Speaker 1: On April twenty seventh, nineteen sixty one, John F. Kennedy's
Speaker 1: plane touched down at LaGuardia Airport. It was his first
Speaker 1: visit to New York since becoming president. He stepped off
Speaker 1: the aircraft and slid into a black limousine, which whisked
Speaker 1: him to his suite at the Carlisle on Madison Avenue.
Speaker 1: Hours later, a police motorcade accompanied Kennedy south to the
Speaker 1: Waldorf Astoria. Outside the hotel, more than three thousand people
Speaker 1: jammed Park Avenue to greet the new leader of the
Speaker 1: Free world. It was Press Week in New York, an
Speaker 1: annual gathering of more than twelve hundred editors, publishers, and
Speaker 1: newspaper executives. President Kennedy had come to the Waldorf that
Speaker 1: evening to address the American Newspaper Publishers Association. His appearance
Speaker 1: was especially newsworthy. One week earlier, US backed forces had
Speaker 1: flown the white flag in Cuba. The Bay of Pigs
Speaker 1: invasion may have failed to topple the communist government of
Speaker 1: Fidel Castro, but it did succeed in escalating the Cold War,
Speaker 1: a major foreign policy blunder. Just months into Kennedy's term,
Speaker 1: Dressed in white tie, Kennedy approached the lectern in the
Speaker 1: Waldorf's dazzling Grand ballroom. His speech was titled The President
Speaker 1: and the Press.
Speaker 2: Some may suggest that this would be more naturally worded
Speaker 2: the President versus the Press, but those are not my
Speaker 2: sentiments tonight.
Speaker 1: Instead, Kennedy said he had a more sober topic to discuss.
Speaker 2: But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every
Speaker 2: newsman in the nation to re examine his own standards
Speaker 2: and to recognize the nature of our country's peril.
Speaker 3: In time of war.
Speaker 2: The government and the press have customarily joined in an effort,
Speaker 2: based largely on self discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to
Speaker 2: the enemy. In times of clear and present danger. The
Speaker 2: courts have held that even the privileged rights of the
Speaker 2: First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.
Speaker 1: These were perilous times, as evidenced by the situation in Cuba.
Speaker 1: War hadn't been declared, but Kennedy wanted the press to
Speaker 1: act as if it had. He claimed America's enemies had
Speaker 1: learned about covert preparations from simply reading the newspapers that
Speaker 1: they'd been able to glean quote the size, the strength,
Speaker 1: the location, and the nature of our forces and weapons,
Speaker 1: and our plans and strategy for their use. He said
Speaker 1: that in at least one instance, details about a secret
Speaker 1: satellite mechanism had been published.
Speaker 2: The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible,
Speaker 2: and well meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare,
Speaker 2: the undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in
Speaker 2: the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests
Speaker 2: of journalism and not the tests of national security. And
Speaker 2: my question, deny it is whether additional tests should not
Speaker 2: now be adopted. That question is for you alone to answer.
Speaker 2: No public official should answer it for you. No governmental
Speaker 2: plan should impose its restraints against Joe Will. But I
Speaker 2: would be failing in my duty to the nation, in
Speaker 2: considering all of the responsibilities that we now bail and
Speaker 2: all of the means at hand to meet those responsibilities,
Speaker 2: if I did not command this problem to your attention
Speaker 2: and urge its thoughtful consideration.
Speaker 1: Kennedy ended his address by affirming his respect and admiration
Speaker 1: for the Fourth Estate. He said he shared journalism's obligation
Speaker 1: to inform the American people, to give them the facts
Speaker 1: to spark debate He wasn't asking those in attendance to
Speaker 1: support his administration. He understood their watchdog rule. He not
Speaker 1: only accepted the accountability of newspapers, he welcomed it.
Speaker 2: And so it is to the printing press, to the
Speaker 2: recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the
Speaker 2: courier of his news, that we look for strength and assistance,
Speaker 2: confident that with your help, man will be what he
Speaker 2: was born to be, free and independent.
Speaker 1: The next day, Kennedy's remarks were front page headlines. The
Speaker 1: New York Times declared, President urges press limit news that
Speaker 1: helps reds. But there was something the Times story didn't mention.
Speaker 1: Kennedy wasn't just speaking to America's journalists as their president.
Speaker 1: He was speaking as someone who, at least for three
Speaker 1: months in nineteen forty five, had been one of them.
Speaker 1: Even if you were well versed in other aspects of
Speaker 1: JFK's microscopically scrutinized life, you could be forgiven if you
Speaker 1: were less familiar with this one, That is, if you
Speaker 1: are familiar with it at all.
Speaker 4: I was sixteen and JFK was assassinated.
Speaker 1: That's Rob Reiner, the famous director Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner,
Speaker 1: Princess Bride, Rob Reiner, A few good men, Rob Reiner,
Speaker 1: and in the podcast space Who Killed JFK. Reiner His
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three show spent several weeks atop the Apple
Speaker 1: Top podcast charts.
Speaker 4: I had written a paper in high school about the
Speaker 4: Cuban missile crisis, so I was focused on him as
Speaker 4: a president. I knew, obviously a little bit about him
Speaker 4: as a senator. I knew about PT One nine, and
Speaker 4: we all knew about his heroics during the Second World War.
Speaker 1: But even Rob Reiner wasn't dialed in on this chapter
Speaker 1: of JFK's story.
