The President Has Been Shot!: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

“The next morning, John and Jacqueline Kennedy left their house for the last time and embarked on a journey that he would not complete, and from which he would never return.”

This passage sets up the frame for The President Has Been Shot! Both the beginning and ending of the book covers the Georgetown house. Swanson may have chosen this way to start and end the book to highlight the tragedy and irony that the Kennedy family left this house for the White House in high hopes for Jack Kennedy’s presidency, only for Jackie Kennedy to one day return as a widow.

“These achievements were great honors for an Irish Catholic family that had been treated as second-class citizens by the snobbish New England elite.”

The Kennedys were unusual for being an Irish-Catholic family, at a time when Catholics were still looked down upon and no Catholic had ever been the President of the United States. In fact, discrimination against Catholics and the Irish had a long history in the United States since its establishment. Jack Kennedy’s father hoped that Jack’s oldest brother Joe would become the first Catholic President (1), something that may have helped fuel Jack Kennedy’s own ambitions.

“For the rest of [Kennedy’s] life, he suffered from terrible pain—and other serious illnesses, including Addison’s disease—that he concealed with a cheerful public demeanor.”

Jack Kennedy’s numerous physical ailments were something that caused Kennedy great pain but that he tried to hide from the public. Swanson will speculate that this is part of why Kennedy developed such a charismatic political persona (42), reflecting the theme of