American Experience: JFK DVD & Blu-ray

This is a very good documentary telling about the life and accomplishments of JFK. I would recommend this to anyone wishing to learn about JFK's life and career.

Education starts here. For instance, it starts when JFK was young and (I did not know) of his medical problems from a young boy to man. His relationship with his father and family, how he got into politics and of course, the Cuban Missile Crisis - this is a video to watch more than once. If you love history and want to learn, this is the video for you.

Although this does not tell you the underhanded way Joseph Kennedy gained his wealth, it does show how the Kennedy family lied and used their wealth to gain positions of power. JFK was a smart wimp who had an incredible brother who was probably responsible for much of the success of JFKs presidency. There may have been a sliver of good that came from the Kennedy family but it is not well revealed in this program.

With everything written about JFK this documentary has more detail and early film which makes his story complete.

The best documentary I have seen on JFK presenting both his strengths and weaknesses. A welcome edition to mid-20th century history, especially for those too young to have experienced the JFK era.

Growing up and attending school through my teen years in Boston, I was quite aware of the Kennedy Family and the legacy of the Kennedy Clan. After graduating from Boston English High School I entered the USAF and spent three years of my service in West Germany and then returned to continue my education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. When the call Ask Not... was made, I joined the first Peace Corps Volunteer and travelled to the White House where JFK wished the best for our Colombia One group of young men. I met JFK again in Bogota,Colombia and then learned of his death while teaching new PC Trainees in New Mexico. The dvd I watched on PBS made it imperative that I get a copy for my library to learn more details of the man. The dvd filled in a lot of gaps in my inderstanding of the man and his place in my life.

I thought I had read or heard everything about Kennedy, but this program had many pieces of footage and early photographs I had never seen. It dealt with his early years, World War II and his early political career in a way fresh and new. Growing up in Dallas, Texas, I lived through 11/22/63. I thought this program handled that tragedy with great dignity and sorrow -- simply and short.

For anyone who wants to see shots of the Kennedy presidency this is it. You cant beat the TWO disc set from the PBS. You get all the history from when he first started dating Jacqueline Bovier to running for the Senate to his Presidency with the Bay of Pigs and of course, the assignation and the end is the outstanding funeral that his young wife put together in less than a week, while she was moving out of het home, the White House, due to an edict from Johnson to MOVE OUT so WE CAN MOVE IN! With a message that...if you need anything let us know, we care deeply for you. Talk about speaking out of both sides of your mouth, this is it! I honesty think he was responsible for joining the men who killed OUR President but there is no proof yet, at least we now have more information released to us from the file that were kept in a vault for the fifty years since the Presidents assassination. So in my humble opinion this two disc set of JFK and his wife, JBK, this is a must if you truly want to know the Kennedy history.

In view of the 5 million pages of secret documents released by the government in the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (after 30 years of trying to block that release) it is embarrassing to see the same falsified history presented by the Warren Report being clung to by a handful of hack biographers who are more interested in protecting their revenue stream than digging any deeper. The biggest issues, the constant attempts of the CIA and military to subvert and embarrass JFK, go ahead with the Bay of Pigs invasion against the Presidents decision NOT to, and to subvert the presidents nuclear test ban treaty, are left completely unacknowledged and unaddressed. Very disappointing rehash of misinformation which has been accurately disproven in recent years by historians willing to sift through the declassified information, and willing to move forward.

I wasnt born in this era, but this program helped me to understand what it was like. It did a great job of telling the whole story of JFK not just the myth. Well made and presented. I would highly recommend.

If you like history but dont really care about its accuracy, this should be an entertaining alternative to the reality of the JFK presidency. The family and WW2 histories are interesting, but there has been an unexplainable avoidance of the inclusion of information from the 5 million pages of transcripts available after the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992...released only after 30 years of stonewalling, and which the CIA is now attempting to reverse. Based almost entirely on the grossly outdated and inaccurate Warren Report, and biographies and histories taken from that carefully misconstructed document, this documentary fails to use the latest evidence to clarify the CIAs extreme dislike and mistrust of Mr. Kennedy, and their efforts to undermine his policies. It is now known that JFK worked tirelessly to prevent the CIA from using its Bay of Pigs invasion plan, not knowing that the plan was to include a calling off of air support by the U S military so the invasion, once under way, would fail, presumably forcing the President to send in U S troops, thereby creating a state of war. General Curtis Lemay was certain that this would inevitably draw in the Soviet Union, and force an all-out nuclear confrontation which Lemay presumed the US would win...dangerous, if not mad, thinking. Both the CIA and the US Military are now known to have colluded to undermine the Presidents plans for both a nuclear test ban treaty and a non-proliferation treaty with Khrushchev, using unauthorized, illegal, and violent incidents meant to create distrust between the two, who had been secretly communicating with each other through personal aides. Most people cant quite believe that that the CIA was set up by President Harry Truman to have no oversight, and have complete autonomy to do whatever it deems necessary to protect American security, regardless of the wishes of the President, Congress, or the American people. Truman later confessed this creation to be his greatest mistake as President. The JFK presidency has turned out to be a frightening illustration of the magnitude of Trumans error on multiple levels, as anyone studying the declassified JFK Act papers now knows. The Political portion of this documentary is an embarrassment to those who study American history, but satisfactory entertainment for those unaware of political reality.

Anyone who has an interest in JFK shouldnt miss it.

JFK American Experience ---- one word will do: SPECTACULAR