All language subtitles for Kennedy.2023.S01E02.720p.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV_Subtitles01.ENG

- Previously on "Kennedy"...

After seven months in Europe,

Jack Kennedy
was now 22 years old.

- Handsome, born to
an extremely wealthy family.

What we really know
is a lot of pain.

♪ ♪

- One thing after another
sent him to the infirmary.

- He's got this older brother,
Joe Jr.,

who is considered the shining
star of the family.

- Jack was an afterthought.

- Was he going to pity himself,

or was he going
to overcome it?

- He was exposed
from a very early age

to a really incredible array
of international experiences.

- Using what he learned
in Europe as a guide,

Jack began work on his thesis,
which he later expanded

into a book
called "Why England Slept."

It quickly sold 80,000 copies.

♪ ♪

- To lead us
to a fruitful America,

from the state
of Massachusetts,

John F. Kennedy!
[crowd cheering]

- 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.

♪ ♪

- If Great Britain goes down,
the Axis powers

will control the continents
of Europe and Asia

and Africa and Australasia

and the high seas.

And they will be
in a position

to bring enormous military
and naval resources

against this hemisphere.

There will be no bottlenecks

in our determination
to aid Great Britain.

No dictator will weaken
that determination.

♪ ♪

- In 1940, as Britain turned
to the United States

for assistance,

Jack Kennedy published a book

about the lead-up
to World War II.

As Germany's Luftwaffe
bombarded British cities

during August 1940,

Americans seeking to better
understand the war

eagerly turned
to Kennedy's book.

♪ ♪

Letters flew
into Jack's mailbox

with offers
from prestigious publishers

and inquiries
about follow-up volumes.

Now a best-selling author
at age 23,

Jack had to decide
if he would continue writing

or choose
another avenue altogether.

♪ ♪

By fall 1940, Jack had a plan
to return to school

and build
on his Harvard education,

but his plans stalled when
his health declined again.

♪ ♪

He checked into
the Lahey Clinic in Boston,

with gastrointestinal problems
and back pain--

an issue that began
during his time at Harvard,

where he ruptured a disk
in his spine

while playing football.

Physicians recommended
he find a place

for quiet rehabilitation.

That place, he decided,
would be the Golden State.

Jack settled in California,

auditing business,
political science,

and economic classes
at Stanford University.

Jack was a minor celebrity
at Stanford,

not least of which was due

to his father's
previous position

as the American ambassador
to the United Kingdom.

On his first day,
he wore casual shabby clothes

while driving
the Buick convertible

purchased
with his book earnings.

With his "FDR for President"
button, unkempt hair,

confident
and carefree attitude,

Jack made a splash
around campus.

♪ ♪

While he studied and
gallivanted around Stanford,

he kept an eye
on the situation in Europe.

Like many Americans his age,

he was unsure
what the escalating conflict

meant for his future.

♪ ♪

As the war surged overseas,
Kennedy's older brother,

the fervently anti-war
Joe Jr.,

left law school to enlist
in the United States Navy.

Jack decided to follow suit,

putting aside
his academic pursuits

as the United States' entrance
into the war

seemed inevitable.

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

- Quickly, he volunteered for
Army Officer Candidate School

but was rejected due
to his poor health.

- He failed the physical
because of his back pain.

So the Army said
to Jack Kennedy,

well, thanks for
showing up, young man.

We just don't need you.

- Jack was undeterred,

adopting
a strict health regimen

to build his strength.

- Ultimately, Jack
continues to push

to get into the armed forces
in some way.

- In October 1941,

Jack was approved
for military service.

He was assigned a post

at the Office
of Naval Intelligence

in Washington, D.C.,
as a Navy Reserve officer.

♪ ♪

The desk assignment
wasn't ideal,

but it was all he had for now.

[plane engines roaring]

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- Just after Jack finished

a game of football near
the Washington Monument,

news arrived
of the Japanese attack

on Pearl Harbor--

a Naval base
on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

The next day,
President Roosevelt

officially announced

that the United States
was at war with Japan.

