13-11-2013, 06:03 AM
Now that I've seen the 2nd part I understand what the high quality of the first part was setting up. First, the big mistake they vaguely referred to in part I was what they described as Kennedy's invasion of the Bay Of Pigs. They really went all out on this program and described the Bay Of Pigs as being Kennedy's plan that failed because of his weak inexperience. Instead of mentioning all the CIA members Kennedy fired in retribution they said Bobby and JFK tried to compensate with Mongoose which also blew-up on them and not only strengthened Castro but caused the Russians to defend him with nuclear missiles. This show was really sick because it accurately showed that Kennedy's sane demeanor during the Missile Crisis saved the world from nuclear armageddon, however it did it in such a way that it seemed to be a lucky byproduct of Kennedy's failings and ineptitude. The true interplay and influences between JFK and CIA was not shown. Their portrayal of Viet Nam was even worse. They went so far as to say Kennedy decided to finally confront the communists in Viet Nam and had 14,000 advisors there, a large number of whom were doing combat. The Diem dilemma was reduced to a tape of Kennedy regretting the way he died with zero informational backdrop on how Lodge and the CIA went behind Kennedy's back. All the official court historians carefully lied to conduct this false history.
This program made me sick because it was clearly a smooth pro-CIA propaganda job designed to trump up JFK's charisma and charm in a way that almost made Kennedy seem superficial. They did everything but call him a dilettante and even had one of their court historians summing up Kennedy at the end as mostly glamour and a man who could have been a great president. The underlying message was Jack was an ambitious rich boy who wasn't quite up to the demands of the world class big leagues in politics and was hamstrung by his personal failings that left him vulnerable in the tough situations he was confronted with. There was a cold-blooded patronizing flowing through the veins of this show that was almost like neo-con contempt. The unspoken message was JFK brought it upon himself. The assassination was covered as briefly as possible at the end with no mention of the controversy. They simply went right from the limousine entering the Plaza to people in New York getting the news of Kennedy's death from a car radio. I guess they didn't want to offend JFK's memory with his murder. They didn't want to get any blood on this bright shining production.
This program made me sick because it was clearly a smooth pro-CIA propaganda job designed to trump up JFK's charisma and charm in a way that almost made Kennedy seem superficial. They did everything but call him a dilettante and even had one of their court historians summing up Kennedy at the end as mostly glamour and a man who could have been a great president. The underlying message was Jack was an ambitious rich boy who wasn't quite up to the demands of the world class big leagues in politics and was hamstrung by his personal failings that left him vulnerable in the tough situations he was confronted with. There was a cold-blooded patronizing flowing through the veins of this show that was almost like neo-con contempt. The unspoken message was JFK brought it upon himself. The assassination was covered as briefly as possible at the end with no mention of the controversy. They simply went right from the limousine entering the Plaza to people in New York getting the news of Kennedy's death from a car radio. I guess they didn't want to offend JFK's memory with his murder. They didn't want to get any blood on this bright shining production.