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Lauren Rodgers
Professor C. Douglass
UWRT 1101
17 November 2015
John Fitzgerald Kennedy: The Golden Boy and the Age of Camelot
When one hears John Fitzgerald Kennedy, what most likely comes to mind is the
grace, charm, and sophistication of a man who seemed to have it all put together. In
reality, nothing could be farther from the truth. Having grown up in a privileged family,
JFK had all of the resources necessary for success. JFK did have to overcome religious
and cultural obstacles in order to gain the presidency; however, his social status and
money made it easier for him and his brother, Bobby Kennedy, to cover up potentially
career ending scandals of infidelity, assassination plots, secret governmental ploys, and
mob connections. The Golden Years of Camelot, created by Johns wife, Jackie Kennedy,
to describe and glorify the years in which he created hope and optimism in the hearts and
minds of the people of the United States, is a false comparison. In reality, his presidency
was filled with deceit, lies, and corruption. JFKs school boy charm and charisma made
him loved by the public, but also helped him hide his shameful wrongdoings as the thirtyfifth president of the United States.
JFK, the son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts
on May 29th, 1917 (The Presidents of the United States of America). They were an
Irish Catholic family and he was the second oldest son of nine children. Growing up, and
throughout his entirety, John was very popular because of his preppy attitude and
schoolboy charm. He went to Choate, a boys boarding school in Connecticut. There he

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was involved in a variety of sport, including tennis, basketball, football, and gold (Life
of John F. Kennedy). JFK went on to study and earn a Masters Degree in Law at
Harvard University, where he graduated in 1940. After graduation, John enrolled in the
Navy. He fought in World War II where he reinjured his back, an old football injury,
when his ship was attacked. Pushing through the pain, he was able to save some of his
fellow crewmen (The Presidents of the United States of America). As he continued to
mature, it was only natural that he became interested in politics because he was born into
a family of politicians, including his father and grandfather-in-law.

There was no

denying that the Kennedy family owned a large fortune, but they had more money than
they admitted to because of corrupt deals made by JKFs grandfather-in-law, John Francis
Honey Fitz Fitzgerald. At one time, the Kennedy family was reported to be worth five
hundred million dollars (Hersh 6,44).
With this fortune, the Kennedys found it easy to pay for and cover up any dark
secrets that could ultimately ruin their political careers. In fact, the head of the Federal
Investigation Bureau (FBI), J. Edgar Hoover, held discriminating evidence against JFK
that could have cost him the presidency. In order to keep this information disclosed, one
of the first things JFK did as president was to reappoint Hoover as the head of the FBI.
The Kennedy boys had the mindset that they could get away with anything because of
their wealth, and more times than not they did. The money came from Honey Fitz and,
after he became the mayor of Boston, the family continued to be involved in politics. He
was later unseated due to falsely registering votes from Irish immigrants and soldiers
overseas, dead or alive. His political career was not totally destroyed because he was
later appointed to US ambassador to London under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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JKFs father, Joseph Kennedy Sr., was also involved in the political scene as an
ambassador to England. He made his millions through independent banking, movie
making, and the stock market. When Joe became an ambassador, John began to show a
special interest in politics. During prohibition, Joe acquired ties with the mafia through
his liquor importing business (Hersh 6-53). These mafia ties would later help JFK win
the presidency over Richard Nixon. Originally, the next Kennedy in line for political
success was Joseph Kennedy Jr., Johns older brother. However, when Joe Jr. died in
1944 in a plane crash, John decided to start his political career.
John ran for the Massachusetts eleventh congressional district, and later went on
to the US senate in 1953 (The Life of John F. Kennedy; The Presidents of the United
States of America). JFK faced opposition from the Democratic Party in Chicago from
the professional Catholic politicians and from the older generation.

