>> 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.

engulfed by violence at home, he turns to those he trusts the most, family. ♪

the day of the inauguration was very, very cold. we were on the structure where all the press were. freezing cold. but it was a moment of great pride for our family. >> john fitzgerald kennedy is making history. he is about to be sworn in as america's youngest elected president. >> jfk arrived when he became president. what a big satisfaction and relief for the family. >> we had this beautiful couple in jackie and jack, that believed in trying new things, seeing new worlds, and believing in the promise of america in a way that had not been said or thought of previously.

>> i john fitzgerald kennedy do solemnly swear that i will execute the office of president of the united states. >> for the family having a kennedy in the white house it's the inauguration of their ambition. >> jack is cheered on by his family. the president's brothers, his sisters, his mother rose, his wife, jackie, and the patriarch himself, joseph p. kennedy. >> joe kennedy, who had been behind the scenes strategists architect, stood up and doved his top hat to kennedy. and it was a great moment that showed his paternal pride. >> let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill that we

shall pay any price to assure the survival and the success of liberty. and so my fellow americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. >> there was just a sense that we could see a different world. the torch is passed to a new generation who were focused on what the future would bring. >> invitations to the inaugural celebrations are the hottest tickets in town. the stars come out in full force for jfk. tony curtis, janet lee, gene kelly and frank sinatra. >> one of the things that the kennedys did well was to bring hollywood to washington. >> they understood performance. they understood style.

the kennedy administration was the rat pack '60s. >> jackie actually appeared in a white gown that she had designed to set her apart. and it was a very tight sheath in comparison to all these women in these big skirts and gowns. >> here comes rose kennedy, the mother of the president of the united states. >> on the road to the white house, rose kennedy has campaigned tirelessly to get her son elected. >> this must be the proudest day of your life. >> it's wonderful. >> it's important to keep in mind that rose kennedy evidently had dynastic ambitions for the family. this is not just the story of joseph p. kennedy prominent pushing father. this is a joint effort on the part of both joseph p. kennedy and rose. >> have you had a chance to sit back and realize? >> no, no, i don't think so.

it's going to take a little while, i think. >> jack's brother robert and wife ethel joined in the family's triumph. bobby had been jack's campaign manager, and their father is adamant he is handed an important role in the new administration. >> joe kennedy let jack choose his cabinet with one exception. joe insisted that the next attorney general be robert kennedy. >> one cold december morning, the president gets bobby kennedy up in his house in georgetown and tells him he's going to be appointing him as attorney general. and he says, bobby, grab your balls, let's go. >> jfk stops at the door and says, hey, comb your hair. >> bobby for most of his career

a senate investigator is announced to the world as the new head of america's criminal justice system. >> in looking for an attorney general, he must lead the fight for law enforcement, must administer our laws without favor and with matchless integrity. i have turned to a man in whom i have found these qualities. >> there was an act of outrageous brazen nepotism. >> bobby, who had never tried a case in a court of law may have been in american history the least prepared person to be attorney general. >> i am pleased to accept the position of the eastern generalship of the united states. i understand and realize the great problems and difficulties that will be facing all of us in that position. >> what was really kind of

stunning at the time, nearly a peep of objection. the press went completely along with it. >> bobby didn't want to be attorney general. jack didn't want his brother to be attorney general. nobody thought it was a good idea. but joe insisted. joe knew that jack newcomer to the presidency, needed someone to watch his back, someone to protect him. he knew that the responsibilities that were now going to be put on his son's shoulders were absolutely enormous. ♪ the fastest samsung ever demands t-mobile, the fastest network ever. right now get the new samsung galaxy s9 for half off.

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the country is really swept away by jfk and jackie in a way the country has never been swept away before by anybody in office. jack is at the forefront and brings with him his beautiful wife and amazing family. >> the kennedys have two young children. 3-year-old caroline and baby john jr. >> no one could remember seeing children in the white house. there are suddenly play things around. there are animals. there are toys strewn on the floor. it's a beautiful and welcoming image.

