American Dynasties: The Kennedys (2018): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Power of Wealth - full transcript

They escaped

famine and death in Ireland

to begin a new life
in Boston, Massachusetts.

A life of wealth,
privilege, and power.

My fellow citizens
of the world...

From Irish peasantry

to American royalty...

These are the Kennedys.

Their relationships
with each other

have impacted both America
and the world.

With triumph and glory



comes scandal...

and tragedy.

Something has happened here.

From one
generation to the next -

The Kennedys are
more than a family.

They are the great
American dynasty.

America's
new ambassador to Britain,

Joseph P. Kennedy,

faces a battery of cameras
and cameramen

as he's about to depart
for St. James' Court.

When President Roosevelt

sends Joseph P. Kennedy
in 1938 across the Atlantic

to be the Ambassador
to the United Kingdom,

he was a star, a celebrity.



He had run a studio
in Hollywood,

and he was already a success
in business and politics.

He was among the top twenty
richest men in America.

It was big news.

The rise of Joseph Kennedy

is as remarkable

as it is seemingly unstoppable.

Joe Kennedy
came from an Irish family

and they worked their way
from the bottom to the top.

They were outsiders.

His grandparents came

during the Great Potato Famine
of the 1840s to Boston.

So, the family is just
two generations removed

from the peasantry of Ireland.

Mr. Joseph Kennedy,

the American Ambassador,

left for Buckingham Palace

to present his credentials
to the King.

Having an Irish Catholic

in that job

it was just like
the perfect victory

in the struggle
of my grandfather

to feel accepted.

And as for me,
I'm delighted to be here.

You cannot underestimate

Joseph Kennedy's ambition
in 1938.

My grandfather had

ambitions, right,
to be President himself.

And what do you think

he finds all England
interested in?

What about
the family Mr. Kennedy?

Joseph and Rose Kennedy

have nine children.

From the oldest,
Joseph Junior...

to the youngest, Ted.

The Kennedys

aren't just any family -

they're a family on a mission.

Kennedys to the left of him,

Kennedys to the right of him

so England's cameramen
work overtime

to picture America's new
ambassador to Britain

with his nine children.

They lined up

before the newsreel cameras...

With him come Joseph Jr.

Aged 22, and John aged 21.

Smiled...

everybody had something to say.

This is my first trip to Europe
and I'm very excited.

I couldn't even sleep
last night.

There's all these quotes

from newspapers saying

'Got eleven ambassadors

for the price of one'
or something.

Pets Corner at the London Zoo

is opened by the masters Kennedy

who quickly get
on sympathetic terms

with the animals.

So, the whole family

was accepted with a lot of buzz.

The Kennedys understand

before any other American family

the role of glamor.

And until now,
glamor is something

that's really
the province of Hollywood.

The Kennedys pull it over

into the province of politics

really for the first time
in a modern way

and as a result

everybody is in love
with this family.

The Kennedy family

really represented
America on the rise.

An immigrant country,

where anybody could get ahead

if they were smart enough,

if they were ambitious enough -

People would look
at the Kennedys

and they would see
the American dream.

There's a moment

when Joe and Rose,
his beautiful wife,

are at Windsor Castle
with the King and Queen

and Joe says

'Rose, we've come a hell of
a long way from East Boston'.

Joseph Kennedy
grew up in a Boston

in which Protestant patricians

looked down on the Irish.

So, he was constantly

fighting those prejudices,
aware of those prejudices.

Our family were immigrants,

and my grandmother
used to tell stories

about how she would pass
signs as a little girl,

saying, 'No Irish need apply.'

And you should
never underestimate

the 'I'll show you' motive
in history.

Joe Kennedy's insecurity

about being an Irish Catholic

fed his drive and his ambition,

and he was going
to prove to people

that he was as good as
they thought that he wasn't.

Joe was

a marvelous,
a master businessman,

dealmaker, stock manipulator.

My mother,
in honor of his birthday,

made this wonderful
flag of a bear,

because he was the bear
of Wall Street.

He shorted Wall Street,
you know.

He was such a force.

He's a rogue,
he's a little dodgy.

Cut!

He's a bit of a bad boy

and he's terrifically
successful.

Cut!

Joseph Kennedy
tells his children,

and tells Rose, over and over,
and over again,

'I am making all this money,

'so my children don't have to,

so, my boys and my girls
can go into public service.'

Thank you very much
for asking me to speak.

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

is an astute matriarch

and equally as ambitious
for her children.

