

At this stage, he was thinking
about the support he needed

for the 1964 election.

His administration had arguably

the most significant
legislative record

of any president since
Roosevelt decades earlier.

But there was still
substantial work to be done.

The Civil Rights Act
had stalled in Congress.

On August 28th, 1963,

more than 200,000
people gathered

to participate in the
March on Washington

for jobs and freedom,

in support of civil
rights legislation.

On that day, Martin
Luther King Jr.

Delivered his historic
"I Have a Dream" speech.

The demonstration
stressed the need

for Kennedy to build
support for the bill

and his 1964 campaign.

- I think the bill we put
in is a reasonable bill.

My judgment is that
we will not divide

this country politically
into Negroes and whites.

That’d be a fatal mistake
for society as, uh...

which should be as
united as ours is.

During
the 1964 campaign,

Kennedy wanted to
focus on the South,

where he was deeply
resented by many.

He felt that if he campaigned
there early enough,

he could secure the support
and finances he needed

for the upcoming election.

- He became, perhaps,
more sober and serious

as the burdens of the
office weighed upon him,

but he never lost his
basic sense of humor

and his ability to
laugh at himself

and to take the world seriously

but not take himself
too seriously.

Before Kennedy left
to speak in Florida and Texas,

he played with his children on
the floor of the Oval Office.

His secretary, Evelyn
Lincoln, asked him what

people would think if they
saw the President rolling

on the floor like he was.

He responded, "After
all, Mrs. Lincoln,

I’m also a father."

"There’s no doubt
about that," she said.

- There is one very
poignant conversation.

The President, actually, is
dictating his recollections

of what happened in Vietnam.

It’s a very sad
recollection for him.

And uh, John-John and Caroline
enter the Oval Office,

and you can hear him stop

while he’s describing
tragic events in Saigon,

and stop and then suddenly
start playing with the kids.

Now, his initial reaction was
not, "Get outta here, kids."

It was to stop and shift
immediately to them.

Many
staffers were uneasy

about Kennedy
campaigning in the South,

but they knew it was necessary

if Kennedy was to win
reelection the following year.

With the trip approved,

White House Appointments
Secretary Kenneth O’Donnell

made the final preparations

for the two-day,
five-city tour of Texas.

Kennedy was scheduled to
visit San Antonio, Houston,

Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin.

- Growth has meant new
opportunities for this state.

Progress has meant
new achievements,

and we dare not look back now.

In 1990, the age of space will
be entering its second phase,

and our hopes in it
to preserve the peace,

to make sure that in
this great new sea,

as on Earth,

the United States
is second to none.

Your old men shall dream dreams,

your young men shall see
visions, the Bible tells us.

On the morning
of November 22nd,

Kennedy and his
wife were awakened

by their valet, George Thomas.

Thomas had worked for
Kennedy since 1947,

waking him up each day.

Today in Fort Worth,
Texas, it was no different.

- President Kennedy
is flanked by...

With
Jackie at his side,

Kennedy boarded Air Force One
at Carswell Air Force Base

for the brief flight to Dallas.

It had been raining,

but just before
the plane landed,

the sun broke through the clouds

onto the city below,

bringing a sense of
hope and promise.

On
November 22nd, 1963,

Air Force One landed at
Love Field in Dallas,

where both Kennedy and
Jackie disembarked directly

onto the tarmac, waving at
the hundreds of observers.

- It was an event.

It was closest thing to royalty

I thought that we had.

- There were no
particular doubts left

about his leadership.

He was not the callow
40-year-old playboy senator.

He was the guy who guided
the country through

the most dangerous period,
perhaps, of its existence.

So I think there
was a stronger sense

of him as a leader.

- We were all shocked

that Dallas had
turned out this way,

with a crowd that
big at Love Field.

And that wasn’t
even the downtown.

They got off and they
walked over to the fence,

and people were at
the chain-link fence,

putting their hands over the
fence or through the fence

to try to touch Jackie
and shake her hand.

And she was enjoying it.

She was shaking hands
with all these people,

I’d say 2,000 or 3,000 people,
right there at the gate.

Jackie received
a bouquet of roses,

which she carried with her
into the waiting limousine.

The President and
First Lady were joined

by Governor Connally
of Texas and his wife.

Finally, the procession
departed from Love Field.

- Dallas, at the
time, probably had

600,000 population.

There were probably
200,000 people

in the streets.

And if you looked at the people,

a mélange from very
young to very old.

The cloudy
skies had cleared,

and the beautiful Dallas sun
shined on Kennedy’s motorcade.

- Give me all available
information on President,

over.

- All available information
on President follows:

He and Governor Connally
of Texas have been hit

in the car in which
they were riding.

We do not know how
serious the situation is.

We
have no information.

- I saw parents lying
on top of their kids,

because they heard the gunfire

and they’re
protecting their kids.

- Parkland Hospital,
there has been a shooting.

Parkland Hospital has
been advised to stand by

for a severe gunshot wound.

The motorcade now...

The motorcade now perhaps two
or three blocks ahead of me.

They’re approaching
the entrance now

to Parkland Hospital, traveling

at a high rate of speed.

Ready police cars converging
on Parkland from every angle,

from every point.

