All language subtitles for S01E01 - Jack (1917-1940)

- He'll lead us to
a fruitful America.

From the state of Massachusetts,

John F. Kennedy!

- John F. Kennedy lived a life

that would help define
an entire generation.

- Together, we shall
save our planet,

or together, we shall
perish in its flames.

- What was it about that guy?

- Looks, style, empathy.

- He was incredibly charming.

- Intellectual and progressive.

- He was the
future. He was next.

- President for just
over 1,000 days,

Kennedy navigated
events and crises

that changed the world.

- Kennedy is
feeling the pressure

from the Civil Rights activists.

- This was a country
on nuclear war footing.

- This could be the last mistake

that anybody makes politically.

- He changed us in the
process of his own growth.

- We choose to go to
the moon in this decade

and do the other things,
not because they are easy

but because they are hard.

- 60 years after
his assassination,

we are still fascinated
by the triumphs

and flaws of the
youngest president

ever elected.

- I ask you to join us
in all the tomorrows

yet to come, in
building America,

moving America,
picking this country

of ours up and sending
it into the '60s.

- The story begins on a
quiet spring afternoon

in May 1917 in the Boston suburb

of Brookline, Massachusetts.

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
gave birth to a baby boy

in the master bedroom of the
modest Kennedy household.

The future president,
John Fitzgerald Kennedy,

known by his friends
and family as Jack,

was born on May 29th
around 3:00 p.m.

The world in 1917 was shifting.

That year, America entered

the Great War, which
had begun in 1914.

The Silent Sentinels protested
in favor of women's suffrage

in front of the White House.

The average annual
household income was $800,

and the cost of a movie
ticket was just seven cents.

With hundreds of thousands
of miles of railroad tracks,

America, also the
world's largest producer

of coal and iron,
was at the center

of a new industrial age.

- Kennedy is born into this time

when the United States is
rising as a world power.

- Delivered by
the family doctor,

Jack was proclaimed
healthy and handsome.

Young Jack's life was
happy and carefree

until he contracted
scarlet fever at age two.

In a world without antibiotics,

his prognosis was dim.

Jack was sent to the
Boston City Hospital,

where his condition was so poor

that he received last rites.

- The last rites are not
administered trivially.

That's a mark of a very, very
serious near-death experience.

- In an unexpected turn,
his health stabilized

and he was released.

This was an early sign
of Jack's lifelong

chronic health struggles.

Jack's mother, Rose,

was effectively a single parent.

Though she tolerated her
husband Joe's affairs

with other women,

his numerous business ventures,

including banking,
ship manufacturing

during the First World War,

and stock brokering,

added to his frequent absences.

- He was, by this time,

well on his way to becoming

an important businessman,
and it hadn't been easy.

From the very
beginning, Joe and Rose

reached an agreement that
Rose was gonna raise the kids

when they were little.

As the boys got bigger,
Joe would step in.

But Joe Kennedy
wasn't around much,

with one exception.

Jack developed scarlet
fever at the age of two,

and before work and after work,

Joe goes to the hospital.

He sits at the bedside.

He watches over his son.

He confers with the
doctors and the nurses.

He becomes the one
and only parent.

Jack Kennedy doesn't
see his mother

at a critical moment
in his upbringing

for months and months.

- When he was around,
Joe showered attention,

especially on the boys.

Rose was cold, self-absorbed.

There was something
particular about the coldness

from Rose that you can't.
Really explain away.

- Rose, like Joe,
often went away

for large stretches of time
when the children were young.

A young Jack was said
to have remarked,

"Gee, you're a great
mother to go away and leave

your children all alone."

He told a friend
while he was an adult,

"My mother never hugged
me, never, never."

- Instead of pitying himself,
he found something else

to occupy his mind.

From Sinbad the
Sailor to Peter Pan,

Jack was enthralled by reading.

His literary interests
did not lay solely

in swashbuckling adventure.

