I never understood how the Kennedys became American royalty. Yes it was tragic that Pres. Kennedy was assassinated, but did that somehow make the family some royalty????
The whole Camelot thing was a fabrication of Jackie Kennedy’s imagination. This was the legend spun after JFK was killed, and planted in the media.
The media only referred to Camelot in retrospect. It’s not as if, on Jan 20, 1961, everyone started saying, well, now that Kennedy is president, we’re now in the Camelot era. Nobody said we are in the Camelot era while JFK was alive. It was only referred to as Camelot after he died.
Thanks for pointing that out. I didn’t know.
Don’t know if you were around back then, but there was a lot of gushing over Kennedy even before the election. Eisenhower was a very grandfatherly midwesterner and here was JFK, young, fresh, almost aristocratic with cute little kids and a glamours wife. The press gushed over them. People do forget that the election was very close (some say stolen). But the day of the assassination, Kennedy became a martyr in the public’s eye.
They couldn’t wait to name things for him—NY’s airport, schools, Cape Canaveral, etc. etc. Had to put him on the half dollar. He was said to be one of America’s greatest presidents. It’s taken a half century for the luster to start to fade.
JFK was not a communist, a leftist, or a progressive.
Yes, he had mistresses but so did Ike as well as many other Presidents previous and since.
The Kennedy clan was linked to the mob via unions but Joe Jr. and John were veterans that risked their lives in combat. They were patriots at a time when unions were pro-America.
It simply was a whole other situation back then.
Ted was another story. This monster was despicable, to say the least.
“Camelot” the musical premiered in Toronto on October 1, 1960 and later moved to Boston. JFK won the WH a month later.
Too much coincidence IMO, that the Kennedys would not appropriate the imagery of Camelot for their own purposes.
Memory is dimming but I recall hearing references to the WH or Hyannis Port as Camelot before the assassination.