Rose Kennedy

had an extraordinarily-refined
political mind,

which is not surprising.

She came from a political family

and her father was
the mayor of Boston.

You want me to talk?

Where do I... I talk in here?

The dinner table

was always as much
about current events

as it was about food.

They had to be able to explain

what was going on in the world

and they had to be able to
do it in an articulate way.

I kid you not,

my grandmother Rose
would have famous quotations

pinned to her sweaters,

and if the conversation
ever lagged,

she'd start memorizing
her famous quotations

because she said,
"You never know.

"Somebody might ask
to give you a speech,

and you'd have to say
something appropriate."

Rose Kennedy
is deeply religious,

they are one of the most
prominent Catholic families,

they go to
the Pope's coronation,

most of that
is coming from Rose.

She trained her children

how to be good Catholics

and she trained her sons
to be leaders,

her daughters to raise
lots of Catholic children.

Joe Kennedy
was phenomenally ambitious

to be rich.

He'd achieved that.

He has a beautiful family.

And he's America's
representative

to the Court of St. James.

But he wanted to be President
of the United States.

As war clouds
gather over Europe,

a shadow is cast

over Joseph P. Kennedy's dreams.

What's clear,

is that Joseph P. Kennedy

ends up on
the wrong side of history,

in a dramatic way...

I've been asked

by the newspapermen
this afternoon

what the chances were
of appeasement.

I said I didn't know
what they were.

But they certainly
were worth trying.

As America's
ambassador in London,

Joseph Kennedy is desperate
to prevent war

between Great Britain
and Nazi Germany.

He's concerned that
if the British go to war

the United States
will go to war.

He believes that war is ruinous
to a country's finances.

Joe Kennedy talked about

how the best role for America
was to remain neutral

and the best role
in terms of the Nazis

was to appease them,
work with them

and somehow not have to
go to war against them.

He believed

that he could make
a deal with Hitler

and that Hitler was
a rational politician

and statesman.

And in this he was
very, very, very wrong.

He never saw

the moral challenge
that Hitler posed.

I have to tell you now;

this country is
at war with Germany.

Once war broke out,

Ambassador Kennedy wailed,
'it's the end of everything!'

Kennedy is convinced

the Hitler war machine
is unstoppable.

England will simply be devoured.

Almost as soon
as Britain goes to war,

Joe decides

that he's going
to send the children home.

The US Liner
Washington brings home

the biggest group of refugees.

Among returning notables

are Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy
and children.

My wife and I

have given nine
hostages to fortune.

Our children and your children

are more important

than anything else in the world.

Joseph is called a coward

for his decision
to send his family home.

For his opposition to the war,

he is branded
a Nazi sympathizer.

Roosevelt privately
called Kennedy a Fascist.

Once Britain was in war,

fighting back

and Joe was still
trying to appease,

he was too outspoken

and he was called
back to Washington.

President Roosevelt
did not want to appease,

Roosevelt wanted to fight.

And the last thing
that FDR needed

was an appeaser as Ambassador
to Great Britain.

I've nothing to say until
I've seen the President.

So, he was finished.

Joseph Kennedy

goes from being
a legitimate powerbroker

in the United States,

and a player in
international politics,

to being a pariah.

When he crashed and burned

as ambassador to Great Britain,

that not only cost him his job,

it cost him his notion

that he could become president

and almost from
the moment he realized

that he couldn't do it,

the aspiration was
his kids would do it.

Joseph passes his ambitions

on to Joe Junior,

Kathleen - known as Kick -

and Jack.

He calls them his "golden trio."

His eldest son, Joe Junior,

was not only handsome
but also athletically gifted,

he was the heir apparent.

Joe Junior's father
and mother believed

that he would be the one

to carry the standard
for the family.

His younger son Jack

is overshadowed by Joe Junior

in his father's mind,

but I think having
a bit lower expectation

gave Jack a chance
to be himself.

It gave him a kind of freedom
to be a kid

in a way that I think
would have been tougher

for Joe Junior.

Jack and
Kathleen were the closest,

they were both trouble makers.

They were both fun,

mischievous,

and they had each other's backs.

She was very popular among boys

and it was because
she was vivacious

and she was charming
and she was funny.

She spoke back
and she had opinions

and she did sort of stand out.

As America enters the war,

Joseph seizes an opportunity

to restore the Kennedy name.

Once the United States
was in war,

he was smart enough to know
there was no stopping them,

they were going to go in.

