American Experience

Slate: A National Figure

Narrator: The marriage of John Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier was a union of two stars. Joe Kennedy delighted in his elegant, accomplished new daughter-in-law. She had grown up in a world of privilege and pedigree, was fluent in French and Italian. Just 24, she was the Inquiring Photographer for a Washington newspaper when she met Jack.

Priscilla McMillan, researcher for Senator John F. Kennedy: I was sitting next to him at a dinner party and he said, “No, I only got married because I was 37 years old, I wasn’t married and people would think I was queer if I weren’t married.” That’s what he said, but the whole time he was talking to me, he was looking across the table at Jackie. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Narrator: Jackie Kennedy soon discovered what the family had always concealed. Her new husband was often desperately ill, with a damaged back and Addison’s disease.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, biographer: My sense is that the Kennedys feared that if Jack’s illness were known, that his political career would be cut short, that if people understood that he needed medicine to live, it would make him seem vulnerable and fragile. And they had a perfect candidate to work with, because Jack himself wanted to appear robust and healthy. This is someone who appears healthy, unless you look carefully and see the color of his face, see how skinny he is.

Narrator: Kennedy decided to undergo spinal surgery to repair his back and end his constant pain. The operation failed and infection set in. He received the last rites of the Church. Joe Kennedy told a friend his second son was dying.

Jack slowly rallied. Six months later, Kennedy returned to the Senate, still frail, but convinced now that he had a future after all.

Hon. Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., Massachusetts Legislature, 1936-52: Suddenly, he became an active person. Suddenly, he became a person with a future in the Democratic Party.

John Kenneth Galbraith, Harvard Tutor, Winthrop House: We went through three stages. First, he would call up and say, “How should one vote on this?” And I would give him my thoughts. At a later stage, he would call up and he’d say, “Explain this to me. I want to know the background,” and I would give him the best professorial explanation I could. And the third stage was when he didn’t feel it necessary to call at all, when he knew himself.

Narrator: Kennedy set out to make himself a national figure. Early in 1956, he appeared on television, promoting his new book, Profiles in Courage.

John F. Kennedy (archival): When you’re talking about political courage, you mean somebody who’s willing to go against the wishes of his constituents for what he considers the best interests of the country.

Narrator: Although there were rumors he had not written the book himself, it became an immediate bestseller and, after heavy lobbying by his father’s friends, went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. The book helped set him apart from his political rivals. And at the 1956 Democratic Convention, Kennedy was invited to introduce the presidential nominee.

John F. Kennedy (archival): Fellow delegates, I give you the man from Libertyville, the next Democratic nominee and our next president of the United States, Adlai E. Stevenson.

Narrator: Stevenson threw the choice of his vice president open to the convention. Kennedy decided to try for it. Joe Kennedy thought his son was making a big mistake. “Don’t touch it,” he said, “Stevenson is a loser.” But many delegates saw Kennedy as an exciting balance to Stevenson. On the first ballot, the young Catholic senator showed surprising strength. Kennedy led on the second ballot, only 33-1/2 votes shy of the nomination, but after the third ballot, he was forced to concede to the more experienced Senator Estes Kefauver.

John F. Kennedy (archival): I want to express my appreciation to Democrats from all parts of the country — north and south, east and west — who have been so generous and kind to me this afternoon. I hope that this convention will make Estes Kefauver’s nomination unanimous. Thank you.

Narrator: It was Jack Kennedy’s first political defeat and it would be his last.

Ted Sorensen, Legislative Assistant to Sen. John F. Kennedy: He became nationally known because of those television appearances and the drama of that race. And what also helped was the fact that he lost, because had he been nominated for vice president, no doubt the ticket would still have gone down to defeat and it would have been blamed on Kennedy’s religion.