All language subtitles for Kennedy.2023.S01E08.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- There is no treaty

between the United States
and the Soviet Union.

The idea emerges
of a nuclear test ban treaty.

- We must labor on,

not towards a strategy
of annihilation,

but towards a strategy
of peace.

- Change is about to occur.

- You could almost feel
Kennedy understanding

what the Cold War meant
by seeing the Berlin Wall.

And so he said,

"For people
who don’t understand

"what is
this Cold War conflict,

’Come here.
Come look at this.’"

- To lead us
to a fruitful America,

from the state
of Massachusetts,

John F. Kennedy!

narrator:
John F. Kennedy lived a life

that would help define
an entire generation.

[soft sweeping music]

- 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.

narrator: President
for just over 1,000 days,

Kennedy navigated
events and crises

that changed the world.

- Kennedy is feeling
the pressure

from 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.

narrator: 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.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

[gentle orchestral music]

♪ ♪

Freedom has many difficulties,

and democracy is not perfect,

but we have never had
to put a wall up

to keep our people in,

to prevent them
from leaving us.

[cheers and applause]

There are some who say--
there are some who say

that communism is the wave
of the future.

Let them come to Berlin.

[cheering]

♪ ♪

narrator: Two years after
the rise of the Berlin Wall,

President John F. Kennedy
visited Germany

to address the citizens
of West Berlin.

- He said,
"In this day and age,

"you all can be proud
to be citizens of Berlin.

"You are at the front line

of this battle between tyranny
and freedom."

- All free men,
wherever they may live,

are citizens of Berlin.

And therefore, as a free man,

I take pride in the words,
"Ich bin ein Berliner."

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- "And so I, too," he said,

"I am a Berliner along
with you."

narrator: The words would
go down in history

as an expression
of hope and solidarity

in a world threatened
by the Cold War.

- He understood
the iconic power of that.

I’m not with you, I am you.

He understood that these
moments would matter forever.

Everyone would
always remember it.

narrator:
On the plane leaving Berlin,

Kennedy turned
to his speechwriter

and longtime ally,
Ted Sorensen, and said,

"We’ll never have another day
like this one

as long as we live."

♪ ♪

From West Berlin,
Kennedy visited Ireland,

where he was given
a roaring welcome.

While there,
he visited the home

where his ancestors
had lived before coming

to the United States.

[laughter]

[cheers and applause]

- I grew up very aware
that John F. Kennedy

changed things completely
for Irish people.

Every house that I went to,
both my grandparents’ homes

and any relative we visited,
had, when you walked in,

the same picture
of John F. Kennedy.

So he was the patron
saint of the Irish.

- The example of someone
who had risen to the very top

of the political world,

in the most important country
in the world,

had its effect on attitudes
in Ireland

and attitudes towards
our own horizon of ambition.

- Hello, people of Ireland.

I give you President Kennedy
of United States.

[cheers and applause]

narrator: Kennedy’s visit to
Europe was a bright contrast

to the tensions
he’d experienced during

the Cuban Missile Crisis.

- For certainly, it was
a moment of reflection and--

and gratitude for what he had--

what he had achieved
and the shoulders

that he had stood on
to get there.

narrator:
The exciting trip to Europe

was followed
by important news.

- For the first time,

an agreement has been reached

on bringing the forces

of nuclear destruction

under international control.

narrator: After decades of
destructive nuclear testing,

the treaty would eliminate
any such activity

in the atmosphere, in space,
and underwater.

- With our courage
and understanding enlarged

by this achievement,
let us press onward in quest

of man’s essential desire
for peace.

As President
of the United States,

and with the advice
and consent of the Senate,

I now sign the instruments
of ratification of this treaty.

narrator:
Kennedy considered

the Partial Nuclear Test
Ban Treaty

his greatest
accomplishment

to that point
of his presidency,

but it came amid
personal heartache.

[somber music]

Days later, after Khrushchev
agreed to the terms,

Jackie Kennedy gave birth
to her fourth child,

Patrick Kennedy,
by cesarean section.

He weighed less than
five pounds and struggled

to breathe on his own.

Kennedy left the White House
and immediately boarded

a helicopter to the hospital

at Otis Air Force Base
in Massachusetts.

Arriving some 40 minutes
after the baby was born,

Kennedy saw his new son
for the first time.