>> if it's not presumptuous, mrs. kennedy, what about your role as a mother and a wife? >> yes, i don't think it matters what you do, if you don't do that part well, you failure husband and your children. that really is the role that means the most to me. >> she was gutsy. i mean, she's really young. she's 31 or something. so young. >> it has been more difficult, though, honestly, to fulfill this role? >> since we've been in the white house? >> yes, ma'am. >> no. my husband loves a challenge and i do too. he set me a good example. so let's hope it works out. circumstances the president's sister, eunice shriver, approaches his door with some trepidation. >> the kennedy sisters find themselves in a more formal relationship with brother jack. >> the president autographs pictures for his sisters and their children.

>> stevie, for you. i've been signing autographs for the family. the president finds it hard not to be presidential. >> he has really bore it well. >> listen, have a good trip. >> joe kennedy, the brains and money behind his son's campaign, retreats to the family homes in florida and hyannis port. joe kennedy knew he had to be very careful not to rain on his son's parade. he decided very early on that he was not going to visit the white house. he was not going to appear in public with his son. he didn't want anybody to think that jack kennedy was not his own man. >> jack knows that traditionally american presidents are judged by their first 100 days.

>> jack kennedy saw himself as b an historic figure. he saw himself as somebody who could lead the country into a new golden age. now, it was a golden age i think theed by shadow because 1961 was the height or the depth of the cold war. >> america and the soviet union are locked in a titanic ideological struggle. the u.s. is terrified of the spread of communism as it reaches the nation's backyard. cuba is under the control of the fiery revolutionary fidel castro. >> he was not only a communist, and a marxist, but he was going toe align himself with the soviet union on an island 90 miles from the coast of florida. >> the moment jack becomes president, the cia present him with their plan to bring down

the cuban leader. >> the bay of pigs was a plot that was hashed during the eisenhower administration. the idea was to train some cuban exiles to invade cuba. on the assumption that on their arrival, there would be a popular uprising and fidel castro would be thrown out. >> kennedy was suspicious about the viability of this plan and the wisdom of this plan up until essentially the last moment. reluctantly, jack gives the go ahead for the operation with one crucial condition. >> he did not want it to be clear that the united states was supporting this. he wanted it to be a quiet invasion. >> it turns out to be an unmitigated disaster. early morning hours, kennedy is pulled away from a soiree at the white house. >> the president in white tie at 2:00 in the morning is meeting

with his generals. the cuban exiles were being attacked by tanks. they were going to been driven into the sea. >> back in washington the u.s. naefnd the -- navy and the deputy cia director was basically saying let us invade cuba. the cia had the notion president kennedy would send in the marines and come to the rescue. but that's not what happens. kennedy says this was supposed to be a covert operation in which u.s. hand did not show. we are not going to invade cuba and attack cuba ourselves to salvage this operation. >> over 100 cuban exiles are killed and more than a thousand are taken prisoner. >> in the end, the united states is revealed to be completely behind this invasion. >> as castro boasts to the world

about his victory, america is humiliated. >> kennedy was so overought he began to cry. >> jackie had never seen her husband as distraught, as despondent, as depressed. he believed his presidency was over before it even started because of this tragedy. >> at one point in the depths of his despair, he and bobby were together, and bobby said let's call dad. maybe he can cheer us up. >> joe kennedy may not be in washington, but he remains a trusted adviser to his son. >> if you look at the records of kennedy's calls during the days of the bay of pigs fiasco, you will see how many times he called his father. joe kennedy never trusted the intelligence services and he had warned jack about the cia.

