renaissance lies in every facet of the modern church. with all progress comes sacrifice. despite the corruption of fallible men, the papacy remains divine. when your dream is to lead the world, what would it take to put your family in the white house? charisma? vitality? an adoring wife? john f. kennedy seems the perfect candidate, but behind the facade lurk dark secrets. jfk will need everything his family can offer. glamour, money and power to win the presidency of the united states.,. glamour, money and power to win the presidency of the united

states.glamour, money and power the presidency of the united states. ♪ ♪ ♪ the kennedys must be thrilled that there's a change in decade. they can try to put the war

behind them. >> joe sr. has lost his favorite son, joe jr., his favorite daughter kick, and yet for a family that's endured so much tragedy, they don't look like it. they look like they're at play all the time. >> 25-year-old aspiring attorney robert kennedy has given the dynasty its newest member. >> bobby marries ethel skakel who give s birth to the first grandchild of joe and rose kennedy, kathleen. >> john, known as jack, is eight years older than bobby and at 34 is in his third term as a congressman, yet he still leads a bachelor's life. >> jack was having a lot of fun not being married. he had lots of girlfriends. he was a party boy. he was a playboy. he was regarded by his peers in congress as being a bit of a dilettante. >> joe yearns for his son to become president, and the next logical step is a seat in the

u.s. senate. but in jack's first appearance on national television, he seems undecided. >> are you going to run? >> well, i think that we have a good chance at carrying massachusetts in 1952. and i'm seriously considering running. i'm not sure yet what exactly i'm going to do. it's still a year away. >> jack felt the pressure. i think papa really wanted him to go for the top. and that was it. >> in the 1950s, it would be unheard of in the united states for anyone with presidential ambitions to think of running as an unmarried man. it was absolutely essential in joe kennedy sr.'s mind that jack be married. >> jack's pal, charles bartlett, plays matchmaker inviting jack and a female friend to dinner. >> this young unmarried lady was jackie bouvier.

and he followed her out to her car after the party was over. so she had enormous appeal. >> an aspiring reporter, 21-year-old jackie has just completed her bachelor's degree at george washington university. >> jackie had the reputation of being what people then called a brain, very, very bright. but at the same time very glamorous. >> jackie was different from the kinds of women he dated or had one night stands with, and there was real chemistry between them. >> jackie saw a bigger world for herself. and she found that in jack kennedy. >> in 1952, jack finally resolves to run for a u.s. senate seat in massachusetts. >> he's up against henry cabot lodge who is from a great massachusetts political family whose grandfather has defeated jack kennedy's grandfather a

half a century before. >> now meet your candidate for the united states senate. >> how can this young whipp ep r whippersnapper of a congressman without much of a record run against henry cabot lodge jr. who has an ancestry that's much more distinguished? >> it was a brazen move, a move that looked totally quixotic, and nobody gave him much of a shot. >> jack needs all the help he can get. and his mother, ro rose is one his most important assets. >> rose was the expert at campaigning because she'd been campaigning with her father from the time she was a teenager when he had run for mayor of boston. >> rose kennedy was fantastic in front of an audience. she knew exactly what to say, and she knew exactly how to say it. she wasxtremely smart about policsbut she was also very smart about human nature.

>> there was an idea to have formal tea parties where rose kennedy and her daughters and jack kennedy would go to a fancy hotel in massachusetts and they would invite all the ladies of the town to dress in their best finery and come to have formal tea with the kennedys. it was really one of the first times that women got involved in politics in a very sustained way. >> jack's sisters and his mother rose would wear what we call poodle skirts, then they would stand up and they'd reveal that their skirts are embroidered jfk. >> but his father joe understands that jack needs far more than fashion and fine china. >> joe kennedy didn't like what he thought was a lethargic campaign that the official campaign manager was running. >> joe wants his third son, bobby, now a lawyer at the department of justice, to take

