WEBVTT - JFK's Forgotten Summer in Journalism 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.960 On April twenty seventh, nineteen sixty one, John F. Kennedy's 0:00:10.000 --> 0:00:14.560 plane touched down at LaGuardia Airport. It was his first 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.880 visit to New York since becoming president. He stepped off 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:23.119 the aircraft and slid into a black limousine, which whisked 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:27.159 him to his suite at the Carlisle on Madison Avenue. 0:00:27.240 --> 0:00:32.159 Hours later, a police motorcade accompanied Kennedy south to the 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:37.920 Waldorf Astoria. Outside the hotel, more than three thousand people 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.680 jammed Park Avenue to greet the new leader of the 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.800 Free world. It was Press Week in New York, an 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:50.080 annual gathering of more than twelve hundred editors, publishers, and 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:54.840 newspaper executives. President Kennedy had come to the Waldorf that 0:00:54.920 --> 0:01:01.160 evening to address the American Newspaper Publishers Association. His appearance 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:08.160 was especially newsworthy. One week earlier, US backed forces had 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.280 flown the white flag in Cuba. The Bay of Pigs 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:17.200 invasion may have failed to topple the communist government of 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:22.800 Fidel Castro, but it did succeed in escalating the Cold War, 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:28.720 a major foreign policy blunder. Just months into Kennedy's term, 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.440 Dressed in white tie, Kennedy approached the lectern in the 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:39.280 Waldorf's dazzling Grand ballroom. His speech was titled The President 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:40.520 and the Press. 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.280 Some may suggest that this would be more naturally worded 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.120 the President versus the Press, but those are not my 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:49.280 sentiments tonight. 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:55.480 Instead, Kennedy said he had a more sober topic to discuss. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.400 But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.160 newsman in the nation to re examine his own standards 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.400 and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:10.360 In time of war. 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:15.640 The government and the press have customarily joined in an effort, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:21.560 based largely on self discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:26.160 the enemy. In times of clear and present danger. The 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:28.720 courts have held that even the privileged rights of the 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:33.360 First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security. 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:39.040 These were perilous times, as evidenced by the situation in Cuba. 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.680 War hadn't been declared, but Kennedy wanted the press to 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:48.079 act as if it had. He claimed America's enemies had 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:53.760 learned about covert preparations from simply reading the newspapers that 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.880 they'd been able to glean quote the size, the strength, 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:02.000 the location, and the nature of our forces and weapons, 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:06.400 and our plans and strategy for their use. He said 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:10.800 that in at least one instance, details about a secret 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.000 satellite mechanism had been published. 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:18.000 The newspapers which printed these stories were loyal, patriotic, responsible, 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.400 and well meaning. Had we been engaged in open warfare, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.560 the undoubtedly would not have published such items. But in 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.600 the absence of open warfare, they recognized only the tests 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:34.320 of journalism and not the tests of national security. And 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:38.360 my question, deny it is whether additional tests should not 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:42.320 now be adopted. That question is for you alone to answer. 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:47.360 No public official should answer it for you. No governmental 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:52.520 plan should impose its restraints against Joe Will. But I 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.600 would be failing in my duty to the nation, in 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.480 considering all of the responsibilities that we now bail and 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.720 all of the means at hand to meet those responsibilities, 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.280 if I did not command this problem to your attention 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:08.839 and urge its thoughtful consideration. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:14.160 Kennedy ended his address by affirming his respect and admiration 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:19.080 for the Fourth Estate. He said he shared journalism's obligation 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:23.479 to inform the American people, to give them the facts 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:27.880 to spark debate He wasn't asking those in attendance to 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:33.839 support his administration. He understood their watchdog rule. He not 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:38.480 only accepted the accountability of newspapers, he welcomed it. 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:41.919 And so it is to the printing press, to the 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:46.640 recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:51.240 courier of his news, that we look for strength and assistance, 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.320 confident that with your help, man will be what he 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.760 was born to be, free and independent. 