All language subtitles for Episode 4 - Family Secrets

The American people

have entrusted the
power of the white house

to John F. Kennedy.

Since then, there has
been one political disaster

after another.

And jfk's troubles are far from over.

Scandal threatens his marriage,

the struggle for civil
rights engulfs the south,

and the world faces nuclear annihilation.

Aggressive conduct
ultimately leads to war.

If the Kennedy presidency

is to survive,

it will take the efforts
of the entire family.

After a terrible first year in office,

the Kennedys are looking for a way

to relaunch Jack's presidency.

The Kennedys needed

to have something

that the country could feel good about

at that stage.

The family decide to
take a chance on Jackie.

She has never thought of herself

as a political asset.

She always thought she was

a liability to him.

She always apologized to
him on the campaign trail.

She even said, you
know, 'i was such a dud.

I'm so sorry.'

what is the diplomatic reception room

used for?

Well, it's the room that people see first

when they come to the white house,

so I think it should be a pretty room.

The project for which

she became most famous

was to do a top-to-bottom
restoration of the white house.

She wanted to create

a court of versailles in Washington.

The cameras are invited in

to see Jackie talk about her work.

She is nervous -

she knows millions will be watching.

It takes a tremendous
amount of courage for Jackie

to stand in front of a
camera for that long

and be that revealing of herself.

I rather love this hall.

It has all the colors one thinks of

when one thinks of the white house.

During the taping,

every time they'd take a break,

she'd be chain-smoking

and drop her ashes on the floor

and miss the ashtray.

So clearly, it was something

that was not particularly easy for her.

Her mother couldn't believe

that she was able to pull this off.

It took everything that she had.

The first lady's tour of the white house

was a tour de force

because it reinforced

the sense

that there was something special and new

about this particular administration.

It turned out the country

was ready for a queen -

and she was it.

Jackie embarks

on an international goodwill tour.

And once more, she
welcomes the press along.

Jackie went with her sister Lee,

her younger sister,

on quite a long trip

to India and Pakistan,

where they made a big splash.

President ayub's gift to Mrs. Kennedy:

Sardar, descendent of an ascot winner...

She smiled for the camera,

but there was sadness behind that smile,

and an understanding that it was a facade.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch,

Jack Kennedy was misbehaving.

Behind the perfect family image,

Jack is anything but the perfect husband.

He needed to indulge

this phenomenal and
really unseemly sex drive.

It was for rich girls, poor girls,

old girls, young girls,

all girls, all the time.

Two months after his wife's return,

the president's birthday celebration

takes place at a
Democratic party fundraiser

in New York's Madison square garden.

The Kennedys and celebrity

and show business went hand in hand,

and it's probably not surprising

that jfk would have an affair

with the most famous blonde bombshell

movie star of her time.

Mr. President,

the late Marilyn Monroe.

I was right there.

In fact, I was standing
in front of the stage

and looking up.

It impressed me.

I was wondering how
they got that dress on her.

By the time of the fundraiser,

rumors of an affair are widespread

among those close to the Kennedys.

Everyone was extremely excited,

and I think the excitement

was about looking at the president

with our little Marilyn.

She was just absolutely marvelous

at what she does.

Jackie knew about the affair,

and she never wanted
to be thought of as a fool,

so she was not going to
sit there with her husband.

Jackie does not attend.

Smart girl. Very smart.

I can now retire from politics

after having had "happy
birthday" sung to me

in such a sweet, wholesome way.

It was a total embarrassment

for Jackie Kennedy,

and I am sure she hated

her husband at that moment.

Diahann carroll sang at the after party.

After the show,

I think the whole world knew
that there was a relationship

between Marilyn Monroe

and the president of the United States.

Jackie knows she must act -

to protect herself, her young children,

and the image of the Kennedys

she's working so hard to promote.

She put her foot down

and told Jack that he
needed to just end it.

And she also told him

that, if he doesn't,

that she would consider filing for divorce

before the 1964 election -

and that would ruin everything for him.

