{"id":172307,"date":"2022-07-18T10:57:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T15:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=172307"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:25:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T22:25:06","slug":"podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #819: What Made JFK So Compelling?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Despite assuming the presidency from the 20th century&#8217;s narrowest election victory, John F. Kennedy captivated the American public&#8217;s imagination, even before his untimely death.&nbsp; What was it that made JFK so compelling in&nbsp;his own time,&nbsp;and continues to contribute to his enduring appeal today?<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div>We dive into the answer to that question by unpacking some of Kennedy&#8217;s personal qualities and complexities with Mark Updegrove, author of<i>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ol8eyS\">Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency<\/a><\/i>. We begin our conversation with how JFK&#8217;s upbringing and war experience shaped him. We talk about his leadership style while in office, how he intentionally&nbsp;cultivated&nbsp;his cool and appealing image, and what his wife Jackie added to that image. Mark explains what was behind Kennedy&#8217;s&nbsp;infamous affairs, and&nbsp;how JFK championed physical&nbsp;fitness despite being in tremendous&nbsp;physical&nbsp;pain himself. We end our conversation with the traits that worked both for and against JFK&#8217;s success as president.<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite assuming the presidency from the 20th century&#8217;s narrowest election victory, John F. Kennedy captivated the American public&#8217;s imagination, even before his untimely death.&nbsp; What was it that made JFK so compelling in&nbsp;his own time,&nbsp;and continues to contribute to his enduring appeal today? &nbsp; We dive into the answer to that question by unpacking some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42376,42385,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history","category-podcast"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/819-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/819-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/819-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/819-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/819-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Podcast #819: What Made JFK So Compelling? | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #819: What Made JFK So Compelling? | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite assuming the presidency from the 20th century&#8217;s narrowest election victory, John F. Kennedy captivated the American public&#8217;s imagination, even before his untimely death.&nbsp; What was it that made JFK so compelling in&nbsp;his own time,&nbsp;and continues to contribute to his enduring appeal today? &nbsp; We dive into the answer to that question by unpacking some [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/culture\/history\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-18T15:57:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-09T22:25:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/819.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett &amp; Kate McKay\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e4ed6cc1b40b6de48739267a953ef2b3\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #819: What Made JFK So Compelling?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-18T15:57:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-09T22:25:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":176,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/07\\\/819.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\",\"History\",\"Podcast\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2022\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/culture\\\/history\\\/podcast-819-what-made-jfk-so-compelling\\\/\",\"name\":\"Podcast #819: What Made JFK So Compelling? 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