The odds for little Patrick’s
survival were grim.

After wheeling the incubator
to Jackie’s bedside

so she could see Patrick,

Kennedy and his brother Bobby
went with the baby

to the Boston
Children’s Hospital.

They waited nervously
while the doctors worked

to save Patrick’s life.

♪ ♪

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy
passed away two days later,

on August 9th, 1963.

"He put up quite a fight,"
Kennedy said.

"He was a beautiful baby."

- He was there
watching him die,

uh, holding his hand in the--
holding his little hand,

touching his little hand
in the hospital,

and had to go back

and give Jackie the news
and comfort her.

narrator:
Over the next few weeks,

Kennedy flew to Hyannis Port
several times

to be with his wife.

Together, they grieved
and reportedly grew closer

than they had ever been
before.

- I think after Patrick died,
there is that great scene

of him holding her hand
coming out of the hospital.

They never were affectionate
publicly before then.

Maybe he finally realized

that he needed to be that man
for her and that support

that she had always been
for him.

- The people who knew him well
said they had never seen him

so devastated and moved

as he had been
by Patrick’s death.

And I think
that set the table,

not just for his personal
relations with Jackie,

but also for the kind of
determination and dedication

that he brought to things,

to the understanding
of how fragile life is.

♪ ♪

narrator: In August of 1963,
following Patrick’s death,

Kennedy turned his attention

to a long-simmering conflict
abroad.

In 1954, the French
colonial rulers of Vietnam

were defeated
by Vietcong forces

under
Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

The country was divided
in two,

a Communist north and
an American-supported south.

Afraid that communism
would gain strength

throughout Indochina, the U.S.
gradually increased funds

and military advice
to South Vietnam.

It was a policy JFK had
inherited from Eisenhower.

- He heard the warnings about
what can happen,

domino theory warnings,

where if one small country
falls to communism,

others would follow.

But he was not all-in

in sending U.S. troops there.

narrator: Kennedy would do
what he thought necessary

in order to contain communism.

He sent thousands
of military advisors there,

hoping to stabilize
the conflict.

These military personnel
were sent to train,

support, and advise
South Vietnamese forces,

but not participate in combat.

However, by 1962, some
American advisors had begun

to engage
in combat operations.

In early 1963, the situation
in Vietnam was worsening.

The United States had more
than 14,000 military advisors

in Vietnam,

but Kennedy was still opposed
to sending combat troops.

- The idea that there would be

a military solution
for Kennedy was something

that he was trying to avoid,
as many others

in his administration
were trying to avoid,

because it wasn’t
a military problem.

It was a political stability
problem, and, you know,

it’s hard enough managing
your own government.

Try managing another government
halfway across the world

that’s having a civil war
going on.

narrator:
South Vietnam was led

by self-proclaimed
President Ngô Dinh Diem.

Diem was backed by many
anti-communist countries,

including the United States.

In 1963,
Diem began persecuting

South Vietnam’s
Buddhist population.

On June 11th, the same day
Kennedy navigated the stand

at the schoolhouse door
in Alabama,

he saw the grisly image

of the Buddhist monk
Quang Duc,

who had set himself
on fire in Saigon

to protest
the Diem administration.

Now more than ever,
Kennedy knew that Diem’s hold

on South Vietnam was
falling apart.

[people yelling]

[somber music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
Throughout 1963,

Kennedy tried
to impress upon Diem

the necessity
for major reforms,

but his suggestions
were ignored.

- I think, as I’ve said,
the events

of the last two months
have not helped that struggle.

We’re anxious to see
the situation develop there

so that the struggle
will be aided.

- May we reduce some
of our aid to South Vietnam?

- We would reduce it only
if we felt

that such a reduction
would aid the struggle there.

As of today, we have not made
that judgment.

We’ve not decided to reduce it
as of yet.

narrator:
As the possibility of a coup

in South Vietnam
became more apparent,

Kennedy met
with his advisors to discuss

how the United States
should react.

While Kennedy had reservations
about U.S. support

for a military coup,
on August 24th, 1963,

a cable was dispatched
to the U.S. ambassador

to South Vietnam,
giving the coup

the administration’s
tacit approval.

