I’ve seen in a documentary on the History channel that John F. Kennedy and his father had connections with the Mafia. Did America’s great President John Fitzgerald Kennedy really have connections with the Mob? If so, What does this reveal about him? Did JFK’s rise to power influenced to his assassination? Was his assassination related to the Mob?

Thanks in advance.

First of all JFK was not the 'great' President the most people seem to think he was.

The tragedy of his assasination served to catapult him to martyr status and led to the mythological belief that he was one of our greatest, most popular Presidents. At the time of his death, he was not quite as popular as we'd like to think, and some wonder today whether he would've been re-elected in 1964. After all, that trip to Dallas in the first place was a 'mending-fences' mission, an effort to get support he desparately needed for the upcoming election year.

Second...well, you SAW the documentary. It has been indicated for years that yes, his father Joe Sr. did have ties with....

Apple

"Mafia ties" to the Kennedys have been rumored for decades, even before the JFK assassination. They're based on two thin threads of circumstance:
1. Joe Kennedy was a major importer of Scotch whiskey during Prohibition--ergo, he must have had Mafia ties to do so. Nope. The Mafia (that is, organized crime Mafia families of the Twenties) was NOT a major player in Prohibition-era rumrunning. Jewish and Irish gangs dominated most of the Prohibition-era booze business, except in Chicago, where the Capone mob (which was NOT a Mafia family) was the big player. Joe Kennedy may have had some ancillary business with organized crime-connected people who bought or shipped his booze, but that doesn't constitute an intimate connection.
2. In a hip-bone-connected-to-thigh-bone story, JFK was rumored to have a connection to Sam Giancana, Chicago Mafia boss. According to this tale, Frank Sinatra, who was briefly a pal of JFK's, introduced him to Judith Campbell Exner, who had been Giancana's mistress. Later, supposedly, JFK or his father asked Sinatra to ask Giancana to turn out the labor vote for JFK in the 1960 election. It is a fact that Exner was one of JFK's (many) mistresses, but he dropped her (and Sinatra) like the proverbial hot potato when FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover revealed that he knew about the liason and her connection to Giancana. And it's unlikely that JFK, his father or Sinatra asked Giancana for any help in 1960, since Chicago's all-powerful mayor, Dick Daley, had promised his ally JFK that he'd delive the state of Illinois on a silver platter. Nor would Giancana have been willing to help JFK: only the year before, JFK chaired a Senate committee hearing on labor racketeering at which brother Bobby (the committee's counsel) called Giancana as a witness and humiliated him--likening him to a "little girl."
For the record: I agree with Apple about JFK not being a great (or even near-great) President. Martyrdom has greatly exaggerated his status.

It was terrible the way Kennedy handled the Bay of Pigs invasion. He called off the air strike, allowing hundreds of Cuban-Americans to be slaughtered on the beach. Talk about NOT being a “profile in courage”. Also, the Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most overblown, media-hyped events of all-time – it was never a crisis. The Soviets would have never launched a missile towards the USA. They knew if they did, their country would be “kaput”. They just wanted to keep Cuba a communist counrty. I also agree he wouldn’t have won reelection in ’64. And the only reason Johnson won was because of Kennedy’s death. Barry Goldwater later said “I might have defeated Kennedy, but I couldn’t defeat his ghost”. This attributed to what was one of the most lopsided elections in history. (Johnson – 44 states, Goldwater – 6 states). How different the United States’ history would’ve been if Goldwater had been president.

Freddie C,

Truer words were never spoken.



Apple

If you want to know more about Kennedy and his Mob-connection you should watch the movie (mini-serie) Bonanno: a Godfather's story.
Of course that's not a proove that Kennedy had mob-connections but......

Goldwater, Apple? Goldwater?

Sheesh...I know you're a conservative, but still...Goldwater?

I agree...JFK was not a "great" president, and his martyrdom tends to influence everyone's recollection of him.

But Barry Goldwater? Omigod, what a scary thought.

Well, at least he was a GREAT speaker. I think that his speeches were spectacular.

The Barry Goldwater who proclaimed that, "Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice" IS a scary thought!

Well, at least he was a GREAT speaker. I think that his speeches were spectacular. [/b][/quote]Definitely a great speaker. I was only 12/13 when he began his campaign. He was so charismatic that I had to listen to him, even at that young age. He was the one who got me interested in the whole political process. He had charm and such a great wit. I don't know that I'd be so harsh to judge his performance, since he never finished a first term. Maybe not great, but we will really never know how history would have played out had he finished his term and gotten elected a second. At least he was a president who could put a sentence together. :p


TIS

And he did it with style! You used a word that best describes him - "charisma".

Do you remember at one political function when all the rage was Jackie's wardrobe, hair, etc. JFK starts his speech with something like, "nobody comments I what I wear" or something to that effect.


TIS


Hey SC/L!!!! (thanks! You know what I'm referring to. Did you get my e-mail?)

JFK (and Jackie) visited France while he was in office. Their press went wild about Jackie, and gave her A LOT of coverage. At some state function there, JFK remarked that he was the guy who accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to France.

He had a wonderful sense of humor.

