Reelz Channel: Steve Patterson- The Kennedys in Culture

Source:The Daily Review

The Kennedys, which I don’t believe was a great mini-series, but it was a very accurate series about The Kennedys. And showed Jack, Bobby and Jackie, for what they were. Not for how their followers want to view them as, but as they were. Jack Kennedy, as this very intelligent man, with a great sense of humor, whose Center-Left liberal politics which was probably ahead of its time back then, but I believe fits in perfectly where America is now. Who was a very hip and even cool man especially for his time, but still looks great today. But who at times had difficult even walking and physically was a very frail man with a serious back condition. Who was never made to be a husband and could never be happy with just one beautiful women.

They showed Bobby Kennedy as the tough bulldog who would have jumped out of an airplane without a parachute for his brother Jack. Who was a bit idealistic compared with Jack’s realism, but who also bring Jack back when he was lacking in confidence and not sure what the right course was to take. The Bay of Pigs fiasco is a perfect example of that where he encourages the President to admit he was wrong and to apologize for it. They showed Jackie as a beautiful adorable stylish women that she was, as if Cutie, I mean Katie Holmes is capable of playing anyone else. Who wanted Jack to be her full-time husband and hated his cheating. They showed Joe Sr. as the tough champion for his family who would do anything for his kids other than let them fail and succeed on their own.

At least one of these episodes is somewhat slow and almost wants at least me to turn the channel. Like the episode involving Rose and her mental retardation. Rose, was the Kennedy daughter who doesn’t have much if any impact on American culture, or politics at all. But that episode gives you an idea what Joe would do for any of his kids. But still, she’s not even a minor player compared with the rest of the Kennedy kids. The 1960 presidential election, the 1946 House election, the 1952 Senate election, the Bay of Pigs episode, the civil rights story, the days leading up to the assassination, President Kennedy’s womanizing, these are all the good stories. In a very good mini-series about the Kennedy Family.

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Reelz Channel: The Kennedys- The Story Behind the Story

Greg Kinnear as JFK

Source: This piece was originally posted at The Daily Review

It is Joe Kennedy Sr. who made The Kennedy Family the political family and political dynasty that it was and to a certain extent still today. He came from nothing being a son of poor Irish immigrants. Who worked his way up and became very successful on Wall Street and decided that he wanted to get involved in government and even at some point become President of the United States. And got as far up as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom and when he his career as a future presidential candidate came to an end at the start of World War II with his comments about Germany and that he didn’t see Nazi Germany as a threat. It’s then that he decides that one of his sons is going to accomplish what he couldn’t for him. Which was to become President of the United States. Which started with his son Joe and got up to Ted in the 1960s.

Joe Kennedy, made the Kennedy Family what it was politically with his money. And that he had three really smart and charming sons who all liked politics once they got in them, but perhaps do not get in them and certainly not as far had their father not pushed them the way he did. Jack, Bob and Ted. Joe Sr., originally wanted his son Joe to be the first presidential candidate and serve in Congress and government and everything else, but he died during World War II. So the next inline who also served in World War II, but survived the war was Jack and Joe pushed Jack to get into politics almost as soon as he got back from the war in 1945. JFK, is first elected to Congress in the House of Representatives in 1946 and then elected to the Senate in 1952. And writes a best-selling book Profiles in Courage which is what puts him on the national scene in the Democratic Party.