When it came to a point

where his political future was involved,

then you hit jfk where his heart was,

and he made sure that it was over.

Bobby was the fixer

of the family.

He believed in Jack and Jack's mission,

and Jack trusted him completely.

Bobby was doing a lot of damage control

during this period,

and Bobby was there

to have Jack's back.

At times, having his back
meant doing his dirty work.

Bobby is Jack's Attorney General,

the man responsible for
the largest investigation ever

into organized crime.

Bobby and his investigators meet regularly

at the department of justice.

He'd be sitting behind his desk,

very informal - usually tie down,

collar open, no jacket.

Bobby prioritizes

the department's mafia investigations.

I wouldn't say I was nervous,

but I knew it was sensitive.

Bobby Kennedy paid very close attention

to what we were saying.

The investigators have begun circling

the Kennedys themselves.

I kept running into

references to frank Sinatra

and his connections with mobsters.

Sinatra was a friend of jfk's

and a fundraiser,

and brought Hollywood

into the Kennedy campaign.

He was a very significant guy.

Frank Sinatra had lots

of underworld friends,

and Jack Kennedy saw him as a great pal

and loved to buddy around with him.

We don't need a president associating

with a guy who was a
close associate of mobsters.

And particularly when his brother's

heading the crusade
against organized crime.

The Sinatra problem does not end there.

The singer introduced
Jack Kennedy to a woman.

Judy Campbell was a kind of a party girl,

she was somebody who came into

the sort of fold of the rat pack.

Judy was always available for Jack Kennedy

when he came into town.

There are 70 phone calls

from Judith Campbell into the white house.

Mcmillan's investigation reveals

Judith Campbell is a woman in demand.

As you can imagine,

those of US who knew what was coming

were a little bit on the edge of our seat.

Jack is not Campbell's

only male companion.

She's also having an affair

with Bobby's longstanding
Nemesis, Sam giancana,

the Chicago mafia boss.

It appeared that giancana and jfk

were sharing a girlfriend.

You just can't make it up.

It was a very awkward thing

to be saying to the Attorney General,

'you need to know your
brother has been compromised.'

I mean, imagine:

This is the president of the United States

having an affair with this woman

who is also involved with the head

of the Chicago mafia.

It is a devastatingly dangerous
thing for him to be doing.

Jack was vulnerable. He
was somewhat reckless.

He needed somebody to clean stuff up.

Bobby acts immediately

to terminate his brother's relationship

with Judith Campbell.

The next day, the phone
operator at the white house

was instructed, 'no more calls.'

he had cut off that relationship.

The even bigger problem for Bobby

is how to deal with Jack's
old friend, frank Sinatra.

In the late winter of 1962,

jfk was supposed to go to
Sinatra's house in palm Springs

to party with him.

Frank can't wait

to have Jack at his home.

He even puts in secret service lines,

you know, for them to communicate.

There's a lot of excitement

about the fact that the president

is going to be spending the weekend

at frank Sinatra's.

But Bobby tells Jack, 'you can't go.'

'you can't do it.

Go out to palm Springs.

Don't stay with Sinatra.

You can stay with bing Crosby.'

bing Crosby was frank
Sinatra's great rival.

Sinatra gets no advance notice of this.

And instead of the helicopter, marine one,

landing in his heliport,

it lands in a field
right next to Crosby's.

Sinatra goes absolutely berserk,

takes a sledgehammer out,

and just starts destroying things.

Frank realizes that

he is now on the outside
of the Kennedy circle.

He's devastated by it

because he really
loved being jfk's best pal.

Bobby may have saved Jack

and the presidency from disgrace,

but it is one of his own relationships

that could push the world

to the brink of destruction.

One summer's day

in 1962,

at the height of the cold war,

president Kennedy receives
a visitor at the white house.

He is a contact of Bobby's:

Georgi bolshakov - a Russian.

He was an extraordinarily

entertaining character

who would go out to the
Kennedy estate at hickory hill

and do summersaults and
perform for the Kennedy kids

and then sit on the grass with Bobby

and discuss international issues.