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:04.080 The next day, Kennedy's remarks were front page headlines. The 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:08.640 New York Times declared, President urges press limit news that 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:14.360 helps reds. But there was something the Times story didn't mention. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.840 Kennedy wasn't just speaking to America's journalists as their president. 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.719 He was speaking as someone who, at least for three 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:28.120 months in nineteen forty five, had been one of them. 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.640 Even if you were well versed in other aspects of 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:37.640 JFK's microscopically scrutinized life, you could be forgiven if you 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:41.000 were less familiar with this one, That is, if you 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:42.719 are familiar with it at all. 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.880 I was sixteen and JFK was assassinated. 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:51.039 That's Rob Reiner, the famous director Spinal Tap. Rob Reiner, 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:55.320 Princess Bride, Rob Reiner, A few good men, Rob Reiner, 0:05:55.839 --> 0:06:01.400 and in the podcast space Who Killed JFK. Reiner His 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.480 twenty twenty three show spent several weeks atop the Apple 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.239 Top podcast charts. 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.080 I had written a paper in high school about the 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.200 Cuban missile crisis, so I was focused on him as 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:15.560 a president. I knew, obviously a little bit about him 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.640 as a senator. I knew about PT One nine, and 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.880 we all knew about his heroics during the Second World War. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:26.280 But even Rob Reiner wasn't dialed in on this chapter 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:27.800 of JFK's story. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.560 As far as him being a journalist, I didn't really 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:34.000 know very much about that, and I'm hearing about it 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:35.960 essentially for the first time here. 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:39.840 It was a brief and relatively under the radar period 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:43.360 in JFK's life. At the same time, it had a 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.880 lasting impact on one of the most iconic presidents in 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:56.360 American history. Welcome to very special episodes and Iheart's original podcast. 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.839 I'm your host Danish Schwartz, and this is JFK Is 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:07.960 Forgotten Summer in Journalism. 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.640 Welcome back to very special episodes. I'm Jason English. She 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:15.920 is Danish Schwartz. He is Aaron Burnett, And on this 0:07:15.960 --> 0:07:19.200 podcast we tell one great story each week, and I'm 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:20.040 going to start here. 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:22.160 I love a good prequel. 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:26.800 Better call Saul Wicked the Muppet Babies. Just give me 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.600 the back story. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.760 The Muppet Babies. Did you see Solo? That's the real 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:34.840 test of whether you like a prequel. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.440 I did see that one, and that is a real test. 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.000 So on the topic of presidential jobs by Osmosis, we've 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:43.840 heard these stories over the years. Barack Obama worked at 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.560 Baskin Robbins and Ron Reagan, Joe Biden, they were lifeguards. 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:50.920 Grover Cleveland was a hangman. I don't know if you 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.040 guys knew that. He's carried out at least two executions. 0:07:55.400 --> 0:07:57.600 Did not know Grover Cleveland. 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:01.440 The Grover Cleveland. Richard Nixon got to get him in here. 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.840 He worked at the Family gas station, naturally, and LBJ 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.960 owned the Muzak distribution rights. He was in the radio 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:13.120 business with his wife and they owned Muzak rights and in. 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:13.880 The Austin area. 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.320 I don't think any of those stories are going to 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.400 be worthy of very special episodes. 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.360 Oh no, the hangman one sounds kind of interesting. 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:25.520 Yeah, Hangman and Musach are both interesting angles. 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.960 It's a little dark. I'm talking about the muzak one. 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:31.480 But jfk is a journalist. 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:35.520 Yeah, I love it because I actually started as a journalist. 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:36.560 Yeah, it's right. 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.920 It is my prequel. Jason knew me when. 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:41.480 I'm looking forward to your presidential run as well. 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.600 Yeah, I'll be the one to set things right. 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:45.439 He already got my vote though. 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:52.000 For John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the seeds of service were planted 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:53.280 at a young age. 