Hitler, allied with Japan,

promptly declared war
on the United States.

Two years
into the Second World War,

the United States
was now fully engaged

in the conflict.

- With confidence
in our armed forces,

with the unbounding
determination

of our people,

we will gain
the inevitable triumph,

so help us God.

♪ ♪

- Jack's busy schedule
at Navy Intelligence

did not give him much time
to sleep,

especially after the U.S.
joined the war effort.

Helping him get through the
long days was his new lover.

- His sister
Kathleen introduced him

to a beautiful young lady.

- Born in Copenhagen,
Denmark,

journalist Inga Arvad
was an exotic figure

whom Jack saw
as an intellectual equal,

fascinated by her sharp mind

and captivating
Scandinavian looks.

To the FBI, there was more
to Inga than met the eye.

Shortly after the attack
on Pearl Harbor,

a reporter from
the "Washington Times-Herald"

found an image of Inga
in Hitler's box

during the 1936
Berlin Olympics.

Intelligence collected on her
indicated that as a reporter,

she met Hitler
on multiple occasions

and attended the wedding

for high-ranking Nazi official
Hermann Goering.

Speculation on whether or not
Inga was a German spy

ran rampant.

She rejected all accusations,

and her relationship with Jack
didn't wane.

- So she was on the FBI list.

J. Edgar Hoover was after her.

- Spying on their every move,

Hoover wiretapped
their bedroom,

even recording
their sexual encounters.

♪ ♪

Inga and Jack
had fallen in love.

Kennedy was obsessed
with Inga.

But she knew
if he chased a career

in the political limelight,

her murky background
would make

a long-term relationship
impossible.

♪ ♪

- Plan your life
as you want it.

Go up the steps of fame.

But pause now and then
and make sure

that you are accompanied
by happiness.

♪ ♪

Love my dear, Binga.

♪ ♪

- As war raged across Europe
and the Pacific in 1942,

Jack grew restless and wanted
to participate more directly

in the U.S. military effort.

Finally, in late July 1942,

he was approved to register
at Officer Training School.

- He attends

the Naval Reserve Officers
Training School

at Northwestern University
in Chicago.

- His time had come.

Jack had poor health,
enormous physical pain,

and a fragile body,

but he had
grueling persistence.

Because of his love for
sailing, boats, and the ocean,

Jack took a liking
to PT boats--

agile vessels
used in the Pacific theater.

- These small boats are some
of the Navy's newest weapons.

It is essentially
an 80-foot-long speedboat.

♪ ♪

- They were noted

for their ability
to sneak up on

and attack large vessels
with torpedoes.

Jack was so successful

in the completion
of his boat-training course

that he was offered
a position as an instructor.

It would require him
to stay stateside

for another six months.

Jack was infuriated.

He wanted to fight.

With help
from his maternal grandfather,

former Boston mayor
John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald,

Jack arranged a meeting

with Massachusetts senator
David Walsh,

chairman of the Senate
Naval Affairs Committee.

The goal was to prove himself
willing and able to fight.

He made an impression
on the senator.

♪ ♪

After months of struggling

for an active position
in the Navy,

the time had come, whether he
was physically ready or not.

- He went through town,

and just a few minutes ago,
he was here.

And then he's going
on active sea duty.

Only, you know, his back--

he looks like a limping monkey
from behind.

He can't walk at all.

That's ridiculous--sending
him off to sea duty.

♪ ♪

- On March 6, 1943,

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Jack Kennedy

stepped aboard a troop carrier
in San Francisco.

The destination was Tulagi,

part of the Solomon Islands,

some 1,100 miles
northeast of Australia.

He was headed straight
into the heart of war.

♪ ♪

16 months after Pearl Harbor,

the United States was locked
in a fierce naval campaign

against Japanese forces.

♪ ♪

Using their powerful navy,

Japan steamrolled
through the Pacific,

crushing any obstacle
that stood in their way.