We loved him.

He would do the Russian dance

where he squatted on his haunches

and kicked out his feet,

which we thought was fantastic.

He would challenge my father

to physical contests.

One of the party games was to see

if you could beat georgi bolshakov

in an arm wrestle.

My mother said my father

got mad at her

three times in her life,

and one of them was when she entangled him

in a push-up contest
with georgi bolshakov.

Georgi bolshakov is a Russian spy

posing as a journalist.

Bobby knows it, Jack knows it,

and bolshakov knows
that it's precisely because

he's a Russian spy
that he's been invited in.

We thought he was great because, you know,

we were watching the
James Bond films at that time.

To meet a real Russian spy,

you know, was wonderful.

The man who so amuses the Kennedy kids

plays another, more important role

as Bobby's secret back channel

to Soviet leader nikita khrushchev.

He thought, 'if I can communicate directly

with somebody through a back channel,

that's a way of my ensuring

that what my brother wants

to get communicated to
khrushchev gets to him

and that we hear back
what he's really thinking

without any possibility
for other people's agendas

to get in the way.'

during bolshakov's
visit to the white house,

he relays a request
from chairman khrushchev

to the president.

Bolshakov delivers a message

asking Kennedy

to stop those annoying spy-plane flights

over Soviet freighters going to Cuba.

In fact, the Russians are

putting nuclear missiles
on those freighters.

Bobby Kennedy summons georgi bolshakov

to his office at the justice department.

This meeting is a little different,

no party scene at hickory hill.

Bobby Kennedy is sitting behind his desk;

he's got a suit and tie on,

very formal.

Bobby has been shown CIA reports

of troop movements in Cuba,

compiled by agents on the ground.

Amidst the rising tension,

Bobby seeks urgent reassurance

from his Russian friend

about the military build-up on the island.

The Kennedys are a little suspicious

of what's going into Cuba.

And Bobby asks bolshakov,
'what are you doing here?'

bolshakov says, 'they're
defensive weapons,

not offensive weapons.'

Bobby no longer trusts

the benign version of events
he's getting from Moscow.

The moment that Bobby became convinced

that he was getting disinformation

about what was really going on in Cuba,

that was the moment he said,

'you're out of here.'

six days later, as Jack and the family

host the Algerian prime
minister at the white house,

the surveillance images
provide positive proof

of offensive missile sites in Cuba.

For Curtis lemay,

Jack's hawkish air force chief of staff,

this means war.

Curtis lemay was
ready to fire the missiles

that he controlled.

He was willing to see

millions of people killed

in a nuclear exchange.

Curtis lemay thought
that president Kennedy

was a playboy,

a party boy, weak, not tough.

...the United States is capable

of doing something about it...

Lemay and the other joint chiefs

meet with the president
at the white house.

Jack covertly records their exchanges.

There is this extraordinary scene

in which Curtis lemay

is so disrespectful of the president.

The United States of America

and the Soviet union

stand on the brink of nuclear war,

and the world has no idea.

Jack keeps a campaign date in the midwest,

keen to portray an image
of business as usual.

But information from Cuba forces him

back to the white house, blaming a cold.

The press is suspicious.

Rumors, I suppose you would call them,

that there were other
reasons aside from the cold

that brought the president back.

The president returned to
Washington because of his cold.

Thank you very much.

Surveillance images confirm

increasing military activity in Cuba,

and the CIA believes nuclear weapons

are now ready for launch.

Within the past week,
unmistakable evidence

has established the fact

that a series of offensive missile sites

is now in preparation
on the island of Cuba.

It is looking more and more

like we are going to have
to bomb and invade Cuba.

As the United States is
propelled towards war,

the Kennedy brothers
stand between the world

and nuclear armageddon.

This government

has maintained the closest surveillance

of the Soviet military build-up

on the island of Cuba.

The United States is in a tense

standoff against the Soviet union.

Jack Kennedy had always
appreciated Bobby Kennedy,

his brother's willingness
to do the dirty work,

but during the Cuban missile crisis,

they are completely bonded.