>> so the bay of pigs shook kennedy's confidence in his advisers. it even shook his confidence in himself. but what it also did was it strengthened his conviction that he had to rely more on those he trusted most, members of his family. money managers are pretty much the same. all but while some push high commission investment products,

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i believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. >> we set our sights up high. and when you look up, you think of something more than yourself. it's just terrific. >> in may 1961 jfk announces to the world an extraordinarily ambitious project. >> now it is time to take longer strides. time for a great new american enterprise. >> the soviets have already put

the first man into space. and after the bay of pigs fiasco, jack cannot afford for america to be left behind. >> the united states was engaged in the space race with the russians. we weren't trying to just beat the soviets militarily. we were trying to beat them to new frontiers. >> this is the kennedy approach to life, which is win at all costs. it is not good enough to come in second. that's what they were told by their father from the time they were little children. >> as jack projects the superiority of his country around the world, back at home a desperate struggle for civil rights is tearing america apart. >> if you are african-american in the united states in the '60s, you're not living in a democracy. you're living under an apartheid dictatorship based on race. >> we're still seeing intense

violence. lynching is still the reality. >> if you were black, you couldn't vote. you couldn't buy property. you couldn't go certain places. >> i'm sorry, but our management does not allow us to serve negroes in here. >> while jfk is looking at the moon and stars, you see real hypocrisy and contradiction. >> how can the united states be a democracy if its citizens are killing or hurting or hospitalizing its other citizens. >> but in the spring of 1961, john f. kennedy and his brother robert didn't care that much about civil rights. jack and bobby kennedy grew up rich and privileged. they never saw any african-americans other than those who waited on tables. >> so they didn't get just deep just terrible, terrible

prejudice of southern whites against blacks. >> they were worried about russia. they were worried about the cold war. about the big game as they saw it. they were afraid that the civil rights struggle would somehow distract or deflect from the main event. >> many are saying enough is enough. they want the president to take action against the brutal oppression that so many african-americans are forced to endure. >> in the south, blacks could not ride on the same buses, or at least at the front of the bus, with whites. >> so in late may of 1961, there were these young black and white students who decided that they were going to integrate the interstate bus system in america. they called themselves the freedom riders. >> they are going to challenge segregation in the south by riding through the most dangerous areas. >> passengers on one bus were attacked at the bus station in aniston.

another bus halted by a flat tire was set afire. >> it put the savagery and it puts the brutality on television, it puts this massive resistance on display, not just across the country, but across the world. >> and the governor of alabama, john patterson had said citizens of the state are so enraged, i cannot guarantee protection for this bunch of rebel rousers. >> the whole world is watching. the violence could undermine kennedy's presidential authority. >> jfk says get them off the buses. stop them from demonstrating. >> jack does not want to back the protesters. supporting civil rights would make him very unpopular with southern democrats. >> let's not forget the south is solidly democratic. they call them dixiecrats. but they were democrats. so a big part of the power base for the kennedys rests in the south. >> in a desperate attempt to diffuse the situation, bobby makes a call. >> bobby tried to convince the freedom riders they should hold

down for a bit and just not embarrass the president. the wonderful response of the young civil rights leaders is we have been cooling off and slowing down for 50 years, and we're going to keep going. >> civil rights leader dr. the reverend dr. martin luther king jr. arrives in montgomery, alabama to join the assembly. the church is soon surrounded by an angry mob of 3,000 southern whites. >> there's a risk they are going to burn the church down. and king calls the attorney general in washington and says i need your help. >> hundreds of lives are in danger. bobby realizes he has to act. >> on the issue of civil rights, there is no middle ground. you're either for civil rights or you're against civil rights. >> the attorney general couldn't very well let all these people die. that would have been an immense tragedy.

bobby knew that he had to protect them. >> it was really a question of doing the right thing, politics be damned. >> bobby sends in a federal force to protect the lives of martin luther king jr. and the freedom riders. >> and this was bobby's real baptism in terms of what the civil rights movement meant to him. >> bobby kennedy has to be educated. he doesn't come to the civil rights struggle with anything much different than any other wealthy white man of privilege would. >> but after the freedom riders, bobby went from wanting nothing to do with the civil rights movement to feeling he had to play a role. >> i think we just have to face up to our responsibilities. it's 1961, not 1861. and we're going to have to continue to make progress. >> for jack, the freedom riders

protest could not have come at a worse time. all eyes are on him as he heads to europe and his first face to face summit with the leader of the soviet union. >> john kennedy wanted to show the world that he was a statesman. but kennedy was walking into an ambush, and he had no idea. feel the clarity of non-drowsy claritin and relief from symptoms caused by over 200 allergens. like those from buddy. because stuffed animals are clearly no substitute for real ones. feel the clarity and live claritin clear. [str[ding]ise] ♪"back pocket" by vulfpeck ♪oh yeah ♪i know that it's taken me all this time to say, girl♪ ♪i'm slow so it's take me all this time to say, girl♪