- He and another priest
tell me that the pair of men

have just administered
the last rites

of the Catholic Church
to President Kennedy.

- From Dallas, Texas, the
flash apparently official,

President Kennedy died

at 1:00 p.m. Central
Standard Time,

2:00 Eastern Standard
Time, some 38 minutes ago.

Vice President Lyndon
Johnson has left the hospital

in Dallas, but we do not know,
uh, to where he has proceeded.

Presumably, he will be taking
the oath of office shortly

and become the 36th president
of the United States.

- The procession was not
anything out of the ordinary,

except that we walked.

We walked slowly all
the way to the Capitol.

- I remember the strength
and courage of Mrs. Kennedy,

and how she... how she
held up during all that.

- I don’t think I’ll ever forget

when the caisson
passed with the coffin

and little John-John
stepped out and saluted.

- And here at the
Capitol, all those kids

that I’d been in college
with, and we had...

had idolized Kennedy so.

They’re lined up blocks.

And they drove... from Utah,

California, Texas...

Just to pass by the casket.

I’d talk to them, and they...

they would say what I suspected,

that our whole life was
ahead of us with Kennedy,

and... we lost it.

- "We must always
consider," he said,

"that we shall be as
a city upon a hill.

The eyes of all
people are upon us."

I ask for your help
and your prayers

as I embark on this
new and solemn journey.

Thank you.

- This acre of English soil is
now bequeathed in perpetuity

to the American people in memory

of President John
Fitzgerald Kennedy,

who in death my
people still mourn,

and whom in life they
loved and admired.

- Our nation is bereaved.

The whole world is poorer
because of his loss,

but we can all be
better Americans because

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
has passed our way.

And now that he is relieved

of the almost superhuman
burden we imposed on him,

may he rest in peace.

- There is an appointed
time for everything,

and a time for every
affair under the heavens,

a time to be born
and a time to die,

a time to plant and a
time to uproot the plant,

a time to kill and
a time to heal,

a time to tear down
and a time to build,

a time to weep and
a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and
a time to dance.

- "When he shall die,

"take him and cut him
out in little stars,

"and he shall make the
face of heaven so fine

"that all the world will
be in love with night

and pay no worship
to the garish sun."

"The woods are lovely,
dark, and deep,

"but I have promises to keep

"and miles to go before I sleep

and miles to go
before I sleep."

- It wasn’t supposed to
end with bullets in Dallas,

and I think the last
60 years has been

America wishing they could
rewrite that history.

- The Eternal Flame
is the promise

of what might have been,

which I think is
probably the biggest part

of the Kennedy legacy.

Not necessarily
what he accomplished

or what was
accomplished in his name

or memory afterwards,
but it’s...

it’s the loss of
who we all were,

of a nation that might have
looked very different in 1964

had those shots not been
fired in Dealey Plaza.

His was a story
of victory and defeat,

of joy and despair,

of triumphs in judgment
and missteps in action.

It was a story of maturation,
personal challenges, mistakes,

recklessness, courage,
and relentless ambition.

- We choose to go to
the moon in this decade

and do the other things,
not because they are easy,

but because they are hard,

because that goal will serve
to organize and measure

the best of our
energies and skills,

because that challenge is one
that we’re willing to accept,

one we are unwilling
to postpone,

and one we intend to
win and the others too.

- Of course, he
didn’t live to see it,

but he did do it.

- Sequence start.

Six, five, four,
three, two, one, zero.

All engine running.

Liftoff. We have a liftoff.

32 minutes past the hour.

Liftoff on Apollo 11.

- That’s one small
step for man...

one giant leap for mankind.

- We’re traveling along
that river of history

from the past towards a future,

and the only way
to have some idea

of where we’re
going in that future

and how we can plot
our little ships

is to understand
where we’ve been,

where we’re coming from.

History is absolutely critical

for an understanding of
who we are, where we are,

and where we’re going.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
is a unique character

in U.S. and world history.

- I saw the First World War,

at age 21 in 1963,
as ancient history.

Today I look back
on the Kennedy era

as something that is
still present in my mind.

- It’s... it’s a testament

to how much John F.
Kennedy inspired people

and motivated them
and delighted them

that all these many, many,
many, many, many years later,

we’re still talking about
him and trying to figure out,

what was it about that guy?

What did he have?
It’s very fascinating.

John F.
Kennedy left the world

that day in November 1963,
but his words still remain,

ingrained in the very fabric
of our national conscience.

They echo through every
room in the White House,

every chamber in the
Capitol Building,

from Brookline to
the Solomon Islands

and to Washington back
home to Hyannis Port.

- With a good conscience
our only sure reward,

with history the final
judge of our deeds,

let us go forth to
lead the land we love,

asking his blessing
and his help,

but knowing that here on Earth,

God’s work must
truly be our own.

- That’s what I think of
when I think of JFK’s legacy.

You know, that every man
can make a difference

and everyone should try.

As we continue to
grow and evolve as a nation,

his words are not
diminished by time.

They remind us who we are,

where we came from,
and what we can become.

Kennedy said, "There is no doubt

it is a difficult and
dangerous adventure

and that sacrifice
and self-discipline

will be needed ahead,

but the greatest danger

is that we sit back
and do nothing."

"The cost of freedom
is always high,

but we have always paid it."