He devoured weighty
historical tomes

like "Lays of Ancient Rome,"
a popular collection of poems

written in the 1840s,

and "The Pilgrim's Progress,"

a work of theological
fiction by John Bunyan.

- There was something
special about Jack.

He taught himself.

- When Jack was 10,
his father relocated

the family to New York.

A formidable
business opportunist

and an investor in
the stock market,

Joe Sr. had grown his wealth
by applying his skills

to various business ventures,
including the film industry.

- He was spending most of
his time now in New York.

He was a film producer.

He was a film executive.

And the business side
of the movie business

was in New York.

The Bronxville house,

where Jack really
grows up, is...

you know, it was a mansion

with a huge lawn, big driveway,

lots of land for
the kids to play.

- The family began
spending their summer

and early autumn months
at the beachside village

of Hyannis Port, part
of the Cape Cod area

in Massachusetts.

After renting a summer residence

at 50 Marchant Avenue
for several years,

Joe Sr. purchased the home.

- The family spends
more time together

in Hyannis Port
than anywhere else.

What binds them together
is not their home

in Bronxville but Hyannis Port.

- Jack was surrounded
by eight siblings...

Joe Jr., Rosemary,

Kathleen, Eunice, Patricia,

Robert, Jean, and Ted.

Though they were raised
in considerable wealth,

Joe and Rose taught
their children

about the value of
money, the importance

of a strong work ethic, and
the need to stay informed

about world affairs,

which often led to heated
political discussions

at the dinner table.

- Joe and Rose led conversations

about current events
and global events

for all nine of the
siblings over dinner.

And Joe was like a quiz master.

The parents seeded the children,

particularly the
boys, with this sense

of history, current
events, global events.

And from that, the boys

did pursue it on their own.

- Jack lived his early
life in the shadow

of his older brother, Joe Jr.,

who was the promising
Kennedy child,

being primed for a
political future.

Joe Jr. was
successful in school,

but Jack's grades were
comparatively poor.

- Jack was a smart
aleck as a kid.

He had friends.

Every smart aleck, every
jokester has friends.

But he didn't try
hard the way Joe did.

Joe was the model kid.

Joe Kennedy put his
faith in the future

of the Kennedy dynasty,
in his oldest son, Joe Jr.

- Joe Sr. Seriously believed

he would become the first
Irish Catholic president

of the United States.

Jack was an afterthought.

- Coming up on future
episodes of "Kennedy"...

- John Fitzgerald Kennedy
is a unique character

in U.S. and world history.

- He had risked his life.

He'd climb one
rung of the ladder,

and then he'd start
looking to the next one.

But he would have given up
all of his political success

to be pain-free.

- There was a chance
that he would die.

Was he going to pity himself,

or was he going to overcome it?

- And we stand today

on the edge of a new frontier.

- When he walked
into the Oval Office,

he had a lot to learn.

- You have Kennedy trying
to manage the Cold War,

but also adhere to
the real dilemma

that African
Americans are facing.

- He guided the country through

the most dangerous
period of its existence.

- The idea we could get into
a nuclear war was very real.

That's where Kennedy
is the leader.

- And so, my fellow Americans,

ask not what your
country can do for you,

ask what you can do
for your country.

- Jack's playful personality
and rebellious energy

was at odds with his solemn

and polished older
brother, Joe Jr.,

molded by Joe Sr.
In his own image.

Though Jack looked up
to his older brother,

the two were competitive,
engaging in heated fights

on the living room floor.

- Jack adored his older brother,

Joe, followed him around.

The two of them played
together all the time,

though Joe was a bully.

Jack brought a lot of

the physical abuse on himself.

He couldn't stop teasing.

He started fights that he
knew he was gonna lose.

- Underweight and frail,
Jack was almost always pinned

and defeated in these
brotherly brawls,

but he always got back
up and tried again.

In one of these
competitive episodes,

Joe Jr. suggested that he
and Jack race their bicycles

around Brookline.

