John F. Kennedy: Myths vs Reality

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John F. Kennedy was a man of charm, power, and contradictions. Behind the public image of the heroic president lay a figure plagued by pain, haunted by his past, and driven by desire.

Dan is joined by esteemed biographer Randy Taraborelli to explore Kennedy's private life, delving into his turbulent marriage to Jackie, the domineering influence of his father, and the family secrets that shaped JFK as a president and as a man. Randy's new book is called JFK: Public, Private, Secret and reveals extraordinary insights into the most formative moments of Kennedy’s life from the people who knew him best.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges, Beth Donaldson and edited by Dougal Patmore

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit.
0:06.0	John Fitzgerald Kennedy, JFK, he remains one of the most magnetic and mysterious figures in modern history.
0:15.0	He was a charming, pragmatic politician.
0:19.0	The handsome war hero turned president. He led the nation through some of those
0:24.2	dangerous moments of the Cold War. Behind that polished image was a man at war with himself. Behind
0:31.7	closed doors, he battled chronic pain. He was haunted by memories of his childhood, by loss, by trauma. He struggled to
0:41.8	feel empathy. He had numerous affairs, Hollywood actresses, latehouse interns and allegedly spies.
0:50.3	Yeah, he claimed that his wife Jackie was the only love of his life.
0:54.6	Their marriage was hard and it was painful because of his acknowledged infidelity, and yet
0:59.6	Jackie remained devoted to him.
1:01.8	He was a complicated man.
1:03.5	This was a complicated relationship.
1:06.6	He was assassinated in November of 1963, over 60 years ago, and there are still so many
1:12.9	unanswered questions about his life. The true nature of his marriage. He ties to the
1:17.9	mafia, the way that he compartmentalized his emotions and managed to justify his own actions
1:23.6	to himself and those closest to him. He remains an enigma. And of course, the manner of his
1:28.9	death has given rise to even more countless conspiracy theories that have only muddied his story.
1:36.9	It's difficult, really, to come to hard and fast conclusions about JFK, but journalist Randy
1:42.7	Taraboli has just written a new biography called JFK, Public, Private Secret, and he thinks he's come pretty close. He's just done a vast amount of research. He's interviewed people close to JFK, his family, and he's looked in the FBI, CIA files. He spent lots of time at the Kennedy Archive. I mean, he's done a lot of stuff, guys. And he said to explain the most formative events in Kennedy's life. We're going to step away from some of the big global history that you'll be familiar with. And we're going to look at the personal history of JFK. The events who shaped the politician he became, the president who became, the man he was before his life was cut short by the assassin's bullets.
2:23.2	T-minus 10.
2:24.6	The Thomas bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
2:26.9	God saves the king.
	...

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