charge. jack is unconvinced. >> jack thought that bobby was a prude and a moralizer and was annoyed by him. he said that bobby was a pain in the ass. >> my father and john kennedy were not very close as they were growing up because there was a big gap in age between them. >> he was considered as the grunt of the family. he was unathletic in a very athletic family. >> and what that did with bobby is it gave him the determination to prove to his dad that he mattered, that he could do these difficult tasks that joe threw his way and the most difficult of all at this point was making his brother a u.s. senator. >> bobby rises to his father's challenge and takes on a new role as the kennedy family fixer. >> bobby finds the campaign in a sam be shambles, all these old hacks sitting around. and bobby tells the hacks to

shape up or get out, to quit loafing and knock on some doors. >> daddy was organized, he was straightforward, he held people accountable. and jack liked that. >> sometimes in politics you need somebody to be the bad cop. bobby was willing to be the bad cop. >> the charismatic jack, with his enforcer brother bobby, defeats henry cabot lodge to win the senate seat. >> kennedy wins what was one of the biggest upsets in maybe the state's political history. >> it was jack's victory. in 1952 that gave kennedy the idea that he, in fact, could win the presidency. >> but if senator kennedy wants to make the white house his own, he needs to follow his father's advice and show the world he has a good woman at his side.

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you can't judge sugar looking at the cane, you can't judge a woman looking at her man. you can't judge a daughter by looking at the mother. you can't judge a book by looking at the cover. taking one look. try to read me like a book but i leave 'em all shook 'cuz you can't judge a book by its cover. you can't judge a book by looking at the cover [x2]

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the social event of the year. the wedding of john f. kennedy to jacqueline bove yea. >> kennedy knew she was marrying someone who ticked off a lot of boxes. she was catholic. she was from a very prestigious family and she would be a good wife in the white house.

>> when you watch the footage from their wedding, it looks like you're watching a film. it doesn't seem real. you have jfk. he's so good looking. he moves with ease. he's trim. even in black and white, he seems like he's made of gold. and then you have jackie, and she just looks like a star of stage and screen. everything seems perfect. everyone seems at ease. and yet, we learn later that jackie was pretty unhappy with the wedding. >> joe wants the wedding to be a place to invite people who will be able to benefit his son as he eventually runs for president of the united states. jackie has this naive idea that a wedding is a place where you invite your friends and family and celebrate because you're in

love. joe wins. >> she's thrust into the limelight. she's almost crushed by photographers. she has thousands of people literally at her reception she doesn't know because they've been invited by her father-in-law. and she's wearing a dress that she doesn't care for that she says made her look like a lampshade. >> i'm sure that jackie would have liked to have chosen her own dress, but that's simply not how it worked out. joe sr. chose her dress. if jackie didn't know that she wasn't just marrying a person but a family before the wedding, she definitely learned during the planning process that this was a group affair. she was genuinely in love with jfk, and she believed that they would have a wonderful marriage. the first moment in which she may have realized that was not her destiny was on their

honeymoon. >> in the midst of the honeymoon, jack decides that they're going to leave apa puca and go to northern california to visit with their navy mate, red fay and paul takes home movies of the visit. in one scene jack grabs jackie very briefly and twirls her around but lets her go almost as if he's a teenage boy and he feels a little bit awkward to show affection towards his wife. then he grabs the husband of his friend paul fay, andy had puts his hand on her derriere. so one wonders is this a foretaste of what is coming in the marriage? >> i asked him, you're trying so hard to be president. why do you jeopardize it by going around with girls?

