DVD: JFK: A Presidency Revealed
(History Channel/NewVideo)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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This two DVD box from the History Channel will provide hours of interest for political junkies, Kennedy buffs or just about anyone with a general interest in 20th century American history. One disc holds the three part series, JFK: A Presidency Revealed, which used previously unheard audio recordings, unseen home movies and recently declassified medical records to provide remarkable new details about some of the critical moments in the 1000 day term of America's 35th President. Unlike so much Kennedy material that focuses on his assassination and the various theories and conspiracies that surround that event, this series focuses on events that seemed to happen in the full glare of headlines and history books, but with the deeper insights available through the newly uncovered source materials, they turn out to be as rich in unseen complexity as the occasion of his death.

The Missile Crisis, Bay of Pigs, civil rights struggles and other key events of the Kennedy years are put in hard focus, and every moment of the series is worth revisiting again and again. In addition, the second disc provides two episodes from A&E's Biography series, JFK: A Personal Story, which offers an intimate look at Kennedy's upbringing, WWII service, education and early political career, and Joseph Kennedy, Sr.: Father of an American Dynasty, which goes a level or two deeper into the life of the grand patriarch of the Kennedy clan than most people are familiar with.

In combination, the two discs offer hours of information and entertainment that belong in any documentary collection of American history.

© 2004 - Shaun Dale