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United States News Title: EXCLUSIVE: 'My story about the collision is getting better all the time. Now I've got a Jew and a n****r...' How John F. Kennedy revealed his father exploited the PT 109 incident to make his son a hero and pave the road to the White House One incident above all paved John F. Kennedy's path to the White House. That incident was the seven-day ordeal of the shipwreck of the patrol-torpedo boat he skippered, the PT 109, and the survival of the crew in the South Pacific in August 1943 during World War II. But it was only with the marketing strategy of patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy, who hyped the story of PT 109, that his son won a seat in Congress that subsequently led to the Oval Office. 'Without PT 109 you have no President John F. Kennedy', stated Dave Power, longtime campaign aide to JFK. Joseph P. exploited the PT 109 story and made it an essential piece of campaign biography where John Kennedy becomes a certified action hero, writes Fulbright Scholar and author William Doyle in his compelling new book, PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy, published by William Morrow. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Love affair with the sea: A young JFK (right) on the family sailboat Victura with brother Robert (left) in July 1934 JFK dines at the swanky Stork Club in New York City with his 'girlfriend of the day', fashion editor Florence Pritchett The story of how PT 109 became bigger than life began when JFK went on a double date at New York's swanky Stork Club in February 1944. Kennedy dined with his girlfriend du jour, fashion editor Florence Pritchett and Time-Life correspondent John Hersey, who won a Pulitzer Prize the following year for his WWII novel, A Bell for Adano, and his wife, Frances Ann Cannon, a former Kennedy girlfriend. On hearing Kennedy's account of his adventure in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, Hersey saw it as a magazine feature. He wrote about it in a piece, 'Survival' and to his surprise, Life Magazine rejected the story that had gotten publicity the previous year. Hersey sold it to the literary weekly, the New Yorker. Joe Kennedy, clearly dissatisfied with the limited publication that appealed to the American socially elite, wanted to find an outlet that would speak 'to the voting masses capable of propelling a Kennedy into political office, as the elder Kennedy foresaw. 'Then Joe Kennedy had an idea that proved to be a masterstroke' an unprecedented condensation of the piece in the mass audience monthly, Reader's Digest. 'After a sustained pressure-and-charm offensive by Joe Kennedy
a deal was struck in June 1944 that would make John Kennedy a national hero', writes author William Doyle. 'For Joe Kennedy's campaign of family self-promotion, the Hersey feature was a perfect instrument. 'The article was not a typical propaganda piece of combat heroism, but an authentic meditation on human endurance against the primal forces of nature: darkness, the ocean, hunger and thirst'. Kennedy was cast as a hero, 'a youth who has enormous bravery and energy'. Joe Kennedy printed up thousands of copies and flooded key election neighborhoods with the account that overshadowed his son's lack of political experience. This was his first step in the dogged pursuit of his eighteen-year dream to have a son in the White House. In the summer of 1939 Germany invaded Poland, ushering in World War I. That same year, Kennedy, in his early twenties, was traveling the world, had stopped off for a vacation on the French Riviera where he slept with actress Marlene Dietrich. He journeyed to England, Ireland, France, Moscow, Berlin, Beirut, Damascus, Athens and Turkey. Then on to Cuba, Rio, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Peru and Ecuador to name only a few countries and cities he visited while his father served as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom. In London in 1939, John met the King and Queen of England and their thirteen-year old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, whom he quickly chatted up over tea. 'I think she rather liked me and now I wouldn't be surprised if she has a thing for me,' JFK wrote to a friend. 'The knee breeches are cut tight to show off my crotch at its best, and the uniform worn by everyone but Dad at these court functions seems to have caught the polite eye of the young heir'. In 1941, Kennedy decided to enlist in the military and with his father's help behind-the-scenes, he was appointed as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve. John loved sailing all his life and had his own personal sloop that he often sailed out of Hyannis Port. Serving the sea: John F. Kennedy (center) sits in uniform while in training for the US Navy The destroyer Amagiri (pictured) cut through the PT 109 diagonally during the attack on JFK and his crew JFK taking the controls of PT 109 while In the South Pacific. Two crewmen died and leaving 11 others stranded in the Pacific Ocean after an attack by the Japanese during WWII Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: cranky (#0)
All this, and more, was known from day one. Jack Kennedy was the original version of Bill Clinton and every bit as destructive to the nation.
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