Having helped create the minute-by-minute television thriller “24,” Joel Surnow can take a more leisurely pace with his next project, a 10-hour mini-series about the Kennedy family. Muse Entertainment, a production company based in Montreal, said in a news release that the series “unveils secrets of the Kennedy family,” including the 35th president, John F. Kennedy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the producers are in talks with a cable network for distribution in the United States. The series will be pitched to international outlets at a conference this weekend. An outspoken conservative, Mr. Surnow left “24” in 2008; he also created a short-lived satire, “The ½ Hour News Hour,” for the Fox News Channel. Muse said the series would be fair, “neither a hatchet job nor a valentine.”
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Showing posts with label John F. Kennedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John F. Kennedy. Show all posts
Friday, March 27, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
From a forgotten rescuer, a simple tribute makes its way to JFK's gravesite
In a small, private ceremony in November at Arlington Cemetery, members of the Kennedy family watched as an unusual but heartfelt item was placed on President John F. Kennedy's grave: a simple, bracelet-size ring made of cream-colored shell, sent by an elderly man who lives on a remote island halfway across the world.
Why the fuss? Because without Eroni Kumana, the man who asked that the item be placed on the grave, Jack Kennedy, the young PT boat captain, might have not made it back from World War II.
Kumana was one of two Solomon Islanders who helped rescue Kennedy and his crew after his boat, PT-109, had been rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer.
When the destroyer smashed into the small boat in the early morning hours of Aug. 2, 1943, two crewmen died. Kennedy, then 26, led his remaining 10 crew members in a weeklong fight for survival, swimming to a series of tiny, deserted islands.
Kumana and another native, Biuku Gasa, found the men, who had been surviving on coconuts. They took a message from Kennedy written on a coconut husk (an item currently on display in Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston) to the nearest Allied base 35 miles away. A rescue was launched.
Fast-forward more than 60 years. Mark Roche, an investment banker whose hobby is World War II history, traveled to the Solomon Islands in March and, on a whim, looked up Kumana, now 83, who lives on Ranongga Island. After they talked for about an hour, Roche said, he asked if Kumana would like him to place some of the flowers from his yard on Kennedy's grave.
At that point, Roche said in an e-mail to the Kennedy Library, Kumana went into his hut and pulled out the ring of shell, which was a piece of custom money or shell money. The money, carved from a fossilized giant clam shell, could once be used to pay for a bride, buy land, and apply to other purposes in the Solomon Islands.
Kumana's son explained that another traditional use of the custom money was to lay it on a chief's grave.
Roche, 52, of Houston, agreed to lay it on Kennedy's grave for Kumana. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, he was able to get in touch with the Kennedy family and the ceremony was arranged.
The Kennedys treated Roche with "incredible graciousness," he said. "I was raised in a Nixon household. Honestly, we were raised, sort of, 'We don't like Kennedys.' . . . I take offense against anybody who says a bad thing about a Kennedy now."
The ceremony took place Nov. 1. Those attending included President Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver; his nephew Tim Shriver; and his niece Sydney Lawford McKelvy.
The item is now part of the museum's collection and will one day be displayed next to the coconut husk bearing Kennedy's message, museum officials said.
Kumana was one of two Solomon Islanders who helped rescue Kennedy and his crew after his boat, PT-109, had been rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer.
When the destroyer smashed into the small boat in the early morning hours of Aug. 2, 1943, two crewmen died. Kennedy, then 26, led his remaining 10 crew members in a weeklong fight for survival, swimming to a series of tiny, deserted islands.
Kumana and another native, Biuku Gasa, found the men, who had been surviving on coconuts. They took a message from Kennedy written on a coconut husk (an item currently on display in Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston) to the nearest Allied base 35 miles away. A rescue was launched.
Fast-forward more than 60 years. Mark Roche, an investment banker whose hobby is World War II history, traveled to the Solomon Islands in March and, on a whim, looked up Kumana, now 83, who lives on Ranongga Island. After they talked for about an hour, Roche said, he asked if Kumana would like him to place some of the flowers from his yard on Kennedy's grave.
At that point, Roche said in an e-mail to the Kennedy Library, Kumana went into his hut and pulled out the ring of shell, which was a piece of custom money or shell money. The money, carved from a fossilized giant clam shell, could once be used to pay for a bride, buy land, and apply to other purposes in the Solomon Islands.
Kumana's son explained that another traditional use of the custom money was to lay it on a chief's grave.