The president orders

a quarantine and a naval blockade

to prevent more Soviet
missiles from reaching Cuba.

Today, with the possibility

of quick nuclear destruction...

My father largely

stayed at the white
house during the crisis.

At one point,

US marshals came to our house

to bring US down to southern Virginia,

where there was some kind of bunker

for government officials
and their families.

My father talked to US
on the phone at that point,

and countermanded
whatever, you know, order

those guys had had to evacuate US,

and said, 'you guys
need to be good soldiers

because if people see you
disappearing from school,

that could cause panic.'

the Cuban missile crisis

was a great example of the trust

that Jack and my father had between them

and the importance of thinking

five steps ahead.

What would happen if you do this?

Because if you had just
let the generals decide,

they would have gone to war.

Bobby Kennedy would walk

up and down the pool

as jfk was swimming laps,

talking to him

as he was swimming

about their strategy

to try to neutralize

this move toward war.

Meanwhile, families across america

prepare for the worst.

Jackie Kennedy herself was told

that, you know, she and her family

would be moved into a bunker

if anything did happen, and she refused.

She said, 'no, I want to be here.

I want to stand on the south lawn

with my husband and
children if the end comes.'

she was a sounding board for him

during the Cuban missile crisis,

and she kept him level-headed

and they had a lot of discussions.

Isn't it amazing that someone

who had to be so hurt,
personally, by her husband

would turn around and, in
his moment of greatest need,

when he said he would send her away

to the bunker outside of Washington,

she said no?

She said, 'I'd rather die with you

than live without you.'

On the second Saturday

of the missile crisis,

the United States is hard up against it.

A U2 spy plane has been shot down

over Cuba.

The military is champing at the bit.

They want to start bombing on Monday.

The president is running out of time.

But they find a new back-channel,

through the Soviet ambassador, dobrynin.

Anatoly dobrynin and Bobby Kennedy

discuss an extraordinary deal:

If the Soviet union removes
its missiles from Cuba,

the US will remove
its rockets from Turkey.

And, basically, Kennedy says,

'look, we'll make an exchange,

but we don't want

any, any recognition of this in the press.

This has to be absolutely secret.'

secrecy is critical.

If the press or the public find out

the Kennedys are removing
US missiles from Turkey,

it would be political suicide.

Bobby is essentially saying,

'you've got to help US out of this

because my brother's got these generals

who are pushing him to do something

that isn't good for US
and isn't good for you.'

the Russian ambassador writes up

the proposed deal.

He sends it to Moscow

the quickest way he can.

They send a telegram.

And there's this incredible sight

of the telegram boy on his bike

ride off with this telegram

aimed at saving the world,

hoping that the fellow doesn't stop

and have a Coca-Cola
or go see his girlfriend.

So, here's Bobby Kennedy,

in a sense, having it both ways.

On the one hand, making a trade,

and on the other, concealing it.

And they got away with it.

Press secretary salinger

announces that chairman khrushchev

has agreed to remove
the missiles from Cuba.

The president already
has left the white house

to attend services at his church.

The entire world

breathes a sigh of relief.

For all of the weaknesses

associated with the back-channel

and all the risks,

one of the advantages

was that, in a moment of crisis,

the kremlin understood that Bobby Kennedy

was speaking for Jack Kennedy.

My uncle and father

were lucky to have each other.

They both were raised
with those assumptions

that, you know, america
had a moral purpose,

and that they had to be
the skippers of the ship,

and they were steering towards history,

and that, while they were in charge,

they had to keep america on that course

where we were a moral nation,

an exemplar

for all the countries in the world.

During the crisis,

Jack said - once that we know of,

and my guess is lots of times quietly,

when he was saying his prayers at night -

'thank god for Bobby.'

By 1963,

the southern black population

faces increasingly brutal repression.

Lynching, and racial violence,

and police brutality was rampant

against the black population.

This did not figure prominently

in jfk's thinking at that time.

A key battle over education

brings the civil rights struggle

to the forefront of Jack's mind.