The frenzied race landed
Jack in the hospital

with 28 stitches.

- John Kennedy
becomes a teenager,

more or less, at the onset

of the Great Depression
in the early 1930s.

It was just an
unimaginable calamity.

That kind of suffering
and trial by unemployment

didn't touch the
Kennedy family at all.

- They were completely shielded

from the Great Depression.

They knew that it was happening.

But maybe Joe
Kennedy's real genius

was exposing his
sons to the world

so that they would understand
that the world was larger

than the closeted
life they all lived.

- In September 1930, Jack began

his eighth-grade year
at the Canterbury School

in New Milford, Connecticut.

Jack loved sports, playing
both baseball and football

in spite of his
abnormally low weight

and constant health issues.

Jack often wrote to his parents

about everyday life at school,

including the difficulty
of his studies,

his frustration
with the school's

strict religious practices,
and the freezing weather.

In April 1931,

when he was almost 14 years old,

Jack suffered abdominal pains

that resulted in
an appendectomy...

the first of many
surgeries in his life.

After this operation, he
withdrew from Canterbury

and returned home
to Hyannis Port.

Having had the
summer to recover,

Jack transferred to
the Choate School

in September 1931, a
private boarding school

in Wallingford, Connecticut.

Joe Jr. was already
a student there

and showed Jack the ropes.

- Its hallmark, from
George St. John,

the headmaster, was to
make sure that every boy

got attention

and got the kind of
education that he needed.

As a new third-former,
as they were known,

the ninth-graders,
he was nervous.

Fortunately, he did
have an older brother

to sort of steer him
and give him the ropes.

But he was pretty
much on his own,

but I think that was part of
the family tradition, too...

to make your own way.

Put into a dormitory... so
that's your first network.

Then, you're in classes...
that's another network.

Sports... that's
another network.

You sort of find your
way with the activities

that you're involved in.

- Jack did well in
classes he enjoyed,

like math and politics,

but performed poorly in subjects

that didn't interest
him, such as Latin.

Where he truly excelled
was American history,

a subject he found fascinating.

- Kennedy loved history.

He knew it very well,

and I think it gave him

this grasp of how things work.

His knowledge of
history informed him

that being a great
orator was important.

How does power work?

How, historically, have
our alliances worked?

- Despite his untroubled,
relaxed persona,

Jack's sharp
intelligence was noted

by those around him,

including the Choate headmaster

George St. John.

- I think he saw great
promise in John Kennedy

but was a little frustrated
by his occasional

nonconformist activity.

That just angered him

because he saw such
great promise in him.

He knew he was a smart boy,

and he just wanted
something better out of him.

- While at Choate,
Jack met someone

who would become
his lifelong friend,

a classmate named Lem Billings.

- One of Jack Kennedy's
greatest talents

was making friends
and keeping them...

lifelong friends.

Lem Billings was one.

- They were both working
on the school yearbook.

That's, in fact, how they met.

But sometimes they
disagreed with each other.

Sometimes they would
fight against each other,

but there's also a lot
of affection as well.

Early on, JFK is
somewhat mystified

by Lem's lack of
interest in girls,

which, even then,
as a young teenager,

JFK was very active
and interested in.

- While Jack excelled
socially at Choate,

there was another part
of him most did not see.

- You see all these contrasts.

So what does he present as?

Handsome, born to an
extremely wealthy family,

rich playboy. But what
do we really know?

What we really know
is a lot of pain.

- One thing after another
that sent him to the infirmary

or even more specialty
care, when they couldn't

figure out what was
really going on.

- He's having fatigue, these
diffuse aches and pains.

He developed colitis, so
he could not gain weight.

- In February
1934, Jack's health

deteriorated rapidly.

He was sent to
Rochester, Minnesota

for medical tests
at the Mayo Clinic.

Joe Sr. came to
visit his ailing son.

Rose didn't visit once.

He was at death's door.