Joe Sr., is the key player in the Kennedy Family. The general manager and perhaps even president of a great political franchise, The Kennedy’s. But his son Jack is the one that is able to give his father what he wants. And Irish-Catholic President of the United States. Because he was such a handsome charming likable intelligent guy, who gave great speeches, great sense of humor. A great Center-Left Liberal who wanted to win the Cold War, free millions of Americans from poverty, by expanding economic freedom. Free millions of African-Americans from government sponsored racial discrimination, have the first man on the Moon be an American and everything else. And we have seen a national Democratic politician at least, this great since. As far as how many Americans loved the man. And the Kennedy mini-series I believe does a great job of showing all these aspects about this family in their series.
Reelz Channel: The Kennedys- The Story Behind The Story

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CNN: Marilyn Monroe and The Kennedys

Source: CNN– RFK, JFK & Marilyn 

Source: The Daily Review

John F. Kennedy, is my number one political hero, but as great as a politician as he was and in many ways a great man, he never becomes President of the United States if the media back then bothered to report on the personal lives of politicians. Only tabloids did that and as most people know tabloids aren’t taken seriously especially when it comes to politicians. At least by intelligent people. Because Jack Kennedy, is simply one of the most irresponsible politicians we’ve ever had at least as far as how he lived his personal life. He had personal and even friendly relationships with gangsters and friends of gangsters. And even had an affair as a married man with the girlfriend of a gangster in Judy Campbell. The girlfriend of Italian gangster Sam Giacana.

Marilyn Monroe, is an example of the recklessness of Jack Kennedy. Not that Marilyn was a bad person, because the opposite is true there, but she was a very immature baby-faced adorable women, whose personality and maturity didn’t seem much older. Who was mentally unstable and had Hollywood fantasies that Jack would divorce his wife Jackie and that Marilyn would become next First Lady of the United States. All Jack wanted from Marilyn was her body, sex and a good time. Which might sound really rude, if not crude, but he never saw Marilyn as long-term romance material and not marriage material. But to be completely honest, I don’t believe he ever saw any women as marriage material. In the sense he would settle down with her and give up all of his affairs.

Jack, officially broke it off with Marilyn in 1962 and of course didn’t have the decency and wasn’t man enough to personally tell her that himself. And had his brother and most trusted aid Bobby do that for him. But that is as far as it goes with how Marilyn was after she got the news and how they effected her. There’s no real evidence if any evidence, of anyone being in the house other than Marilyn and her housekeeper the night that she died at home. The most loyal of Marilyn fans will never except that a women this sexy, beautiful and adorable, with the great personality, sense of humor, talent and everything else, and entertainer who was headed to Hollywood Hall of Fame has she lived in normal live in years, that she killed herself. Accidentally, or otherwise and that is why these conspiracy theories that someone murdered her exist.
CNN: Marilyn Monroe & The Kennedys

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Quest TV: ‘Unsolved History: How Did Marilyn Monroe Really Die?’

 

Source:Quest TV– Hollywood Babydoll Marilyn Monroe.

Source:The New Democrat

Source:The New Democrat– Hollywood Babydoll Marilyn Monroe, at Santa Monica Beach, California in 1962.

“Was Marilyn Monroe’s death really a suicide, or something much more sinister?”

From Quest TV

I’ve seen several documentaries this month alone about Marilyn Monroe and her life. Because I’m very interested in her and was looking for new material that I could blog about Marilyn’s life. And in every show except for this one, they all suggested that Marilyn died from the wrong dosage of pills and then combined those pills with alcohol and you have the deadly combination which is what killed her.

The idea that Jack or Bobby Kennedy killed Marilyn, is stupid. Perhaps not as stupid as the idea that Vice President Lyndon Johnson ordered the hit of President Kennedy, but it’s still pretty stupid.

Marilyn Monroe, was certainly unhappy. You don’t drink and take as much medication as she did in the last few years of her life, if you’re mentally healthy. But suicide, especially considering everything else she had going for her, is a little hard to buy. She had a lot of people around her and if this was on her mind, someone would’ve probably picked up on that and hopefully would’ve done something about it.

Peter Lawford, who was sort of a personal consultant and assistant to President John F. Kennedy, if he’s involved in this, it would’ve come out. Simply because of his relationship with the Kennedy’s and Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe, was drunk the night she died and yet felt the need to have more sleeping pills. And not that I know this from personal experience, but when you’re drunk especially lets say, shit-faced drunk, you’re pretty stupid, or at the very least you act very stupid and do a lot of stupid things. Simply because you’re not in control of yourself and do things that you wouldn’t normally do.

