AP: JFK's image shines on despite contradictions
By HILLEL ITALIE
Oct. 26, 2013 2:55 PM EDT
BOSTON (AP) Four days a week, David O'Donnell leads a 90-minute "Kennedy Tour" around Boston that features stops at government buildings, museums, hotels and meeting halls.
Tour-goers from throughout the United States and abroad, who may see John F. Kennedy as inspiration, martyr or Cold War hero, hear stories of his ancestors and early campaigns, the rise of the Irish in state politics, the odd fact that Kennedy was the only president outlived by his grandmother.
Yet at some point along the tour, inevitably, questions from the crowd shift from politics to gossip.
"Someone will ask, 'Did Jack Kennedy have an affair with Marilyn Monroe?' With this woman? That woman?" explains O'Donnell, who has worked for a decade in the city's visitors bureau. Those asking forgive the infidelities as reflecting another era, he says. "It's something people, in an odd way, just accept."
The Kennedy image, the "mystique" that attracts tourists and historians alike, did not begin with his presidency and is in no danger of ending 50 years after his death. Its journey has been uneven but resilient a young and still-evolving politician whose name was sanctified by his assassination, upended by discoveries of womanizing, hidden health problems and political intrigue, and forgiven in numerous polls that place JFK among the most beloved of former presidents.
full: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/jfk-image-shines-despite-contradictions
FILE - In this October 1960 file photo Sen. John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, campaign in New York. The Kennedy image, the "mystique" that attracts tourists and historians alike, did not begin with his presidency and is in no danger of ending 50 years after his death. Its journey has been uneven, but resilient - a young and still-evolving politician whose name was sanctified by his assassination, upended by discoveries of womanizing, hidden health problems and political intrigue, and forgiven in numerous polls that place JFK among the most beloved of former presidents. (AP Photo)
gopiscrap
(23,765 posts)once in Berlin and then a few months later in Tacoma, wished I was old enough to appreciate it.
Graybeard
(6,996 posts)The newspapers had printed his schedule so I figured out a way to see him speak on the upper east side and then be able to subway downtown to see him again at his next stop in the Garment District and then see him again
on Wall Street.
It was a day I will never forget. He was magnetic. The crowds were
wild with enthusiasm.
.
gopiscrap
(23,765 posts)BTW I love NYC
Aristus
(66,462 posts)(LBJ's alma mater), marched in JFK's inaugural parade with the University band.
She caught only a brief glimpse of him, and says her only memory of it is that his hair looked like mahogany.
Graybeard
(6,996 posts)His hair was something that surprised me too. In those days most photos and TV newsreels that we saw were in black and white. Seeing JFK in person was so different.
He was deeply tanned, his white teeth actually flashed when he smiled. And I do remember noticing that his hair was a reddish, chestnut color. Or as your Mom said,,,mahogany.
.
BlueMTexpat
(15,373 posts)from my one live view of him in September 1963 - his hair was like burnished chestnut shining in the sun! He literally glowed!
For me, that glow has remained untarnished.
Given the deliberate dismantling of our democracy since then, I certainly belong among those who believe that the true story of his assassination has yet to be told.
cqo_000
(313 posts)Roarybeans
(48 posts)I glimpsed him briefly. He was tan (not orange) and had beautiful white teeth. I will never forget that Kennedy smile. He was riding on the top of the back seat in a convertible, between two other men. It was in Detroit somewhere, wish I could remember more; I was very young, but I'll never forget that smile.
Graybeard
(6,996 posts)He was taken from us way too soon.
What is the phrase? "Johnny, we hardly knew ye."
.
raccoon
(31,120 posts)And when you die young and unexpectedly, that contributes to the perception.