That was the patriotic
thing to do.

Sure enough Joe Kennedy
helped them.

Air Cadet
Joseph P Kennedy Junior

reports for preliminary
training...

Joe Kennedy was the oldest son

and therefore the most
beholden to please Dad.

And Joe Kennedy
wanted Joe Junior

to be President
of the United States.

Now it is a front seat

in America's defense
for a young man

who saw what happened
over there.

Unlike Joe,
Jack was not dutiful,

he had a little bit
of a rebellious streak,

gallivanting around,
chasing girls.

He was also sick a lot.

When Jack is two years old

he contracts Scarlet Fever

and he is basically sick
for the rest of his life:

fallen arches,
bad knees, chronic colds.

You name it, he had it.

Jack gets an office job

in the navy intelligence service

because Jack is disabled

in any number of ways.

It is during that office job

that he takes up with a woman.

She's a Danish journalist

called Inga Arvad.

They have this
very intense affair

and the problem was that the FBI

were recording some of these
romantic sessions.

Inga Arvad was a great beauty,

but she was allegedly
a German spy

and that made it a bit awkward.

Jack Kennedy
is in naval intelligence.

Is Nazi Intelligence
trying to take advantage

of the Kennedys
to learn secrets?

The FBI decides
to let Joseph Kennedy know

what Jack was up to
with Inga Arvad.

He thought that,

in his son's best interests

it was important for him
to go to a war zone,

to wind this thing up.

Realizing Jack's womanizing

could further damage
the family name,

Joseph intervenes

to get him posted
to the South Pacific.

With Joe Junior training
as a bomber pilot,

two of his "golden trio"
are now in the line of fire.

Joe and Rose
raised their children

with the sense that
they were superhuman,

invulnerable, golden children.

And they felt that
nothing was ever

going to happen to them.

But the Kennedys

are harboring
a painful family secret.

From a young age,

Rosemary, the eldest
Kennedy daughter,

was a bit slow.

She was diagnosed

with a learning disability

at the age of
about six or seven.

It's the moment when

as a debutante
she is presented at court,

and this year that thrill
was experienced

by Miss Rosemary Kennedy,

daughter of
the American Ambassador.

Her mother decides

that she should have
time at home with tutors

to help teach her
how try to keep up

with the other children
in a way that's very modern.

The standard practice

was that they would be
sent to an institution.

And Grandpa and Grandma said,
we're not going to do that,

we're going to keep
Rosemary at home,

we're going to raise her
with her other siblings.

As she hit puberty,

Rosemary goes to being somebody

who is quite uncontrollable,

there are sexual urges...

and she is found with men.

She's so vulnerable.

It would be very easy for men
to take advantage of her.

Mr Kennedy, in particular,

was afraid she
would get pregnant

or she'd get a disease

and what were they to do.

They had tried together,

to find every conceivable cure

for Rosemary.

None of them worked.

Joe Kennedy

read about this
brand-new procedure

called the pre-frontal lobotomy.

Only done on people

with the most serious physical
and mental conditions.

Never on somebody like Rosemary.

Joe was convinced

Rosemary's lobotomy
would somehow fix things

and then miraculously
she would become

a perfect Kennedy like
all the other Kennedys.

In the Kennedy Family,

Joe made the serious decisions.

And Rose let him do that.

And so,

without consulting
Rosemary's mother...

or Rosemary herself,

he decides that
this is the procedure

that she should have done.

The surgeon

gives the patient a local.

And then begins to cut
into the prefrontal lobe.

The surgeon asks
the patient to sing,

and the surgeon
continues cutting

as long as the patient sings.

Rosemary is
a very dutiful daughter.

And she sings and she sings
and she sings.

And when she stops singing,

she has the mental age
of a five-year-old.

By the end of the procedure

she has basically
lost the ability to talk

and it's, it's clear that
this has gone terribly wrong.

And Rosemary
is then institutionalized

from 1941 until
she passes, in 2005.

I think that experience

of having a sister

who suffered from
intellectual disabilities,

ended up having a ripple effect

on our family

and years later my Aunt Eunice
played a critical role

in recognizing
the rights of people

who have intellectual
disabilities.

This is the first tragedy

to befall the Kennedy family.

Rose is overwhelmed

by what happened
to their daughter.

But also overwhelmed

by the fact that
her second son, Jack,

who is physically very weak,

enlists for what is probably

the most physically difficult
job in the Navy.

He is in charge of PT-109,

which is a small
patrol torpedo boat

in the Pacific theater.