Roche, 52, of Houston, agreed to lay it on Kennedy's grave for Kumana. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, he was able to get in touch with the Kennedy family and the ceremony was arranged.
The Kennedys treated Roche with "incredible graciousness," he said. "I was raised in a Nixon household. Honestly, we were raised, sort of, 'We don't like Kennedys.' . . . I take offense against anybody who says a bad thing about a Kennedy now."
The ceremony took place Nov. 1. Those attending included President Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver; his nephew Tim Shriver; and his niece Sydney Lawford McKelvy.
The item is now part of the museum's collection and will one day be displayed next to the coconut husk bearing Kennedy's message, museum officials said.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Caroline Kennedy to campaign in Florida
Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, will appear at a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday afternoon at Savannah Center.Doors to the event will open at 3:45 p.m. The event is tentatively slated for 5 p.m.
“Caroline Kennedy is an icon of Americana. She’s been in the public eye since she was just a baby. Many people are excited about Barack Obama in the same way they were excited about John F. Kennedy in the 1960s,” said Laura McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama-Biden campaign.
“Caroline Kennedy is an icon of Americana. She’s been in the public eye since she was just a baby. Many people are excited about Barack Obama in the same way they were excited about John F. Kennedy in the 1960s,” said Laura McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama-Biden campaign.
(...)
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Monday, October 20, 2008
'Fitz' house for sale
The Kennedy compound has been restored to its former glory. No, not that one.
While the family enclave in Hyannis Port is indeed known as the Kennedy compound, part of Allerton Hill in Hull is considered by locals to be the original. The property was owned at the turn of the 20th century by John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, then mayor of Boston, father of Rose Kennedy and grandfather of president John F. Kennedy.
The 16-room Victorian multi-gabled mansion had fallen into disrepair over the last several years and was purchased in 2006 by developer Ernesto Caparrotta of Hull, owner of Seven Hills Corp. in Weymouth. He paid $950,000 for the 7,163-square-foot house at auction.
Former owner Jamie Edelkind was sent to prison after his 2005 conviction on charges he used phony mortgage and payroll documents to buy the house in 2000.
Caparrotta wouldn't say how much he spent renovating the house, a project just recently finished. It is assessed by the town for $1.52 million and is now on the market for $2.37 million.
"I don't usually renovate homes, I prefer building them from the ground up," said Caparrotta, a native of Italy who came to America 30 years ago and has lived in Hull ever since. "But I always drove by this house, always loved it, so when the opportunity came up, I took it."
The house was built in 1892, and bought by Fitzgerald in 1915 as a summer retreat for his growing family; he sold it in 1921. After Rose Fitzgerald married Joseph P. Kennedy, her father had a home built next to his, down the hill and next to the water. The Tudor-style house was dubbed Rose Kennedy's Dollhouse.
"You can almost see Rose Kennedy walking up the driveway with little John on her shoulders," said T. David Raftery, who 12 years ago bought the Rose Kennedy Dollhouse and has lived in it since, absorbing the local Kennedy legend and happily imparting it to anyone who asks. "There's a lot of Kennedy history there."
JFK reportedly played on the nearby beach, he said, and many were the quiet, respectful parties Fitzgerald threw in the sprawling, three-story home.
"They weren't wild parties; he'd hire quartets to play in the living room," said Raftery, an assistant district attorney in Norfolk County.
The Allerton Hill area was popular with the Boston elite, he said, as a summer getaway, as was Cohasset, but at the time that town turned a cold shoulder to Catholics, Raftery said.
"The Kennedys weren't allowed in," he said. "It was very anti-Catholic at the time, but they were accepted in Hull. Allerton was a summer home for a lot of Boston people."
And the home may be the only one on the South Shore to have been frequented by three American presidents - or those who would be. A photo in Rose Kennedy's autobiography, "Times to Remember," shows her father shaking hands with President William Howard Taft outside the Hull home. Rose Kennedy's son would go on to be elected president in 1960. Another visitor to the home was Calvin Coolidge, then a Massachusetts governor, who became president in 1923.
(...) On the third floor is a wide-open, airy room that he said was a "gentlemen only" room in Kennedy's day, where men would gather to smoke cigars, sip brandy, and discuss heady matters of the day and most likely the effect on their respective fortunes.
(...) But none of those big names possess the uniquely Massachusetts mystique of the Kennedy clan.
"Not many people know about the history of the Kennedys here - I bet if you asked schoolchildren in Hull today, they wouldn't know," Raftery said. "But the old-timers in Hull, they know."
