A Comparison Of Kennedy And The Cold War

The film JFK was created in 1991 and it was directed by Oliver Stone and the cast included many actors such as Kevin Costner and Gary Oldman along with Tommy Lee Jones and Kevin Costner. The film depicts a lawyer named Jim Garrison trying to find out and solve what really happened to JFK and who murdered him. The film correlates to our textbook Chapter 20 “The New Frontier and Great Society”, and 20.1 and 20.2, “Kennedy and the Cold War” and “The New Frontier” to be precise. Both the film and the textbook reflect Kennedy's achievements throughout his span as the president including but not limited to conflicts throughout his time that would ultimately lead to his downfall.

JFK is about the events leading up to the assassination of the president

during the time JFK( John F. Kennedy). The film tries to deceiver who killed JFK and it’s believed to be a cover-up a the film is told through the pov of Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner).

Garrison believes he has an idea of who he thinks killed JFK or is at least involved and he file charges against Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) who he believes is involved and that he had pinned the crime on an innocent man named Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) which the Warren Commission had acquitted him for the crime. This movie is based on the real life Clay Shaw trial and the time period that the movie takes place in is early 1960's to late 1970's. The key characters that are the protagonist of the film is Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) and Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman) the bad/antagonists are Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Warren Commission. The problem of JFK is to decide if John F. Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald or is there something extraordinary about the case and if Clay Shaw(Tommy Lee Jones) had

killed John F. Kennedy the case is concluded by Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) who takes the assumed murder Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones) to trial and then shows and evaluates his proposed idea/conspiracy to the court with explaining the idea that there was multiple killers and he tried to debunk the idea that there was one bullet only, he then shows the court a shot involving three assassins who fired six total shots and he had tried to explain how it was all a framing for Oswald to be murder of Kennedy and J. D. Tippit but in the end the jury decides that Clay Shaw is innocent and there just wasn’t enough evidence although they do think that JFK was killed by multiple people.
The film JFK correlates to Chapter 20: The New Frontier and Great Society, Section 1 which is properly named “Kennedy and the Cold War” the section states that Kennedy Mystique is when the nation becomes mesmerized with the Kennedys for example it states “It seemed the nation could not get enough of the first family.

Newspapers and magazines filled their pages with pictures and stories about the president’s young daughter Caroline and his infant son John. With JFK’s youthful glamour and his talented advisers, the Kennedy White House reminded many of a modern-day Camelot, the mythical court of King Arthur” (U.S. History 672). The textbook also states that the media was an influential part of helping Kennedys image because they were memorized to be specific the text states, “Kennedy often appeared on television. The press loved his charm and wit and helped to bolster his image.” (U.S. History 672). During the beginning of the film we hear through a narrated scene that John F. Kennedy and the rest of his family are a symbol of the new freedom of the 1960’s and signifying change and upheaval to the american people even JFK winning over his candidate by a landslide from the american public. The portrayal of John F. Kennedy portrayed through the film accurately depicts how the the real life situation was in which John F. Kennedy was loved and admired by hundred thousands of people and everyone fell for his charm and believed that he could create change and difference in this world

for the better. In the chapter they my claims are further supported in which they show the Kennedy family in various pictures from various magazines seeming happy and cliche. During the film we can see Kennedy giving speeches to the american public on television against his Richard Nixon likewise we in the text we manage to see in a image corresponding to the correct part. The text even states that “John F. Kennedy appeared confident and at ease during a televised debate with his opponent Richard M. Nixon” (U.S. History 671). The film JFK completes a radiant activity at portraying every one of the segments and different areas among "Kennedys persona" and ties in pleasantly with the reading material.
Another association amongst JFK and Chapter 20: The New Frontier and Great Society, Section 1: "Kennedy and the Cold War" is the way that the Cuban Missile Crisis is depicted. The textbook depicts the Cuban Missile Crisis as when “Kennedy informed an anxious nation of the existence of Soviet missile sites in Cuba and of his plans to remove them. He made it clear that
any missile attack from Cuba would trigger an all-out attack on the Soviet Union.” (U.S. History 676) and states “The first break in the crisis occurred when the Soviet ships stopped suddenly to avoid a confrontation at sea...The United States also secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey” (U.S. History 676). In the film the Cuban Missile Crisis is delineated as the world becoming to the brink of nuclear war after Kennedy quarantines Cuba after announcing the presence of offensive soviet nuclear missiles 90 miles off american shores. Soviet ships with more missiles sail to the island but then head back and the world breathes with relief. In the film we also see many images of ships and the nuclear weapons themselves seeming large and aimed towards america. The textbook even shows a map that allows us to see cuba and the nuclear missiles and every major city they could hit including Chicago, Denver, Washington D.C, New York, Atlanta, and even Houston within a matter of minutes from 17 minutes to 12 mins at minimum. The map on page 675 of the textbook also manages to show us that the missiles are 90 miles off and how dangerous they can be due to the range and distance they’re at. The film does a great job at capturing every event that took place in the Cuban Missile Crisis and managing to explain how much of a threat the soviet missiles were to the United States also while showing us how close to the verge we were on a nuclear warfare.
Despite the fact that there were a lot of similarities in JFK and Chapter 20: The New Frontier there were additionally a lot of contrasts between the two sources. Although the textbook doesn’t outright state the differences there is plenty. One difference in particular from the film is the characters Mr. X and Willie O’keefe because these two didn’t exist at all in real life. The textbook doesn’t ever mention the people nor were they real in the first place. Another difference is the that in the film Garrison drugs a witness with a “truth serum” which is illegal and never even happened. Likewise one other difference in the film is president Kennedy's persistence to withdraw from vietnam. This so called “drugging” is nowhere to be found in the text. The final difference from the film is a crucial one in which David Ferrie admits to his involvement in the assassination. This is inaccurate to real life in which David never admitted this. Overall I believe there were many reasons why these differences were added into the story. One reason why I believe they were added was to help the narrative and tell the story that director Oliver Stone wanted to tell such as forcing John F. Kennedy to want to withdraw from vietnam and having David Ferrie admit to his involvement with the assassination. Another reason why these differences were added into the film is so that they could help with entertainment in order to try to attract and reach a wider audience through various means that could be considered entertaining such as the “truth serum” drugging scene. To conclude the film further enhanced my knowledge over the subject by allowing me to gain a perspective on what could’ve happened to John F. Kennedy and that perhaps it’s more than one person involved. I also learned that Kennedys mystique really was a real thing that benefited him in many ways but also negatively impacted him as well. I learned that the Cuban Missile crisis could’ve ended in devastating results from an atomic clash thanks to both parties involved.