Kenneth O'Donnell
Kenneth P. O'Donnell (born March 4, 1924 in Worcester , Massachusetts , † September 9, 1977 in Boston , Massachusetts) was an influential political adviser to the US President John F. Kennedy .
Life
During World War II , O'Donnell served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1945 . After the war he studied at Harvard . His roommate was Robert F. Kennedy , who recommended him to his brother John in 1946 as a campaign employee for the congressional election. O'Donnell ended in 1951 his law studies at the Law School of Boston College . After doing a commercial job for Hollingsworth & Whitney in Boston, O'Donnell supported John F. Kennedy in the Senate elections in 1952 and 1958 and eventually became the campaign manager for Kennedy's presidential candidacy in 1960 .
1961 made Kennedy O'Donnell the personal assistant ( special assistant ). He held this office after the Kennedy assassination attempt (in Dallas, O'Donnell sat in the car behind Kennedy) and was assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1964 to 1965 . In 1965 and 1970 O'Donnell ran for the nomination for gubernatorial candidate of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts , but lost narrowly to Edward McCormack. During the 1968 presidential election campaign , O'Donnell first worked for Bobby Kennedy , then - after his murder - for Hubert H. Humphrey . O'Donnell and the close associates around President Kennedy were sometimes called the Irish Mafia . He is considered an early critic of the US policy on Vietnam.
As a result of his political disappointments with the murder of his two close political precursors, John F. and Robert F. Kennedy, O'Donnell increasingly spoke of alcohol. He was admitted to hospital on August 11, 1977 and died on September 9, 1977, just a few months after his wife, Helen.
O'Donnell in popular culture
- O'Donnell is portrayed by Trey Wilson in the 1983 Kennedy miniseries .
- In the 2000 film Thirteen Days , O'Donnell is the main character, played by Kevin Costner . The film addresses the Cuban Missile Crisis .
- He is portrayed by David Benn in Oliver Stone's 1991 film JFK - Tatort Dallas .
- In 2013, Mark Duplass took on his role in the drama Parkland , which depicts the events following the Kennedy assassination.
Works
- together with David F. Powers and Joe McCarthy: Johnny, we hardly knew ye. Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy . Little / Brown, Boston 1972, ISBN 0-316-71625-1
literature
- Helen O'Donnell: A Common Good. The Friendship of Robert F. Kennedy and Kenneth P. O'Donnell . Morrow, New York 1998, ISBN 0688148611 (Author is O'Donnell's daughter.)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | O'Donnell, Kenneth |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | O'Donnell, Kenneth P. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American political advisor and assistant to the President John F. Kennedy |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 4, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Worcester , Massachusetts |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 9, 1977 |
| Place of death | Boston , Massachusetts |