Some people say that drunkenness, makes honest people out of everyone. Marilyn, didn’t know what she was doing on the last night of her life. Because she was drunk and as a result, she took the wrong pill combination and then add all the drinking and that is what killed her.

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The Marilyn Monroe Lounge-Reelz: The Kennedys 2011, Marilyn Monroe and JFK

 

Source: The Marilyn Monroe Lounge

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat Plus

I think this scene is pretty accurate. That Marilyn Monroe wanted Jack Kennedy, but that Jack was smart enough to know that he couldn’t get involved with her. Because of everything that he would’ve risked, especially his presidency. The thing I think that is interesting is that he didn’t feel the same way about mobsters girlfriends that he got involved with as President, like Judith Exner to use as an example. But he was smart enough to know that Marilyn was essentially a little girl mentally as far as maturity. And her baby-face on the outside was also part of her personality inside. And she saw things from a Hollywood perspective, the way she wanted to see them. And had a difficult time dealing with reality. And I think this scene make that very clear.
Marilyn Monroe Lounge: Marilyn Monroe- In The Kennedys

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Humanities Council: ‘The Washington Redskins: Winning Years – RFK Stadium’

Source:Humanities Council– Redskins DE Charles Mann (1983-93)

“This film was supported in part by a 30th Anniversary Grant from the Humanities Council of Washington, DC. It documents the glory years of the Washington Redskins football team from the early 80s to the mid 90s when they made four trips to the Super Bowl.

The documentary will be screened at the Yachad Our City Film Festival on Sunday, February 13th, 2011.”

From the Humanities Council

Free agency from the early 1990s which by in-large has been very good for the National Football League, but it killed the Redskins glory era, because it also came with a salary cap. And with the Redskins still being one of the top current franchises in the NFL as far as being consistent winners and a consistent playoff team, as well as playing in one of the biggest markets in the league where players wanted to come and play, it meant that the Redskins were something like 20-30 million-dollars over the first salary cap in the NFL in 1993-94. Free agency and the salary cap ended the Redskins as not just being a Super Bowl contender, but a consistent playoff team and even winner.

The Redskins moving out of RFK Stadium and downtown Washington in the late 1990s to Landover, Maryland and what is now Fed Ex Field, didn’t help either. Because the Redskins then were in transition from being a consistent 1st place team in the NFC East, to a team that was rebuilding and starting to become a playoff contender again.

The Redskins losing RFK and downtown Washington, now they lost their huge, downtown, big city, home field advantage and that great atmosphere that they had at RFK Stadium. For this giant of a castle, or mansion in suburban Landover, Maryland where you might spend a couple of hours just trying to get to the stadium. Where the fans were no longer going to a see a good playoff team, but a team that was trying to win again.

The 1970s and 1980s and even early 1990s was great for the Redskins. Because they were consistent winners and making the playoffs consistently and even a consistent Super Bowl contender. That won five NFC championships and three Super Bowls. They were very well run under Ed Williams and later Jack Cooke, with George Allen and Bobby Beathard running the personal and Allen and Joe Gibbs with their great coaching staffs coaching the team. And they played in a great big city with great people and fans. And a stadium that was simply perfect for them.

RFK was round where you were on top of the action. Where you had an overhang on the top of the stadium that kept the sound in and where the stadium literally rocked. Where people loved their team and where the opposing teams had to ask the ref to tell the fans to shut up so they could hear what they were doing.

The Redskins glory years officially ended when they left RFK Stadium and Washington for Landover. With Dan Snyder now in charge of the club and presiding over this football malaise that the Redskins have been in really since he took over the club in 1998. With a few exceptions and occasional playoff appearances.

