PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy

by William Doyle

The heavy mantle of Joseph Kennedy Sr.’s political ambitions now landed squarely on the fragile shoulders of a sickly John F. Kennedy. “I’m now shadowboxing in a match the shadow is always going to win,” John despaired to a friend. Through 1944 and 1945, John suffered through continuing health crises and was detached honorably from the U.S. Navy in December 1944, after which he briefly pursued an inconsequential stint as a war correspondent for the Hearst News Service in 1945, and spent months in the Arizona sun trying to rebuild his strength and health. During this time, Joe Sr. and John Kennedy appear to have reached an understanding that John was the family’s ‘anointed one’ and that politics would be his destiny. “I can feel Pappy’s eyes on the back of my neck,” John said to a friend during the Christmas holiday of 1944, adding, “I’ll be back here with Dad trying to parlay a lost PT boat and a bad back into a political advantage. I tell you, Dad is ready right now and can’t understand why Johnny boy isn’t all engines ahead full.” Years later, John told a reporter, “It was like being drafted. My father wanted his oldest son in politics. ‘Wanted’ isn’t the right word. He demanded it. You know my father.” On another occasion, Kennedy explained: “My brother Joe was the logical one in the family to be in politics, and if he had lived, I’d have kept on being a writer.” Joseph Kennedy Sr. confirmed John’s account of the succession, asserting matter-of-factly to a journalist in...