November 22, 2013 will commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. PBS honors the life and times of President Kennedy in a two-part documentary. These four hours lays out the trials and triumphs Kennedy experienced during his lifetime through film footage and interviews with experts, Kennedy insiders, and members of the Kennedy family.

“John F. Kennedy is an iconic figure in American politics, known for his soaring rhetoric and the youthful energy and glamour he brought to the presidency,” says filmmaker Susan Bellows. “However, he wasn’t a born politician, and he struggled with debilitating health challenges throughout his life. Our film looks at his journey to the Oval Office, the ambition that propelled him there, and how he navigates one of the most pivotal eras in American history.”

Part One explores JFK’s privileged childhood, his extensive health problems, his attendance at Harvard (where his father wanted him to go instead of Princeton where he wanted to attend), his opposition to his father’s opinions on the war, his PT 109 experience, his campaign for Congress and then the Senate, his courtship and marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier, and his “energetic presidency.” What viewers might not know, and are revealed thanks to newly opened documents, is that Kennedy’s back problems were not caused by his war injury. He was a sickly child and his diseases as well as the treatments helped to create more problems for him his entire life.

Part Two focuses on his inauguration, the Soviet threat, the Bay of Pigs disaster, the Berlin wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Civil Rights, the nuclear test ban treaty, Vietnam, and touches on his assassination. Kennedy’s first year in office was a complete disaster, and he knew it. He also espoused a strong military and worried about nuclear Armageddon. His presidency was filled with glamour, excitement, and promise, yet at times his body was filled with codeine, Demerol, methadone, steroids, paregoric, and Nembutal. That’s a strong narcotic cocktail, which proves how sick this man was and yet he hid it from the public. What was also hidden was his womanizing, which was like an addiction to him even though he loved his wife.

At the summer Television Critics Association Press Tour, Tim Naftali who is interviewed in the film, explained, “The reason that a portrait of Kennedy can be so much richer now than it could have been ten years ago or even five years ago is that John Kennedy taped 260 hours of his conversation, and until a year and a half ago, they weren’t all available. So there are some phenomenal books on Kennedy – a few of us wrote a couple of them – that came out before all this material so that, for people interested in Kennedy, it’s not simply an issue of each generation coming to terms with this iconic figure. It’s also that the data, just the stuff of history, is so much broader on Kennedy than it was five years ago. And it makes for a much subtler and a much more interesting picture. He was a very smart man who was not ideological.  He was a problem‑solver. In fact, given the fact that our world today is so ideological, it’s refreshing to meet a self‑assured leader who doesn’t have to pretend to be an ideologue, who doesn’t seek purity, and he was very straightforward about it. He said this to his advisors.”

This two-part documentary discloses some new information, mostly about Kennedy’s lifelong health problems. It is an interesting look at the man, his feelings and decisions, and his personal life. In four hours, the minute details of events cannot be covered. JFK is a well-rounded look at the many events in his life and gives viewers – especially those who are not well versed on the life and times of the president – a good, solid foundation about John F. Kennedy.

American Experience: JFK airs November 11^th and 12^th on PBS. It is the 17^th program in the American Experience: The Presidents series. The series has won many awards. Executive Producer Mark Samels says, “With our presidential biographies, we strive for a better understanding of the men who have held the office. While we’re interested in the decisions they made, we also want to know why they made them – what in their lives led to a particular worldview? What shaped these men and how did those factors in turn shape our country?”

About the Author

Francine Brokaw has been covering all aspects of the entertainment business for 20 years. She also writes about technology and has been a travel writer for the past 12 years. She has been published in national and international newspapers and magazines as well as Internet websites. She has written her own book, Beyond the Red Carpet: The World of Entertainment Journalists, from Sourced Media Books.

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