The Kennedys

Introduction

People like to believe in fairytales.

I introduce this story by quoting its tag line, and I can't help but think that there's some truth in it.

The American people tend to remember the name Kennedy, especially the slain president that shares the name.

But the American people prefer to remember the John F. Kennedy that we want to remember, instead of the John F. Kennedy that was.

We tend to remember John Kennedy as the noble president, a champion of civil rights and the tough guy that faced down Castro during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

We most certainly do not tell the country's children that JFK was an adulterer, that his father had ties to the mob, or that he accomplished spectacularly little in office compared to other presidents.

We forget that he and his brother, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, were hesitant to support civil rights at the beginning of the administration for fear that they would lose the support of southern Democrats.

We forget that before the Cuban Missile Crisis there was the Bay of Pigs, a massive failure that made JFK a national embarrassment.

We forget all of these things because the Kennedys are our fairytale. John is Prince Charming, Jackie the beautiful princess, Joe Sr. the solemn king, and Robert the prince's faithful sidekick.

People like to believe in fairytales.

And sometimes it's better that way, because the men of the Kennedy clan we learned about as innocent children are much better then the men we have to learn about as adults.

"So now, he is a legend when he would have preferred to be a man."