Sixty-three years ago, on March 27, 1963, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy hosted a state dinner at the White House in honor of King Hassan II of Morocco.
It was one of many moments that, at the time, simply belonged to the rhythm of a presidency, but in hindsight, it now feels preserved, almost suspended within a larger story.
More than sixty years later, the story of the Kennedys continues to unfold in unexpected ways.
Yesterday, I saw an article in Variety noting that Netflix released a first look at Michael Fassbender as Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. The image is recent, but the story it points to has been with me for years.
At first glance, it is just a still frame. Fassbender in formal dress, composed, watchful, standing just off camera. But for those of us who have spent time with this history, who have walked its places and sat with its memory, it feels like something more.
It feels like the beginning of a story returning to life.
The series promises to explore the Kennedy family beginning in the 1930s, the ambitions, rivalries, and forces that shaped not only a family, but an era. And at the center of it all stands Joe Kennedy Sr., a figure who is often discussed but rarely fully understood.
Casting Fassbender in that role is an intriguing choice. There is an intensity to him, a controlled presence, that suggests we may finally see a portrayal that captures both the ambition and the calculation that defined the Kennedy patriarch. I have seen him in other roles, including the title role in Macbeth (2015), so I know he will play the role superbly.
For me, this is not just another historical drama announcement.
The series will be based on JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century by Fredrik Logevall, which I already own.
In fact, I have even bought copies for friends. It is not just a source behind the series. It is part of the foundation of how I have come to understand this story. To see that same work now being adapted into a major series adds a different kind of anticipation. It feels less like watching something new and more like seeing something familiar take shape in another form.
I think about the places I have visited here in Massachusetts. Brookline, where the story begins in a modest house that now stands as a national historic site.
Cambridge and the long shadow of Harvard, where the next generation of Kennedys would be shaped.
And Hyannis, the place where history softens into something more personal, where the public story of the Kennedys meets something quieter, more reflective, almost private.
I have walked through the rooms, the streets, the shoreline. I have sat with the history not as something distant, but as something close enough to feel.
And more than that, I have had the rare privilege of meeting members of the Kennedy family themselves. Most meaningfully, I met Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving sibling.
After she passed away in 2020, that moment took on a greater weight.
It was then that I began to intentionally build what has now become a Kennedy book collection approaching two hundred volumes.
Over the past five years, it has grown steadily. What began as interest became something more deliberate, almost a form of stewardship. Each book, each volume, another way of holding onto the story and understanding it more fully.
In August of 2023, I visited Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, where Jean’s sister Rosemary and her parents, Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy, are laid to rest.
I have returned there more than once. The most recent visit was on the 137th anniversary of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.’s birth, on behalf of a friend.
So, when I see this image of Fassbender as Joe Kennedy Sr., I do not just see an actor preparing for a role.
I see the attempt to reconstruct the beginning of a legacy I have spent years studying, collecting, and quietly living alongside.
There is also a feeling that comes along very rarely, before something even premieres, before the reviews, and before the conversation begins. A quiet sense that this might be different.
I remember feeling that once before.
Before The Crown premiered on Netflix, there was a similar anticipation. Not just excitement, but curiosity, wondering whether a series could take familiar historical figures and present them with depth, restraint, and humanity. When it finally arrived, it did not just tell a story. It allowed you to sit with it.
That is the feeling I have again now.
This upcoming Kennedy series feels like it has the potential to carry that same weight, if it chooses to. There is always a risk with projects like this. The Kennedys are often reduced, either to myth or to controversy, to Camelot or to tragedy. What I hope, more than anything, is that this series restores complexity. That it shows the formation before the fame, the decisions before the consequences, and the family before the legend.
There were people who took an interest in the Royal Family as a result of seeing The Crown. I have a feeling that if this series succeeds, there will be a new generation that takes an interest in the Kennedys. Perhaps even a deeper interest in history itself. I look forward to seeing how this unfolds.
And so, to conclude this entry, I return to the night when President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy welcomed King Hassan II to the White House. President Kennedy said:
“We value our old friends and we value, particularly, those that are seeking, under great difficulty, under great pressure, to find a position for their country which advances the welfare of their people, the stability of their area, and the peace of the world.”
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