The PT boat
is a new type of craft

to carry torpedoes

to strike the enemy
below the belt.

Jack has a terrible,
terrible back.

And to serve in a PT boat
is only going

to exacerbate every problem
that he's got.

Jack Kennedy's PT boat

was on patrol

on a moonless dark night.

So, they don't see

this giant Japanese ship

coming straight at them.

It basically slices
JFK's boat in half.

Jack is thrown to the bulkhead

injuring his back.

Two of his crew are gone,

and they are surrounded
by burning in the water.

Those back at the base

presume the worst.

They presume that
there are no survivors

and they hold

a religious service, a mass,

for Kennedy and his crew.

Joe Kennedy gets a telegram

that his son is missing
and just sits on the news.

He doesn't tell his family.

He doesn't want to scare them.

When tragedy struck
the Kennedy family,

Joe senior didn't share it
with other members,

like his wife,
the mother of his children.

And so, he lives with this
kind of private agony,

wondering whether his
second son is dead.

His boat cut in half

by a Japanese destroyer
in the South Pacific,

26-year-old Lieutenant
John Fitzgerald Kennedy

is missing in action.

Kennedy said, "I'm the skipper.

We're going to have to swim".

And they say, "But Skipper,

it's miles
to the nearest island."

One of his men is wounded

and Jack,
this skinny little guy,

tows a man

much bigger for miles.

They swam for hours.

They found an island,

but this was
Japanese-occupied territory.

Two Solomon Islands natives

found them and said, "Well,
we will try to help you",

but they didn't speak
very good English.

So, Kennedy took a coconut

and using his knife
he writes out a message

that says "11 alive,
native knows position,

need small boat, Kennedy".

The coconut reaches allied lines

and Kennedy and his crew
are rescued.

The point of PT-109 is,

it was not regarded
by John F. Kennedy

or anyone in the vicinity
of that combat zone

as any act of heroism.

It was a disaster.

Jack should
have been court-martialed

because he allowed his boat

to be in the wrong place
at the wrong time.

Joseph Kennedy
sees an opportunity

to turn disaster into triumph.

Joe Kennedy was
still politically connected

and immediately intervened,

and it was only through

a carefully managed
investigation,

Joe Kennedy was overseeing it,

making sure that the story
came out right,

that it became this great,
you know,

heroic myth of,
of JFK saving his crew.

Warner Brothers

bring to the screen,

one of the most important
adventures ever filmed.

It became a book

and, years later, a movie.

It was a certification
of leadership,

it was a certification
of courage,

and it became central to
the story of Jack Kennedy.

The young man I play is
a fellow from Boston,

his name -
Lieutenant John F. Kennedy.

Jack Kennedy

becomes the military hero,

the kind of selfless man.

And it's an important part

of this narrative that's being
crafted around him.

Joe Junior is jealous.

His little brother is a hero
and Joe Junior is not.

It was extremely
difficult for Joe Jr.

He'd always been

the oldest brother,
the golden boy.

There's a banquet
for Jack in Boston,

and afterwards
Joe came home and wept

and said, "I'll show them."

And so came
that early April morning

for a final inspection,

they trained long and hard
for these ships.

You're on your way, Joe.

This is it.

Joe Junior leaves

to join the allies in Europe,

seizing his opportunity
to be a Kennedy hero.

Whether you were
British or American,

the ultimate in being
the dashing war hero

was being a pilot,

and that's what Joe did

and took on the scariest
of missions

which was flying
a liberator bomber

going after the greatest threat
to the western alliance

which was German U-boats.

Kick also joins the war effort,

volunteering for the American
Red Cross in England.

Kathleen Kennedy
was a charming girl

who wowed the boys

and met one of the richest

and most socially prestigious,

the oldest son of
the Duke of Devonshire.

He was London's
most eligible bachelor,

he was heir to
the Chatsworth Estate.

He was a catch.

Duty calls
from lovely Chatsworth,

seat of the ducal Devonshire.

One would think
that Joe and Rose

would be completely thrilled

that their daughter had risen
to these dizzying heights,

but unfortunately
Billy was suitable

in every way except for one,

he wasn't Roman Catholic.

There is a complex of feelings,

Joseph Kennedy saw her romance

as a sense that
the Kennedys had arrived.

However, what's so interesting

is that Rose didn't share
the same sense of success.

For her, Kick's romance

threatened her sense of identity

and her sense of
the family's identity.