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i we worked with pg&eof to save energy because wenie. wanted to help the school. they would put these signs on the door to let the teacher know you didn't cut off the light. the teachers, they would call us the energy patrol. so they would be like, here they come, turn off your lights! those three young ladies were teaching the whole school about energy efficiency. we actually saved $50,000. and that's just one school, two semesters, three girls. together, we're building a better california. introducing the prime rib from jack in the box. with strips of prime rib grilled with peppers and onions and smothered in provolone cheese and i'm challenging you to try it, martha it's on, jack. why are we whispering? try my new prime rib cheesesteak, part of my food truck series. i returned this morning from a week-long trip to europe.

and i want to report to you on that trip in full. it was, in every sense, an unforgettable experience. >> the kennedys' first international tour is their chance to present themselves on the world stage. in paris, however, jack kennedy is not the main attraction. >> that really was the moment when jackie kennedy became a genuine star. because she was so beautiful and because she was so young and effervesce effervescent, the primary interest for the media was jackie kennedy. she spoke fluent french to crusty old charles de gaulle, and yet you can just see him melting. >> thousands of people lined the streets to see jackie. she was the first really glamorous american first lady they had ever seen. >> she wore american couture in the united states, but when in

paris, givenchy. she just knew how to present herself to make the most of her personality, her beauty, her fashion. >> we had never seen a first lady in the tv age become the story herself. >> she made an enormous impact. and jack recognized this was greatly to his advantage. >> i do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself to this audience. i am the man who accompanied jacqueline kennedy to paris, and i have enjoyed it. >> paris is a triumph for the kennedys. but their next stop is is the real test for the yog president. for the first time he meets wi the leader of the soviet union. nikt the khrushchev.

>> the world is nervous about nuclear war in 1961, and they welcome a summit meeting between the head of the soviet union and khrushchev and president kennedy. >> what kennedy wanted to do was to show the world i can find common language with this man. we can do business. >> an historic state dinner brings mr. and mrs. kennedy and mr. and mrs. khrushchev together. >> during two days of talks, jack launches a charm offensive spearheaded by the first lady. >> they had a lovely banquet. khrushchev sat next to jackie, and she did what she could to charm him. >> mr. khrushchev visibly enjoyed the evening with the glamorous american first lady and even insisted on shaking her hand before her husband's. >> there's another kennedy dining with the khrushchevs that night, jack's mother, rose. >> john f. kennedy didn't want his mother to go.

he didn't want a huge family delegation going with him to europe, but his mom insisted. his mother loved the limelight. she's interested in power and she liked being around people with power. >> away from the banquets and the cameras, jack has a serious mission in vienna. both sides have enough missiles to destroy the entire world, so kennedy intends to make a deal on nuclear disarmament with khrushchev. >> john kennedy was deeply concerned about nuclear danger. that the cold war could spiral out of control. >> since the bay of pigs, jack no longer has full confidence in his own advisers. >> the kennedys always liked to operate on more than one track. they always liked to do things privately through the family. and jack always used bobby as a secret messenger to his friends and to his foes. >> in washington bobby has gone so far as to hold secret

meetings with the russian spy to open a back channel between the president and khrushchev. >> it was really something quite extraordinary. things like that had probably never gone on before. >> kennedy had taken risks by having bobby set up this back channel. and he was hopeful that the soviets would respond. >> bobby, through the russian spy, had been led to believe that khrushchev was ready to talk about nuclear arms. as it turned out, he wasn't the least bit interested. >> khrushchev has only one agenda, berlin. divided by the russians and the west after world war ii, people are flooding through sovi soviet-controlled east berlin to escape communism. it's a major source of embarrassment for khrushchev. >> people are fleeing the eastern part into the west, and khrushchev wants to stop that