While the family enclave in Hyannis Port is indeed known as the Kennedy compound, part of Allerton Hill in Hull is considered by locals to be the original. The property was owned at the turn of the 20th century by John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, then mayor of Boston, father of Rose Kennedy and grandfather of president John F. Kennedy.
The 16-room Victorian multi-gabled mansion had fallen into disrepair over the last several years and was purchased in 2006 by developer Ernesto Caparrotta of Hull, owner of Seven Hills Corp. in Weymouth. He paid $950,000 for the 7,163-square-foot house at auction.
Former owner Jamie Edelkind was sent to prison after his 2005 conviction on charges he used phony mortgage and payroll documents to buy the house in 2000.
Caparrotta wouldn't say how much he spent renovating the house, a project just recently finished. It is assessed by the town for $1.52 million and is now on the market for $2.37 million.
"I don't usually renovate homes, I prefer building them from the ground up," said Caparrotta, a native of Italy who came to America 30 years ago and has lived in Hull ever since. "But I always drove by this house, always loved it, so when the opportunity came up, I took it."
The house was built in 1892, and bought by Fitzgerald in 1915 as a summer retreat for his growing family; he sold it in 1921. After Rose Fitzgerald married Joseph P. Kennedy, her father had a home built next to his, down the hill and next to the water. The Tudor-style house was dubbed Rose Kennedy's Dollhouse.
"You can almost see Rose Kennedy walking up the driveway with little John on her shoulders," said T. David Raftery, who 12 years ago bought the Rose Kennedy Dollhouse and has lived in it since, absorbing the local Kennedy legend and happily imparting it to anyone who asks. "There's a lot of Kennedy history there."
JFK reportedly played on the nearby beach, he said, and many were the quiet, respectful parties Fitzgerald threw in the sprawling, three-story home.
"They weren't wild parties; he'd hire quartets to play in the living room," said Raftery, an assistant district attorney in Norfolk County.
The Allerton Hill area was popular with the Boston elite, he said, as a summer getaway, as was Cohasset, but at the time that town turned a cold shoulder to Catholics, Raftery said.
"The Kennedys weren't allowed in," he said. "It was very anti-Catholic at the time, but they were accepted in Hull. Allerton was a summer home for a lot of Boston people."
And the home may be the only one on the South Shore to have been frequented by three American presidents - or those who would be. A photo in Rose Kennedy's autobiography, "Times to Remember," shows her father shaking hands with President William Howard Taft outside the Hull home. Rose Kennedy's son would go on to be elected president in 1960. Another visitor to the home was Calvin Coolidge, then a Massachusetts governor, who became president in 1923.
(...) On the third floor is a wide-open, airy room that he said was a "gentlemen only" room in Kennedy's day, where men would gather to smoke cigars, sip brandy, and discuss heady matters of the day and most likely the effect on their respective fortunes.
(...) But none of those big names possess the uniquely Massachusetts mystique of the Kennedy clan.
"Not many people know about the history of the Kennedys here - I bet if you asked schoolchildren in Hull today, they wouldn't know," Raftery said. "But the old-timers in Hull, they know."
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Monday, September 22, 2008
New JFK findings debunk single-gunman theory
New research suggests that science cannot support the assertion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
Cliff Spiegelman, a professor of statistics at Texas A&M University, said that five bullet fragments taken from JFK’s body could have come from more than the two bullets which are said to have cut down the president in Dallas in November 1963.
“The claim was made that those five fragments could only have come from two bullets,” Spiegelman said. “Our research showed it could have been two or more.
“And if it is more than two, there is an increased likelihood that someone else provided one of them.”
He organized a six-member team that compared the composition of the fragments from the JFK shooting to other bullets from the same manufacturer.
The group found that those fragments weren’t nearly as rare as the government’s expert witness concluded in 1976, when Dr. Vincent P. Guinn determined that all five fragments came from two bullets fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. A third shot missed.
Spiegelman said many of the test bullets showed the same “chemical composition,” and one matched fragments from the assassination bullets.
The study does not say there were two or more gunmen, only that the single-gunman theory can’t be supported by science.
Naturally, that triggered “a bit of a buzz,” said Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
“The no-conspiracy folks, they accepted (Dr. Guinn’s) analysis without too much questioning,” Mack said. “But others wondered whether he knew what he was talking about. And the sharp ones were very skeptical that (the one-shooter findings) could be so definitive.”
The team’s research won them the American Statistical Association’s 2008 Statistics in Chemistry award.
