The Aftermath Of JFK’s Death His Family Never Spoke About HT

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. >> In the moments following JFK’s assassination, his wife Jackie began repeating something over and over again. Two haunting sentences that will never be forgotten. For less than 3 years in the early 1960s, many Americans looked to John F.

Kennedy as a shining example of what a president should be. But behind closed doors, there was more to Kennedy than met the eye. From scandals to conspiracy theories, there’s a reason why JFK is one of the most enduring icons in American history. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29th, 1917 into a very successful family.

His father was a businessman and a politician, and his mother was a well-connected socialite and philanthropist. This Irish American family lived just outside of Boston. And Kennedy’s father had carefully plotted out a plan for his children. The father of the Kennedy clan, Joe Kennedy, wanted his children to be in politics.

When his wife Rose suggested sending John and his older brother to a Catholic school, Joe insisted it wouldn’t be good for their political futures, the boys went to a Protestant school where John received the honor of most likely to succeed. John graduated from Harvard with a BA in government and international affairs.

His next stop was Yale Law School, but the outbreak of World War II put those plans on the back burner. He was eager to fight for his country, but an injury to his back sustained while playing college football made him unfit. Joseph Kennedy was not above meddling in the affairs of his children, and he used his enormous wealth and clout to get things done.

With some deceptive medical records, Joseph got his son onto a boat fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific. When an accident cut his ship in half, Jon found himself in a life-threatening situation. Two crew members lost their lives and the survivors had to swim to the nearest shore.

Kennedy became a hero when he pulled a shipmate from the sea to safety on what is now called Kennedy Island. His back problems had become worse, and he was eventually discharged from the Navy Reserve. Some people believe that Jon’s older brother, Joe Jr., felt he had to outdo his little brother’s heroism. In doing so, he was killed during a doomed air mission.

Now, the oldest surviving Kennedy son had a huge weight on his shoulders. But that didn’t mean he didn’t find time to have some fun. In 1944, John visited a movie set and scored an introduction to Gene Tierney, who some believed was the most beautiful woman in movie history. Kennedy had to have her and he did even though she was still married to fashion designer Oleg Cassini.

Ironically, Cassini would later design clothes for Kennedy’s wife. With Joe Jr. gone, Kennedy’s father now shifted his hopes to his younger son. The first step was to get him to Washington. He used his wealth and power to get Jon elected to the House of Representatives. But John didn’t show much interest in being a congressman.

In fact, he had the most no-shows of any other congressman at the time. One explanation was his poor health, and another was that he was too shy. He also found all the bureaucracy exhausting. It looked like maybe John didn’t have what it took to be a politician. The next step on Kennedy’s political ladder was the US Senate, and Joe Senior, was going to use his usual tricks to make sure his son won the election.

It turned out to be a family affair. Kennedy’s younger brother, Robert, became his campaign manager, and the women of the family did their part, attracting the women’s vote. While preparing for the election, JFK met a woman who would change his life forever. In 1952, he was at a dinner party and met journalist Jacqueline Bouvier.

The two started dating, and after Kennedy won the Senate seat, he took the opportunity to ask Bouvier to marry him. Before they walked down the aisle, the future president found the time to squeeze in one more affair before he was married. This was with an aristocrat from Sweden named Ganilla Von Post. The wedding ceremony took place on September 12th, 1953, and the marriage faced some difficulties right away.

Kennedy underwent back surgery the following year, and it looked like he wouldn’t recover from it. It was so dire that they even read him his last rights. While recovering, he got the idea to write a book about US senators who had put their careers on the line for their beliefs.

It was titled Profiles and Courage. And in 1957, it won the Pulitzer Prize. That same year, Kennedy and his brother Bobby faced up against Union Leader Jimmy Hawa with an accusation about rakateeering in the unions. The Kennedy brothers had heated arguments with Hawa that the public got to witness on TV and radio. >> I’ll straighten the out.

>> Kennedy was making dangerous enemies, but he was also making some dangerous friends. Oh, I just said there is although >> in 1958 he met Diana Dvet. Despite the 20-year age gap, Dvet was head over heels in love. Of course, now that Kennedy had a wife, keeping this affair a secret was going to be challenging.

Some of Kennedy’s staff were in on his affairs and made an effort to hide them from the public eye. A secret driver would bring Dvet to where Kennedy was campaigning and his staff would treat her like she was part of the organization. This way, Devet wouldn’t stand out. As it turned out, she had a surprising connection to Kennedy’s work.

He’d been meeting with an economist to discuss, well, economics probably, and was shocked to find out that this man was Devet’s father. Kennedy had had no idea, and needless to say, the affair fizzled out. Some people were critical of Kennedy’s work as a senator. The majority leader, Lyndon Johnson, called Kennedy’s work pathetic.

[music] He also described him as a playboy. Kennedy wasn’t making friends in the Senate, but he still convinced the public to reelect him in 1958. Now, he and his father thought he was ready for the top position in the country. In January 1960, JFK made the announcement that he would run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The big obstacles were his youth, his lack of experience, [music] and the fact that he was a Catholic. What Kennedy had in his corner was magnetism and skills as a narrator. Against the odds, Kennedy won on the first ballot. He faced off against Richard Nixon in a televised debate on September 26th, 1960.

Kennedy was much more clever about optics than Nixon was. He chose to wear a suit that would reduce glare and even spoke with the technicians about the placement of the cameras. He wasn’t leaving anything up to chance and it showed. >> The question before us is [music] which point of view and which party do we want to leave the United States? >> On the day of the debate, Nixon suffered.