In 1963,

the state university of
Alabama is still whites only.

So an attempt is made

to integrate the university of Alabama.

Two black students,

Vivian Malone and James hood,

are determined to enroll

at america's last
all-white state university.

My sister knew the consequences

of what could happen.

People were getting beaten and killed

over very simple rights.

But she faced her fears

and she felt tired

of accepting second-class citizenship.

Standing in their way

is the state's governor,

who made an election promise

to keep the campus segregated.

George Wallace,

the governor of Alabama,
said that he would

stand at the schoolyard door,

and that he would use violence

to stop black students

who wanted to enroll.

Is there any way that you
could get the guard in there?

Bobby realizes

the inherent danger of the situation

and sends Nick
katzenbach, his senior aide,

to the university of Alabama.

...go in with you.

As the situation unfolds in Alabama,

one of Bobby's children
drops by to visit her father.

Yeah!

Hi, Nick.

Hi, kerry. How are you, dear?

Are you at our house?

No, I'm not out at your house.

I'm way down in the southland.

I remember sitting behind a chair

in what we call the television room,

while my father was talking with his aides

about these issues.

History was happening at our house,

it was happening all around US.

Bobby has the option

to use troops,

but hopes to avoid violence.

I have a statement to read...

The Kennedys knew

that George Wallace was a fool -

a dangerous fool, but a fool -

and they basically stage an event

that allows Wallace to stand

in the schoolhouse door.

And they're setting up a confrontation

that makes Wallace

fulfil his vanity,

but really works in favor of the Kennedys,

'cause he looks ridiculous
to the rest of the country.

I take it from that statement

that you are going to stand in that door?

I stand in front of this statement.

Wallace has been allowed

to say his piece,

but still refuses to move for katzenbach.

Only as he's faced

with 100 federal troops

does the governor back down.

Five minutes after the governor leaves,

James hood is the first of his race

to become a university of Alabama student.

He is followed into the registrar's office

by Vivian Malone.

I think that it was a turning point.

At some point, you say, 'that's enough.'

confronted with the violence,

the stand-offs and the
fundamental injustice,

the Kennedys realize

that america needs
civil rights legislation.

They need a law, passed by congress,

that will end discrimination in the south.

Now, it's not so easy to get there

because Kennedy's own political advisors

are saying to him, 'don't do that.

The opposition in the
south would be too great.'

the south was solidly Democratic,

and to go against the
entrenched, you know,

mores of the day

by supporting integration

was a politically risky move.

Just about nobody else

on Jack Kennedy's team

thought that the timing was right.

They thought it was premature.

And Bobby said, 'no, we've got to do it,

and we've got to do it now.

Do the right thing.'

Bobby is in favor

of an immediate,
unambiguous public statement

about racial injustice,

and he implores his brother

to address the nation.

This was Bobby as
being Jack's better side,

his better angels, telling him,

'you give up

whatever political price
you have to pay with this

because this is why we
wanted to be president

in the first place.'

The idea for the speech

came from Robert Kennedy,

and a first draft

was written by Robert Kennedy.

This nation was founded

by men of many nations and backgrounds.

It was founded on the principle

that all men are created equal

and that the rights of
every man are diminished

when the rights of one man are threatened.

You see Jack Kennedy,

with the full force and beauty

of his personality,

of his stature, of his
dignity, of his intellect,

make the case to the American people.

We are confronted
primarily with a moral issue.

If an American, because his skin is dark,

cannot eat lunch in a restaurant

open to the public,

if he cannot send his children

to the best public school available,

then who among US would be content

to have the color of his skin changed?

It's John Kennedy

who finally wrapped
the civil rights struggle

in the mantle of the American presidency

and said it was a moral obligation,

it was a national imperative.

We face therefore a moral crisis

as a country and a people.

Those who do nothing are inviting shame,

as well as violence.

But in the end, John Kennedy

wasn't just speaking
Robert Kennedy's words

because he improvises
at the end of the speech

and gives his own.

And this is a matter
which concerns this country

and what it stands for,

and in meeting it,

I ask the support of all of our citizens.

