Back in ancient Rome, certain emperors—those who had done well by the people, or those who had won wars, or those who had thrown the best parties—were deified either during their lifetime or upon their death. These emperors belonged to an “imperial cult” of worship, which can be described as either giving due respect to strong political leaders who exercised hegemonic forces for the good of his people, or as a narcissistic and insincere cult of personality which served only to enforce imperial propaganda.
John F. Kennedy, arguably more than any other president, is one such figure. A man so pure of heart, so on the cusp of change, so tragically stripped from his time, that he has almost ascended into the stuff of American mythology. His myth is so prevalent today that many supporters of democratic candidate Bernie Sanders are offering up comparisons of the two political leaders. There are entire books, essays, and treatises speculating about what the world would be like had Kennedy lived. Conspiracy theorists offer up hundreds of pages hypothesizing that Kennedy was murdered by a variety of people for an unbelievable number of reasons; most famously, that it was an inside job because Kennedy was too liberal.
About a month ago, the CIA declassified some 19,000 pages of documents from the cold war and the tragically brief presidency of John F. Kennedy. Much of these newly-revealed documents are the president’s “daily briefs”: information, presumably, about what had happened in the world during the few hours of sleep the president managed to catch the night before. So secretive were these documents, that many of the pages bear the ominous title “For the President’s eyes only.” While these pages aren’t cause for renewed frenzy by conspiracy theorists or history textbook-rewrites—most pages remain partially redacted—they do offer an invaluable glimpse into the day-to-day operations of the president, and more specifically, JFK’s own thought-process.
More than anything, the declassified documents work in some way to strip away from the carefully-crafted John F. Kennedy we’ve read about in biographies and histories. The predominant image of Kennedy is one of a calm and pragmatic nature, a family man, as described by—though edited may be a better word—his wife Jackie Onassis (then Kennedy) and his brother Robert F. Kennedy. After JFK’s death, his wife and brother exercised exclusive rights over what documents were to be made public versus classified, and what was written about him in biographies and histories. In this way, they were able to give the world what they wanted to see: the brave, liberal man in love with his loved ones and more importantly, his people. The recently declassified documents do not ruin this image, but rather, they render JFK a little more human to us mere mortals.
Historian Timothy Naftali, after plumbing the depths of the 19,000 plus pages, has concluded that JFK was ultimately much more cunning and cagey than we’ve previously believed. These documents reveal that Kennedy was never entirely sold on the necessity of America’s vigilance during the Cold War, but that he understood the theatrics of it. More than anything, Kennedy, it appears, just wanted to be liked. Kennedy had his suspicions, however. The documents are also partial transcripts of day-to-day conversations: unbeknownst to friends, Kennedy kept secret recording devices in his desk drawers. Marginal notes in the documents offer new clues about Kennedy’s philandering, including a “girlfriend system” to escort women in and out of his chambers. Logs show that Jackie Kennedy was almost never in the company of her husband on Friday nights and flight manifests often include a 19-year-old White House intern alongside the president’s men.
Ultimately, while Kennedy’s loved ones may have tried to shape Kennedy into the ideal American hero, they created an almost unattainable godly figure. Kennedy’s indiscretions, his personal proclivities, his likes and dislikes, and a waffle-recipe sent ahead to any and all locations were the president was likely to rest his head, are what make him human. And being human makes him all the more interesting.