He sure did. But he was also a nonstop philanderer. One of the facts that emerged about the Kennedys after JFK's tragedy was that Jackie usually didn't sleep in the White House because she knew JFK was partying nonstop. According to one story, Jackie made a spur-of-the-moment visit to the White House during the day. The Secret Service burst into the White House pool, where JFK was supposedly cavorting with a bevvy of beauties, and shooed them out. Jackie mostly stayed at the Virginia horse farm that JFK's father bought for her in 1959 to keep her from divorcing JFK (which would have been fatal to his Presidential aspirations). JFK was so fatalistic about the Cuban missile crisis, that, at the darkest moment, he asked Jackie to spend the night with him at the White House, believing it could be America's last night.

Barry Goldwater was a man ahead of his time. I'm sure he WOULD have been able to beat JFK in 1964. And after that, would've been one of our greatest Presidents.

Instead, we had to wait another 16 years for Ronald Reagan.

Apple

I agree, JFK WAS a great speaker, even a dynamic one. Let's face it, the guy was charismatic.
Even today, I enjoy watching ANY documentary program about JFK despite my opinion of his presidency.

Apple

I agree, JFK WAS a great speaker, even a dynamic one. Let's face it, the guy was charismatic.
Even today, I enjoy watching ANY documentary program about JFK despite my opinion of his presidency.

Apple [/b][/quote]Yeah, he sure was a charismatic.

You all really piss me off who think Kennedy was a bad president.
-Kennedy oredered the first 1000 troops home from Vietnam by x-mas '63
-Kennedy planned to have all U.S. involvement in Vietnam to end in '64
-Kennedy started the greatest space program in the world
-Kennedy started the wheels with MLK for Civil Rights among African Americans
-THE CIA FAILED IN THE BAY OF PIGS
-Kennedy saved our country from nuclear war

You want to know why Kennedy didn't want to provide air cover for the Cubans in the bay of pigs? b/c russia was on its way with NUCLEAR WEAPONS? -Your all a bunch of f-ing idiots for speaking our of your ass

Don'tForgetTheCannolis is obviously quite emotional about JFK, as are many people...which explains the 'private' message he sent to me along the same lines but just a bit more specific in its nastiness.

Have your fun, DFTC...you are free to idolize anyone you like.

Best,
AppleOnYa

Well, after all, he's from Boston...

I remember reading that when asked today who they voted for in the 1960 election over 75% of the people say they voted for JFK - contrasting the actual results which were almost even with Nixon. The Richard Daley led "vote early - vote often" Illinois contingent came through for him.

A lot of the legislation he wanted to pass, like civil rights, were hopelessly bogged down in congress and not near passing. It took a lot of work by LBJ and Robert Kennedy to push them through.

Like him or not, JFK had a very energizing affect on the country. His death kind of triggered the turmoil the 1960s are known for.

I'm just curious b/c it seems to me that no one here who is down on the man has brought anything to my attention that made him a bad president.

I don't think anyone has really said he was a 'BAD' President.

He just wasn't an all that great one.

And he probably would not have been re-elected.

Apple

Freddie C. the cuban missile crisis was overblown? c'mon your not serious? give the man some credit in saving our country. Now true you can't say the soviets would have launched the missles but the fact remains they could have and had it not been for Kennedy who knows where we would be. you can't deny that.

give me some facts to support what your saying

lets go Apple you still haven't had a good argument yet a lot he was this he was that but you can't say anything to what i've posted of the mans accomplishments....i'll be waiting....

I don't think he was a bad president by any definition. And, I disagree that he would not have been re-elected. The country was fascinated with him and his family, and Barry Goldwater was not the most electable person.

He handled the Cuban Missle Crisis extremely well, and the Bay of Pigs fiasco was really an inherited plan of Eisenhowers. Kennedy himself said he learned a valuable lesson about trusting others, and that lesson showed in the missile crisis. He did what he thought was the right thing to do and didn't listen to the advisors.

Heeheehee...DFTC is trying to pick an argument with me both publicly and privately. He (or is is she) obviously can't handle the fact that his idol was less than perfect.

Yawn.

Apple

Sure he's praised today...nobody's going to put down a martyred President.

Look, you're a whiney, Kennedy-loving crybaby and getting way too emotional. For all I know you may be starting private arguments with everyone who has stated they don't think JFK was that big a deal. And as someone cleverly pointed out...you're from Boston.

Obviously though, you're not secure enough with your own opinions.

If you started looking at history in terms of reality and not selectively, then you'd probably know better. But for now, you've become way too boring to argue with.

Buh bye...

Apple

-this is apples argument as to why kennedy wasn't a great president. I have to hand it to him he makes a pretty good case. Yea so what i'm from Boston i'm actually originally from the town in which JFK was born but that has no bias as to why he was great i already posted why he was great and its there for anyone to see. The problem being with a discussion you need feedback and all i've gotten from apple is this crap: your emotional, your this, your that, hes this, hes that. Make a point!

He absolutely would have been re-elected, I think.

LBJ won in a landslide. True, a lot of it was sympathy for JFK, but that's the point. I think Kennedy would have beaten Goldwater by even more than Johnson did.