and he said because i can't help it. >> jackie would always put on a brave face regarding her husband's absences. >> jackie i think probably being married to a senator would compare with being a doctor's wife. a senator must be on call at all times. >> i suppose it is like being married to a doctor in that they have late hours, they go away with short notice. >> jack's affairs are not the only thing he's hiding. >> the great secret about jack kennedy is not his sex life. it's his health. he is a sick man. >> the joke always was that if a mosquito bit jack, the mosquito would get sick. >> it wasn't a day of jack's life that he wasn't in pain. >> jack suffered from a very debilitating back issue. >> jack finds a doctor who says

the only way to relieve this pain is surgery, but there are really terrible risks. >> the problem with operating on him was that he had addison's disease. >> this is a potentially fatal disease, a deficiency of the adrenal glands that can kill you. >> those with addison's are very prone to infection. the doctors were very honest and said, first, we don't know whether we can cure your back ailment and, second, you could die of an infection that could come from it. >> the doctors tell him there's a 50% chance it will kill him, and in discussions with his father, kennedy says, ok, i'd rather take this chance because the alternative is that i won't live a full life. >> joe is terrified. and he says to jack, please don't do this surgery.

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decision. >> he was having an operation that could cost him his life. >> the surgery goes very badly. he develops a life-threatening infection. >> his father wonders am i going to lose now my second son. >> he's actually given last rites. and yet miraculously he pulls through. >> the doctors had inserted a steel plate to try to settle his back, and jackie has to take over the job of trying to change the dressings on this gruesome wound. >> jack recovers with jackie's support, but he believes his days may be numbered. >> if you think you are going to die young, then you will act

differently because you know your time is short on this earth. >> tension mounts around convention hall in chicago and democrats stream in for the big convention. >> it was not long after jack's back operation, but he wanted to prove to everyone that he was vital and fit. >> at the democratic national convention, jack surprises everyone by announcing his candidacy for vice president. >> jack looks at bobby and says, bobby, would you call dad and give him thene? >> joe kennedy wanted his son to be president of the united states, b he didn't want him to try for vice president and lose and somehow blot his copybook before he was ready for the real run for the white house. >> the old man just rages obscenely over the phone, you boys don't know what you're doing. almost like a father talking to a bunch of 5-year-olds.

>> at this point jack kennedy, for the first time in his life, disobeyed his father totally. >> bobby kennedy and jack kennedy run around on the convention floor trying to round up delegates. it's very unorganized. it's very amateur. it's enthusiastic, but they don't really know what the hell they're doing. >> -- becomes the vice presidential nominee in one of the most thrilling wire-to-wire finishes that any convention has seen in years. >> it's close. they almost do win. ultimately they lose. >> senator john kennedy of massachusetts. >> this was hard for him. this was the first time jack kennedy ever lost. >> ladies and gentlemen, recognizing that this convention has selected a man who has campaigned in all parts of the country -- >> he makes clear that he wants the entire convention to rally around st cullpepper. >> this will make s.t. culpepper's nomination unanimous. >> there's a tradition in american politics on knowing how

to concede so this is the first step to a future victory. >> jack has turned defeat on its head. and there's more good news. jackie is expecting a baby. by the mid-1950s, the kennedy dynasty is growing. bobby has four children. jack's younger sister, patricia, has one. and eunice has two. jack wants children of his own, and it would be the icing on the cake for a young man seeking the presidency. >> jackie had already had a miscarriage, and in 1956 was thrilled that she was pregnant again. she went tuesday with her mother and await the birth of her child. >> john f. kennedy went to visit his father in the south of france. he then went on a cruise with his buddies.

>> while he was incommunicado from jackie, jackie goes into labor suddenly and prematurely. she is raced off to the hospital and has quite a bit of hemorrhaging and is in a very fearful situation. >> jack couldn't be reached for a couple of days, and it was bobby who went to the hospital. >> bobby tells her when she comes out of anesthesia that she has lost the baby. >> bobby's public image was as the hard guy, but privately he was soft. jack's public image was as the genial, graceful guy. privately jack was hard. >> the word back from jfk, to use his language, is the baby is lost, there's nothing i can do. i'm sure jackie will be fine.