In early 1934,
undergoing medical tests

at the Mayo Clinic,
16-year-old Jack

was plagued by constant pain,

surrounded by strangers,
and dealing with

one medical mystery
after another.

To pass the time, he
wrote rambling letters

full of jokes, often
sexual in nature.

In letters written
to Lem Billings

during his time at the hospital,

Jack's buoyant personality
showed no signs of waning.

- He's making jokes,
and they're jokes

about his imminent death,

and he's saying, "Yeah,
they were here today.

"I looked at the chart
when they left the room,

and I think they're
measuring me from my coffin."

Looking at some of the
numbers for his blood levels

and saying, "Yeah, you know,
if I get any lower, I'm out."

Kind of making light
of the whole thing.

That was, I think,
invaluable to what he became,

which was someone
who understood pain.

- It was just one
of those things

where he had a choice to make.

Was he going to pity
himself, or was he going to

deal with this and overcome it?

- People who experience

that kind of pain and sickness,

they understand life is pain,

you know?

There's joy, too, but there's
also just a lot of pain.

His humor was one way
of dealing with it.

- After months in and out
of different hospitals,

Jack was finally stable
enough to return home

in the summer of
1934 with orders

from his doctors to
follow a strict diet

and reduce stress.

- Lem was so concerned about him

and helped take care
of him when he was ill.

- Jack and Lem were
especially tight-knit,

following each other around
at Choate and beyond.

So close, in fact,
the teens decided

to lose their virginity at
the same Harlem brothel.

- They went to prostitutes,

although it's not
clear that Lem actually

ever did anything
with a prostitute.

Nobody really knows.

After a while, of course,
JFK being as smart as he was,

he realized that Lem
didn't really have

any interest in women.

He had an interest in Jack.

- Lem felt more than friendship

for his companion.

A Choate tradition was
to use toilet paper

for notes, because
they could easily

be flushed and destroyed.

- Boys who wanted to
engage in sexual behavior

would hint as such
on toilet paper.

- Lem sent such a note to Jack,

expressing his affection for
the charismatic young man.

Jack politely rebuffed
Lem's romantic overture,

but they would remain
friends and confidants

for the rest of Jack's life.

He had no interest in publicly
exposing Lem's sexuality,

something that would
subject his friend

to ridicule and harassment.

His relationship with
Lem was a testament

to Jack's character in a time

when homosexuality
was far from accepted

in everyday society.

- Jack took great risks
in keeping this friendship

with Lem Billings, which
shows the sense of loyalty

that he had.

- After being called
"troublemaking muckers"

by Choate headmaster
George St. John,

Jack, Lem, and two other friends

established the
Choate Muckers Club.

Together, they began sneaking
into town for milkshakes,

going to dances,
and arranging pranks

around campus.

- Then they came up with
this wild and crazy idea

that they were gonna
disrupt a major dance...

it's called Festivities...

by depositing a load of manure

at the entrance to the dance.

You can imagine the
boys up in their rooms,

just hooting and hollering
about this thing.

Wouldn't it be a
great thing to do?

They never did it.
They never did it.

But it was fun to think about.

It was a testimony,
again, to Jack's ability

to make friends, even if
in that particular case,

it was because of involvement
in potential hijinks.

- At last, his time at
Choate came to an end.

Jack was now 18 and filled

with a new sense
of independence.

- I think he was
certainly ready to leave,

once graduation came around.

- Jack found his second
home on the water

when back in Hyannis
Port during 1935 and '36.

Sailing from Edgartown
to Martha's Vineyard,

even winning the 1936
Atlantic Coast Championship,

his love of the ocean
was a Kennedy hallmark.

- I think you can't
understand the Kennedys

without understanding
Hyannis Port.

It's this big, old,
rambling house.

There's nine children
spilling out of the rooms.

They're all sailing.

They're all in competition
with each other.

There's a tennis court.

If they're not playing tennis,

they're playing touch football.

If they're not doing that,

they've got a pickup
baseball game going.