Speaker 4: As far as him being a journalist, I didn't really
Speaker 4: know very much about that, and I'm hearing about it
Speaker 4: essentially for the first time here.
Speaker 1: It was a brief and relatively under the radar period
Speaker 1: in JFK's life. At the same time, it had a
Speaker 1: lasting impact on one of the most iconic presidents in
Speaker 1: American history. Welcome to very special episodes and Iheart's original podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Danish Schwartz, and this is JFK Is
Speaker 1: Forgotten Summer in Journalism.
Speaker 5: Welcome back to very special episodes. I'm Jason English. She
Speaker 5: is Danish Schwartz. He is Aaron Burnett, And on this
Speaker 5: podcast we tell one great story each week, and I'm
Speaker 5: going to start here.
Speaker 6: I love a good prequel.
Speaker 5: Better call Saul Wicked the Muppet Babies. Just give me
Speaker 5: the back story.
Speaker 1: The Muppet Babies. Did you see Solo? That's the real
Speaker 1: test of whether you like a prequel.
Speaker 6: I did see that one, and that is a real test.
Speaker 5: So on the topic of presidential jobs by Osmosis, we've
Speaker 5: heard these stories over the years. Barack Obama worked at
Speaker 5: Baskin Robbins and Ron Reagan, Joe Biden, they were lifeguards.
Speaker 5: Grover Cleveland was a hangman. I don't know if you
Speaker 5: guys knew that. He's carried out at least two executions.
Speaker 1: Did not know Grover Cleveland.
Speaker 5: The Grover Cleveland. Richard Nixon got to get him in here.
Speaker 5: He worked at the Family gas station, naturally, and LBJ
Speaker 5: owned the Muzak distribution rights. He was in the radio
Speaker 5: business with his wife and they owned Muzak rights and in.
Speaker 6: The Austin area.
Speaker 5: I don't think any of those stories are going to
Speaker 5: be worthy of very special episodes.
Speaker 1: Oh no, the hangman one sounds kind of interesting.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Hangman and Musach are both interesting angles.
Speaker 5: It's a little dark. I'm talking about the muzak one.
Speaker 5: But jfk is a journalist.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it because I actually started as a journalist.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's right.
Speaker 1: It is my prequel. Jason knew me when.
Speaker 5: I'm looking forward to your presidential run as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll be the one to set things right.
Speaker 6: He already got my vote though.
Speaker 1: For John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the seeds of service were planted
Speaker 1: at a young age.
Speaker 7: It's often said that he was born into a rich family.
Speaker 7: That's not exactly true.
Speaker 1: Fred Logoval is one of Kennedy's by biographers.
Speaker 7: His father, Joe Sr. Became extraordinarily wealthy. Let's say the
Speaker 7: first ten years of Jack's life is really when he
Speaker 7: makes his fortune. You know what's notable about this family,
Speaker 7: of course, is that he and his wife Rose instill
Speaker 7: in their children, all of them, really, this idea that
Speaker 7: they need to think beyond themselves, They need to give
Speaker 7: something back, They need to commit themselves at least a
Speaker 7: little bit to public service. And I think that's something
Speaker 7: that Jack takes in.
Speaker 1: After graduating from Harvard in nineteen forty, Jack had his
Speaker 1: eye on law school. His plans changed when the United States'
Speaker 1: entry into World War Two seemed inevitable. Jack and his
Speaker 1: older brother, Joseph Kennedy Junior, enlisted in the US Naval Reserve.
Speaker 7: Both brothers want to serve in the war. They both
Speaker 7: want to see combat, which is an interesting decision on
Speaker 7: their port beca as you say, they could have avoided this,
Speaker 7: but they both serve and of course get into harm's
Speaker 7: way before too long. And in Jack's case, that becomes
Speaker 7: as a commander of a pet boat.
Speaker 1: PT boats were small, fast, and heavily armed. Jack's was
Speaker 1: the eighty foot PT one oh nine, part of a
Speaker 1: fleet in the Pacific theater. As US forces battled the Japanese,
Speaker 1: the twenty six year old lieutenant commanded his vessel through
Speaker 1: the waters of the Solomon Islands. In terms of combat assignments,
Speaker 1: it didn't get much riskier. At the same time, the
Speaker 1: mission suited Jack. He had practically grown up on the
Speaker 1: sea during summers at the Kennedy Compound, sailing Nantucket Sound
Speaker 1: off the coast of Hyanna's Port. Still, no amount of
Speaker 1: nautical expertise could have prepared him for the danger he
Speaker 1: would face in the wei hours of August second, nineteen
Speaker 1: forty three.
Speaker 7: It was a moonless night. They're in the Beckett Straight
Speaker 7: in the Solomons. PT boats are patrolling looking for Japanese vessels.
Speaker 7: Some of the PT boats had radar. Lieutenant Kennedy's did
Speaker 7: not have radar, which really limited what he was able
Speaker 7: to perceive on this very dark night. And what happens
Speaker 7: is he does not see that a Japanese destroyer is
Speaker 7: bearing down on them.
Speaker 1: The Japanese warship slammed into Jack's boat, slicing it in half.
Speaker 1: The PT one nine didn't stand a chance. That might
Speaker 1: have been the end of John F. Kennedy right then
Speaker 1: and there. No Congress, no Jack ee O, no White House,
Speaker 1: no Bay of Pigs, no Cuban missile crisis, no Lee
Speaker 1: Harvey Oswald, no JFK airports.