his father and others in his life told him, if you ever want to run for president, you better get your ass back here. he didn't come back because he want to be with jackie. he came back because he wanted to make sure that he wasn't damaging his chances for eventual presidency. >> meanwhile, bobby takes a job as an attorney investigating corruption for the senate. >> bobby kennedy's life had been defined by serving his father and his brother. but in the mid-'50s, you sense that he's trying to make a name for himself. at christmastime 1956, the family's gathered in hyannisport and bobby kennedy comes to his father and says, i want to lead an investigation into organized crime. >> my father said either they're going to own the country or we are. >> so joe kennedy says, you don't know what you're getting into. don't go near that. and bobby kennedy says, i am.

and i'm going straight up to capitol hill. his father just jumps up from the table and storms out and slams the door. ♪

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with pg&e in the sierras. and i'm an arborist since the onset of the drought, more than 129 million trees have died in california. pg&e prunes and removes over a million trees can't impact power lines. at hazardous trees and since the onset of the drought we've doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly it's heartbreaking to see all these trees dying.

what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. in 1957, senate investigator robert kennedy launches an all-out assault on a growing

threat, corruption in organized labor. >> the mob was moving in to unions and many aspects of american society. the fbi wasn't doing anything about them. bobby kennedy was a moralist. he was a good catholic. the idea of corruption within our society was deeply offensive to him. >> he really saw it at that point as the biggest threat to american democracy. >> but bobby's father is not happy. >> joe is furious. it's possible that joe is afraid that bobby, if he investigates organized crime, is going to trip over joe's traces. the gossip about joe was that he was a bootlegger. that was never proved, but he was shady with some shady friends. >> bobby was very conscious of the sins of his father. he wanted to cauterize this and cut this out and distance it from the family. >> bobby kennedy ran this

extraordinary set of hearings. >> mr. hoffa -- >> and petey the witness who had to be before bob kennedy. >> who's back are you going to break, mr. hoffa? >> figure of speech. i don't know what you're talking about. >> he's interrupting. he's bullying them. >> let's find out whose back you were going to break figuratively. >> i don't know. >> bobby is not alone. his wife ethel is his most loyal supporter. >> mrs. kennedy, do you attend many of bob's committee hearings? >> oh, mr. murrow, i do, yes, most all of them. and you can really tell i think when a witness is lying. >> ethel and bobby would strategize and ethel would say you've got to go in there and give it to them good. don't you let them get away with it bobby. don't you let them get away with any of it. >> atta-boy. >> ethel shared his sense of the world and that's one of the many reasons why they got along so brilliantly. >> do you two spend much time discussing the senate hearings at home? >> i can't think of anything

else we discuss. >> the way she phrased it is the world is divided into white hats and black hats. >> it really fascinates me. >> the black hats are them. the white hats are us. >> when other parents would take their kids to the playground to swing on the swings or to go on the merry-go-round, my mother took us to the senate racket committee hearings so some of my first words were, i refuse to answer that question." >> on the grounds that the answer may tend to incriminate me. >> taking on the mob is never a risk-free thing to do. >> it put the family in peril. there were a lot of death threats. there were, you know, phone calls, ethel kennedy was afraid of her children. >> at one point, you know, they threatened to throw acid in our eyes.her children. >> at one point, you know, they threatened to throw acid in our eyechildren. >> at one point, you know, they threatened to throw acid in our eyes. >> these kennedys share what

bobby call the guts of a cat burglar. they were not afraid to go into areas where other people just would not go. >> one of the toughest gangsters that bobby summons before the senate is sam giancana. >> sam giancana is the head of the chicago outfit. this is the most powerful wealthy section of organized crime. >> would you tell us about the vice operations down in lake county, indiana? >> i decline to answer because i believe my answer might incriminate me. >> bobby presses him with questions about bodies in trunks, and giancana takes the fifth 40 times and finally starts laughing. >> will you tell us anything about any of your operations? or will you just giggle every time i ask you a question? >> i decline to answer because i honestly believe my answer might tend to incriminate me. >> i thought only little girls giggled, mr. giancana. >> and then bobby has an unexpected visitor. despite his opposition to