♪ ♪

On November 2nd, 1963,

Diem and his brother,
Ngô Dinh Nhu, were overthrown

by a group
of South Vietnamese soldiers.

After being captured,

Diem and Nhu were executed
by their own men.

In the end, Kennedy had agreed
to the idea of a coup,

but after seeing photos

of Diem and Nhu’s
lifeless bodies

in the back of a van,
brutalized and shot,

he was appalled.

- One of his senior advisors,
after he ran out of the room

when he heard the details,

whispered softly,
"Well, what did he expect?"

♪ ♪

narrator: After the coup,
Kennedy asked an aide,

Michael Forrestal,
to organize a study

of every option in Vietnam,
including withdrawal.

The coup had sent Kennedy
a clear message--

the chaos in Vietnam
would need to be dealt with.

However,
to avoid hurting his chances

for reelection in 1964,

he decided he would address it
upon entering a second term.

- He really wasn’t sure
what he was going to do,

but at least something
in him told him

that Vietnam was
an enormous threat to history,

to his history,
to his administration,

to the future of the country.

- Kennedy saw the insurgency
as a anti-colonial, essentially

nationalist movement feeding
on social discontent.

You try to remove the causes
of social discontent,

and you try
to build nationalism.

You can’t use Americans

to build
Vietnamese nationalists.

Vietnamese must do it,
or it cannot be done.

That’s what Kennedy meant
when he used to say,

"It is their war.
They must win it or lose it."

[gunfire]

[somber music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
As autumn fell on Washington,

Kennedy set out
on a new campaign.

At this stage, he was thinking
about the support he needed

for the 1964 election.

His administration
had arguably

the most significant
legislative record

of any president since
Roosevelt decades earlier.

But there was still
substantial work to be done.

The Civil Rights Act
had stalled in Congress.

On August 28th, 1963,

more than 200,000 people
gathered

to participate
in the March on Washington

for jobs and freedom,

in support
of civil rights legislation.

On that day,
Martin Luther King Jr.

delivered his historic
"I Have a Dream" speech.

The demonstration
stressed the need

for Kennedy to build support
for the bill

and his 1964 campaign.

- I think the bill we put in
is a reasonable bill.

My judgment is
that we will not divide

this country politically
into Negroes and whites.

That’d be a fatal mistake
for society as, uh--

which should be as united
as ours is.

narrator:
During the 1964 campaign,

Kennedy wanted
to focus on the South,

where he was deeply resented
by many.

He felt that if he campaigned
there early enough,

he could secure the support
and finances he needed

for the upcoming election.

- He became, perhaps,
more sober and serious

as the burdens of the office
weighed upon him,

but he never lost
his basic sense of humor

and his ability
to laugh at himself

and to take the world
seriously

but not take himself
too seriously.

narrator: Before Kennedy left
to speak in Florida and Texas,

he played with his children on
the floor of the Oval Office.

His secretary, Evelyn Lincoln,
asked him what

people would think if they saw
the President rolling

on the floor like he was.

He responded,
"After all, Mrs. Lincoln,

I’m also a father."

"There’s no doubt
about that," she said.

- There is one
very poignant conversation.

The President, actually, is
dictating his recollections

of what happened in Vietnam.

It’s a very sad recollection
for him.

And uh, John-John and Caroline
enter the Oval Office,

and you can hear him stop

while he’s describing
tragic events in Saigon,

and stop and then suddenly
start playing with the kids.

Now, his initial reaction was
not, "Get outta here, kids."

It was to stop
and shift immediately to them.

[gentle music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
Many staffers were uneasy

about Kennedy campaigning
in the South,

but they knew it was necessary

if Kennedy was to win
reelection the following year.

With the trip approved,

White House Appointments
Secretary Kenneth O’Donnell

made the final preparations

for the two-day,
five-city tour of Texas.

[propellers whirring]

[melancholic piano music]

♪ ♪

Kennedy was scheduled
to visit San Antonio, Houston,

Fort Worth,
Dallas, and Austin.

- Growth has meant new
opportunities for this state.

Progress has meant
new achievements,

and we dare not look back now.

In 1990, the age of space will
be entering its second phase,

and our hopes in it
to preserve the peace,

to make sure that in
this great new sea,

as on Earth,

the United States
is second to none.

Your old men shall
dream dreams,

your young men shall see
visions, the Bible tells us.

