May 29, 2009

John Fitzgerald Kennedy's Birthday

The late John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917. His representation in popular culture is ubiquitous. Think of movies that dramatize events from his presidency such as The Missiles of October (1974)in which William Devane played JFK, A Woman Named Jackie (1991)(Stephen Collins), Thirteen Days (2000)(Bruce Greenwood), and the one that started them all, PT 109 (1963)(Cliff Robertson). After his assassination, a number of documentaries and dramas poured out of Hollywood, including of course JFK(1991), a film which has now created its own mythology.

For fictional works in which Kennedy or events in his life appear, see among others lawyer Mark Lane's Executive Action, which, like JFK, speculates on the motives for the assassination, and which was turned into a 1973 film and Don De Lillo's Libra (1988), which fictionalizes the life of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Visit the John F. Kennedy website here.

Here are some other websites of interest.

American President: John F. Kennedy

The Kennedy Assassination Home Page.

PBS' The American Experience: The Kennedys

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