Who was the man behind the charismatic and eloquent image of John Fitgerald Kennedy? How will his presidency be remembered down through history?
I was very young when JFK died, but like everyone else who was alive at the time, I will never forget exactly what I was doing when I heard the terrible news that he had been shot in Dallas on November 22, 1963. I was listening to the radio. It was playing the number one hit of the time, "Since I Fell For You," by Lenny Welch. Suddenly, in my favorite part of the song, the music was interrupted, as was my whole life and those of everyone around me. Nothing was ever the same again.
Adoration is easier when one is young, for one-sided love is unconditional, and boundaries and expectations are rarely defined. At his Inaugural Address when Kennedy said: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country," the words rang with a truth that pounded in my idealistic young ears.
His sexual escapades brought him down a peg in the eyes of many, mine included, even though many were not known about until after his death. His affair with Marilyn Monroe was over the top and compounded by his brother Bobby's affair with her as well. I am sure his wife found little solace in the Kennedy clan, whose matriarch, Rose, endured the same behavior from her husband, Joseph throughout their marriage.
But who was this handsome, charismatic and eloquent man who became the first catholic president of the United States? Read about his life and tragic death at the age of forty-six.