The Redskins would do themselves a lot of good and this could perhaps be the one positive contribution that Dan Snyder makes to the Redskins and their great fans, by leaving Landover and coming back to RFK Stadium. Renovate the old RFK, knock out the top two decks of the stadium and build the new stadium on the first desk of the old stadium so they keep that rock and roll feeling that the stadium has. Where the fans are literally on top of the action.

With a new RFK holding 90-100 thousand people that could host the Super Bowl and other major events, but that would be a great stadium for the Redskins again. Which is what I believe they need for them to become a great winning contending club again. It would be great for them, great for Washington and great for the fans as well.

You can also see this post on Blogger.

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Marilyn Monroe: Happy Birthday Mr. President (1962)

Source:Miss Malevolent– Hollywood Babydoll Marilyn Monroe, singing Happy Birthday, to President John F. Kennedy, in 1962.

“Marilyn Monroe – Happy Birthday Mr. President”

From Miss Malevolent

President Kennedy had the line of the night, at least from what I heard saying that after hearing Marilyn Monroe sing Happy Birthday to him, he could now retire from politics. I mean after hearing a goddess like that with that voice sing Happy Birthday to you, what is the point of going on, what else could you even hope to accomplish at that point after hearing Marilyn sing Happy Birthday to you.

It’s not just the President of the United States being the only politician that may be lucky enough to get Happy Birthday sung to you by Marilyn Monroe, but that Jack Kennedy might have been the only politician lucky enough to have Happy Birthday sung to them. Jack Kennedy was certainly ahead of his time as far as how he related to Americans. Because he wasn’t just judged by the job he did as President, which of course all President’s are and he wasn’t just judged by how he related to Americans personally, which of course all President’s are.

But JFK was also judged by how he related to people in a social way, he was our first hip President, someone who related well the entertainment community, including Hollywood. Which is a big reason why he had so many friends out there. Like Peter Lawford, who also happened to be his brother-in-law, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and many others. That is how this event happened.

You can also see this post on Blogger.

You can also see this post at FRS FreeState, on WordPress.

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Rusted Television: Kennedys Don’t Cry From (1975)’The Story of an American Political Dynasty’

Source:Rusted Television– A 1975 documentary about The Kennedy Family, the greatest American political dynasty ever.

Source:The Daily Press

“Released in 1975, and narrated by actor Cliff Robertson, Kennedys Don’t Cry is an intimate portrait of America’s favorite first family. Combining home movies, archival footage, and interviews, the film recounts in detail the Kennedy clan’s achievements and tragedies. The history of this powerful family is traced from its beginnings in Ireland, to the business success of patriarch Joe, to the political triumphs of JFK, Bobby, and Teddy. Meet the gracious and appealing Jackie Kennedy, and JFK’s children Caroline and John. Relive the shocking assassinations of JFK and Bobby.

The real-life saga of the triumphs and tragedies of America’s most powerful political dynasty is told in this remarkable video. The handsome and popular young president JFK, cut down in his prime by an assassin’s bullet; his wife Jackie, the most appealing First Lady in history, who transformed the White House into a shimmering Camelot; their young children Caroline and ‘John John’…and Bobby, the younger brother, murdered during his inspirational presidential campaign. This “video album” features rare home movies, interviews and archival footage of the Kennedy family, from their childhood to their rise to power. It’s an intimate and revealing look at their public and private lives, revealing the Kennedy wit, charisma and political savvy that captivates the nation and the world.”

From Rusted Television

The Kennedy I have the most admiration for would be John F. Kennedy. Who was our 35th President of the United States, after serving fourteen years in Congress both in the House and Senate. I like him the most for political reasons, because he’s exactly what a Liberal Democrat should be and is. But I probably have more respect for Edward M. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy of course. Just because he never changed, always fought for what he believed in and so-forth. Perhaps the hardest working and most productive person to ever serve in Congress. ( House or Senate ) and of course was called the Lion of the Senate a title he definitely earned.