♪ ♪

- Kennedy takes command
of PT-109

on April 23, 1943.

♪ ♪

- It was 80 feet long
and weighed 40 tons.

- They're made out of wood.

They are powered by engines

that run on high-octane fuel.

There's no armor at all
and is very dangerous duty.

I mean, one well-placed hit
from a Japanese ship,

and the ship is going up
in an explosion.

♪ ♪

- The PT boat bases,

like the one on Tulagi
where Jack was stationed,

were built quickly,
leaving much to be desired.

- The Solomon Islands are deep
in the South Pacific.

These are
jungle-covered islands.

There's heat, humidity, bugs,

thunderstorms, rainstorms.

♪ ♪

- Diseases like malaria
and dengue fever ran rampant

through the hastily erected
structures.

Rats and cockroaches
were part of daily life.

Making matters worse,

food supplies--
mostly canned food--

were inadequately allocated
to troops in the area,

and the soldiers

were constantly threatened
with malnutrition.

Difficult though it was,

Jack's PT boat and its crew

became his home
away from home.

- PT-109 had been operating
for a number of months

under different
commanding officers,

different crew members.

♪ ♪

The commanding officers
from the boat

had already transferred
to other positions

or moved back stateside.

So Kennedy
is kind of rebuilding the crew.

And by August, you know,
they've been together

for a few months.

So this is a very small,
cohesive group,

unlike a bigger ship.

I mean, they have to depend
on each other

for life and death.

♪ ♪

- During his first months
at Tulagi,

they saw little action.

Kennedy had ample time

to send his mother flowers
for Mother's Day,

write letters home,
and read his copy

of Tolstoy's 19th-century
epic novel "War and Peace."

♪ ♪

At the end of July,

intelligence reports arrived
at Jack's PT base,

indicating
that five Japanese destroyers

were scheduled to move

on the night
of August 1st and 2nd.

The destroyers
were expected to sail

through the Blackett Strait,

supplying provisions to
and moving Japanese troops.

♪ ♪

- The Japanese
are trying to resupply

their island garrisons

with these nighttime runs
called the Tokyo Express,

delivering supplies and troops
under the cover of darkness.

♪ ♪

- So Kennedy was assigned

to one of four groups that
were going to be positioned

to try and intercept
these destroyers.

♪ ♪

This is a major, major mission.

- This is a, you know,
very dangerous place to be.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- On August 1st,

15 PT boats,
including Jack's PT-109,

set off toward
the Blackett Strait

at 6:30 p.m.

Including himself, there
were 13 men on Jack's boat.

♪ ♪

In near darkness,
PT-109 became separated

from the other PT boats.

Jack shut down two
of the boat's three engines

to conserve fuel.

It would also help
the boat remain hidden

from the Japanese air patrols

looking for the phosphorescent
glow left by boat wakes.

- The enemy they're really
worried about is above.

And if they make a wake,

not only are the aircraft
going to see them,

if there's enemy ships about,
they will also see them.

- Oftentimes,
if the PT boats were deployed

and they were waiting
for Japanese ships to arrive,

they would be idling,

meaning they
would be operating

at one engine
instead of three,

very low speed, you know,
almost idling in place.

♪ ♪

- PT-109 idled.

♪ ♪

Under the moonless sky,

the crew noticed movement on
the water

in the pre-dawn hours
of August 2nd.

Jack and his men
struggled to identify

the shape in the darkness.

♪ ♪

As the wake grew closer,

the outline
of a massive ship emerged.

Moving towards them

was the towering
Japanese destroyer "Amagiri."

- And she is speeding
directly towards PT-109.

Kennedy tries to turn,

but there's really no time.

♪ ♪

- The "Amagiri" collided
violently with Jack's boat.

♪ ♪

The Japanese destroyer
sliced through PT-109,

causing fuel to explode
into a raging fire

more than 100 feet tall.

Two of Jack's men
were killed instantly,

and the remainder
scrambled to escape

the flaming wreckage.