And they never lacked
for companionship,

because they had each other.

They're each other's
best friends.

- Kennedy felt at
one with the sea.

He was able to get
clearer mind...

they call it "blue mind"...

where everything
comes clear to you

when you're in a
maritime environment.

And that's why so often,
he would be at Cape Cod

when he would make his
big decisions in his life.

- In the decades to
come, the family compound

would serve as a source
of stability and calm

in Jack's ever-changing world.

- The principal of
the Choate school

wrote to the Harvard deans...

I assume, the
admissions office...

and says, "Jack
has rather superior

"mental ability without
the deep interest

"in his studies or
the mature viewpoint

"that demands of him his
best effort all the time.

"He can be relied upon
to do enough to pass.

"We have been and are working
our hardest to develop

"Jack's own self-interest.

"Great enough in social
life, to the point

"that will assure him
a record in college

"more worthy of
his natural gifts

of intelligence,
likableness, and popularity."

- Jack entered Harvard
in fall of 1936.

- It is said that his
grades weren't very good

when he was a
student at Harvard.

- At Harvard in his first year,

he's interested in one thing...

conquering as many
women as he can.

And he's pretty good at it.

- Though the 19-year-old Jack

lost the election for
freshman class president,

he was active socially.

He took on the
task of organizing

the freshman smoker,
a large party

held at the end of the year.

Jack supplied first-rate tobacco

and arranged for appearances
by two jazz orchestras,

dance groups, and
baseball stars.

The party impressed
his fellow students.

Jack Kennedy had
captured their attention.

- He would just grab
the coolest person there

and kind of go off in the corner

and have a private conversation.

I mean, he was not...
he was not an extrovert.

He was really very
much of an introvert.

He did not draw energy
from big groups of people.

He much preferred
smaller conversations.

You know, had lots of friends.

He had various
circles of friends.

- It was fun. It was light.

I think of him as a
character of literature

like Long John Silver,

like incredibly
charming but dangerous.

You know? Like irresistible.

- It's a combination
of looks, style,

eloquence, empathy.

- I think the only
word you can use is,

Kennedy had charisma.
It was natural.

And he would come into a room

and he was the
center of attention.

- He probably
elicited more humor

with fewer words than anyone.

It was a very acerbic, deadpan,

sarcastic sense of humor,

great sense of timing.

- By all accounts,
being around Kennedy

was incandescent.

It was, as Winston Churchill
said of Franklin Roosevelt,

like opening a
bottle of champagne.

- "He looked like he
could be blown over

with a good breath," said
Jack's new football coach.

Tall and lanky, the
20-year-old Jack

didn't look much
like an athlete,

but he tried his best to
stay active in athletics

like football and swimming.

His first two years at Harvard
were lackluster academically,

largely due to his interest
in athletics and girls.

However, Jack began
to take his education

more seriously in
his junior year,

even making the dean's list.

- While successful people
mature at different rates,

he had to find his place.

Here, he's got this
older brother, Joe Jr.,

who is considered
the shining star

of the family, and Jack has
trouble dealing with that.

And it's not until later,

when he's in his advanced years

at Harvard, that he
gets quite serious.

- On December 9, 1937,

"The New York Times"
broke the news.

Jack's father, Joe Kennedy,
later nicknamed "Jolly Joe"

by the press, would be
the new United States

ambassador to Great Britain.

- Just arrived in England
after a very pleasant trip

from the United States.

I'm looking forward,
with great anticipation,

taking up my duties here.

- The Great Depression
is a terrible calamity

for millions upon
millions of Americans.

When Franklin Roosevelt
took the oath of office

in March of 1933, we
estimate that there were

13 million people unemployed.

That was about 25% of
the entire workforce

of the United States.

- Joe was worried.

He was a conservative,
but he understood

that Hoover did not have a clue

as to how to end the depression

and save capitalism
and American democracy.

And Joe Kennedy understands

earlier than most

that the Depression
is the greatest threat

to American capitalism
that this nation

has ever seen.