With Robert F. Kennedy, I believe Bobby represented the heart of the family and what his family and Democrats should represent. And be about and I believe was one of the most effective Attorney Generals we’ve ever had in this country. Because of his work of making organize crime a national issue and importance and the people he was able to bring down. Along with his work on civil rights and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Kennedy family, is the closest thing we’ve ever had to a royal family in America and hopefully the closest we’ll ever come.

The Kennedy’s, are the most successful political family we’ve ever had at one point having the Presidency the Attorney General’s office and a member in Congress. Since 1947, there has been at least one Kennedy serving in Congress ( House or Senate ) all the way up until 2009 when Senator Ted Kennedy died and was obviously out of Congress. If your last name is Kennedy and you look like you have a future, you’ll always be asked unless you are already in Congress, are you going to run for Congress, or the White House.

The closet thing the Republican Party has probably produced as far as successful political families, is the Bush Family of course. With two members serving in Congress. Senator Prescott Bush in the 1950s and Representative George H.W. Bush in the 1960s. George W. Bush, ran for the House in 1978, but lost, but they have had two president’s. So they’ve been very successful as well politically. I believe these are the reasons why the Kennedy Family is so beloved, or at least respected. Because of everything they’ve accomplished and of course the members of the family themselves.

The Kennedy Family, is a very likable family with very charming people. At times seeming more like a Hollywood family than a Washington family. Weighing in on all the big decisions of the day, which is why they are so famous. They are a story of rags to riches, at least from how Joe Kennedy Sr. started out in life and what he made of his life. And pushed his children so hard that they would never have to live in poverty ever. But it is also a family of tragedy and fortune. Having lost so much as far as life, but have built so much for themselves as well. A truly American family Irish, or otherwise.

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Criterion Collection: Primary (1960) The Democratic Race For President

Source:Criterion Collection– John and Jacqueline Kennedy, perhaps in 1960.

Source:The Daily Press

“Later this month, we’re releasing The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates, a collection of landmark achievements in documentary filmmaking. The first in the set is Primary, which documents the 1960 presidential primary in Wisconsin and was shot on a camera engineered specifically by Drew and his team to allow for sync-sound recording, a feature that made the entire genre of cinema verité possible.

In one of the most famous shots in all of documentary history, Albert Maysles’s camera follows JFK into Milwaukee’s American Serb Hall (host tonight to a post-primary party for Republican candidate Ted Cruz). The scene documents the palpably intense level of adulation that Kennedy had already managed to attract, and which would carry him later that year to the highest office in the country.”

From the Criterion Collection 

How about this for a political promotion: Robert F. Kennedy goes from being a Congressional counsel and staffer in the Senate in the late 1950s, to not just running his brother’s presidential campaign in 1960 at the age for 34, but running the winning campaign that year as well.

Source:The Daily Press– John F. Kennedy’s brother Robert campaigning for his brother in 1960.

The 1960s elections especially the presidential election between Senator John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon, were fascinating for several reasons. But it was a fascinating election season before Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon won their party’s nomination for President. The Democratic primaries had two of the strongest leaders in the Democratic Party competing with each other for the Democratic nomination, in Senator Kennedy and Senator Hubert Humphrey.

The two Senators represented different factions of the Democratic Party and even different generations of the party. Even though they were both from the same generation officially. Hubert Humphrey represented the old guard, or what I call the Old-Left of the Democratic Party, the FDR coalition of Northern Progressives and Southern Conservatives who tended to work together on economic policy and foreign policy, but were different on civil rights obviously.

Senator Humphrey came out in favor of civil rights before it became popular to use as an example. And Senator Kennedy represented what I call the Reformed-Left, people who were called New Democrats in the 1980s, the true Liberal Democrats in the party. The JFK vs HHH Democratic primaries weren’t just about who would try to lead the Democratic Party in the next four years. But who would lead the country and which faction of the Democratic Party would lead the country in the next four years.