Speaker 4: These are the events that change history. He knew what
Speaker 4: war was. I mean, obviously Eisenhower did. But here was
Speaker 4: a man who really was in the midst of the
Speaker 4: horrors of war.
Speaker 1: Miraculously, Jack survived, so did most of his crew. They
Speaker 1: could see a small island in the distance. Now all
Speaker 1: they had to do was swim to safety. Jack had
Speaker 1: as good a chance of making it as any. A
Speaker 1: few years earlier, he'd competed on the Harvard swim team.
Speaker 1: He just hadn't ever trained for a long distance swim
Speaker 1: through shark infested enemy waters with a wounded comrade in tow.
Speaker 7: He drags this injured member of his crew for these
Speaker 7: three and a half four hours, so he has to
Speaker 7: not just swim for himself, but for his comrade. And
Speaker 7: they make it to this island, and then they have
Speaker 7: to figure out what to do from there. The whole
Speaker 7: time there's the possibility, of course, that Japanese will spot them. Ultimately,
Speaker 7: they are restored.
Speaker 1: On August twentieth, a front page New York Times headline
Speaker 1: claimed Kennedy's son is hero in Pacific. In his book JFK.
Speaker 1: Coming of Age in the American Century, Fred Logowl describes
Speaker 1: the episode as a pivotal moment.
Speaker 7: His World War two experience, and especially his experience in
Speaker 7: the Pacific, has a very important effect on young Jack Kennedy.
Speaker 7: I think it boosts his belief that he belongs, that
Speaker 7: he can make decisions, that he can be a leader.
Speaker 7: So it's a real shot in terms of his self
Speaker 7: confidence and his self belief. I also think it shapes
Speaker 7: his worldview, his belief that coming out of this war,
Speaker 7: the United States needs to play a primary role in
Speaker 7: world affairs. It affects how he sees the world, how
Speaker 7: he sees the US role in that world. That, I think,
Speaker 7: in a way will stay with him till the end
Speaker 7: of his days.
Speaker 1: One year after Jack's near death experience in the Pacific,
Speaker 1: his older volunteered for a highly perilous operation. Joe Junior's
Speaker 1: orders were to fly a plane packed with explosives towards
Speaker 1: France and then jump out with the parachute. He didn't
Speaker 1: make it.
Speaker 7: It's what kind of suicide mission? Really? The plane will
Speaker 7: continue well, it explodes before they can bail.
Speaker 1: Joe Junior's death was almost too much to bear for
Speaker 1: his father, a former SEC chairman who'd served as the
Speaker 1: US ambassador to the United Kingdom earlier in the war.
Speaker 1: The Boston Globe reported quote from the time the family
Speaker 1: received the Navy telegram, the ex ambassador has kept to
Speaker 1: his room. His grief is deep. Joe Junior had been
Speaker 1: the golden child and heir apparent of a proud political lineage.
Speaker 1: From a young age, his father had been grooming him
Speaker 1: for greatness. Now Joe's goal of becoming America's first Catholic
Speaker 1: president had been cut tragically short.
Speaker 4: You had Joe Kennedy, who always wanted the family to
Speaker 4: be considered legitimate and to be accepted in the political world.
Speaker 4: I don't think Jack thought of himself for somebody who
Speaker 4: was going to take up that mantle. I think he
Speaker 4: always thought his older brother was going to be the one.
Speaker 1: It was a devastating turn of events for the family.
Speaker 1: It also had major implications for the Kennedy clan's second
Speaker 1: oldest son, because the family's hopes and dreams didn't just
Speaker 1: die with Joe Junior. Rather, they were transferred onto Jack.
Speaker 1: Following his exploits in the Pacific, Jack sought treatment for
Speaker 1: chronic back pain that had ailed him for years. He
Speaker 1: ended up up having surgery, which officially put an end
Speaker 1: to his military career. On March first, nineteen forty five,
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Kennedy was honorably discharged, his future laid out before him.
Speaker 1: Still mourning the death of his brother, Jack found himself
Speaker 1: at a crossroads. He emerged from his Navy service a
Speaker 1: household name, the torchbearer of his family's political ambitions. Politics
Speaker 1: was in his blood. In addition, to the roles his
Speaker 1: father had played in government. Jack's maternal grandfather had been
Speaker 1: a mayor of Boston and a US congressman. His paternal
Speaker 1: grandfather had been a state senator. Both of his great
Speaker 1: uncles were state senators, and his father's first cousin was
Speaker 1: once the mayor of Brockton, Massachusetts. But in that spring
Speaker 1: of nineteen forty five, as the war entered its final inning,
Speaker 1: Jack had a lot to consider.
Speaker 7: He could go to law school, which he has flirted with,
Speaker 7: not because he has a particular interest in the law,
Speaker 7: but because it's a career step for somebody who doesn't
Speaker 7: maybe quite know what they want to do. He's interested
Speaker 7: in journalism, and I think he is thinking about politics.
Speaker 1: Jack was already an accomplished writer. Senior year at Harvard,
Speaker 1: he wrote a thesis exploring British appeasement in the run
Speaker 1: up to World War Two. Joe Senior encouraged his son
Speaker 1: to publish it. To make the work commercially viable, they
Speaker 1: enlisted Joe's friend Arthur Kroc, the Pulitzer Prize winning Washington
Speaker 1: correspondent for The New York Times. In his memoirs, Kroc
Speaker 1: would write of Jack's thesis quote, it was remarkable for
Speaker 1: the fine perception of the fundamental problems of a peace
Speaker 1: loving democracy threatened with dictatorial regimes. Kroc helped Jack turn
Speaker 1: the thesis into a book called Why England Slept, with
Speaker 1: a forward from Henry Luce, the founder of Time magazine.