[bird chirping]

[soft uplifting music]

narrator: On the morning
of November 22nd,

Kennedy and his wife
were awakened

by their valet, George Thomas.

Thomas had worked
for Kennedy since 1947,

waking him up each day.

Today in Fort Worth, Texas,
it was no different.

- President Kennedy
is flanked by--

narrator:
With Jackie at his side,

Kennedy boarded Air Force One
at Carswell Air Force Base

for the brief flight
to Dallas.

It had been raining,

but just before
the plane landed,

the sun broke through
the clouds

onto the city below,

bringing a sense
of hope and promise.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
On November 22nd, 1963,

Air Force One landed
at Love Field in Dallas,

where both Kennedy and Jackie
disembarked directly

onto the tarmac, waving
at the hundreds of observers.

[cheers and applause]

- It was an event.

It was closest thing to royalty

I thought that we had.

♪ ♪

- There were
no particular doubts left

about his leadership.

He was not the callow
40-year-old playboy senator.

He was the guy who guided
the country through

the most dangerous period,
perhaps, of its existence.

So I think there was
a stronger sense

of him as a leader.

- We were all shocked

that Dallas had turned out
this way,

with a crowd that big
at Love Field.

And that wasn’t even
the downtown.

♪ ♪

They got off and they walked
over to the fence,

and people were
at the chain-link fence,

putting their hands over
the fence or through the fence

to try to touch Jackie
and shake her hand.

And she was enjoying it.

She was shaking hands
with all these people,

I’d say 2,000 or 3,000 people,
right there at the gate.

narrator: Jackie received
a bouquet of roses,

which she carried with her
into the waiting limousine.

The President and First Lady
were joined

by Governor Connally
of Texas and his wife.

Finally, the procession
departed from Love Field.

[wistful music]

♪ ♪

- Dallas, at the time,
probably had

600,000 population.

There were
probably 200,000 people

in the streets.

And if you looked
at the people,

a mélange from very young
to very old.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

narrator:
The cloudy skies had cleared,

and the beautiful Dallas sun
shined on Kennedy’s motorcade.

♪ ♪

[heart thumping]

[radio feedback crackles]

- Give me all available
information on President,

over.

- All available information
on President follows:

He and Governor Connally
of Texas have been hit

in the car
in which they were riding.

We do not know how serious
the situation is.

[siren wails]
We have no information.

[high-pitched ringing]

[beeping]

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- I saw parents lying
on top of their kids,

because they heard the gunfire

and they’re protecting
their kids.

- Parkland Hospital,
there has been a shooting.

Parkland Hospital has
been advised to stand by

for a severe gunshot wound.

- The motorcade now--
[siren wails]

The motorcade now perhaps two
or three blocks ahead of me.

They’re approaching
the entrance now

to Parkland Hospital,
traveling

at a high rate of speed.

Ready police cars converging
on Parkland from every angle,

from every point.

[chilling music]

- He and another priest
tell me that the pair of men

have just administered
the last rites

of the Catholic Church
to President Kennedy.

♪ ♪

- From Dallas, Texas,
the flash apparently official,

President Kennedy died

at 1:00 p.m.
Central Standard Time,

2:00 Eastern Standard Time,
some 38 minutes ago.

Vice President Lyndon Johnson
has left the hospital

in Dallas, but we do not know,
uh, to where he has proceeded.

Presumably, he will be taking
the oath of office shortly

and become the 36th president
of the United States.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- The procession was not
anything out of the ordinary,

except that we walked.

We walked slowly all the way
to the Capitol.

♪ ♪

- I remember the strength
and courage of Mrs. Kennedy,

and how she--how she held up
during all that.

♪ ♪

- I don’t think
I’ll ever forget

when the caisson passed
with the coffin

and little John-John
stepped out and saluted.

- And here at the Capitol,
all those kids

that I’d been in college with,
and we had--

had idolized Kennedy so.

They’re lined up blocks.

And they drove... from Utah,

California, Texas...

Just to pass by the casket.

[cries]

♪ ♪

I’d talk to them, and they--

they would say
what I suspected,

that our whole life was ahead
of us with Kennedy,

and... we lost it.

[sniffles, exhales heavily]

- "We must always consider,"
he said,

"that we shall be
as a city upon a hill.