bobby's involvement, joe kennedy is finally endorsing his courageous son. >> when joe came and watched bobby perform, i think it was an extraordinary moment for joe in understanding that the runt of his litter, bobby, was as tough and as smart as he was. and for bobby, it was winning the paternal acknowledgment that he had spent his life trying to get. >> as bobby's reputation grows, a young politician decides to join him at the hearings. >> at the time, john f. kennedy is the pretty undistinguished senator, one with great ambition. he becomes part of that investigation and really distinguishes himself thanks to his younger brother. >> mr. hoffa, this bill is not a strike breaking union buing bill. you're the best argument i know for it. your testimony here this afternoon, your complete indifference to the fact that numerous people -- >> it makes jack look tougher. he's not just an effete playboy. he's chasing the mob. so this is good publicity for the kennedys.

>> jack receives another boost. after a miscarriage and a still birth, jackie gives birth to their first child. >> i want you to meet my daughter, caroline, and my wife, jackie. >> admired as a principled politician and a family man, the young senator believes his time has come. >> i am today announcing my candidacy for the presidency of the united states. the presidency is the most powerful office in the free world. through its leadership can come a more vital life for all of our people. >> but first jack must mount a primary campaign with the aim of winning the democratic party's nomination. the kennedy family machine kicks into high gear. >> thank you very much. i'm sorry that my mother couldn't be here tonight. and my sister, union ice. my sister, jean, my brother,

teddy, or my cousin joe and my cousin -- so you'll have to settle with me. thank you very much. >> you're never running against one kennedy. you're running against every kennedy. it's a full family affair. >> jackie was willing to go with jack and campaign with him in small towns and go through poor homes and meet with the people, and because she was so glamorous and yet down to earth, she really connected with the people as did her husband. >> she could make you feel as if you were the only person in her life at that moment when she was talking to you. >> but even the allure of jackie kennedy cannot guarantee victory. >> kennedy is a very attractive candida candidate, but he has three big weaknesses. he's catholic, he's a womanizer, and he's deathly sick. womanizing and the illness he can hide. he can't hide that he's a catholic.

you can't judge a woman looking at her man. you can't judge a daughter by looking at the mother. you can't judge a book by looking at the cover. taking one look. try to read me like a book but i leave 'em all shook 'cuz you can't judge a book by its cover. you can't judge a book by looking at the cover [x2]

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the kennedys take on the country to secure jack's democratic nomination, but opposition mounts. >> fellows like you will vote against kennedy because of his religion, but will you? >> i will. yes. >> you will? >> i will. >> why? >> i just think i should vote

for a protestant. >> there was a lot of anti-catholic fervor in 1960. billy graham, the famous preacher, along with norman vincent peale co-signed a letter saying don't vote for john kennedy because then we'll have the pope telling us what to do. >> it's a reminder that for all their wealth and power, the kennedys are still outsiders. >> my grandmother rose, being irish catholic, always felt that she was not accepted by the wasps, the white anglo saxon protesta protestants. >> my grandfather, joe kennedy, once read in the paper a description of himself as an irishman. and he said, when are they going to top calling me irish? i'm an american. >> as the people of west virginia prepare to vote, what do you think the result will be? >> well, i hope we're going to do well, but i guess we'll know better by the time the votes are counted.