Speaker 1: It became a best seller, and the book's thesis persuaded
Speaker 1: Krock that Jack was quote suited to a career in journalism.
Speaker 1: Five years later, as Jack wade career options, Joe Senior
Speaker 1: got in touch with his old pal William Randolph Hurst.
Speaker 7: He had known. Joe Senior had known Hurst from his
Speaker 7: days as a Hollywood mogul in the nineteen twenties. Late
Speaker 7: nineteen twenties, Joe Kennedy became a serious player in Hollywood,
Speaker 7: made a good deal of money in Hollywood. Got to
Speaker 7: know Hurst at that point, partly through Mariam Davies, and
Speaker 7: in the nineteen thirties, Joe Kennedy convinced Hurst to back
Speaker 7: Fdr for reelection in nineteen thirty six. So they have
Speaker 7: these connections.
Speaker 1: Joe Senior helped Jack get a gig as a syndicated
Speaker 1: special correspondent for the Hearst Newspapers, which included the San
Speaker 1: Francisco Examiner, the Chicago Herald American, and the New York
Speaker 1: Journal American. The idea was that Jack would cover the
Speaker 1: unfolding post war order from a quote serviceman's point of view.
Speaker 1: Hearst got to splash his papers with the byline of
Speaker 1: best selling author John F. Kennedy, identified at the top
Speaker 1: of each article as a quote. Recently retired p boat
Speaker 1: hero and son of former Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Jack
Speaker 1: got to test the journalistic waters while elevating his profile
Speaker 1: in a way that could prove advantageous to a future
Speaker 1: in politics. His first assignment was a banger. At the
Speaker 1: end of April nineteen forty five, Hurst sent him to
Speaker 1: San Francisco to cover the founding Conference of the United Nations.
Speaker 1: Jack suddenly found himself at the the center of international policymaking,
Speaker 1: breathing the same air as illustrious statesman.
Speaker 8: Delegates representing forty six nations came to San Francisco on
Speaker 8: April twenty fifth, nineteen forty five, representing almost two thousand
Speaker 8: million people, more than eighty percent of humanity, all at war.
Speaker 8: When the conference was begun. They came with hope born
Speaker 8: of common struggle.
Speaker 1: If you were a cub reporter like Jack Kennedy, this
Speaker 1: was the place to be. Kennedy joined twelve hundred accredited
Speaker 1: journalists from established scribes like James Rustin, Walter Lippman, and
Speaker 1: the Kennedy's friend Arthur Krock, two gossips like Walter Winschell,
Speaker 1: Earl Wilson, and Peta Hopper. Describing the media spectacle, Life
Speaker 1: Magazine observed a quote like Pilgrim's drawn to Mecca. The
Speaker 1: nation's newspapermen flocked to San Francisco. They were all there,
Speaker 1: the whys and the witless, the sober and the silly,
Speaker 1: the pundits, pontificators, and performing seals. The goal of the
Speaker 1: conference was to create a template for global diplomacy in
Speaker 1: the interest of preventing future wars. In his first dispatch
Speaker 1: on April twenty eighth, Kennedy warned readers not to get
Speaker 1: their hopes up.
Speaker 9: There is an impression that this is the conference to
Speaker 9: end wars and introduce peace on Earth and goodwill toward nations, excluding,
Speaker 9: of course, Germany and Japan. Well, it's not going to
Speaker 9: do that.
Speaker 1: Kennedy's debut also included a man on the Street interview
Speaker 1: with a decorated marine who told him quote, I don't
Speaker 1: know much about what's going on, but if they just
Speaker 1: fix it so that we don't have to fight anymore,
Speaker 1: they can count me in. Kennedy replied, me too, Sarge.
Speaker 1: In the evenings, Kennedy swanned about San Francisco with the elite. Kroc,
Speaker 1: writing in his memoirs years later, painted some memorable scenes
Speaker 1: of the humble Hurst correspondent cutting in on a dance
Speaker 1: with the British Foreign Secretary's wife on his bed at
Speaker 1: the Palace Hotel, with a high ball in one hand
Speaker 1: and a telephone receiver in the other.
Speaker 9: Hello there, Yeah, I want to speak to the managing
Speaker 9: editor of the Chicago Herald Examiner. Not in. We'll put
Speaker 9: somebody on to take a message. Cook. Will you see
Speaker 9: that the boss gets this message as soon as you
Speaker 9: can reach him. Thank you. Here's the message. Kennedy will
Speaker 9: not be filing tonight.
Speaker 1: Tempting as it may have been, Kennedy wasn't there to party.
Speaker 1: Over the course of a month, he wrote sixteen columns
Speaker 1: at about three hundred words apiece, exactly the most grueling
Speaker 1: journalistic assignment, but well worth the rate Hurst was paying
Speaker 1: him seven hundred and fifty dollars, which is about thirteen
Speaker 1: thousand today, Plus it was exciting work. Kennedy basically had
Speaker 1: a front row seat to history, reporting on the birth
Speaker 1: of the UN as the Allies declared victory in Europe.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's hard to overstate the symbolic importance of
Speaker 7: the San Francisco Conference, Even if the sort of basics
Speaker 7: of that world order have already been laid out at
Speaker 7: prior conferences among the Allies, there's already a sense that
Speaker 7: this is now going to be effectively a two power world.