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:56.080 It's often said that he was born into a rich family. 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:57.480 That's not exactly true. 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.760 Fred Logoval is one of Kennedy's by biographers. 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:07.160 His father, Joe Sr. Became extraordinarily wealthy. Let's say the 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:09.360 first ten years of Jack's life is really when he 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:13.040 makes his fortune. You know what's notable about this family, 0:09:13.080 --> 0:09:16.959 of course, is that he and his wife Rose instill 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:20.880 in their children, all of them, really, this idea that 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.120 they need to think beyond themselves, They need to give 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.320 something back, They need to commit themselves at least a 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:31.640 little bit to public service. And I think that's something 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:33.120 that Jack takes in. 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.520 After graduating from Harvard in nineteen forty, Jack had his 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:42.040 eye on law school. His plans changed when the United States' 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:46.360 entry into World War Two seemed inevitable. Jack and his 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:51.319 older brother, Joseph Kennedy Junior, enlisted in the US Naval Reserve. 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.880 Both brothers want to serve in the war. They both 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.360 want to see combat, which is an interesting decision on 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:01.400 their port beca as you say, they could have avoided this, 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:05.600 but they both serve and of course get into harm's 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:09.239 way before too long. And in Jack's case, that becomes 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.160 as a commander of a pet boat. 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:18.040 PT boats were small, fast, and heavily armed. Jack's was 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.040 the eighty foot PT one oh nine, part of a 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:26.199 fleet in the Pacific theater. As US forces battled the Japanese, 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.360 the twenty six year old lieutenant commanded his vessel through 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:34.720 the waters of the Solomon Islands. In terms of combat assignments, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.560 it didn't get much riskier. At the same time, the 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.280 mission suited Jack. He had practically grown up on the 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:47.040 sea during summers at the Kennedy Compound, sailing Nantucket Sound 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.880 off the coast of Hyanna's Port. Still, no amount of 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:55.000 nautical expertise could have prepared him for the danger he 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:59.320 would face in the wei hours of August second, nineteen 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:00.559 forty three. 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.000 It was a moonless night. They're in the Beckett Straight 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:10.120 in the Solomons. PT boats are patrolling looking for Japanese vessels. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.880 Some of the PT boats had radar. Lieutenant Kennedy's did 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.640 not have radar, which really limited what he was able 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:23.200 to perceive on this very dark night. And what happens 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.920 is he does not see that a Japanese destroyer is 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:28.240 bearing down on them. 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:33.360 The Japanese warship slammed into Jack's boat, slicing it in half. 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:38.120 The PT one nine didn't stand a chance. That might 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:40.880 have been the end of John F. Kennedy right then 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:45.040 and there. No Congress, no Jack ee O, no White House, 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:48.800 no Bay of Pigs, no Cuban missile crisis, no Lee 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.600 Harvey Oswald, no JFK airports. 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.120 These are the events that change history. He knew what 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.240 war was. I mean, obviously Eisenhower did. But here was 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.760 a man who really was in the midst of the 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:04.120 horrors of war. 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:09.840 Miraculously, Jack survived, so did most of his crew. They 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.240 could see a small island in the distance. Now all 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.840 they had to do was swim to safety. Jack had 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.600 as good a chance of making it as any. A 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:23.320 few years earlier, he'd competed on the Harvard swim team. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:27.360 He just hadn't ever trained for a long distance swim 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:32.400 through shark infested enemy waters with a wounded comrade in tow. 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:38.520 He drags this injured member of his crew for these 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.400 three and a half four hours, so he has to 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.880 not just swim for himself, but for his comrade. And 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.480 they make it to this island, and then they have 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.760 to figure out what to do from there. The whole 0:12:49.880 --> 0:12:54.600 time there's the possibility, of course, that Japanese will spot them. Ultimately, 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:55.520 they are restored. 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.760 On August twentieth, a front page New York Times headline 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:05.439 claimed Kennedy's son is hero in Pacific. In his book JFK. 