Cliff Spiegelman, a professor of statistics at Texas A&M University, said that five bullet fragments taken from JFK’s body could have come from more than the two bullets which are said to have cut down the president in Dallas in November 1963.
“The claim was made that those five fragments could only have come from two bullets,” Spiegelman said. “Our research showed it could have been two or more.
“And if it is more than two, there is an increased likelihood that someone else provided one of them.”
He organized a six-member team that compared the composition of the fragments from the JFK shooting to other bullets from the same manufacturer.
The group found that those fragments weren’t nearly as rare as the government’s expert witness concluded in 1976, when Dr. Vincent P. Guinn determined that all five fragments came from two bullets fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. A third shot missed.
Spiegelman said many of the test bullets showed the same “chemical composition,” and one matched fragments from the assassination bullets.
The study does not say there were two or more gunmen, only that the single-gunman theory can’t be supported by science.
Naturally, that triggered “a bit of a buzz,” said Gary Mack, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
“The no-conspiracy folks, they accepted (Dr. Guinn’s) analysis without too much questioning,” Mack said. “But others wondered whether he knew what he was talking about. And the sharp ones were very skeptical that (the one-shooter findings) could be so definitive.”
The team’s research won them the American Statistical Association’s 2008 Statistics in Chemistry award.
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
Senator Kennedy´s letter
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
It was more than 47 years ago that President Kennedy spoke those words and challenged an entire nation to put service above self. You've no doubt heard those words repeated time and again, but simply repeating them does not guarantee they are carried out.
Today, I joined my friend Senator Orrin Hatch in renewing the spirit of service in our great nation. We're introducing the "Serve America Act," a broad new bipartisan bill to expand service opportunities for all Americans and encourage a new generation of our people to take part in something larger than themselves.
Democrats and Republicans may disagree on many issues, but we all share a common faith in the extraordinary potential of the American people to volunteer their time and energy to help those in need.
Millions of Americans are ready, willing and able to serve their communities, but don't know where to start.
This new legislation will help them tap their extraordinary potential for service, and enable them to make a very real difference for our country.
In this spirit, the non-profit organization ServiceNation is sponsoring a National Day of Action on September 27th, in which thousands of communities across the country will host service events. People from all walks of life will come together to clean up neighborhoods, mentor children in need, raise funds for medical research, and much, much more.
Visit the ServiceNation website and sign up to take part in this important effort: http://www.democraticmajority.org/service
The Serve America Act builds on America's long tradition of service. It will encourage Americans of all ages to take part in volunteer opportunities that address the full range of these challenges facing our communities. It will create five new "corps" of volunteers to work in the areas of education, poverty, international service, disaster relief, and green energy.
It will also provide incentives for businesses that give paid leave to employees who perform full-time service, and it will promote and fund community service programs such as City Year, which has done so much good for the city of Boston.
Please show your support for a new spirit of service in our country.
Sign up to participate in the September 27th Day of Action: http://www.democraticmajority.org/service
The American people have shown again and again that they can rise to new challenges with amazing selflessness and resolve.
The Serve America Act will build on this great tradition and launch a new era of service for America.
I hope very much that you'll join me in this effort.
Sincerely,
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Friday, September 12, 2008
Kennedy set to offer bill today for national service program
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, sidelined from the Senate as he undergoes treatment for a malignant brain tumor, plans to introduce a sweeping new national service bill today to recruit 175,000 Americans of all ages to do service work in health, education, environmental protection and anti-poverty programs, with their work partly subsidized by the federal government.
The plan, meant to build on national service initiatives that began under former President John F. Kennedy and expanded under former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, would provide an estimated $5 billion over five years to encourage citizens from kindergarteners to retirees to get involved in community organizations - including faith-based groups - on a series of programs targeted at national problems.
The new corps members would be paid modest salaries to spend a year working on specific national problems. Employers would be eligible for tax cuts for giving workers time off to do community service, while a new venture capital fund would also be created to boost the creation of new service organizations.
The measure is the first major piece of legislation the ailing Massachusetts lawmaker has presented since being diagnosed with a brain tumor in May. While the senator does not plan to return to Washington full-time until January, staff and colleagues say he has been working assiduously from his home in Cape Cod, following legislation, talking to fellow senators, and sponsoring amendments to bills.
The service plan - crafted by Kennedy over the past eight months with Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah - is meant to marry the two parties' often competing approaches to community service, encouraging the volunteerism advocated by many Republicans while providing federal financial assistance requested by some Democrats.