Speaker 7: The United States and the Soviet Union will be the
Speaker 7: key players, and the young reporter Jack Kennedy, his stories
Speaker 7: filed from San Francisco are so fascinating.
Speaker 1: Kennedy's stories weren't exactly straight news, and his point of
Speaker 1: view wasn't just that of a serviceman, but someone who
Speaker 1: had his own ideas about world affairs.
Speaker 9: May first, this conference from a distance may have appeared
Speaker 9: so far like an international football game. Well, that part's
Speaker 9: over and they are scheduled tomorrow to get at the
Speaker 9: real work of the conference. This will consist of trying
Speaker 9: to solve a number of more or less technical problems
Speaker 9: upon how these dull problems are settled may depend our
Speaker 9: peace in the upcoming years. May sixteenth, The Russians have
Speaker 9: recognized our difficult position and have taken full advantage of it.
Speaker 9: They have attempted to embarrass Us and the British at
Speaker 9: every turn. May eighteenth, there is growing discouragement among people
Speaker 9: concerning our chances of winning any lasting peace from this war.
Speaker 9: There is talk of fighting the Russians in the next
Speaker 9: ten or fifteen years. We have indeed gone a long
Speaker 9: way since those hopeful days early in the war when
Speaker 9: we talked of union. Now in one world there is
Speaker 9: a fundamental distrust between Great Britain and the United States
Speaker 9: on the one hand, and Russia on the other.
Speaker 1: The growing distrust between Russia and the US was a
Speaker 1: running theme of Kennedy's reportage.
Speaker 7: Kennedy picks up on this. He's as quick as anybody else,
Speaker 7: I would argue, at least in terms of the reporting
Speaker 7: at the conference, to see how these two players were
Speaker 7: going to be the most important players, number one and
Speaker 7: number two, how they were destined to come into conflict.
Speaker 7: There's a realism in his articles. These pieces stand up
Speaker 7: pretty well. If one were to go back now and
Speaker 7: read all of them. They're solid in the context of
Speaker 7: their time. I would say they're even solid in terms
Speaker 7: of what he saw, maybe at least to a degree
Speaker 7: before others did, about this new world order.
Speaker 1: The San Francisco Conference carried on until June twenty six,
Speaker 1: when the assembled delegates signed the historic Charter of the
Speaker 1: United Nations. By then, Kennedy was gone. Another story had beckoned,
Speaker 1: this time across the ocean. Kennedy hadn't been to Europe
Speaker 1: since nineteen thirty nine. He had visited Germany right before
Speaker 1: the invasion of Poland, then he had traveled to London.
Speaker 1: On September third, nineteen thirty nine, Kennedy observed Britain's declaration
Speaker 1: of war in the House of Commons, where soon to
Speaker 1: be Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared, we are fighting to
Speaker 1: save the whole world from the pestilence of Nazi tyranny
Speaker 1: and in defense of all that is most sacred to man.
Speaker 1: Nearly six years later, the Allies had won that fight
Speaker 1: and Churchill was up for reelection. The conventional wisdom held
Speaker 1: that Churchill's wartime leadership would make him a shoe in,
Speaker 1: but one journalist was and so sure In fact, this journalist,
Speaker 1: a fresh faced correspondent for the Hearst Papers, had a
Speaker 1: hunch that the Prime Minister's days were numbered. In June
Speaker 1: nineteen forty five, Kennedy flew to London and checked into
Speaker 1: a two room suite at the Grovenor House Hotel. It
Speaker 1: was Jack's first international assignment, and he'd gotten business cards
Speaker 1: with his Hearst affiliation, John Fitzgerald Kennedy International News Service.
Speaker 1: A letter to the US Consul General from the manager
Speaker 1: of the news service made it official. This is to
Speaker 1: certify that mister John F. Kennedy is on special assignment
Speaker 1: in Europe for Hearst Newspapers. The British elections were scheduled
Speaker 1: for July fifth. Kennedy arrived just in time for the
Speaker 1: frenzied home stretch of the campaigns.
Speaker 7: He's fascinated by electoral politics in a democratic system. Again,
Speaker 7: He's grown up experiencing this with his grandfather, Honey fitz
Speaker 7: a legendary Boston politician. He has followed elections, you know,
Speaker 7: as a student. Now he's seeing it up close, and
Speaker 7: I think it absolutely inclines him more as much as
Speaker 7: he's enjoying I think the reporting gig to seek out
Speaker 7: political possibilities for himself.
Speaker 1: Churchill seemed to have the upper hand. At least of
Speaker 1: his high approval ratings were any indication. Speaking at a
Speaker 1: campaign stop where thousands of cheering supporters lined the streets,
Speaker 1: the Prime Minister said, this election is one of great
Speaker 1: importance because it comes at a moment when the future
Speaker 1: of our country is at stake. Around the same time,
Speaker 1: Kennedy filed his latest story lines that appeared with the
Speaker 1: article in various Hurst publications sounded ominous. Churchill's defeat possible
Speaker 1: in new tide sweeping Europe. Labor rights may defeat Churchill,
Speaker 1: says writer. Churchill may lose election. Here's Kennedy in his
Speaker 1: own words.