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:09.480 Coming of Age in the American Century, Fred Logowl describes 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:11.800 the episode as a pivotal moment. 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:15.320 His World War two experience, and especially his experience in 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:19.800 the Pacific, has a very important effect on young Jack Kennedy. 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:25.400 I think it boosts his belief that he belongs, that 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.120 he can make decisions, that he can be a leader. 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.959 So it's a real shot in terms of his self 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.280 confidence and his self belief. I also think it shapes 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.920 his worldview, his belief that coming out of this war, 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.320 the United States needs to play a primary role in 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:47.320 world affairs. It affects how he sees the world, how 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.640 he sees the US role in that world. That, I think, 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.040 in a way will stay with him till the end 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:53.800 of his days. 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.960 One year after Jack's near death experience in the Pacific, 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:05.079 his older volunteered for a highly perilous operation. Joe Junior's 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:09.800 orders were to fly a plane packed with explosives towards 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.800 France and then jump out with the parachute. He didn't 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:14.839 make it. 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.160 It's what kind of suicide mission? Really? The plane will 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.680 continue well, it explodes before they can bail. 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:25.920 Joe Junior's death was almost too much to bear for 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:29.960 his father, a former SEC chairman who'd served as the 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:33.320 US ambassador to the United Kingdom earlier in the war. 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:38.360 The Boston Globe reported quote from the time the family 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.680 received the Navy telegram, the ex ambassador has kept to 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:47.440 his room. His grief is deep. Joe Junior had been 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:52.680 the golden child and heir apparent of a proud political lineage. 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.720 From a young age, his father had been grooming him 0:14:55.760 --> 0:15:01.160 for greatness. Now Joe's goal of becoming America's first Catholic 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.600 president had been cut tragically short. 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:09.160 You had Joe Kennedy, who always wanted the family to 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:14.720 be considered legitimate and to be accepted in the political world. 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.720 I don't think Jack thought of himself for somebody who 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.360 was going to take up that mantle. I think he 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:22.760 always thought his older brother was going to be the one. 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.840 It was a devastating turn of events for the family. 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:30.480 It also had major implications for the Kennedy clan's second 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:35.520 oldest son, because the family's hopes and dreams didn't just 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:40.240 die with Joe Junior. Rather, they were transferred onto Jack. 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.760 Following his exploits in the Pacific, Jack sought treatment for 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:59.640 chronic back pain that had ailed him for years. He 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.880 ended up up having surgery, which officially put an end 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:07.640 to his military career. On March first, nineteen forty five, 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:13.600 Lieutenant Kennedy was honorably discharged, his future laid out before him. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.560 Still mourning the death of his brother, Jack found himself 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:21.520 at a crossroads. He emerged from his Navy service a 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:27.760 household name, the torchbearer of his family's political ambitions. Politics 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.160 was in his blood. In addition, to the roles his 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:35.400 father had played in government. Jack's maternal grandfather had been 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:39.840 a mayor of Boston and a US congressman. His paternal 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.720 grandfather had been a state senator. Both of his great 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:47.560 uncles were state senators, and his father's first cousin was 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.720 once the mayor of Brockton, Massachusetts. But in that spring 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:55.960 of nineteen forty five, as the war entered its final inning, 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.400 Jack had a lot to consider. 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.760 He could go to law school, which he has flirted with, 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:04.680 not because he has a particular interest in the law, 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.200 but because it's a career step for somebody who doesn't 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.000 maybe quite know what they want to do. He's interested 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:14.760 in journalism, and I think he is thinking about politics. 