United States of Kennedy – Details, episodes & analysis

Joe Kennedy, the patriarch of the Kennedy family, lived out the American dream. He amassed a fortune and gave his children a launching pad to political and cultural dominance. Lyra and George introduce themselves, the show, and the cast of characters who will be featured throughout.

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America’s prince JFK Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy were ubiquitous in ’90s New York until their tragic death in a plane crash in the summer of 1999. “In the pages of the city tabloids during those few short years, Bessette was a daily soap opera, forced into the multitude of unforgiving tropes for public women. The scheming girlfriend; the coked-up vixen; the miserable spouse,” writes journalist and author Glynnis MacNicol in Town & Country. But little is known about what Carolyn was actually like. We’re joined by MacNicol to separate fact from fiction.

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In 1969, a young Ted Kennedy drove his car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts. He managed to get out of the car and survive, but the 28-year-old woman in the passenger seat did not. Kennedy fled the scene and didn’t report the incident until the following morning. As with all Kennedy scandals, conflicting reports of what exactly happened led to enduring conspiracy theories. We’re joined by Liz McNeil, editor-at-large at PEOPLE, author of JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography, and host of the Chappaquiddick podcast COVER-UP, to discuss what we know about that night — and what we don’t.

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For our first edition of Kennedy Film of the Month, we dive into Oliver Stone’s 1991 political thriller opus ‘JFK’. While nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture, it was also roundly condemned in the press for popularizing the theory that there was a government conspiracy to assassinate JFK. Los Angeles Times film critic and co-host of the Unspooled podcast, Amy Nicholson, joins us to unpack the film’s legacy.

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In 1918, Joe and Rose Kennedy had their first daughter, Rosemary. She experienced developmental difficulties as a child and had trouble keeping up in school. When she was 23, her father arranged for her to undergo a lobotomy, which left her profoundly handicapped for the rest of her life. The truth about Rosemary was kept hidden for decades. We’re joined by historian Kate Clifford Larson, author of the New York Times bestseller ‘Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter,’ to discuss Rosemary’s life and legacy.

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Jackie Kennedy was only 34 years old when JFK was assassinated. She was suddenly a single mother of two — and one of the most famous women in the world. We’re joined by J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of the bestselling biography ‘Jackie: Public, Private, Secret’ and the just-released ‘JFK: Public, Private, Secret’, to talk about the relationships that defined Jackie’s post-White House life.

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