The eyes of all people
are upon us."

I ask for your help
and your prayers

as I embark on this new
and solemn journey.

Thank you.
[applause]

- This acre of English soil is
now bequeathed in perpetuity

to the American people
in memory

of President
John Fitzgerald Kennedy,

who in death
my people still mourn,

and whom in life
they loved and admired.

♪ ♪

- Our nation is bereaved.

The whole world is poorer
because of his loss,

but we can all be
better Americans because

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
has passed our way.

And now that he is relieved

of the almost superhuman
burden we imposed on him,

may he rest in peace.

[sweeping orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- There is an appointed time
for everything,

and a time for every affair
under the heavens,

a time to be born
and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time
to uproot the plant,

a time to kill
and a time to heal,

a time to tear down
and a time to build,

a time to weep
and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn
and a time to dance.

- "When he shall die,

"take him and cut him out
in little stars,

"and he shall make the face
of heaven so fine

"that all the world will be
in love with night

and pay no worship
to the garish sun."

"The woods are lovely,
dark, and deep,

"but I have promises to keep

"and miles to go
before I sleep

and miles to go
before I sleep."

- It wasn’t supposed to end
with bullets in Dallas,

and I think
the last 60 years has been

America wishing they could
rewrite that history.

[gentle music]

- The Eternal Flame is
the promise

of what might have been,

which I think is probably
the biggest part

of the Kennedy legacy.

Not necessarily
what he accomplished

or what was accomplished
in his name

or memory afterwards,
but it’s--

it’s the loss
of who we all were,

of a nation that might have
looked very different in 1964

had those shots not been fired
in Dealey Plaza.

♪ ♪

[melancholic piano music]

[cheering]

narrator: His was a story
of victory and defeat,

of joy and despair,

of triumphs in judgment
and missteps in action.

It was a story of maturation,
personal challenges, mistakes,

recklessness, courage,
and relentless ambition.

[applause]

- 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,

because that goal will serve
to organize and measure

the best of our energies
and skills,

because that challenge is one
that we’re willing to accept,

one we are unwilling
to postpone,

and one we intend to win
and the others too.

- Of course, he didn’t live
to see it,

but he did do it.

- Sequence start.

Six, five, four, three,
two, one, zero.

All engine running.

Liftoff. We have a liftoff.

32 minutes past the hour.

Liftoff on Apollo 11.

[sweeping orchestral music]

- That’s one small step
for man...

one giant leap for mankind.

[soft music]

♪ ♪

- We’re traveling along
that river of history

from the past
towards a future,

and the only way
to have some idea

of where we’re going in
that future

and how we can plot
our little ships

is to understand
where we’ve been,

where we’re coming from.

History is absolutely critical

for an understanding
of who we are, where we are,

and where we’re going.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
is a unique character

in U.S. and world history.

- I saw the First World War,

at age 21 in 1963,
as ancient history.

Today I look back
on the Kennedy era

as something that is
still present in my mind.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- It’s--it’s a testament

to how much John F. Kennedy
inspired people

and motivated them
and delighted them

that all these many, many,
many, many, many years later,

we’re still talking about him
and trying to figure out,

what was it about that guy?

What did he have?
It’s very fascinating.

narrator:
John F. Kennedy left the world

that day in November 1963,
but his words still remain,

ingrained in the very fabric
of our national conscience.

They echo through every room
in the White House,

every chamber
in the Capitol Building,

from Brookline
to the Solomon Islands

and to Washington back home
to Hyannis Port.

♪ ♪

- With a good conscience
our only sure reward,

with history the final judge
of our deeds,

let us go forth to lead
the land we love,

asking his blessing
and his help,

but knowing that here
on Earth,

God’s work must truly be
our own.

- That’s what I think of
when I think of JFK’s legacy.

You know, that every man
can make a difference

and everyone should try.

narrator: As we continue to
grow and evolve as a nation,

his words are not diminished
by time.

They remind us who we are,

where we came from,
and what we can become.

Kennedy said,
"There is no doubt

it is a difficult
and dangerous adventure

and that sacrifice
and self-discipline

will be needed ahead,

but the greatest danger

is that we sit back
and do nothing."

"The cost of freedom is
always high,

but we have always paid it."

♪ ♪