One politician,

Rayburn Said: Well, if we have a Catholic, I hope we dont have to take that little ---Kennedy. Kennedy had many problems with the liberal intellectuals as well. They
regarded him with suspicion because he did not agree with the common political beliefs
of the time, such as McCarthyism, or the practice of making accusations of disloyalty in
instances not supported by proof (Schlesinger 7, 11-12). Although JFK received some
opposition from his party, he still ascended to presidency using his charm, wit, mob ties,
and money.
JFKs assets became apparent after the Kennedy-Nixon television debates, where
a winner could hardly be predicted. This as his first ballot nomination for president and
he barely achieved the victory. Both men and women alike adored John and it was due to
his good looks, great interaction with cameras, and most importantly his familys money

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and mob ties. All these things allowed him to win the presidential campaign of 1960.
His mob friends included Sam Giancana, his gang, and reportedly Frank Sinatra. They
provided money and union support in his campaign when politicians were not required to
disclose their contributors. The mob provided much needed voters in states that did not
naturally lean toward Kennedy and the Democratic Party. Without these votes Kennedy
would have lost to Nixon by a landslide. Instead, Kennedy won by a narrow margin and
became the youngest president elected. He would later become the youngest president to
die in office (Hersh 4; The Presidents of The United States of America; Was Kennedy
Tied to the Mob). Kenney covered up the mob connections and his lies almost tore his
presidency apart before it started. Throughout, and even after his presidency, JFK and
Bobby Kennedy would have to hide damaging and incriminating secrets.
Kennedys presidency seemed ideal on the surface with all of the social reforms
and averted crises, but in reality it was a tangled web of lies and secrets kept from the
public. In his campaign, JFK promised to get America moving again and in some ways
he succeeded in that pledge.

He created the Peace Corps with his brother-in-law,

Sergeant Robert Shriver. This organization sends volunteers overseas to developing

countries in order to tackle pressing needs, such as starvation or lack of infrastructure.
Kennedy also fought for civil rights because he wanted to extend the quality of national
culture in a thriving society. He tackled segregation and asked Congress to pass the civil
rights legislation. Congress fulfilled his wish by passing the Civil Rights Bill, in 1963.
Out side of Congress, Kennedy also enacted programs that would further advance science
and technology.

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Another projects started and endorsed by the president was the space race
between the United States and the former Soviet Union. The Kennedy Space program
was created and JFK spent twenty-two billion dollars on the Apollo space project in order
for the United States to be the first country to send a man to the moon (Talbot 151-162).
Another good quality Kennedy possessed was his ability to not lead by consensus. He
brought in experts or assigned people to perform research and then listened to what they
had to say before he made his final decision (PBS Documentary Brings to Life JKFs
Flaws, Courage). While there were positive attributes to his presidency, there were
equally as many, if not more, negatives.
It was not long into his presidency that Kennedy began his transgressions. While
in office, Kennedy secretly led the campaign to murder three foreign leaders. They
included Patrice Lumumba from the Congo, Rafael Trujillo from the Dominican
Republic, and Ngo Dinh Diem from South Vietnam. The killing of the last leader further
involved the United States in the Vietnam War, one of the most dissented wars in United
States history (Hersh 3; John F. Kennedy the worst president of the 20th century?).
Kennedys first mistake in Vietnam was to ignore President Eisenhowers advice to
invade Laos, in order to prevent the Viet Cong from occupying it and attacking South
Vietnam. He was often distracted from the Vietnam issue by the escalating problems
with the Soviet Union and Cuba. This detached focus, failed neutrality attempt, and
decision not to intervene in Laos allowed the Viet Cong to occupy the country and have
the advantage to attack South Vietnam on two fronts.
After his blunder, Kennedy knew that it had been a mistake not to invade Laos,
possibly the biggest mistake of the war. After studying Vietnam warfare, he decided to