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:21.280 Jack was already an accomplished writer. Senior year at Harvard, 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.800 he wrote a thesis exploring British appeasement in the run 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.360 up to World War Two. Joe Senior encouraged his son 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:32.560 to publish it. To make the work commercially viable, they 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:37.760 enlisted Joe's friend Arthur Kroc, the Pulitzer Prize winning Washington 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:42.560 correspondent for The New York Times. In his memoirs, Kroc 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:47.359 would write of Jack's thesis quote, it was remarkable for 0:17:47.480 --> 0:17:51.240 the fine perception of the fundamental problems of a peace 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:57.680 loving democracy threatened with dictatorial regimes. Kroc helped Jack turn 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.879 the thesis into a book called Why England Slept, with 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.960 a forward from Henry Luce, the founder of Time magazine. 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.720 It became a best seller, and the book's thesis persuaded 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:15.600 Krock that Jack was quote suited to a career in journalism. 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:20.520 Five years later, as Jack wade career options, Joe Senior 0:18:20.680 --> 0:18:24.880 got in touch with his old pal William Randolph Hurst. 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:30.320 He had known. Joe Senior had known Hurst from his 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.840 days as a Hollywood mogul in the nineteen twenties. Late 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.280 nineteen twenties, Joe Kennedy became a serious player in Hollywood, 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.119 made a good deal of money in Hollywood. Got to 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:45.000 know Hurst at that point, partly through Mariam Davies, and 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:49.000 in the nineteen thirties, Joe Kennedy convinced Hurst to back 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:53.000 Fdr for reelection in nineteen thirty six. So they have 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:53.959 these connections. 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.320 Joe Senior helped Jack get a gig as a syndicated 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:03.480 special correspondent for the Hearst Newspapers, which included the San 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:08.440 Francisco Examiner, the Chicago Herald American, and the New York 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.280 Journal American. The idea was that Jack would cover the 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:17.160 unfolding post war order from a quote serviceman's point of view. 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.240 Hearst got to splash his papers with the byline of 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:25.440 best selling author John F. Kennedy, identified at the top 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:29.480 of each article as a quote. Recently retired p boat 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:34.520 hero and son of former Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, Jack 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:39.200 got to test the journalistic waters while elevating his profile 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:43.000 in a way that could prove advantageous to a future 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:48.080 in politics. His first assignment was a banger. At the 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.679 end of April nineteen forty five, Hurst sent him to 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:56.760 San Francisco to cover the founding Conference of the United Nations. 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:02.920 Jack suddenly found himself at the the center of international policymaking, 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:06.879 breathing the same air as illustrious statesman. 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:11.639 Delegates representing forty six nations came to San Francisco on 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:18.080 April twenty fifth, nineteen forty five, representing almost two thousand 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:23.680 million people, more than eighty percent of humanity, all at war. 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.440 When the conference was begun. They came with hope born 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:28.520 of common struggle. 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.040 If you were a cub reporter like Jack Kennedy, this 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:39.760 was the place to be. Kennedy joined twelve hundred accredited 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:45.040 journalists from established scribes like James Rustin, Walter Lippman, and 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:49.639 the Kennedy's friend Arthur Krock, two gossips like Walter Winschell, 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:55.800 Earl Wilson, and Peta Hopper. Describing the media spectacle, Life 0:20:55.920 --> 0:21:00.280 Magazine observed a quote like Pilgrim's drawn to Mecca. The 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.880 nation's newspapermen flocked to San Francisco. They were all there, 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.240 the whys and the witless, the sober and the silly, 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:13.320 the pundits, pontificators, and performing seals. The goal of the 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:18.000 conference was to create a template for global diplomacy in 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:23.000 the interest of preventing future wars. In his first dispatch 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:27.400 on April twenty eighth, Kennedy warned readers not to get 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:28.200 their hopes up. 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:32.080 There is an impression that this is the conference to 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:37.240 end wars and introduce peace on Earth and goodwill toward nations, excluding, 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:40.760 of course, Germany and Japan. Well, it's not going to 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:41.080 do that. 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:46.000 Kennedy's debut also included a man on the Street interview 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:50.000 with a decorated marine who told him quote, I don't 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.600 know much about what's going on, but if they just 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.080 fix it so that we don't have to fight anymore, 0:21:55.480 --> 0:21:59.920 they can count me in. Kennedy replied, me too, Sarge. 