Kick becomes the first

of the Kennedy children
to marry,

but the union is not blessed
by her parents.

Her older brother Joe

is by her side
on her wedding day

and no one else.

They could have been married
at Chatsworth

with a thousand guests,

but instead they were married
in a registry office

in what she described
as a squalid affair.

In the summer of 1944,

the Kennedy family gathers
at Hyannis Port

on the coast of Massachusetts,

but Joe Junior sends
disappointing news.

His father and mother

expected him home any day now.

And then in July they
get this strange letter

and he says,
"I'm part of a special mission.

"But don't worry,
it's not dangerous.

See you in September."

Joe Kennedy's
already flown his 25 missions,

he could go home.

But he volunteers
for extra duty.

He's going to fly in a bomber
stuffed with explosives

towards a secret German weapon
on the French coast.

He would set the fuse,

and then he would bail out
of the plane,

along with his co-pilot,
over the English Channel.

The plane would be set on
remote, and it would attack

these super guns

that were being
put in place by Hitler,

on the coast of France

and this was, in
Joe Kennedy Junior's mind,

the way to be a hero.

He said,
"In case I don't come back,

please tell my father
I love him very much."

On August 13th, 1944,

the Kennedy family is home.

Bing Crosby is on the phonograph

singing 'I'll Be Seeing You.'

Joe Junior isn't there.

He's volunteered
for a secret mission.

Rose sees two priests

draw up to the family home.

They say, "We're here
to speak to Mr. Kennedy",

and she says, "Oh, he's napping.

Would you like to come in,
have some tea?"

And they say, "No,

we have some very bad news
about Joe."

They go upstairs,

they tell Joe the terrible news

that his beloved son
has been killed in action.

Joe has to then come down

and tell the rest
of the assembled clan

that Joe is dead.

He said,
"There's no time for crying.

"We've got to get on
with the living.

Kennedys don't cry."

And Jack says,
"He wouldn't want us

"sitting here crying over him.

We're going to go sailing."

And that's what they did.

In Joe Kennedy's rage

over the death of his son,

he blamed FDR.

He said, "That son of a bitch
Roosevelt got my son killed."

Obviously an outrageous
statement,

but it shows the depth
of pain that Joe felt.

After his death,

it was really JFK
who had to step up

and there was actually a moment

where his father said,
"Okay, you're next..."

Just after Joe Junior died,

Jack said to one of his friends,

"I can feel my father's
breath on my neck."

After the war,

Joe Senior pressures Jack
to launch his political career.

Jack really wasn't ready

for the role that
he was about to take on.

First of all, he was young.

And second of all, all the
attention up to that point

had been on grooming Joe.

But the Kennedys
always find a way

to make their dreams come true.

And for Joe Kennedy Senior,
in 1946,

his dream is to have Jack
go to Congress.

The problem is that
there is no seat open

to run for in Boston.

But there is one that's being
held in the 11th district

by an infamous politician
called James Michael Curley.

And Joe buys him off,

by retiring his debts
and other favors,

and makes him go away

and run for mayor,
opening the seat for Jack.

And Jack suddenly finds himself

out walking the streets,

shaking hands, kissing babies,

having to learn
to be a politician.

From dawn
to dusk Kennedy worked.

He began the day at
factories at six in the morning

and he kept going

with meeting after meeting
after meeting

'til late at night

when he would collapse

into the bathtub first

to ease the pain in his back.

Joe Kennedy
is smart enough to know

that his profile is not good.

He was an appeaser.

He knows he needs
to stay in the shadows,

in the background.

But, Joe has the money.

So, Joe provides the funds

to make Jack's career possible.

Reader's Digest
featured John Kennedy

as a hero from the Pacific war.

His father saw to it

that this was given
maximum publicity.

I think
a hundred thousand copies

of the Reader's Digest
article were purchased

by Joe Kennedy Senior
to help campaign.

The father later said,

"For the amount of money
I spent on that campaign,

I could have
elected my chauffeur."

That standing
of being a war hero

is something they know how
to make very good use of.

Joe Kennedy's
money absolutely helps,

but it's PT-109,

plus the family's energy,

plus the family's
political contacts

that prove to be

a winning combination in 1946.

Jack Kennedy was elected

to the House of Representatives.

But Jack's exertions

on the campaign trail
take a heavy toll.

He gets sick

and doctors determine
that he has Addison's disease

which leads to
a weak immune system,

making him susceptible
to diseases, and infections.