♪ ♪

- Kennedy himself is thrown
against the bulkhead.

He reinjures
his already bad back.

- The Japanese destroyer
doesn't even slow down.

They just want to get
out of there.

So they just power
right through and keep going.

And the gasoline spreads out
over the ocean,

and it's on fire.

[explosion]

- Amidst the chaos, Jack
dove into the dark waters

to save badly burned
sailor Patrick McMahon.

- That guy was just
a common sailor.

He saved his life.

So that's the things

that really made me admire
him most, I think--his courage.

♪ ♪

- Paddling in cold water
for hours,

Jack ordered his most
severely injured crewmen

to cling to a small plank that
had splintered from the boat.

- Some of them
had swallowed gasoline.

Some of them were burned.

Some of them had been crushed
against the boat.

But McMahon was the worst off.
He had been severely burned.

♪ ♪

- At daybreak
the next morning,

this small group is still
clinging to this wreckage.

They are in open waters,

and then the wreckage
starts to sink.

♪ ♪

- Surrounded
by Japanese soldiers

on the neighboring islands,

they were
in a terrifying situation.

While floating in the Pacific,

Jack and his crew were faced
with an enormous decision--

continue fighting or surrender
to hostile forces.

♪ ♪

Jack said,
there's nothing in a book

about a situation like this.

I have nothing to lose.

They decided to continue on.

- Kennedy had a flare gun,
which he could have used,

but to illustrate
the danger they were in,

you know, to shoot off
a very light

will also tell the enemy
you're there.

They were just as afraid
of being captured

or killed by the enemy
as not being rescued.

So Kennedy chose not
to shoot off a flare

to signal a rescue
at that point.

♪ ♪

- Kennedy spots
a distant island,

and he decides
the best course of action

is for his group
to swim to that island.

♪ ♪

- Jack tied a knot
to the wounded

Patrick "Pappy" McMahon's
life jacket

and put the other end
between his teeth.

- It was described
by one of the witnesses

as if he had done it all
the time in his life.

He just got a knife out
and cut the strap,

put the strap
of the life jacket in his mouth

and pulled Pappy on his back,
his bad back.

♪ ♪

- Jack began
the 3 1/2-mile journey

through shark-infested waters.

Listening to Kennedy's
labored breathing,

McMahon didn't know
if they could make it.

Kennedy replied,
it can be done.

- We can do this.
We can do this.

Well, that's what you want,
isn't it--

a skipper that says,
we can do this?

♪ ♪

- After an arduous journey,

Kennedy, McMahon,
and the surviving crew

finally made it to shore.

- When they arrive
on the beach,

Kennedy literally collapses
in exhaustion.

- By this time,

Jack and his crew
were presumed dead,

when a report stated that
neither the ship nor the crew

were found
at the collision site.

- They are in survival mode
at this point.

They need to somehow get
word to the Americans

that they're alive
and where they're at

because they're
in Japanese-held territory.

- On August 2, 1943,

Jack and his men had been sunk
by a Japanese destroyer

and lost two
of their crew members.

Now they were stranded
on a small island

roughly the size
of a football field.

- It's only 100 yards wide,

but it was enough to get
out of the water and hide.

So they all make it there,

and soon after they get there,
a Japanese barge goes by.

So they know that was close.

But there's no food.
There's no water there.

There's just trees.

And Kennedy knows
they can't stay there.

♪ ♪

- Armed with a lantern
in one hand,

Jack swam two miles alone
to the Ferguson Passage--

an area American boats
often pass through.

- Kennedy
thinks he can swim out

and flag down
one of the PT boats.

This proves unsuccessful
and utterly tiring.

♪ ♪

- When he made it back
to his men the next afternoon,

Jack led his crew
in swimming nearly four miles

to nearby Olasana Island

in hopes
of finding food, water,

and fellow American PT crews.

They found nothing.

But Jack was undeterred.

- The morale of the crew
is very important,

and Kennedy knew that.