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practice counter-guerilla tactics, which included napalm and atomic bombings. These
attacks caused gastronomical destruction to Vietnam cities, villages, and people.
Dissatisfied with the slow progress being made, Kennedy was constantly asking his
Secretary of State to move things along faster. JFK greatly underestimated this war and
how many troops it required. When Ngo Dihn Diem, the leader of South Vietnam, asked
him to send more supplies and troops, Kennedy responded angrily by saying they can
pay for it themselves. Other huge mistakes made by Kennedy were his directives, which
created consequences for the CIA, and keeping even his closest advisors in the dark about
his intentions (Newman 9-109). Kennedys foreign problems did not stop at Vietnam,
they also carried over to Khrushchev and Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro, the communist dictator of Cuba, and Nikita Khrushchev, the
communist leader of the Soviet Union, had a close relationship, which deeply worried
Kennedy due to the Cold War tensions. Bobby and John were the strongest advocated for
the assassination of Castro, which led Kennedy to send 1,500 troops, bombers, and naval
vessels to Cuba in order to overthrow the Castro government. This even became known
as the Bay of Pigs and it was a disaster for the United States. Castro had superior
weaponry and defeated the American troops in a matter of days. Also, Kennedy refused
to send in more American troops or weapons, leaving the surviving troops with
impossible circumstances. Instead of weakening Fidel Castros power in Cuba, Kennedy
strengthened it. On the domestic front, the failure to send in more troops earned Kennedy
the distrust of his generals. A year later nuclear missiles were found in Cuba in satellite
pictures taken by the United States, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

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Tensions between Kennedy and Khrushchev continued to increase as one
threatened the other during the Cuban missile crisis.

The United States called for

quarantine on all offensive weapons bound for Cuba from the Soviet Union. The two
countries almost went to nuclear war and were forces to negotiate at the last minute.
Kennedy lied to the public and said that Khrushchev backed down, in an attempt to make
the United States seem more triumphant. After the missile scare, the United States
government spent an enormous amount of money building weapons in the Manhattan
project (Hersh 3: Nathan 48-55). JFK made major miscalculations during his presidency
on foreign policy. On the domestic front, his secret identity and flaws contributed to
problems mostly unknown by the public.
Everyone loved Kennedy because he was a white-collar male who was interested
in making policies that would improve the lives of blue-collar workers. What people do
now know about JFK was that he was a man who was stubborn, temperamental, and
severely ill. Kennedy had a tendency to ignore anyone who did not want him speaking
off the cuff. He had a prep boy attitude that even his Vice-president, Lyndon B. Johnson,
disliked (PBS Documentary bring to life JFKs flaws, courage). Kennedy had a tape
recording system installed in the White Houses oval office in order to record phone calls
and meetings at the touch of a button. In sixteen months, it is said that he had recorded
200 tapes worth of information. Most United States citizens also did not know that John
was severely ill for most of his life. As a child he suffered from whooping cough,
measles, chicken pox, and scarlet fever. It was later discovered that he suffered from
Addisons disease, which compromised his immune system. In order to suppress his
pain, the President took feel good shots, which were full of amphetamine. In addition

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to these shots, John took a cocktail of painkillers and steroids for his back and Addisons.
As a result, he was constantly sick, could not perform his presidential duties fully, and
often caught venereal diseases from his continuous sexual relationships with many
different women (Hersh 7,9).
Its common knowledge that JFK was a womanizer who had countless affairs with
different women, even though he was married to Jacqueline Bouvier. His most famous
affair was with Marilyn Monroe, a famous singer, model, and actress at the time. Along
with movie starts, the President also had affairs with ordinary, everyday women. It was
no secret to the public that the President was having extra-marital affairs; however, no
one made a huge deal over it because they could never prove it with tangible evidence.
The men of the Kennedy family followed in Joseph Kennedy Sr.s footsteps and were
told to get married, stay married, have lots of children, and sleep with any woman they
could. While serving his term as president, JFK had sexual relationships with his
multiple mistresses almost every day. There were even photographs that proved his
adultery that he framed and brought back to the White House and stored in the Lincoln
bedroom.