At first, the doctors think

that Jack is going to die young,

but they're developing
treatments at this time,

that can effectively
keep Jack alive.

The family
don't want Jack's illness

to become an open story.

So, in fact the story
goes out to the press

that Jack's suffering from
a recurring bout of malaria.

At just 30 years old,

Jack faces his own mortality.

He was a fatalist.

He talked about death a lot.

It didn't scare him,

but he had this sense that it
was going to happen,

probably sooner
rather than later.

And that certainly helped make
him a young man in a hurry.

Joseph P. Kennedy

had predicted

that the best and the brightest

of his children's generation

would die in a war

and now this had happened,

not only to Joe Junior

but to Kick's beloved husband.

Kick had defied her family

to marry the love of her life,
Billy Hartington,

only to lose him.

The heir
to the Chatsworth Estate

was killed by a German sniper.

The timing was brutal,

they had only weeks together
as a married couple

before he left

and to be widowed so young

was devastating.

I think Rose Kennedy

was very sad about that
for Kathleen

but there had been terrible
problems in the family

over that marriage

because Billy Hartington
was Protestant.

And she must have a feeling

that Kathleen could come
back to the United States

and back into the Church
with full membership.

Rose prays that this would be

the saving grace for Kathleen.

But after Billy's death,

Kick decides to stay in England.

England's in her blood.

Kick at this time

is seriously considering
a career in politics,

and becoming a member
of parliament.

She's very politically engaged
at this point

and then in just a few years

all of that
just comes to an end.

In 1948,
Kathleen tells her parents

that she's fallen
in love a second time

with a British nobleman,
an Anglican,

who is married and has a child.

And she tells her parents
that as soon as

Peter Fitzwilliam's
divorce is final,

that she will marry him.

Peter Fitzwilliam

was a bad boy.

He was into gambling,

he was into horse races,
into women.

He was Protestant,
and he was married.

To be involved with somebody
like Peter Fitzwilliam

was the ultimate sin
in Rose's eyes.

Rose says Kick will
be marrying a divorced man

which will mean that
it's not a valid marriage

in the eyes of
the Catholic Church

and so she has to tell her
beloved daughter

that she must disown her

if she goes through
with the marriage.

She really genuinely believed

that her daughter's soul
would go to hell.

I think it was clear to Kick

that there were no chances

getting her mother's approval

but she believed there was
some margin with her dad.

Her father
is coming over to Paris

on business in 1948.

And she makes an
arrangement with him

that she and Peter Fitzwilliam
will come meet him

and Kathleen's hope
is that he will then

give his blessing
to the marriage.

Before though,
they have their meeting,

Kathleen and Peter decide
that they will take

a mini holiday
in the South of France

in the Riviera.

Fitzwilliam and Kick

decide to fly down.

The weather is terrible,

the pilot says, "We can't go,
it's too dangerous."

But Fitzwilliam is
a very reckless man

and he insists that they fly.

A terrible thunderstorm strikes

and they crash
into a mountainside,

in the Rhone Valley.

The pilot, the co-pilot,
Kick, and her fiancé

are all lost.

Joe Kennedy never sees
his daughter again,

except in a casket.

Jack learns that
his beloved sister 'Kick'

has died in France.

Jack Kennedy is a man
who doesn't cry,

who rarely shows emotions.

But that day Jack Kennedy
breaks down.

Jack is totally
debilitated by grief

and he is supposed
to organize family

to go to the funeral,

which is going to be
held in England.

But, but he can't do it.

He got in a car
to go to the airport,

fly to her funeral,

and didn't get on the plane.

Joe was informed,

and was the only family member

to show up at her funeral.

Rose called Kick's death
divine retribution.

My wife and I have given
nine hostages to fortune.

Joe Kennedy had
lost his oldest son Joe Junior,

he'd lost his older
daughter Rosemary

to a botched lobotomy
that had ended her life

as far as the family
was concerned.

And beloved Kick was gone too.

There is,
woven through the Kennedys,

a sense of doom,

and by the late '40s,

only Jack remains
of the golden trio.

The torch was passed to him.

His parents' ambitions
were now his ambitions.

The burden of taking
the dynasty forward

was his burden.

This season

the Kennedys...

You're never running
against one Kennedy.

It's a full family affair.

We could see

a different world.

Confident and unafraid
we must labour on...

They've made a lot
more enemies than friends

and some of those enemies
are truly dangerous.

With the Kennedys,

it's always tragedy and
triumph mixed together.