They needed to know somebody's
trying to do something.

One of us has to try
and always be doing something

to improve their situation
so they don't give up.

- The next day, Jack brought
a new measure of hope

to his injured
and starving crew

when he found a nearby island
with old Japanese provisions,

including crackers
and a supply of fresh water.

Amazingly, on the same day,

Jack encountered
two Melanesian natives--

Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana.

They were part of a network
called "coastwatchers,"

providing intelligence
on Japanese movements

to the Australian
Allied forces.

Jack inscribed an SOS message
on a coconut

for the coastwatchers to relay
back to their commander,

an Australian
named Arthur Evans.

- He wants them to take it
to the American PT boat base

on the island of Rendova.

- At night, by canoe...

[chuckles]
Through enemy water.

I mean, this is a tremendous
thing to ask of these people.

- The next day,
the natives return

with supplies and food

and the note
from the coastwatcher,

asking that Kennedy
meet Evans in person.

Kennedy at this point knows

that, you know,
this gives him a chance.

- Jack set off
with the natives

to a nearby PT boat base
on Gomu Island.

- Kennedy really didn't want
to leave his men,

but he got
in the canoe anyway,

and he hid
under these palm fronds

in the bottom of the canoe.

While they're paddling
across the bay

towards Gomu Island,

a Japanese plane flies down
and scouts them.

The two natives
give them the wave.

And the pilot left them alone,

but Kennedy is hiding
under this palm frond,

hoping he wasn't seen.

They arrive at Gomu Island,

and Kennedy hops
out of the canoe and...

- Two PT boats come by.

They pick up Kennedy.

- Jack led the two boats
back to Olasana Island

to rescue his crew.

♪ ♪

- And by the morning
of August 8th,

they are back
at the American PT boat base,

ending the ordeal
of the PT-109 sailors.

♪ ♪

- Jack was now a war hero.

Bravery and leadership
earned him

a Navy Marine Corps medal
and a Purple Heart.

Jack later said,
the real heroes

are not the men who return
but those who stay out there--

two of my men included.

- Well, there was a lot
of favorable attention

that he received

but none more important
than that

from the men who were
on the PT-109 with him.

They testified
to his gallantry.

They testified to what
he had actually accomplished

at great risk to himself.

- I think it was
a genuine record

of truly selfless
heroic behavior.

I think there's
no other way, really,

accurately to describe it.

- After the rescue of PT-109,

Jack was promoted
to full lieutenant

in October 1943

and would stay
in the South Pacific.

He served on another PT boat
until he was finally sent home

on December 14, 1943
under doctor's orders.

♪ ♪

Arriving stateside
in early January 1944

with an injured back,

Jack was severely underweight

and had symptoms
of malaria and jaundice

from months away at war.

But the change
that would most affect him

was his newfound understanding
of the world.

♪ ♪

- It was the killing
that he saw,

and it really made
him sensitive

to what is at risk when
the United States goes to war.

He writes very graphic letters
back to his parents

about this one particular
Japanese soldier

who's in the water
and causing problems

until an American stands up
with his rifle

and blows his head off.

- Kennedy comes home
a different man

in a lot of ways--

someone who's been forced
to grow up, I think,

in a lot of ways and see
the hard side of life

that I think he had
never, ever encountered

as a rather privileged
young man

in the Boston area before.

- I think that in many ways,

World War II was maturing for
a whole generation, of course.

But for John
in particular,

I think he came back with
a sense of responsibility.

♪ ♪

- Jack's time in the war
would impact

how he would lead
the rest of his life.

♪ ♪

- By the summer of 1944,

Jack was back home
in Massachusetts,

but his older brother,
Joe Jr., was still deployed,

flying B-24 Liberator planes

on missions
over the English Channel

and the North Sea.

♪ ♪

On August 12th,

he volunteered for a dangerous
top-secret mission--

Operation Aphrodite--

tasked with destroying
German V-2 rocket sites.