>> the west virginia primary is a make or break moment for the kennedys. >> jack kennedy had to show that he could win in a state that was 98% protestant. >> if you could win in west virginia, you could prove that a catholic could win. >> jack and bobby made a brilliant strategic decision, which was rather than let the issue of his catholic faith fester in the background, they were going to take it on head-on. >> for the past months and years, i have answered almost daily inquiries from the press about my religious views. >> he described that he didn't have a religious test when he went in the service. there was no religious test when his brother went in the service and got killed. >> little or no attention was paid to my religion when i came to the house and when i came to the senate. though i take almost the same oath as the president of united states now takes. >> he played it smart. he said, i'm not going to take

orders from the pope. i'm going to represent the people. >> the presidency is not elected to be the protector of the faith. >> and he essentially said to the people of america, i know you're a more tolerant country than to let the simple fact of my faith stop you from voting for me. >> jack defies all odds and wins the critical west virginia primary. he arrives at the democratic national convention in los angeles exuding confidence. >> i don't think tt there has been a more ancipated candidate at the democratic national convention since jfk and definitely not before him. >> he was fresh. he was attractive. he was charismatic. >> everybody seemed to be spinning their heads. >> he was just an enormously impressive figure. >> i went to the convention with my parents.

my father was the democratic national committeeman from maryland. the excitement of it was great because my father had been a big supporter. >> jack kennedy's main rival for the democratic nomination is lbj. >> i move here and now to solicit the votes of every delegate present in this room or the sound of my voice. >> lyndon johnson, the majority leader of the united states senate, senator from texas, thinks kennedy is sort of a lightweight. >> some talk about how we ought to do it, and when we get down to doing it, just don't get it done. >> but kennedy is rolling with this stuff. >> i appreciate what senator johnson had to say. he made some general references to perhaps the shortcomings of other presidential candidates, but as he was not specific, i assume he was talking about some of the other candidates and not about me.

>> with his ego bruised, johnson gets personal. >> lbj began to disparage joe kennedy sr. as being an appeaser back there with hitler in the pre-war era. >> johnson not only smears jack's family, he also attempts to expose jack's deepest secret. >> the day before the vote, the johnson people put under the hotel room doors of every delegate a yellow sheet of paper saying that kennedy had addison's disease. >> for bobby kennedy, that was absolutely verboten. from that point forward he considered lbj to be the enemy. >> bobby wouldn't let him get away with it. running the kind of war room that campaigns salivate over, he

responds almost immediately. >> bobby rallies the doctors to lie, to say that jack is healthy as can be. >> will bobby's damage control pay off? >> climactic moments of the democratic convention. before the first ballot is completed, wyoming clinches the kennedy triumph with the deciding votes. >> john f. kennedy fights off strong opposition to win the nomination. he is now the democratic party's presidential candidate. >> we will carry the fight to the people in the fall, and we shall win. >> jack faces a tough decision. he must pick a running mate. >> when it comes to picking a vice president, the obvious candidate, in a way, is lbj. >> what did you and senator johnson talk about? >> well, i thanked him for his very generous message he sent me. >> johnson is a southern democrat. jack kennedy needs the southern vote. >> did you talk to him about the vice presidency? >> in a general way, that's right. >> jack kennedy never liked

lyndon johnson. bobby kennedy despised lyndon johnson. they were like dogs with the hair standing up on the back of their neck. >> joe kennedy didn't feel that way. he was looking in strategic terms at the map and realized that his son needed texas. >> so the two brothers tapped lyndon johnson to be jack's vice presidential running mate. and they did that for one reason. they were going to do anything it took to get jack elected president. >> first kennedy must beat one of the most experienced politicians in america, republican nominee and sitting vice president richard nixon. friends, colleagues, gathered here are the world's finest insurance experts. rodney -- mastermind of discounts like safe driver, paperless. the list goes on. how about a discount for long lists? gold. mara, you save our customers hundreds for switching almost effortlessly.