The Presidents sexual relations can also be tied to helping aid his

assassination. Kennedy tore his groin during one of his affairs and had to wear a brace, in
addition to his back brace. The brace combo kept him erect and standing tall. During the
assassination at Dallas, Oswalds first bullet was not fatal. Since he could not move and
was kept erect, Oswald was able to make the second, fatal shot, to the back of his head.
Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. His autopsy later
contained no written report about the braces in order to protect the Presidents secrets
(Hersh 10-27).

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When John Fitzgerald Kennedy died, everyone in the country felt a great loss.
Among the general public, Kennedy sill remained a popular and positive public figure
due to relatively fair economic times. People to this day can tell you where they were
and what they were doing at the exact moment of his death.

His assassination

romanticized the Kennedy administration, because the population did not wish to upset
Jackie Kennedy, his widow, or his family. This helped support the idea of Camelot, a
falsely acclaimed statement. Conspiracy theories started to form as soon as the president
was shot and killed. One involves the mob, Sam Giancana and his gang, which never go
redemption for Castro ruining their gambling business down in Cuba. Another theory
included military coups that were run by the generals involved in the Bay of Pigs (Hersh
9).
As soon as Bobby Kennedy found out about his brothers death, he scrambled to
collect all of his documents, tapes, and belongings from the White House before Johnson
was sworn in as the new president of the United States.

Bobby knew that if this

information were leaked it would destroy his brothers reputation. As attorney general,
he was made watchdog over JFKs personal excess and recklessness. The two brothers
had a close relationship and they kept no secrets from each other. Most people in
Kennedys cabinet resented the two brothers secrecy (Hersh 2,28).
There is no question that Kennedy was one of the most beloved presidents there
was. However, his charm and money enable him to cover up his scandals and mistakes.
His assassination brought about the ideas of Camelot, the ideal presidency that inspired
people, while creating hope and optimism. Once the feelings of hurt and loss wore off,
people began to see the major flaws in the Kennedy presidency and in Kennedy himself.

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Kennedy was corrupt, stubborn, ill, and temperamental. His presidency was full of deceit
in order to convince the public that he was the perfect president. If Kennedy were a
modern day president, the advanced technology and media access would have derailed
his positive image and exposed his wrongdoings.

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Works Cited.
Freidel, Frank and Hugh Sidney. The Presidents of the United States of America.
Whitehouse.gov. 2006. Web. April 24th, 2014.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy>
Hersh, Seymour M. The Dark Side of Camelot. New York: Little Brown and Company.
1997. Print
Kiger, Patrick J. Was Kennedy tied to the mob. National Geographic. 2013. Web. April
24th, 2014. <http://channel.natinalgeographic.com/channel/killingkennedy/articles/jfks-secret-mafia-history>
Life of John F. Kennedy. John F. Kennedy: Presidential Library and Museum. Web.
April 24th, 2014. <http://www.jkflibrary.org/JFK/Life-of-John-F-Kennedy.aspx>
Mataconis, Doug. John F Kennedy The Worst President of the 20th Century?. Outside
the Beltway. July 16th, 2011. Web. April 24th, 2014.
<http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/john-f-kennedy-the-worst-president-of-the20th-century/>
Nathan, James. Anatomy of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood
Press. 2001. Print
Newman, John M. JFK and Vietnam. New York: Warner Books, Inc. 1992. Print
Pacatte, Rose. PBS Documentary brings to life JFKs flaws, courage. National
catholic reporter. November 9th, 2013. Web. April 24th, 2014.
<http://ncronline.org/news/art-media/pbs-documentary-brings-life-jfks-flawscourage>

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Schlesinger, Arthur M. A Thousand Days: John F Kennedy in the White House. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin Company, 1965. Print
Talbot, David. Brothers. New York: Free Press, 2008. Print