flood of refugees. >> in vienna they went off into their meeting, which was five hours long and a complete disaster. >> the soviet leader makes an impossible demand. he wants kennedy to surrender the western sector of berlin. >> khrushchev just bullies kennedy. >> there was nothing kennedy could say to him except i give up on west berlin that would have made khrushchev happy. khrushchev was determined to put kennedy's feet to the fire. >> despite his best efforts, jack is humiliated. he leaves the summit having achieved nothing. >> kennedy's first meetings with generals after vienna was no spin. he was dejected. he didn't hide it. >> i will tell you now it was a very sober two days. no spectacular progress was either achieved or pretended. >> two months later, khrushchev built the berlin wall, sealed

off east berlin from west berlin. and kennedy did nothing. >> khrushchev goes one step further, testing even more powerful nuclear weapons, he shatters kennedy's hopes of slowing down the arms race. >> kennedy learned the soviets were not as committed as he was to avoiding war. and that the world was in a very dangerous place. ♪ the fastest samsung ever demands t-mobile, the fastest network ever. right now get the new samsung galaxy s9 for half off. ♪ 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.

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president kennedy's dream of negotiating peace has been destroyed. he retreats to the family compound. >> hyannis port was sanctuary for the kennedys. it was a safe haven. i mean, despite everything that was going on, when they got together at the compound, all of that was forgotten. >> jack finds solace in his ever growing extended family. in addition to his own children, john jr. and caroline, his brothers and sisters have 17

children between them. >> the excitement when the helicopter landed, and then they would take us for a ride on the golf cart with all the cousins. there were games and there was sailing, and there were parties every night. there was always something going on. >> i think it's those moments that really kept them sane and focused on who they were and what their mission was. especially their political goals. because a lot of politics talk was going on this. there. it was the center of all power. >> the kennedys may have power, but jack is frustrated by how difficult it is to achieve real progress. he needs his brother now more than ever. >> bobby became his chief law

enforcement guy, he became his chief foreign policy adviser, he became his chief political aid and he became the closest thing that we have and we ever will see to a co-president. >> it seems amazing to this day to have these two brothers who were basically running the country together. >> there's one battle that bobby kennedy is determined to fight on his own, taking on the mafia. >> the mafia was really huge in this country. there was a stronghold of mobster influence on politics and on entertainment and on government. >> they were very powerful. they were politically connected, and when you investigated them, who would you run into? you'd run into an elected official. >> this is robert peer point, and that building across the street there is the department of justice. >> since the 1950s, bobby has been rooting out corruption in the mob infiltrated labor unions. >> the attorney general seldom

leaves the office before 8:00 at night. >> as attorney general, he's determined to wage the biggest war on the mafia in american history. >> we need now more than talk. we need action. >> bobby kennedy had this adjective stick with him more than anything else, and it was the word "ruthless." bobby learned to joe's great delight how to be a tough guy from papa joe. >> you have a reputation for the toughness for being the fighter. we heard that your father, for instance, fostered that kind of competition in the family. >> i think so. as we were growing up, i think in any family where there is a lot of children, they're always fight with one another, competing with one another. >> joe believes making such dangerous enemies could ruin the kennedy presidency. >> he said democrats don't go after labor leaders, no matter how corrupt they might be. not only will you destroy your

future, he said, but you'll destroy your brother's future. >> bobby was a stern moralist and a tough guy, and there was also a kind of rebellious streak in him. he was willing to defy parental authority to go after the mob. >> this was personal. he felt these people were animals. and he wanted personally to destroy them. >> there's one mobster in particular whom bobby is obsessed with bringing to justice. sam momo giacano is the mob boss of chicago, but probably the most powerful mob boss in the united states. he was vicious, he liked to kill people for sport. he was exactly the sort of villain that bobby can kennedy would want to take on. when bobby took on giancana in a senate hearing in the 1950s, fat