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:06.080 In the evenings, Kennedy swanned about San Francisco with the elite. Kroc, 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:10.680 writing in his memoirs years later, painted some memorable scenes 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:14.639 of the humble Hurst correspondent cutting in on a dance 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:18.679 with the British Foreign Secretary's wife on his bed at 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.840 the Palace Hotel, with a high ball in one hand 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:24.120 and a telephone receiver in the other. 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.520 Hello there, Yeah, I want to speak to the managing 0:22:28.680 --> 0:22:35.320 editor of the Chicago Herald Examiner. Not in. We'll put 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:39.640 somebody on to take a message. Cook. Will you see 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:41.440 that the boss gets this message as soon as you 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:46.359 can reach him. Thank you. Here's the message. Kennedy will 0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:47.639 not be filing tonight. 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:53.159 Tempting as it may have been, Kennedy wasn't there to party. 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:57.040 Over the course of a month, he wrote sixteen columns 0:22:57.080 --> 0:23:01.760 at about three hundred words apiece, exactly the most grueling 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:06.000 journalistic assignment, but well worth the rate Hurst was paying 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:09.840 him seven hundred and fifty dollars, which is about thirteen 0:23:10.000 --> 0:23:15.160 thousand today, Plus it was exciting work. Kennedy basically had 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:19.159 a front row seat to history, reporting on the birth 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:23.119 of the UN as the Allies declared victory in Europe. 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:27.080 I mean, it's hard to overstate the symbolic importance of 0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:31.639 the San Francisco Conference, Even if the sort of basics 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:34.200 of that world order have already been laid out at 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:38.760 prior conferences among the Allies, there's already a sense that 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:41.679 this is now going to be effectively a two power world. 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:44.240 The United States and the Soviet Union will be the 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:48.760 key players, and the young reporter Jack Kennedy, his stories 0:23:48.800 --> 0:23:51.240 filed from San Francisco are so fascinating. 0:23:52.359 --> 0:23:56.840 Kennedy's stories weren't exactly straight news, and his point of 0:23:56.920 --> 0:24:00.880 view wasn't just that of a serviceman, but someone who 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:03.720 had his own ideas about world affairs. 0:24:04.440 --> 0:24:09.600 May first, this conference from a distance may have appeared 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.480 so far like an international football game. Well, that part's 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:17.040 over and they are scheduled tomorrow to get at the 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:20.879 real work of the conference. This will consist of trying 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:24.119 to solve a number of more or less technical problems 0:24:24.960 --> 0:24:28.560 upon how these dull problems are settled may depend our 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:33.919 peace in the upcoming years. May sixteenth, The Russians have 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:37.359 recognized our difficult position and have taken full advantage of it. 0:24:38.160 --> 0:24:42.120 They have attempted to embarrass Us and the British at 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:47.399 every turn. May eighteenth, there is growing discouragement among people 0:24:47.520 --> 0:24:50.560 concerning our chances of winning any lasting peace from this war. 0:24:51.359 --> 0:24:53.480 There is talk of fighting the Russians in the next 0:24:53.480 --> 0:24:57.160 ten or fifteen years. We have indeed gone a long 0:24:57.200 --> 0:25:00.480 way since those hopeful days early in the war when 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:04.359 we talked of union. Now in one world there is 0:25:04.400 --> 0:25:08.159 a fundamental distrust between Great Britain and the United States 0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:10.400 on the one hand, and Russia on the other. 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.680 The growing distrust between Russia and the US was a 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:18.240 running theme of Kennedy's reportage. 0:25:18.960 --> 0:25:21.960 Kennedy picks up on this. He's as quick as anybody else, 0:25:22.040 --> 0:25:24.280 I would argue, at least in terms of the reporting 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:30.560 at the conference, to see how these two players were 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:32.960 going to be the most important players, number one and 0:25:33.080 --> 0:25:36.919 number two, how they were destined to come into conflict. 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:41.800 There's a realism in his articles. These pieces stand up 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:43.760 pretty well. If one were to go back now and 0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:46.359 read all of them. They're solid in the context of 0:25:46.400 --> 0:25:49.320 their time. I would say they're even solid in terms 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:52.240 of what he saw, maybe at least to a degree 0:25:52.520 --> 0:25:56.000 before others did, about this new world order. 0:25:57.040 --> 0:26:01.040 The San Francisco Conference carried on until June twenty six, 0:26:01.480 --> 0:26:05.359 when the assembled delegates signed the historic Charter of the 0:26:05.440 --> 0:26:10.920 United Nations. By then, Kennedy was gone. Another story had beckoned, 0:26:11.400 --> 0:26:15.399 this time across the ocean. Kennedy hadn't been to Europe 0:26:15.400 --> 0:26:19.480 since nineteen thirty nine. He had visited Germany right before 0:26:19.520 --> 0:26:23.360 the invasion of Poland, then he had traveled to London. 0:26:23.920 --> 0:26:28.800 On September third, nineteen thirty nine, Kennedy observed Britain's declaration 0:26:28.880 --> 0:26:31.960 of war in the House of Commons, where soon to 0:26:32.040 --> 0:26:36.080 be Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared, we are fighting to 0:26:36.200 --> 0:26:39.840 save the whole world from the pestilence of Nazi tyranny 0:26:40.200 --> 0:26:43.680 and in defense of all that is most sacred to man. 0:26:44.840 --> 0:26:48.879