So he, very early,
went and he joined

the Roosevelt bandwagon.

Kennedy really enters
politics for the first time.

- Joe had been a
very enthusiastic

and a very important
supporter of FDR,

particularly around
election time,

1932, 1936, and 1940.

And Joe Kennedy was a
very important Catholic

at a time when
the Catholic vote,

as it remains today,
was very important,

and he would not just
contribute money,

but he would entice
other important people

like William Randolph
Hearst as well as Catholics

around the country
to support FDR.

So he thought that FDR owed him.

- Finally, Roosevelt
gets in touch

with Kennedy, and he
offers him the position.

- Joe Kennedy's new role
in the public sphere

would push the
entire Kennedy family

into the center
of world politics.

- By early 1938, Joe Kennedy
was the new United States

ambassador to Great Britain.

- That would have been
the most important

and most prestigious
ambassadorship

that would have been offered,

and Franklin Roosevelt
gave it to Joe Kennedy.

- You're kind of excited.

- Roosevelt sends
Kennedy to England

as a statement as
much as anything else.

It's a statement to the English

that I'm gonna send
you an Irish Catholic.

He also tells Kennedy,
"Look, I need eyes

"and ears over there.

"Europe is falling apart,
and I can't trust anybody.

"I need someone over
there to tell me,

are the British gonna
be able to fight?

"Are the British gonna be able

to stand up
against the Nazis?"

- Kennedy, from the beginning,
doesn't simply report

on what's going on in Europe.

Kennedy is determined
that he knows better

than Roosevelt and
everybody else.

- The American people do
not have to go to war.

They will not go to war

if they will to stay out of war.

- He opposed U.S.
involvement in the war.

He was actually a person
who might be classified

today as an appeaser.

He didn't want to go
to war with Germany.

He thought the U.S. would lose

and that it would
be a grave error

for the country to get involved

in that kind of conflict.

- Hitler! Sieg
heil! Sieg heil!

- He comes to the
conclusion that the English

are too foppish, too weak,

they have no backbone,

that Hitler and the Germans

are gonna run right over him.

- If I am called an
appeaser because I oppose

the entrance of this country
into the present war,

I cheerfully plead guilty,

and so must every one of
you who want to keep America

out of this war.

- Roosevelt enlists Kennedy

not simply as an ambassador

but as a troubleshooter,

an eyewitness who's
gonna report back

what's going on.

Ambassadors don't
run foreign policy.

Ambassadors are stick
figures, really.

- The problems
between FDR and Joe

really lie with Joe,

because once he
became ambassador,

he forgot about what that
position was really like.

That role is to translate

the president's view
to the British leaders

and the British people.

And what Joe wanted to do
was relay his own thoughts,

and his thoughts did not
match FDR's thoughts.

So FDR grew to distrust
him and opened up

a separate private
channel with Churchill.

Joe resented it,
and the relationship

tumbled from there.

- In 1939, with his father
now living and working

in London as ambassador
to Great Britain,

Jack decided to travel overseas.

He set off on a
seven-month tour of Europe,

the Middle East, and
the Soviet Union,

meeting with leaders, diplomats,

and everyday people
to gather information

about the growing threat of war.

Jack's journey began in London

where he took tea with
Princess Elizabeth.

Then he was off
to Eastern Europe,

stopping in Warsaw, Poland.

As he traveled, he
often corresponded

with Lem Billings and
reported his observations

back to his father.

- Bye, Rosie.
- Bye, Jack.

- So long, Jack!

- I... see, that's enough.

- On another leg of the
trip, Jack was joined

by his Harvard roommate,
Torby Macdonald.

They crossed into Nazi
Germany and were heckled

by local stormtroopers
who believed

they were disrespecting
the statue of a Nazi hero.

Days later, traveling
at high speeds

near Paris, en route
to see his father,

Jack lost control
of his vehicle,

flipping it.