And I believe had Jack Kennedy not of been assassinated as President in 1963 and gotten reelected in 1964, the Vietnam War doesn’t happen at least as far as how the United States was involved in it. And that he would’ve realized how big of a mistake it would’ve been for America to try to win that war at least on our own. And what’s called the New-Left that came together in the 1960s because of the Vietnam War and the Great Society, against the war, but strongly in favor of the Great Society.

I don’t believe the New Left emerges that’s become Occupy Wall Street today. Because there wouldn’t of been a need for it and the old FDR/LBJ coalition would’ve stayed in place and the Democratic Party would look different today. Had Senator Humphrey defeated Senator Kennedy in 1960 and somehow gone on to defeat Vice President Nixon in the general election. The Democratic Party would look different today as well because again I don’t believe a President Humphrey would’ve gotten the United States as involved in the Vietnam War as it did.

And the New-Left or Occupy Wall Street isn’t in existence today, because again there wouldn’t of been a need for it. But the Reformed-Left or New Democratic Coalition doesn’t emerge either, or at least not as early as it did. Perhaps Senator Kennedy runs for President in 1968 and gets elected, but a lot of New Democrats of today that came from the Baby Boom Generation that looks up to Jack Kennedy and see him as our leader, I’m not a baby boomer I’m a Gen-Xer, but Jack Kennedy is a big political hero of mine. And I’m a New Democrat as well.

The JFK-HHH primaries was really about the sole or future of the Democratic Party and where we were going as a country. And what the Democratic Party was going to look like in the future. Which is why these primaries were so important and a big reason why people were so fascinated. Because JFK was new as a national leader and spoke differently and had different ideas and a different vision. As far as where he would take the country and Democratic Party. Against HHH who represented the old guard or Old-Left in the Democratic Party that were looking to expand the New Deal.

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Bob Parker: CBS News- 1968: A Year That Changed America

Source:Bob Parker– from CBS News’s 1978 documentary about the year 1968.

Source:The Daily Press

“1968 A Year that Changed America with Harry Reasoner. A look back on the year 1968, produced by CBS News in 1978.”

From Bob Parker

“Time Magazine January 11 1988 1968 The Year That Shaped a Generation ”

Source:Amazon– TIME Magazine’s cover about the year 1968.

From Amazon

I think one thing that separates America and makes us stronger than anyone else is that we can go through a year like 1968 and get through it and survive it and still remain one country. Unlike other countries that tend to go through such division between the people and their government and overall establishment of the country in one year and you see them come apart. With the government falling and perhaps even leading to some type of civil war. Egypt comes to mind pretty fast and what is going on in Syria and Venezuela right now are other good examples.

Having said all of that, it’s hard to find anything good about 1968 other than maybe the music and the fact that we started to get along better as far as race relations. Where racism and other types of bigotry started to really go out of style. And bigots were left to hide their bigotry or pay serious prices for it. But other than that 1968 was one big disaster after another. A year full of violence with murders and assassinations, the President of the United States deciding not to even bother running for reelection because there were so many people who literally hated him in both parties.

And that is just about the domestic scene in America, but then you go to the Vietnam War itself with Americans finally figuring out that we are not just losing the war, but it is probably lost. And we started seeing all of those dead American soldiers coming home from it.

I guess one good thing about 1968 is that Americans finally woke up and figured out that their government not only doesn’t always tell the truth, but they even lie to their people. The Johnson Administration saying that they were making progress in Vietnam when they knew the opposite was true and that Communist Vietnam was getting stronger.

1968 represents the 1960s as well as it could possibly be. A year of revolution, protest, violence, people coming together from multiple races to be part of the same movement. Where millions of Americans became free to be themselves and no long feel like they had to live a certain way of life in order to fit in or even be good people.

1968 was a shakeup of the entire United States and perhaps was something that the country needed. Even with all the violence and the lost of lives in that decade so Americans would know about the problems in the country, but also what could be done about them. And what also makes us great as a country which is our freedom and diversity.

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