A&E Television Networks, which owns The History Channel, decided to drop the eight-part television miniseries 'The Kennedys' that was slated to air later this year to mark the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy presidency. Other cable networks like HBO, Showtime, Starz, and FX have also declined to showcase the series, which has received a lot of criticism from historians, activists, and members of the Kennedy family for giving an inaccurate portrayal of John F. Kennedy. They say the creators of the show are spinning Kennedy's legacy and rewriting history for political purposes.
Cynthia Littleton reported for Variety Magazine on January 10, 2011:
People close to the situation said the driving force was rising pressure from the Kennedy family and associates on A&E Television Networks' owners, Disney, Hearst and NBC Universal.Last year, Robert Greenwald, the award-winning filmmaker who made 'Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price' and 'Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism', and the founder of Brave New Films, received an early draft of the script for the series which depicted President Kennedy as sex obsessed, unintelligent, and immature--a picture that in no way reflects the real Kennedy, who, as author James W. Douglass reveals in his book, "JFK And The Unspeakable: Why He Died And Why It Matters," miraculously stopped a looming hot-war with the Soviet Union by reducing tensions, reaching out to Nikita Khrushchev with a sincere proposal for peace, and following his own inner voice rather than those of his immediate military and intelligence advisers who desperately wanted a larger war, and Kennedy out of the picture.
Greenwald, shocked and disgusted with what he described as a "character assassination," started a website called StopKennedySmears, and interviewed acclaimed historians about the script, including Ted Sorensen, David Nasaw, Rick Perlstein, Thurston Clarke, and Nigel Hamilton. Greenwald's Brave New Films released an eleven minute video on the internet called "Stop The Kennedy Smears" on February 16, 2010 featuring the historians listed above, and told viewers to sign a petition to tell "History Channel that until they stop running politically motivated fiction as historical "fact," you will refuse to watch their programming." Their vigilant efforts bore fruit as word quickly spread in media publications like the New York Times, and around Hollywood that the History Channel's series amounted to a political attack on John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert, his father Joe, and the entire Kennedy family.
Joel Surnow, who is the series's creator, is a self-described conservative, a close friend of Rush Limbaugh, and the co-creator of the hit show '24.' Unlike HBO's series on John Adams, which was based on the acclaimed historian David McCullough's bestselling biography of John Adams, the series on the Kennedys is full of historical errors, inaccuracies, and lies. Award-winning British biographer Nigel Hamilton, whose latest book is called "American Caesars: Lives of the Presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush," said:
"The script becomes, historically, ever more loony and juvenile, as the writers invent more and more phony events to give an impression of a President Kennedy out of his depth, and dependent on others for advice."Surnow was obviously not the right man for producing a show about John F. Kennedy as he is not interested in combing storytelling with history, but instead politics with fiction. Only sincere and truthful men should be given the privilege to tell the story of the courageous and brave John F. Kennedy. Of course, JFK was not a saint, he had his faults, but writers who have political agendas should not be tasked to tell their own version about real men and real events. History is already dramatic. The Kennedy presidency was tragic, but it was hopeful, too, and it has to be recorded truthfully. Everybody living in the world today should be grateful that such a wise, sane, honest, and visionary leader lived in turbulent times, and appreciative of the fact that Kennedy helped secure a great and difficult peace during his final days on Earth.
The decision to pull the show should be seen as a great victory for truth and justice. John F. Kennedy was a real hero, and he deserves better treatment than he has gotten so far. Unlike other U.S. presidents in the post WWII era, Kennedy defended the values and principles that America was founded on by challenging the corrupt and hidden government forces within Washington, and he paid severely for his courageous opposition to their plans for war. His life should be treasured, and glorified for all time, not defiled and denigrated. What he did was special, and nobody can take away his good deeds.
Kennedy's heroic and honorable legacy must be guarded, and ultimately followed. No other recent President has left a trail that's more promising, and more hopeful than the trail that President Kennedy left behind. He belongs in the company of the Founding Fathers, and his biopic should be written by the most talented screenwriters around, not by some trashy writer from Fox who is ignorant of Kennedy's struggles in the White House, his hard won accomplishments, and his great and deep love for humanity.
Thankfully, Kennedy's legacy has not been lost. Throughout the last half-century a countless amount of honest researchers, historians, and authors like James W. Douglass have worked tirelessly to reclaim history, and preserve Kennedy's honorable role in the American cultural and political landscape. Filmmakers like Oliver Stone, and Robert Greenwald have also stepped up as great preservers of history by accurately recording the facts of the Kennedy presidency, and adding the right amount of drama to the stomach-turning events of those years. "The preservers of history are as heroic as its makers," said Pat Morris Neff, who served as the Governor of Texas from 1921 to 1925. This statement should make us reflect on, and praise, the heroic work done by historians like David McCullough and James W. Douglass, and documentarians of truth like Oliver Stone and Robert Greenwald.