was in the fire. that was a confrontation that was never going to go away. >> so the fbi detail in chicago begins harassing sam and his top lieutenants. >> they follow giancana everywhere, wiretapping his girlfriend, even on to the golf course. >> were we afraid? no. as a matter of fact, we were pushed very hard by robert kennedy to do everything we could. he was a great guy, if you were his friend. i would not have wanted to be his enemy. >> bobby's investigations may be hitting too close to home. >> this guy was well-known to joe kennedy, and he was a coinvestor in a lodge casino he and joe kennedy had bought condos in the hotel vicinity. >> wiretapped by the fbi, giancana makes a shocking allegation about joe kennedy. >> on the fbi tapes, you can hear giancana bragging that he has a deal with joe kennedy, with the patriarch. giancana thinks that he helped

jfk get elected by arranging for him to get some votes in chicago. is this the sins of the father home to roost? >> there's no evidence that independent evidence that anything like that ever happened. i think there they're mobster, gangsters talking. >> i think they're mobsters, gangsters talking. i don't think there's any truth to it. >> the truth is the kennedys did not need giancana to win. but he feels afraid when the kennedys turned against him. >> giancana felt double crossed, was threatening murder and revenge. >> but there's a greater danger than the mob or the perils of the cold war that would threaten the kennedy dynasty. >> they have had tragedy in their lives, but this feels different. it's going to change everything.

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joseph kennedy, while he had left the stage, was very much a leader. he was a source of advice, of strategy, and he was a sounding board.

>> he was an essential support for jack kennedy, who spoke to him a lot on the phone, who jack could call at 2:00 in the morning and he was really always there for him. >> and in december of 1961, all of that disappeared. >> joe is at the family vacation home in palm beach. >> joe kennedy goes out to play golf. he liked nothing better than to play golf. he was pretty good, especially when money was on the line. >> and on the eighth hole he began to feel feint, he said, please take me home. >> he goes back to the house, jackie is there. he said, i just need to rest. >> don't call any doctors, those were his last words.

he then went into his room and he suffered a massive stroke. >> joseph is taken to the hospital. immediately he's put on the critical list. he's in real bad shape. he's even given last rites because they think he might pass away. for jackie to be the one to tell jack that this has happened, it's devastating. >> jack, bobby and their sister jean fly from washington to be at their father's side. >> they all rushed to be with him in the hospital and everybody is in a panic. joe might not live. >> joe's doctors don't think they can save him. but bobby refuses to let them turn off his father's life support. >> joe as -- bobby was not going

to do anything that was going to end his father's life. >> joseph kennedy survives, but the stroke takes a vital toll. >> he was such a vital force, we would play with him in hyannisport and walk on the beach or go swimming. so when he had a stroke, it was shocking. >> his face was disfigured, one side of his body was useless. but worst of all, he lost the power of speech. this man who never stopped talking, who's fabulously

eloquent, who could walk into any room with anybody and command the attention of the crowd. lost his voice, lost his words, lost language. >> there was always a sense that as long as joseph is at the helm, things are going to work out. joe is the architect of everything. and for him to where sidelined when they're finally there, is such a tragedy. >> and for thatoome at the end of a mean year, that was a terrible way for john f. kennedy to end 1961. >> as jack and jackie pose for the cameras, the mood in the white house is anything but festive. >> we know exactly what

president kennedy was thinking at the end of his first year, when he was approached by an author who said i'm going to be writing a book on the first year of your presidency, and the president's response was why would anyone want to read a book about this first year? >> in 1961, the kennedys came out of the white house cocky, confident, bright. but at the end of 1961, they're chasing. they have been bullied by khrushchev, they've made a lot more enemies than friends. and some of these enemies are truly dangerous. >> next on "american dynasties: the kennedys" -- >> he had a reckless streak.

>> he goes absolutely berserk and just started destroying things. >> he said i would rather die with you than live without you. one of the most powerful men on earth holds an existence for nearly 2,000 years. as faith evolves, his authority remains, what began with one apostle has become 1.2 billion followers under one man. he is the head of the catholic church, the pope. and this is his path to power.