A one-time aspiring journalist, John F. Kennedy understood the media, particularly television, which allowed him to spread his message and capitalize on his matinee idol looks, and easy manner with the press. The first half of the documentary explores Kennedy’s early life. The second son of successful Irish American businessman and Ambassador to England in the FDR administration, Joe Sr., Jack—as he was called by family and friends—wasn’t being groomed for the Presidency, that job was reserved for his older brother Joe Jr.. Jack suffered from childhood illnesses as a child, resulting in health problems that would plague him the rest of his life.
Much of the footage from the first two hours of JFK shows a young man determined to show vigorous health, despite an occasionally gaunt frame that suggests otherwise. Even the suntan he would become known for later in his political career was largely a side effect of the medicine he took to control his Addison’s disease. It was only after Joe Jr. was killed during World War II that JFK would embark on a public service career, culminating in his election as the 35th President of the United States in November of 1960.
Kennedy was confident to the point of arrogance. As President, he didn’t gather people around him for opinions, but rather for information. He didn’t like Lyndon Johnson (his brother Robert hated him), but knew he needed him on the ticket to win Texas, and the Presidency. With the victory in hand, Johnson was rarely consulted, sent on various overseas trips to keep him busy. However, if JFK felt he was in real trouble—say, the Cuban missile crisis—he wasn’t above turning to his predecessors for advice.
Assassinated after just 1000 days in office, it’s impossible to judge whether Kennedy would have been a truly great President. The documentary does a great job of showing that his time in office was marked by successes as well failures. Even more obvious is how much was left undone, and questions left unanswered by Kennedy’s assassination: would the Cold War have ended? Would Vietnam have turned out differently? These questions are open for endless debate.
Moving away from political agendas, it’s hard not to get swept up in the fact that the Kennedy’s were physically beautiful. The endless home movies, pictures of the family sailing on the cape, and young John Jr. under the President’s desk in the oval office just might bring a tear to your eye. All of that aside, American Experience has provided a fair, knowledgeable analysis of JFK. This should be a welcome addition to the home video libraries of history fans.
Presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio, PBS has presented JFK across two Blu-ray discs in 1080i. Given the fact that you have photo and video sources from various years, most of it from the fifties and sixties, picture quality varies but it’s always more than acceptable. The new interviews look superb with vivid colors, and fine contrast.
The 5.1 Surround Sound Track is much like the video, Because the audio is from various eras, quality varies, but dialogue is understandable throughout. The new interviews are top notch.
English SDH subtitles are included.
There are no extras.