In his true
lighthearted fashion,

Jack laughed off his
near-death experience.

While upside-down in the car,

he is said to have
quipped to Torby,

"Well, pal, we didn't
make it, did we?"

- On August 19, Jack arrived

in the German capital of Berlin.

At that moment, Hitler's troops

were preparing to attack Poland,

making their way to the border.

Less than two weeks later,
Hitler's forces invaded.

The Second World War had begun.

- Jack understood that if you
want to understand the world,

you need to go see the world,

and he was very eager
to see the world.

- In fact, when Britain
declared war on Germany

on September 3, 1939,

two days after the
Nazis invaded Poland,

JFK was in the House of Commons

in the visitor's gallery.

He saw Chamberlain
make the announcement

that World War II had started.

- This morning, the
British ambassador

in Berlin handed the
German government

a final note, stating
that unless we heard

from them by 11:00
that they were prepared

at once to withdraw
their troops from Poland,

a state of war would
exist between us.

I have to tell you now
that no such undertaking

has been received,
and that consequently,

this country is at
war with Germany.

- During his time visiting
the House of Commons,

Jack was deeply inspired
by Winston Churchill

and was awestruck listening
to his first wartime speech

rallying the free
world to stand up

to the oncoming
battle against Hitler.

After listening to
Churchill's remarks,

Jack was motivated to
do his part as well.

Upon the outbreak of the war,

German U-boats
began sinking ships.

The first ship lost was the
Scottish passenger liner,

SS "Athenia."

Joe Sr. sent his son to meet

with and assist hundreds
of American survivors

hospitalized in Glasgow.

During this trip,
Jack spoke publicly,

reassuring those affected
that they would be

safely transported
back to the U.S.

He was also tasked
with gathering

firsthand information
about the attack.

Finally, safe passage
home was secured

for the American survivors.

Jack's work was done.

After seven months in Europe,

Jack Kennedy was
now 22 years old.

He had seen Nazi
Germany up close,

listened to his political
hero Winston Churchill

speak in the House of Commons,

shared tea with the future Queen

of the United Kingdom,
crashed his car in France,

and helped fellow Americans

in the wake of a wartime attack.

- He was exposed
from a very early age

to a really incredible array
of international experiences,

quite untypical for
people in his generation

in this country.

- Jack had experienced firsthand

what it meant to be involved

in high-level
political, cultural,

and military situations
and began to break away

from his father's stifling
political beliefs.

His whirlwind tour of Europe

laid the foundations
of a new worldview

that would evolve
for years to come.

- I think it was just
the self-confidence

that Jack got from
traveling abroad,

from being on his own,
from being encouraged

through all of those early meals

led by Joe and Rose
to think for himself,

that he eventually
did think for himself,

and from his travels, came
to different conclusions

than Joe came to, that
America needed to play

a prominent role
on the world stage

if freedom were to prevail.

Using his experiences
in Europe as a guide,

Jack began work on his thesis,
just meeting his deadline.

He examined why England
was so unprepared

for World War II, and
titled his final project,

"Appeasement at Munich."

Jack later expanded
his thesis into a book,

called "Why England Slept,"

an ode to Winston
Churchill's book,

"While England Slept."

"Why England Slept"
quickly sold 80,000 copies,

bringing in some
$40,000 in revenue.

He donated his British earnings

to the English city of Plymouth,

which had recently been bombed

by Hitler's powerful air force.

With his American earnings,
he bought a new convertible.

In June 1940, Jack
graduated from Harvard.

It was the end of
an important chapter

in his life and the beginning

of a new equally
important chapter.

Next on "Kennedy"...

- 16 months after Pearl Harbor,

the United States was locked
in a fierce Naval campaign

against Japanese forces.

- Jack was a man who wanted
to be at the center of action.

- Kennedy takes
command of "PT-109".

This is a very
dangerous place to be.

These are Japanese-held waters.

The Japanese destroyer...

- She is speeding
directly towards "PT-109."