♪ ♪

His aircraft was loaded

with over 20,000 pounds
of explosives

when he took off, flying
over the English Channel

toward his target.

♪ ♪

On the afternoon
of August 13th,

during an idyllic Sunday
at Hyannis Port,

Joe Kennedy appeared
before his family.

The Kennedy patriarch was pale

and paralyzed with disbelief

as he delivered
the horrible news.

The mission had gone awry,

and Joe Jr.'s plane
had exploded in midair,

killing him instantly.

♪ ♪

- Joe Jr.
could have come home.

And yet he volunteers

for what is almost
a suicide mission.

Joe Jr.'s death

is a knife

into the heart
of the Kennedy family.

They never recover.

♪ ♪

- Jack was overcome
with shock and emotion.

He had seen firsthand
the devastation of war.

Now it had taken his brother.

♪ ♪

- We found this essentially
aimless young man

who'd returned from
a really rough war experience,

both in terms
of losing his brother

and almost losing his life,

without any idea
what he wanted to do.

- Unsure
of his immediate future

and conferring
with his father, Joe Sr.,

Jack decided to pursue
journalism in the interim.

Joe Sr. felt it was a good way
to keep Jack busy

and in the public eye.

Kennedy began working
for Hearst Newspapers.

Hearst was owned and operated

by media mogul
William Randolph Hearst,

a good friend
of Joe Kennedy Sr.

♪ ♪

- So to this city

on the shores of the ocean
named for peace

came 1,300 representatives
of the 46 United Nations.

- He was sent to California

to cover
the San Francisco Conference--

a conference
that laid the foundation

of the United Nations.

Kennedy was less than
impressed by the conference

and felt that until the world

faced the brutal reality
of war,

no organization
could effectively resolve

the world's conflicts.

♪ ♪

While in San Francisco,

he saw the streets
explode with celebration

when a news flash came
from Europe.

Hitler had been defeated.

- General Eisenhower informs me

that the forces of Germany
have surrendered

to the United Nations.

The flags of freedom
fly all over Europe.

♪ ♪

- During the summer of 1945,

Kennedy raced off to Europe
on assignment.

♪ ♪

He was tasked with covering

the British General election
in London

and the final meeting between
World War II Allied leaders

in Potsdam, Germany.

During his time in London,

Kennedy worked fervently
as a journalist,

even correctly predicting
that his hero,

Prime Minister
Winston Churchill,

would be ousted
from his position.

- He went
to the Potsdam Conference,

where Truman
and Churchill and Stalin

were going to discuss

the shape
of the post-war world.

♪ ♪

His experience
in terms of his travels

and seeing just what
was at stake

in terms
of this long-term struggle

that he clearly recognized

between the forces of freedom

and the forces
of authoritarianism

and how people would live
in the future,

and he always had his eyes on,

you know, what is
the most powerful thing

that I can do to make
a difference?

♪ ♪

- Kennedy embarked
on a three-day tour

of the war-torn
Nazi landscape,

seeing a string
of battered ports and cities

and Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

Observing the ruins of Berlin,

Kennedy sensed it would become
a centerpiece

in the battle between
Soviet communism and the West.

His experiences in Europe
taught him the value

of strong political leaders

in ensuring ongoing peace.

- Well, he knew that politics
was the world.

He learned that politics

wasn't about somebody running
for city council.

Politics meant, are we going
to avoid another war or not?

♪ ♪

- And had been, in a sense,
preparing himself,

not least of all
through international travel

and international exposure,

for some kind of career
as a statesman,

not just as a political leader

but as a person
who would play his role

on the international stage.

♪ ♪

- Upon returning
to the United States,

Kennedy was offered a position
with the Navy,

but he politely rejected it.

He had other plans.

♪ ♪

- From the neighborhoods
of Brookline, Massachusetts,

to the halls
of Harvard University

to the Solomon Islands,

Kennedy's life had been
leading to Washington, D.C.