Speaker 9: This may come as a surprise to most Americans, who
Speaker 9: feel Churchill is as indomitable at the polls as he
Speaker 9: was in the war. However, Churchill is fighting a tide
Speaker 9: that is surging through Europe, washing away monarchies and conservative
Speaker 9: governments everywhere, and that tide flows powerfully in England. England
Speaker 9: is moving towards some form of socialism. If not in
Speaker 9: this election, then then surely at the next.
Speaker 1: Kennedy's article turned out to be precient. On July twenty sixth,
Speaker 1: after all the votes were finally counted, the Labor Party
Speaker 1: beat Churchill's Conservative government in a landslide. Croc later said
Speaker 1: that Kennedy's writings were quote the only intimation I got
Speaker 1: from anyone that Churchill would be defeated.
Speaker 7: Even in one or two of his pieces from San Francisco,
Speaker 7: he suggests that the Conservatives are in some trouble, which
Speaker 7: too many people seems absolutely crazy. Churchill in trouble politically,
Speaker 7: how can that be? He's one of the great leaders
Speaker 7: of the twentieth century. I think people already understood. Kennedy
Speaker 7: even before he gets to London, says that this is
Speaker 7: a possibility. What he then proceeds to do in the
Speaker 7: weeks prior to the vote is to follow the campaign,
Speaker 7: and he shows a reporter's nos for a good story.
Speaker 1: On the heels of Churchill's defeat, Kennedy wrote.
Speaker 9: England has been hit by some blockbusters in the last
Speaker 9: five years, but none of them have a shoko like
Speaker 9: today's election results. Explanations for the crushing defeat we're already forthcoming,
Speaker 9: and they will be pouring in for the next few weeks.
Speaker 1: It was one of his last dispatches from the United Kingdom,
Speaker 1: but Kennedy still had a few more stops on his
Speaker 1: tour as a correspondent for Hurst. From England, he traveled
Speaker 1: to Paris and then on to Germany. That's where the US,
Speaker 1: the Soviet Union, and Great Britain were hashing out a
Speaker 1: plan for post war Europe at the Potsdam Conference. The
Speaker 1: historical record is a bit fuzzy as to whether Kennedy
Speaker 1: actually filed any stories from this last leg of the trip.
Speaker 1: It seems like he probably didn't. He did, however, keep
Speaker 1: a diary. You can buy a reprint of it for
Speaker 1: under ten bucks. It's called Prelude to Leadership, The European
Speaker 1: Diary of John F. Kennedy. The diary reflects on the
Speaker 1: utter destruction in places like Berlin.
Speaker 9: The devastation is The streets are relatively clear, but there
Speaker 9: is not a single building which is not gutted. On
Speaker 9: some of the streets, the stench, sweet and sickish from
Speaker 9: dead bodies is overwhelming. The people all have completely colorless faces,
Speaker 9: a yellow tinge with pale tan lips. They were all
Speaker 9: carrying bundles. Where are they going? No one seems to know.
Speaker 9: I wonder whether they do.
Speaker 1: In one entry, Kennedy describes a somber conversation with a
Speaker 1: young German girl.
Speaker 9: This girl is about twenty two, speaks some English, and
Speaker 9: is a Roman Catholic. She said it was difficult to
Speaker 9: get to Catholic church after the Nazis came to power,
Speaker 9: though it was possible. She thought the Germans were going
Speaker 9: to win the war, but the first victories were just shining.
Speaker 9: She thought the future of Germany is melancholy.
Speaker 1: The final entry is arguably the most chilling one. Kennedy
Speaker 1: writes about his visit to Hitler's bombed out chalet in
Speaker 1: the Bavarian Alps, as well as a nearby building.
Speaker 9: After visiting these two places, you can clearly understand how
Speaker 9: that within a few years Hitler will emerge from the
Speaker 9: hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most
Speaker 9: significant figures who ever lived. He had boundless ambition for
Speaker 9: his country, which rendered him a menace to the peace
Speaker 9: of the world. But he had a mystery about him
Speaker 9: in the way that he lived, in the manner of
Speaker 9: his death that will live and grow after it. He
Speaker 9: had in him the stuff of which legends are made.
Speaker 1: For the record. Kennedyologists who have written about this entry
Speaker 1: have noted there's no indication that jfk harbored any sympathies
Speaker 1: for the Fear or Nazi Germany.
Speaker 7: What I take away from the diary is a sense
Speaker 7: that the world order has fundamentally shifted. In part again,
Speaker 7: is based on seeing the destruction all around him, his
Speaker 7: awareness that Britain is a faded power, that Britain is
Speaker 7: emerging drastically weakened from the war. Now he's seeing that
Speaker 7: Germany is destroyed coming out of the war. He understands
Speaker 7: that there's going to be a division of Germany. What's
Speaker 7: the strength in his analysis is the degree to which
Speaker 7: he perceives that this division between East and West, the
Speaker 7: United States the leader of one camp, if you will,
Speaker 7: and the Soviet Union the leader and the other. That
Speaker 7: I think is affirmed for him in these weeks in Germany,
Speaker 7: and again I repeat because I think it matters a
Speaker 7: conviction that he has, which is that the United States
Speaker 7: must become the leader of the West going forward.
Speaker 1: In addition of the diary published in nineteen ninety five, include
Speaker 1: an introduction by Hugh Sidney, who covered Kennedy's presidency for Time.
