Tag Archives: President John F. Kennedy

Books

Jeffrey Kluger’s revisits the world and wonders of Apollo 8

The Apollo 8 mission was equal parts fearless and reckless, ingenious and impulsive. The risks were substantial: The astronauts were flying a spacecraft that had killed a three-man crew in a launchpad fire just a year earlier; their rocket was unproven and had failed its most recent test flight; and they were facing an abbreviated training period for the unprecedented journey. . Meanwhile, the Russians were winning the space race, the Cold War was getting hotter by the month, and President Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade seemed sure to be broken. In August 1968, NASA made a bold decision: In just 16 weeks, the United States would launch humankind’s first flight to the moon and astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders signed on immediately.Image result for apollo 8

Apollo 8 was the groundbreaking mission that produced the iconic earthrise photo that is credited with jump-starting the climate change movement; the mission that made all of the other moon missions possible, including the Apollo 11 moon landing; and the mission that climaxed most poignantly on Christmas Eve, when the astronauts pointed their camera out the small window of their spacecraft and beamed images of the lunar horizon crawling below and the Earth hanging in the distance to 3.5 billion people, forever changing the way we view our planet.

Blast off into a world of wonders that demands to be rediscovered. With the help of extensive interviews with the three astronauts and many other principals involved in the mission, as well as oral histories, NASA documents, and the mission audio archive, Jeffrey Kluger, co-author of Apollo 13 and veteran science reporter,  re-creates the drama suspense and triumph of this historic event in the must-read Apollo 8: The Thrilling Story of the First Mission to the Moon  (Henry Holt and Co., $30).Image result for jeffrey kluger apollo 8

The full story of Apollo 8 has never been told, and only Kluger—Jim Lovell’s co-author on their bestselling book about Apollo 13—can do it justice. Here is the tale of a mission that was both a calculated risk and a wild crapshoot, a stirring account of how three American heroes forever changed our view of the home planet.

DVDs, Movies

John F. Kennedy’s life and legacy detailed in “I Am JFK Jr.”

He was crowned with so many titles:  “Sexiest Man Alive,” “American Royalty,” “Heir to Camelot,”  “America’s Son,”  “Editor in Chief”. How do you remember John F. Kennedy, who scorned being called John John? The son of Jackie O? The little boy who saluted his father’s funeral procession? The hunky man whose plan plunged crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, killing himself, his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren?
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Carolyn Bessette Kennedy & John Kennedy Jr. running errands in NYC with their dog Friday

Now John Kennedy Jr. comes back to life in the original documentary film, I Am JFK Jr., an intimate, revealing and poignant look at his life in and out of the spotlight. Network Entertainment and Spike TV delve into the compelling life of John F. Kennedy Jr. through the distinctive lens of many of the people who knew him best, from A-list celebrities to close friends and staffers who worked closely with him at George magazine. I Am JFK Jr. (Virgil Films) comes to Digital HD on August 2, followed by a DVD release release on August 12.

9_12_88_300x400The White House was the first home John knew. The son of President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy grew up in the public spotlight. When the world witnessed the moment the adorable 3-year-old JFK Jr. saluted his fallen father, the image was seared into the nation’s collective memory.
John F. Kennedy Jr. was considered by many to be “America’s Prince”. Despite living under the media microscope for his entire life, JFK Jr. forged his own successful career – from serving as the Assistant District Attorney of New York to launching the glossy political magazine, George.  Featuring exclusive interviews from a wide array of friends and former colleagues, I Am JFK Jr. is an engrossing look at the person behind the tabloid fodder featuring untold stories that for the first time, will give viewers a true sense of the real JFK Jr.
The documentary features interviews with John F. Kennedy Jr.’s friends ranging from the famous, like Robert De Niro and Cindy Crawford, to the controversial, like Mike Tyson and Larry Flynt; from media stars like Christiane Amanpour, Chris Cuomo, Paul Begala and Ann Coulter, to close friends like Grateful Dead songwriter John Perry Barlow, Sasha Chermayeff, Richard Wiese, Chris Oberbeck, Brian Steel, John Hare, New York restaurateur Richie Notar, John’s Chief of Staff RoseMarie Terenzio, and colleagues at John’s pioneering George magazine, Gary Ginsberg and Matt Berman.
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Michael Reagan and author Doug Wead talk about the difficulties and strange destinies of presidential children, actor Kristoffer Polaha talks about the man he would one day play on screen, while authors Christopher Andersen and Laurence Leamer offer background on the life of America’s most famous family.
In addition to personal photos from John’s closest friends, the film features vintage footage of young JFK Jr. in the White House, with his family, and rare views of him in the years after his father’s assassination. I Am JFK Jr. tells the story of a young man pegged for greatness yet determined to be good,  a story that ended way too soon.