One thing that stands out with the Kennedy family then and now is the infamous 'Kennedy curse'. Illnesses and injury dogged virtually the whole Kennedy family, John suffered from measles mumps as a child, and during his first year in college he suffered from jaundice, and while playing football he ruptured a disk in his spin, which never fully healed. John F Kenney’s elder brother Joe died in a dangerous mission in Europe during the Second World War. John and Jackie had problems while trying to have children; they had a miscarriage and a son who died 2 weeks after birth (they finally had a boy and girl). John .F. Kennedy himself was assassinated and so was his younger brother Bobby. The curse still continues today, in recent years John F Kennedy Jr was killed in a plane crash.
John F Kennedy was portrayed as a family man; he was famous for his glamorous and celebrity life style and beautiful wife. He and his family were the closest thing America had to royalty. Often being compared to King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in their Camelot (White House). However the controversy comes in when we look at his public persona as being a cover for a very different man. The family man image was a propaganda tool used by his administration to hide his involvement with numerous scandals, most famous of all his affair with Marilyn Monroe. Parallels can be drawn today between John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton, both of Irish decent with 'family man' images but both involved in scandals involving other women.
John F Kennedy was involved in one of the most serious and controversial moments in history, the world was on the brink of nuclear war. On October 16th 1962 Kennedy was informed that nuclear missile sites had been established in Cuba (a communist island 90km from the coast of Florida). After having decided against a full invasion, or an air strike (both which would have resulted in war). Kennedy set a naval blockade around Cuba, which would prevent Soviet ships, known to be carrying missiles from reaching Cuba. The blockade was successful, in the end Khrushev (the Russian leader) backed down and withdrew from Cuba. Kennedy’s Secretary of State later said, “ The two sides stood ‘eyeball to eyeball’ and Kennedy did not blink”. It is still controversial today because, Cuba is still communist and America still has an enemy in its back yard. The situation between American and Cuba under Kennedy can be compared today, with the current situation between American and Iraq under George W Bush.
John F Kennedy was very eager for America to lead the way in the exploration of space. The USSR was ahead of America in its knowledge of space, having launched their first rocket in 1957 (Sputnik) and Kennedy was determined to catch up. He said ‘ No nation which expects to be leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space’ John F Kennedy is very famous today for his involvement in the space race, he was the first president to ask congress to approve more than twenty two billion dollars for the ‘Project Apollo, which had the goal of landing an American man on the moon before the end of the decade, which they succeed in doing.
The controversy surrounding John F Kennedy's assassination still exists to day; because it has been over 40 years and we are still no closer to the truth and many conspiracy theories still exist. One of the most popular is that he was killed by his own government because he was going too soft on communism and rumors that he wanted to pull the American army out of Vietnam. It is interesting to note that John. F. Kennedy's successor Lyndon B Johnston sent more that double the amount of troops into Vietnam. It is also believed that the communist leader of Cuba, Castro was involved in the assassination. Another theory is that the mafia made the kill, because Kennedy was cracking down on racketeering and the mafia. The only suspect was Lee Harvey Oswald, who was believed to have shot the president from the 6th floor of the book depository. Lee Harvey was arrested, he was the only person who could really shed any light on the killing, and he himself was murdered by Jack Ruby (which is suspicious because you would have thought he would have been under heavy armed guard). Jack Ruby was thought to have mafia links.
In conclusion I would say that the reason why John F Kennedy is still such a famous and controversial figure today is because people continue to be intrigued by his life and his death. In life he lived the American dream, making it to the top and becoming an icon of the sixties. In death he was surrounded by mystery and grief. Many famous people, who die young, remain forever young in our minds and when you add that to the mysterious circumstances of his death you have a life story that goes on and on. There was an enormous out pouring of grief for John F Kennedy at the time of his death, indeed people still remember where they where when they heard he was shot. Today, a parallel could be easily drawn between John F Kennedy and Princess Diana, the huge public out cry of grief, conspiracy theories and the tragedy of dying young.
Icons like Diana and John F Kennedy will always remain famous and controversial by the very fact that they lived the dream and died whilst at the height of their fame and popularity.
Philippa Davidson
12p
