Childhood in the Kennedy household was shaped largely by the influence of JFK's father, Joseph, an ambitious man who would achieve great success both in business and politics. The son of a Boston saloon owner, Joseph Kennedy had graduated from Harvard and married into Boston's Irish Catholic upper class in 1914 when he wed Rose, the daughter of the popular mayor John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald. At the time of JFK's birth, the United States had just entered World War I; Joseph Sr. left his job at a Boston bank to help manage a shipyard in nearby Quincy, which was busy churning out war vessels. After the war ended, Joseph Sr. began investing on his own, first buying out a chain of New England movie theaters in the early 1920s. He spent time in Hollywood, buying and selling movie companies, before returning in 1930

Overall, JFK's record during the McCarthy era was mixed. He opposed some of McCarthy's more extreme attempts to curb civil liberties, but in general, he voted with the Wisconsin senator on most issues. Nevertheless, it is difficult to blame JFK--McCarthy held immense influence for a time, and he attracted strong support among the working class Irish Catholics who had voted JFK into the Senate in the first place. In failing to criticize McCarthy early on, JFK was no more blameworthy than most of the other politicians of the era.

So began the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war. As Russian ships steamed closer to the blockade cordon, a flurry of telegrams shot back and forth between Washington and Moscow. Khrushchev, alternately conciliatory and bellicose, claimed that he was only trying to protect Castro's government from U.S. invasion, and then suggested that the missiles might be removed if the U.S. dismantled its own Jupiter missiles in Turkey, just across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union. On Wednesday, October 24, Russian ships steaming toward Cuba turned back, and by the end of the week an agreement had been struck: Khrushchev would remove the missiles from Cuba in return for JFK's public pledge that the U.S. would cease trying to undermine Castro's government, and his private pledge that the U.S. would dismantle the Jupiter missiles in Turkey.

The public image of the Kennedy White House was one of glamour and high culture. Jackie Kennedy set the fashion world abuzz with her clothes, invited famous thinkers and artists to visit the White House, created a "White House Fine Arts Committee," and, in general, made the most of her role as First Lady. The beautiful Jackie, the handsome, vigorous president, and their young children, Caroline and John Jr., seemed to be a model First Family. Beneath the surface, though, things were not so pretty. Jackie felt lonely and isolated from her husband, who was occupied with affairs of state and with his almost compulsive womanizing. His most prominent mistresses during his White House years were the film star and international sex symbol Marilyn Monroe, and a woman named Judith Campbell Exner, who was also the mistress of a mob boss. But there were many others in addition, including those with whom JFK had countless brief, semi-anonymous flings. All of this was kept secret from the general public, of course, as was JFK's continuing struggle with Addison's Disease--papers were loathe to risk lawsuits by publishing rumors, especially when the Justice Department was in the hands of JFK's brother Robert. The Kennedy brothers, assisted by the slightly unstable, paranoiac FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, had no qualms about using their power against their political opponents. Illegal wiretapping, something Hoover had been practicing for years, expanded drastically under JFK. Robert Kennedy used the wiretaps against the Mafia and other underworld types, but also authorized spying on public figures.

Some topics in this essay:
Cold War, Addison's Disease, Catholics JFK, Soviet Union, Joe Sr, Joe Sr's, South Vietnam, Robert Kennedy, Europe Jackie, Union October, civil rights, joseph kennedy, world war, joe sr, soviet union, world war ii, robert kennedy, white house, foreign policy, war ii, cold war, joseph kennedy sr, joseph kennedy sr's, civil rights movement, spring 1963 black,