Robert Kennedy got him to the plate,

but it's John Kennedy

who hit the ball out of the park.

Thank you very much.

Anybody who's got half of a heart

who's sitting in the white house

partly relates to the
world through complicated

intellectual issues of history

and where countries are

in terms of strategic initiatives.

But the real way they relate to the world

is through their own children.

And Jack Kennedy had two young children

who he adored more
than anybody in his life.

Thoughts of the next generation

are in Jack's heart and mind

when he gives a speech in June 1963

at the American university in Washington.

What kind of a peace do I mean,

and what kind of a peace do we seek?

I'm talking about genuine peace,

the kind of peace that makes life on earth

worth living.

He pledged his support

to racial equality.

He brought the world back

from the brink of nuclear war.

The president is infused
with a new confidence.

Our primary, long-range interest

is general and complete disarmament.

His American university speech

sets a whole new tone
for US-Soviet relations.

August the 5th

was a high point.

Jack's representatives

and the representatives
of other countries -

and most notably, the Soviet union -

were meeting to sign

a nuclear test ban treaty.

The keynote of cordiality

established at the very first meeting

by a jovial mr k...

And Kennedy really believed in it.

He'd believed in it from the
day he became president.

His move towards nuclear disarmament

is a political triumph.

But for Jack,

a more personal drama is unfolding.

Jackie is in Cape Cod,

and she is eight months pregnant.

The president was in Washington then,

the first week in August,

when he got urgent word from Cape Cod

that she had gone into an early labor.

Jackie gives birth to a boy - Patrick.

He said on the way,

'I'm never there when she needs me.'

and the president arrives.

The baby has been born by caesarian.

But because he is so pre-mature,

it suffers from a lung ailment.

They arranged very quickly

to have him sent

to the children's hospital in Boston.

Arriving at Logan airport,

the anxious father found a
sympathetic crowd assembled.

Jack holds vigil

at Patrick's bedside.

When it is clear

the little boy is dying,

the doctors bring him
out to be with his father.

Patrick Kennedy died at 4:04 A.M.

The struggle of the baby
boy to keep breathing

was too much for his heart.

Patrick died after

39 hours.

Jack Kennedy was just, you know,

consumed with grief.

Jackie was still

too weak and unwell to attend the funeral.

It was so tragic.

Jackie never had a chance to hold him.

The president comes back

and visits her with the children.

John junior was a little too young

to understand what was happening,

but Caroline did, and
she had so looked forward

to having a baby brother or a sister.

After a week or so,

Mrs. Kennedy leaves the hospital,

the president at her
side, holding her hand,

which was something
that he didn't do very often

in public.

He holds her so gently.

It's very touching, very moving, to see.

Jackie compared herself and her husband

to two icebergs,

and I think they both
operated in that way:

They had very complicated
feelings and emotions

that they kept to themselves.

When Patrick died, it changed everything.

Something like that can either

drive a couple apart
or bring them together.

By this time, Jackie

has proven herself

in so many ways.

She's been there when he's had affairs.

She's a wonderful
mother to his two children.

She's done everything for him,

and finally, he appreciates it.

In his famous peace speech,

he talked about

how the Soviet union and our country

had differences, but yet
we could work together.

And in an odd sort of way,

the same thinking may have

been reflected in his marriage to Jackie.

When you look at the images
of Jack and Jackie in Dallas,

you do get a sense that they
have come together again.

But at the same time,
it's just incredibly poignant

because you know, looking at those images,

that they only have a few hours together.

The president's car is now

turning on to elm street,

jam packed with spectators

waiting their chance to see the president.

There's a secret service man

spread eagle over the top of the car!

Next on American dynasties:

The Kennedys...

He clapped his hand to his mouth.

Jacqueline Kennedy wanted to show

that her husband was a martyr.

I run for the presidency

to stand for hope

instead of despair.

When Bobby goes on the campaign trail,

he is a complete rock star.

Jackie would say, 'i just fear

that what happened to
Jack will happen with Bobby.'