Speaker 1: He writes, quote Kennedy shows in his diary that he
Speaker 1: has the instincts of a good journalist, the unflagging curiosity,
Speaker 1: the eyes, the ears. Others in Kennedy's orbit have described
Speaker 1: that spring and summer of nineteen forty five as a
Speaker 1: key step in his political evolution. Close friend and speech
Speaker 1: writer Ted Sorenson wrote in his own JFK biography quote
Speaker 1: in a brief fling at journalism, he had observed the
Speaker 1: power politics at Potsdam and the San Francisco UN Conference,
Speaker 1: and covered the British election. All this sharpened his interest
Speaker 1: in public affairs and public service. Two of JFK's White
Speaker 1: House aides said he considered his journalistic dalliances quote the
Speaker 1: thing that finally moved Jack Kennedy toward active politics. Having
Speaker 1: a close look as a reporter at the post war
Speaker 1: political leaders in action, he decided that he might be
Speaker 1: able to find more satisfaction and to perform more useful
Speaker 1: service as a politician than as a political writer. Kennedy
Speaker 1: left Europe in early August as the war was hurtling
Speaker 1: toward its catastrophic conclusion in Japan. By the end of
Speaker 1: the year, he had made the decision to run for
Speaker 1: office in April nineteen forty six, he officially entered the
Speaker 1: race to represent his home state's eleventh congressional district. And
Speaker 1: while the rest is history.
Speaker 7: Nobody thought of this at the time, but present in
Speaker 7: Potsdam are the thirty third President of the United States,
Speaker 7: Harry Truman, the thirty fourth President of the United States
Speaker 7: Dwight Eisenhower, and the thirty fifth President of the United States,
Speaker 7: young Jack Kennedy.
Speaker 4: He was the youngest president ever to be elected. I
Speaker 4: was only a teenager, but he felt like one of us.
Speaker 4: But here was a guy, he was forty three at
Speaker 4: the time, and we thought, Wow, this is somebody that's
Speaker 4: almost in our generation, somebody who we actually can look
Speaker 4: up to and respect. And he was funny, he had
Speaker 4: a quick wit. That guy can be a president. That
Speaker 4: was really cool to us. He was a hero to
Speaker 4: our generation.
Speaker 1: One day in nineteen sixty, when Kennedy was running for president,
Speaker 1: he sat down to dictate some notes. He would do
Speaker 1: this from time to time, preparing for the memoirs he
Speaker 1: expected to write. On this particular occasion, Kennedy reflected on
Speaker 1: his trajectory from pt boat captain to candidate for America's
Speaker 1: highest office.
Speaker 3: My brother Joe was killed in Europe as a fire
Speaker 3: in August nineteen forty four, and that ended our hopes
Speaker 3: for him.
Speaker 10: But I didn't even.
Speaker 3: Start to think about a political profess more than a
Speaker 3: year later. When the war came. I didn't know what
Speaker 3: I was going to do, and I didn't find it
Speaker 3: oppressive that I didn't know. Forty four and forty five,
Speaker 3: I had been in the hospital for about a year,
Speaker 3: recovering from some injuries I received in the Pacific, and
Speaker 3: I worked as a reporter covering the San Francisco Conference,
Speaker 3: the British election, and the Potsdam meeting tall in nineteen
Speaker 3: forty five.
Speaker 1: A few beats later. In the recording, which you can
Speaker 1: find online at the website of UVa's Miller Center, Kennedy
Speaker 1: explains why journalism didn't captivate him the way politics ultimately did.
Speaker 3: A reporter is reporting what happens. He's not making it
Speaker 3: happen underline, making underline reporter. Even the good reporters, the
Speaker 3: ones who are really fascinated by what happens and who
Speaker 3: find real stickless putting their noses into the center of
Speaker 3: even they in a sense are in a secondary profession.
Speaker 3: It's reporting what happened coma, but it isn't participating.
Speaker 1: By all accounts, JFK would have made a fine journalist,
Speaker 1: and if fate hadn't intervened, maybe that's exactly what he
Speaker 1: would have ended up being.
Speaker 7: Let's suppose that Joe Junior survives. He was seen by
Speaker 7: his father and others as the one who would enter politics.
Speaker 7: So he does so, let's say, and let's say he
Speaker 7: rises to the talk or near the talk. I actually
Speaker 7: suggest that there are reasons why Joe Kennedy Junior would
Speaker 7: not have been as successful as his brother was in politics.
Speaker 7: But let's assume that he would have been. I think
Speaker 7: Jack Kennedy probably would have pursued, at least in the
Speaker 7: early going, a journalistic career, and I think he would
Speaker 7: have been successful at it. It's not impossible to imagine
Speaker 7: that he stays with that career, that he becomes a
Speaker 7: kind of Walter Lippman for a later generation. And because
Speaker 7: of his skill as an observer, because of his intelligence,
Speaker 7: because of his ability to write pretty well and pretty quickly,
Speaker 7: which is important in journalism, a very little reason to
Speaker 7: believe that he would have not been highly successful in
Speaker 7: that capacity. It's a fascinating scenario.
Speaker 4: He had a curious mind and he had a great
Speaker 4: way of expressing himself. Would he have made a great journalist,
Speaker 4: Of course he would.
Speaker 5: So this should be a movie. This one a little
Speaker 5: added cinematic flair because the great director Rob Reiner gave
Speaker 5: us a nice cameo. Here, zaren, have you put your
Speaker 5: casting director hat on?
Speaker 10: I did, and in the spirit of Rob Reinder, I
Speaker 10: thought a lot about this.