His suit made him blend into the background and he didn’t know that it was better to look at the camera rather than the reporters. The heat of the lights also caused him to sweat profusely. Kennedy, on the other hand, came across as cool, relaxed, and dashingly handsome, his gaze confidently penetrating the homes of voters across the country.

JFK went on to win the election. He and Jacqueline were headed to the White House. On January 20th, 1961, Kennedy made his famous inaugural address. Ask not what your [music] country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. >> Mimi Beardsley was only on her fourth day working for the White House press office when she got an invitation.

JFK’s assistant, Dave Powers, invited her to use the White House swimming pool where Kennedy himself showed up. This ultimately led to another invitation to a cocktail party. The 19-year-old couldn’t believe her [music] luck. To her delight, Kennedy invited her to a personal tour of the residence.

But when they got to Jackie Kennedy’s room, they made an unscheduled stop. The two had an intimate encounter, which put an end to Beardsley’s virginity. [music] Kennedy also had trouble resisting the temptation of beautiful Hollywood stars. [music] At this time, there wasn’t anyone more alluring than Germanb born Marina Dietrich.

While she later said she didn’t remember much of the affair, she may have suffered from confusion because she’d also had an affair with Kennedy’s father. Before he became president, Kennedy started hanging out with the Rat [music] Pack, including movie stars and singers Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. Through them, Kennedy met Judith Exner.

The Rat Pack and Exner had associations with the mafia, associations that Kennedy would dangerously use for his own gain. Soon, Kennedy was in a heated affair with Exner, and worse still, he was allegedly doing business with Sam Gianana of the Chicago mob. He was using the mafia to try to get Fidel Castro out of power in Cuba.

Exner eventually grew tired of keeping Kennedy’s secrets and exposed everything, even claiming that she’d gotten pregnant by him and had an abortion. On May 19th, 1962, Kennedy was celebrating his 45th birthday at Madison Square Garden. When actress Marilyn Monroe got up to sing a sultry rendition of Happy Birthday, tongues started to wag.

Kennedy’s involvement with Monroe allegedly went back to 1954 when the two first met. It’s alleged that by 1962, [music] Kennedy was done with Monroe and passed her off to his younger brother, Bobby. 3 months after singing at the president’s birthday party, [music] Monroe died under suspicious circumstances.

On the surface, it looked like she’d purposely taken too many barbbiterates. When she died, Monroe was in a bad way. Three marriages had ended in divorce, and her film career was at a standstill. [music] It was a well-known fact that she struggled both mentally and emotionally, which could have been a liability to any affair she was supposed to keep secret.

her second husband, Joe Deaggio, felt strongly that the Kennedys had some involvement in her death. Many conspiracy theorists believe that Monroe’s Last Night Alive involved some sort of cover up by the Kennedes. Such stories became so widespread that her case was reviewed by the Office of the Los Angeles District [music] Attorney in 1982.

In conclusion, they had no evidence of foul play, though their official report did admit that there were unanswered questions and factual discrepancies. Mary Pincho Meyer was the ex-wife of CIA operative Cord Meyer when she started a relationship with Kennedy. Meyer had been a neighbor and friend to both John and Jackie.

JFK spent many evenings in the White House with Meyer, usually when Jackie was out of town. But tragically, on October 12th, 1964, Meyer was the victim of murder. Officers charged a suspect who was later acquitted. The case is still unsolved. Meyer’s biographer, Nina Burley, later made a bold claim, [music] drawing a connection between her demise and JFK.

She went so far as to say the theory is that she had to die because she knew too much. However, it wasn’t only his mistresses who met tragic ends. Fate had a horror show in store for Kennedy himself. As the US president, not to mention his connections to the mafia, communists, and [music] angry union leaders, Kennedy’s life was always at risk.

On November 22nd, 1963, at 12:30 p.m., Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas. And the details have been a source of fascination and controversy for decades. JFK and his wife were riding in a presidential motorcade when a nightmare unfolded. Just as Kennedy began waving at the exuberant audience, he [music] was hit in the back, the shot exiting his throat.

According to reports, he could have survived this wound, but then he was hit a second time. This time, a fatal shot to the head. That’s when Jackie did something unforgettable. Those who have seen the harrowing footage won’t forget the image of Jackie Kennedy in her pink dress, climbing onto the back of the vehicle, an act of desperation that she later claimed she had no memory of.

However, Secret Service Agent Clint Hill believed there was a devastating reason for her actions. According to him, Jackie climbed out of her seat in pursuit of a piece of her husband’s skull. When she eventually made her way back to her seat, she began repeating something over and over again. They have killed my husband.

[music] I have his brains in my hand. In the wake of this horror, officers apprehended a suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, who denied any wrongdoing. People were hopeful that the truth would come out in a trial, but that didn’t happen. Before Oswald could face a judge, he was gunned down by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

Some believe that Ruby had purposefully silenced Oswald so that we would never know the truth about Kennedy’s death. Before Ruby could be convicted, he died from cancer. John F. Kennedy was one of the most loved American presidents of all time. When his life ended in Dallas that afternoon, Americans felt the loss of much more than a president.

Some felt that the country had lost its innocence. Thanks for watching History Expose. If you love uncovering the best stories in history, hit like and subscribe [music] to keep exploring with us. Don’t forget to visit our main page, Factate, for more incredible facts about everything.