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i'd of said... i'd of said you're dreaming. dreaming! definitely dreaming. then again, dreaming is how i got this far. now more businesses in more places can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. six weeks before election day, democratic candidate jack kennedy and vice president richard nixon are in a dead heat. >> the critical moment in the entire election is when the two candidates would be appeari ins by side in the first televised presidential debate in america. >> nixon was considered a larger figure. he was presidential. the question was could kennedy, this young fellow be president

of the united states? >> the candidates need no introduction. the republican candidate, vice president richard m. nixon, and the democratic candidate, senator john f. kennedy. >> kennedy looked awful attractive. rich kid. seen pictures of him on the cover of life magazine. but does he have anything? the stakes could not be higher. but jack has a critical advantage. >> joe kennedy knew his way around hollywood. so all the tricks to turn a jock into a leading man, he knew all those tricks, and he used them with jack kennedy. >> it's fascinating in the early footage you can see the kennedy nannies, the kids' nannies carrying movie cameras. they played with them and made home movies. but they also learned what looked best, how to appear. and that would stand jack very well when it came time to run

for president. >> this is a great country. but i think it could be a greater country. and this is a powerful country, but i think it could be a more powerful country. >> his answers were so crisp and clear and confident. his body language was so powerful whereas nixon, it wasn't just that he is sweating or needed to shave or something, but he was so antsy and uncertain. >> mr. nixon, would you like to comment on that statement? >> i have no comment. >> kennedy from then on never had to answer the question am i serious enough and am i equal to this guy who has had eight years in the white house? >> kennedy and nixon slug it out for six more weeks in one of the hardest fought presidential campaigns in history. >> today on election day, the big question is how will the people vote? >> america may be choosing a president, but they're also determining the destiny of the

kennedy dynasty. >> the whole family gathered in hyannis port. they set up a war room. they brought in dozens and dozens of phone lines to communicate with campaign directors all over the country, and they waited. >> it appears that senator kennedy is moving into the lead. >> but as the night went on, the early lead that kennedy had seemed to drift away. >> when ohio went for nixon, the kennedy team began to wonder whether they would win this at all. >> senator kennedy's early lead of two million votes dwindles perilously as the returns come in from the western states. >> suspense focused on northern im which was very late. >> northern illinois, chicago was controlled by mayor daley. and southern illinois was controlled by the republicans. >> richard j. daley was a very

powerful mayor of chicago. and he had a relationship with joe kennedy. >> so jack gets daley on the phone, and mayor daley says we're going to win illinois with the help of a few close friends. >> there are stories to this day that dead people voted in chicago. there is no doubt that the daley machine helped the kennedys. but whether it engaged in massive fraud or not i think remains to be seen. >> back in hyannis port, the kennedys wait and wait. >> in the still of the night, the secret service moved in. and when they saw the secret service surrounding the kennedy houses, they knew that they had won. >> the president-elect came out to read congratulatory wires from the president and vice president. >> john fitzgerald kennedy is

elected president. just over 100 years after arriving penniless in boston, the kennedys are now the most powerful family in the world. >> as a catholic, it was something quite remarkable. but john f. kennedy was an inspirational figure, whatever your fairkts it is the climax of one of the closest, both dramatic elections in american history. >> we were there smiling and hugging each other. here is a guy who wasn't figured to win but he won. >> the election was a close one. but thing is general agreement by all of our citizens that a supreme national effort will be needed in the years ahead to move this country safely through the 1960s. >> it's hard to describe the atmosphere at the cape after jack's victory. we had a family was on top of the world.

>> think of the geography of hyannis port. you the main house where rose and joseph p. kennedy lived. next to it you have the house where bobby and ethel live. behind it you have the house where jack kennedy and jackie kennedy live. and now in this compound is the center of the world. this was the realization, the dynastic dream of joseph p. and rose kennedy. >> next on "american dynasties: the kennedys" -- >> ask what you can do for your country. >> jack believed in the promise of america. >> kennedy was walking into an ambush, and he had no idea. >> it turns out to be an unmitigated disaster. >> jack needed someone to watch his back.

>> i am not pleased to admit the position. >> he says bobby, grab your balls. let's go. i jon john f. kennedy do solemnly swear. >> john f. kennedy becomes president of the united states of america. the kennedys have achieved their dream. but in his first year in the white house, jfk learns winning power is one thing. wielding it is another.