Speaker 6: I wanted to get the casting right.
Speaker 10: He's really good at casting, so I thought, Okay, I
Speaker 10: give this one up for Rob, so for casting for
Speaker 10: young JFK the guy, the kid looks like him. So
Speaker 10: this one was easy. That kid Finn Wolfhart from Stranger Things.
Speaker 10: I mean, he's got the floppy hair.
Speaker 1: Do you think he looks like JFK?
Speaker 10: Out of all the young actors I was looking at,
Speaker 10: he was the closest appearance. Right Tony Goldwyn, the guy
Speaker 10: from Law and Order and from Scandal, he looks the
Speaker 10: most like a Kennedy. But I think he's too old
Speaker 10: now to play young Jack. So I was looking for
Speaker 10: a young Jack.
Speaker 1: You know what, I'm gonna give you a crazy pitch,
Speaker 1: what young solo himself?
Speaker 6: Whoa that's back?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 6: Bring him back good jawline poll too Okay.
Speaker 10: Now for Joe Kennedy Senior, for the Father, I thought
Speaker 10: Tim Blake Nelson Delmar from O Brother, Where art thou?
Speaker 10: He looks like Joe Kennedy Senior. I looked up Joe
Speaker 10: Kennedy Senior. I'm like, oh, that's that's a done deal,
Speaker 10: Tim Blake Nelson. And then for like William Randolph Hurst,
Speaker 10: I thought this one. I was like, okay, once again,
Speaker 10: looked at the man difficult face because he has a
Speaker 10: kind of like, you know, like that Time Traveler pre
Speaker 10: iPhone face. You're like, okay, who am I to get?
Speaker 10: Edward Horton was as close as I could get, being
Speaker 10: like boom. I think he's got the acting chops. He
Speaker 10: can do the gravitas. And then for Winston Churchill, this
Speaker 10: was a surprise Patton Oswalden a play for an Oscar.
Speaker 7: Wow, whoa.
Speaker 1: I love when a comedian goes serious, right, I thought
Speaker 1: that could be fun because Toby Jones was the other one,
Speaker 1: the British actor, but he's already played him, so that
Speaker 1: was like, okay, that's too easy. Yeah, British people always
Speaker 1: get mad when Americans play Winston Churchill because of the crown.
Speaker 1: It was John Letgow, John Lithgow, and they got mad.
Speaker 1: But he did a great job.
Speaker 10: So you know, I did not see that though, John Lithgow,
Speaker 10: that's an interesting choice.
Speaker 6: He seems like too tall.
Speaker 1: He was great. Yeah, so I think we can give
Speaker 1: it to another American.
Speaker 6: Okay, I like that call.
Speaker 5: And John Lithgow, quick aside, will be playing buzz Aldrin
Speaker 5: and an upcoming podcast that launches I think it's July ninth.
Speaker 6: Really, yeah, fighting buzz Aldrin, my man.
Speaker 5: Your guy. Maybe we put Rob Reiner in this as
Speaker 5: kind of the narrator. He can be like the Peter
Speaker 5: falk roll from Yeah where that fits into the narrative.
Speaker 5: But let's working.
Speaker 1: Then he plays the newspaperman who assigned JFK. A It's
Speaker 1: a non historical character, but just the scrappy newspaper man
Speaker 1: who's a mentor to JFK in the movie version.
Speaker 6: So that's good, good call, good screenwriting.
Speaker 10: I love to think that one thing about this story
Speaker 10: is it's a perfect reminder that a great truth of leadership,
Speaker 10: the secret to being a great leader is be a
Speaker 10: great storyteller, you know what I mean, Like, think about
Speaker 10: all of our great American presidents. They're almost all great storytellers.
Speaker 5: So if JFK the journalist was coming up today, what
Speaker 5: would be your advice It start a sub stack focus
Speaker 5: on social.
Speaker 6: Wow, that's tough one.
Speaker 1: I would say you, Oh, you have family, money, great,
Speaker 1: You'll be just fine.
Speaker 5: Very Special Episodes is made by some very special people.
Speaker 5: Today's episode was written by Joe Pompeo. Joe is one
Speaker 5: of our regulars. You can find out what else he's
Speaker 5: up to at Joe Pompeo dot net. This show is
Speaker 5: hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaren Burnett, and Jason English. Our
Speaker 5: producer is Josh Fisher. Editing and sound design by Jonathan
Speaker 5: Washington and Josh Fisher. Additional editing by Mary Doo, fixing
Speaker 5: and mastering by Josh Fisher. A big thanks to our
Speaker 5: JFK voice actor, Tom anton Ellis. It's very hard to
Speaker 5: do reenactments in an episode that also includes archival audio
Speaker 5: of the guy you are re enacting, but I thought
Speaker 5: Tom nailed it. Great to work with him again, And
Speaker 5: of course big thanks to Rob Reiner for agreeing to
Speaker 5: talk to us po see Spinal Tap two in theaters
Speaker 5: this September. Thanks to Roco at Rob's Company for helping
Speaker 5: coordinate original music by Alis McCoy, research in fact checking
Speaker 5: by Austin Thompson and Joe Pompeo. Show logo by Lucy Kintonia.
Speaker 5: Our executive producer is Jason English. If you ever want
Speaker 5: to email the show, you can reach us a Very
Speaker 5: Special Episodes at gmail dot com. Very Special Episodes is
Speaker 5: a production of iHeart Podcasts m