John F Kennedy’s dirty road to the White House

Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 20 November 2010 | Andrew Marr

[PotatoHeadMick]

Jack Kennedy won the presidency with the help of large amounts of cash – and a liberal number of lies, says Andrew Marr.

Get the picture right, and your history will take care of itself. Jack Kennedy always got the picture right. Even now, it is hardly possible to glimpse the gleaming white smile, the sunlit hair and the perfect First Family without a lump in the throat.

JFK became the icon of democratic optimism, the man who inspired half the world. Cut down in his prime, he never grew old enough to betray, disillusion or bore his legion of admirers. Who is President Josiah Bartlett of The West Wing but the liberal fantasy of a mature Kennedy – pin-sharp, hard as nails and bright with idealism?

So it comes as a shock to study Kennedy, the campaigner, properly, as I have been doing for a television documentary. The story of how a rich, preppy, party boy from Massachusetts managed to raise a roar for underdog America loud enough to carry him to the White House is gripping. But uplifting it certainly isn’t. Yes, it’s a tale of soaring and risk-taking rhetoric, partly fashioned by the late lamented Ted Sorensen, and of a candidate with remarkable energy. It is also, however, a tale of big money, smears, bribes, wire-pulling and bottomless cynicism. If you are asking what has gone so wrong with modern politics, Kennedy’s 1960 election campaign is a good place to start.

[SunkenCiv]

Cut down in his prime, he never grew old enough to betray, disillusion or bore his legion of admirers. Who is President Josiah Bartlett of The West Wing but the liberal fantasy of a mature Kennedy -- pin-sharp, hard as nails and bright with idealism? ...a tale of big money, smears, bribes, wire-pulling and bottomless cynicism. If you are asking what has gone so wrong with modern politics, Kennedy's 1960 election campaign is a good place to start.

In "Conversations With Kennedy", author Bradlee noted that, when a reporter asked JFK on the campaign trail what he'd do in answer to the idea that a Roman Catholic couldn't win, Kennedy's answer was, "I'll g**d***ed well take Ohio, for starters." And he wasn't quoted of course. Thanks PotatoHeadMick.