Episode 161: The Rest of the Story; JFK, Part VIII

 

After Jack's rocky year in the House of Representatives, he runs for the Senate and beats a guy who hasn't lost an election in years... and he wins it with the help of an endorsement from an old adversary who has become a new friend.

He really settles into life as a senator and, as you probably know, he goes on to become the second youngest president in US history. But I promise there are a few details you don't know about the rest of the story, so I hope you listen.

 

Episode 160: Jack's War is Over; JFK, Part VII

While the PT 109 survivors's saga comes to an end, it is not the end of the story. In this episode we learn why JFK decides to get into politics after the war - it was NOT his decision - and when his political career plateaus, we'll see the insane thing Joe, Sr. has his son do to take his political career to the next level.

 

Episode 159: Castaway; JFK, Part VI

After PT 109 is ripped in two, the eleven men who miraculously survive spend the next four days looking for rescue before they die of dehydration and before the thousands of Japanese troops surrounding them become away of their presence... This is also why JFK will have a coconut on his desk in the oval office.

 

Episode 158: Forged in Fire; JFK, Part V

In the chaos following PT 109's collision with INJ Amagiri, Jack Kennedy does everything he can to rescue his shipmates and when it becomes obvious that no one is coming to rescue them, he choses an island deep inside enemy territory and hopes it is small enough to be of no strategic value to the Japanese; but only time will tell if it is garrisoned or not.

Episode 157: Ripped in Two; JFK, Part IV

 

Jack Kennedy finally takes command of a PT boat in a combat zone and begins to settle into what turns out to be a fairly rough existence in a place that turns out to be less than the paradise it looked like at first glance.

His commander, not a PT man himself, comes up with a plan to attack a Japanese convoy, but the plan isn't great to start with and after it's implementation,  everything that can go wrong, seems to; which will nearly cost JFK his life.

Episode 156: In the Navy; JFK, Part III

 

After graduating form Harvard, JFK isn't sure of his next steps. He knows that he needs to find a way to serve - the world is at war and everyone is sure the US will soon join the fight.

With the help of his father, he follows his brother's footsteps and joins the navy, but soon both Kennedy boys realize their dad is likely pulling strings to keep them out of harms way... and having raised children taught to fight for what they want, both eventually go behind their father's back and get into the fight.

Episode 155: Harvard, London, and a World at War; JFK, Part II

 

JFK's collegiate path was never in doubt - his application essay (which I read in full on the podcast) is evidence of that - but after he begins university, his father's new senior position in the US government gives Jack a front row seat to the collapse of peace in Europe and leaves his struggling with how and why it happened.

Fortunately for him, that gives him a great idea for his senior thesis, which becomes a best selling book, but also leaves his grappling which what his role will be when the United States inevitably enters World War II.