"What this bill is saying is, we need both," said Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year, a Boston-based youth community service group and a chief advocate of the new bill.
The measure will be unveiled in concert with a national symposium on national service in New York. Former President Bush - who initiated a "1,000 Points of Light" program to encourage volunteerism - and former President Clinton, who helped create AmeriCorps, a federally funded program to encourage national service - are set to appear in videos touting the benefits of community work. Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy, is scheduled to be at the event along with Queen Noor of Jordan, dozens of military officials and numerous members of Congress and community activists.
Current national service programs are working well, Kennedy staffers said, and the new plan would build on them. The Peace Corps, President Kennedy's program to help developing countries with basic needs, would also be expanded.
But the new plan, staffers said on condition of anonymity, would be aimed at people of all ages. While many volunteer programs now attract young college graduates willing to work for low salaries before settling into better-paid job, the Kennedy-Hatch plan would give older Baby Boomers an opportunity to take time off for community service, perhaps transitioning into a second career.
Retired people generally not sought out by community service organizations would be encouraged to get involved and eligible for an "Encore Fellowship" to extend their tenures beyond one year. Schoolchildren, meanwhile, would be taught to incorporate a "lifetime of service" into their lives, starting with smaller efforts such as food drives, aides said.
Kennedy has been absent from Washington since May, except for a single appearance to cast a dramatic, determinate vote on a measure to block scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. The Massachusetts lawmaker also made a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention last month in Denver.
But Kennedy has continued to work despite his illness, issuing dozens of statements and signing onto several bills and amendments since he became ill.
Khazei said Kennedy has been working on the national service plan consistently since January.
"He hasn't missed a day. He gets more done from the Cape than most of us do in a week," Khazei said. "He's a hero."
The plan, meant to build on national service initiatives that began under former President John F. Kennedy and expanded under former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, would provide an estimated $5 billion over five years to encourage citizens from kindergarteners to retirees to get involved in community organizations - including faith-based groups - on a series of programs targeted at national problems.
The new corps members would be paid modest salaries to spend a year working on specific national problems. Employers would be eligible for tax cuts for giving workers time off to do community service, while a new venture capital fund would also be created to boost the creation of new service organizations.
The measure is the first major piece of legislation the ailing Massachusetts lawmaker has presented since being diagnosed with a brain tumor in May. While the senator does not plan to return to Washington full-time until January, staff and colleagues say he has been working assiduously from his home in Cape Cod, following legislation, talking to fellow senators, and sponsoring amendments to bills.
The service plan - crafted by Kennedy over the past eight months with Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah - is meant to marry the two parties' often competing approaches to community service, encouraging the volunteerism advocated by many Republicans while providing federal financial assistance requested by some Democrats.
"What this bill is saying is, we need both," said Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year, a Boston-based youth community service group and a chief advocate of the new bill.
The measure will be unveiled in concert with a national symposium on national service in New York. Former President Bush - who initiated a "1,000 Points of Light" program to encourage volunteerism - and former President Clinton, who helped create AmeriCorps, a federally funded program to encourage national service - are set to appear in videos touting the benefits of community work. Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President Kennedy, is scheduled to be at the event along with Queen Noor of Jordan, dozens of military officials and numerous members of Congress and community activists.
Current national service programs are working well, Kennedy staffers said, and the new plan would build on them. The Peace Corps, President Kennedy's program to help developing countries with basic needs, would also be expanded.
But the new plan, staffers said on condition of anonymity, would be aimed at people of all ages. While many volunteer programs now attract young college graduates willing to work for low salaries before settling into better-paid job, the Kennedy-Hatch plan would give older Baby Boomers an opportunity to take time off for community service, perhaps transitioning into a second career.
Retired people generally not sought out by community service organizations would be encouraged to get involved and eligible for an "Encore Fellowship" to extend their tenures beyond one year. Schoolchildren, meanwhile, would be taught to incorporate a "lifetime of service" into their lives, starting with smaller efforts such as food drives, aides said.
Kennedy has been absent from Washington since May, except for a single appearance to cast a dramatic, determinate vote on a measure to block scheduled cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. The Massachusetts lawmaker also made a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention last month in Denver.
But Kennedy has continued to work despite his illness, issuing dozens of statements and signing onto several bills and amendments since he became ill.
Khazei said Kennedy has been working on the national service plan consistently since January.
"He hasn't missed a day. He gets more done from the Cape than most of us do in a week," Khazei said. "He's a hero."
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