The Kennedy Imprisonment Alongside James Ellroy's American Tabloid

When it comes to describing such complex events as the Kennedy administration, one cannot understand the full picture through a single work. By combining different works of both fact and fiction, alongside motion pictures, one can gain a clearer interpretation of JFK’s presidency. Investigating Garry Wills’s The Kennedy Imprisonment alongside James Ellroy’s American Tabloid, one can develop a clearer picture of how the Kennedy administration functioned. The film Thirteen Days by Roger Donaldson brings to life the depiction presented in the two works. The Kennedy’s had a very magnetic persona and people were often pulled in their direction. Aside from this magnetic persona, their administration demanded loyalty from all of those involved. Although the

Both Garry Wills’s The Kennedy Imprisonment and Chris Matthews Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero discuss the life of JFK. Although both these works cover the same content, they provide two completely different standpoints on his administration. Matthews takes a much more favorable approach when presenting the life of JFK, while Wills takes a more antagonistic one. Wills portrays the Kennedys as ruthless leaders who use the people around them and then dispose of them. Wills mentions how after Arthur Krock, who “spent decades serving the career of Joseph Kennedy”, opposed JFK’s statement on civil rights, he was released (Wills 87). This display of disloyalty would lead to, “Kennedy, once in office, arranged for attacks on Krock to run in Newsweek, and was disappointed that they were so mild” (Wills 87). Wills uses this one example to really enforce the idea that the Kennedy’s were interested in one’s loyalty, but at the first sign of opposition, they were willing to destroy someone. One could not work for the Kennedy’s unless they vowed their loyalty, but Wills shows that the Kennedys didn’t care to repay that loyalty. Chris Matthews, who is quite fond of JFK,