♪ ♪

His wartime experiences
and his stint as a journalist,

coupled with his extraordinary
opportunities

to travel the world

and observe foreign affairs
in person,

made a career in politics

seem like the best avenue
toward making his mark.

- Kennedy came from a family

where public service mattered.

Part of life was doing
something for the country.

And there was also
an attraction to it--

the power that came with that,

the ability
to influence events.

♪ ♪

- As a political newcomer,

it was time
for an opening gambit.

Kennedy decided to run

for the United States
House of Representatives

in the 1946 elections.

He ran
for Boston's 11th district.

The 29-year-old Kennedy

announced his campaign
for the House

at the luxurious
Parker House Hotel

in downtown Boston.

♪ ♪

Kennedy was not afraid
to plunge into every aspect

of his congressional crusade,

appearing
at numerous campaign events.

He kept his campaign
tight-knit,

enlisting the help
of friends and family,

remembering people's names

and taking advantage
of every introduction.

- Kennedy's natural mode was
not an extrovert back slapper.

That was not how he interacted
with people.

And that was never
how he served as a politician.

But when he decided to run
for this seat, he went for it.

♪ ♪

- Kennedy began
rallying his supporters,

focusing on local issues,

like housing, health,
and labor.

- He did not run
his initial campaign

with a real heavy focus
on international affairs,

because I think
he sort of deduced

that it was pocketbook issues

that were probably
most important

to the people of Massachusetts

and the district
that he was hoping to serve.

It was not a shoo-in.

There was
a ten-person primary,

including, you know,
former mayors from the district

and people who are
much better known than Kennedy.

- He's the only war veteran
running for that seat.

Hard to believe, isn't it?

All the other politicians
had avoided the war.

- Kennedy understood
the only way

for a newcomer
to campaign effectively

would be to introduce himself
and speak personally

to potential voters
and volunteers.

Undaunted,
he put on a back brace

and canvassed
the neighborhoods of Boston,

knocking on door after door.

- When he first
knocked on my door...

I lived in a three-decker

in the Bunker Hill section
of Charlestown.

And this young veteran,

this decorated veteran

was putting
an organization together

of other veterans

to help him get elected
to Congress.

♪ ♪

- It didn't take long
for his popularity to rise,

especially with women.

- And women, by the mid-century
mark in the 20th century,

had the majority
of the electorate

here in Massachusetts.

They were about 51%.

And so this was the great
untapped political resource

in Massachusetts politics.

So Kennedy immediately
targeted them.

- I went with him
to hear him speak

to a group
of Gold Star mothers,

all who had lost a son
or a daughter

in World War II.

He said, I think I know
how you feel...

♪ ♪

Because my mother
is a Gold Star mother, too.

But I never witnessed
such a reaction.

They all leave their seats.

And I can hear them
saying that he reminded them...

of their own John
or Joe or Pat,

the loved one they had lost.

- He went to church basements
and ice cream socials,

and he just worked harder
than his opponents did.

I mean,
he literally outworked them.

- He could be a fellow who
just sort of sits on things,

who lets his staff,

who lets his father's friends
do all the heavy lifting,

but that is not his style.

- The one thing about Kennedys
is they will get up

an hour before everybody else,

and they will go to bed an hour
later than everybody else.

And if everybody else
does three stops a day,

they'll do five.

♪ ♪

- He knew, I think,
in his heart

that he was destined
for greater things.

He realized
that if he applied himself,

great things would follow.

♪ ♪

- Next on "Kennedy"..

- Well, politics is
about opportunity

and seizing the moment.

Kennedy saw this as his moment.

- He was looking to forge
a political identity.

- His father had money,

but money
doesn't always win campaigns.

You have to work really hard.

- But Kennedy oftentimes
had trouble walking.

- Jack can barely stand,

and he campaigns
from morning to night.

- Jackie was this amazing
figure in his life.

You know, this looks
like a royal wedding.

- Jack's promiscuity
is learned as a young man.

- She knew
what she was getting into.

♪ ♪