John F. Kennedy

Latest Articles

Beyond the moon shot

To the Heavens
Retired Congressman Patrick Kennedy has enjoyed a nice little boomlet of press coverage in recent weeks with his push to raise billions in private and public money over the next decade for brain research.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 08, 2011

Understanding the legacy of John F. Kennedy

'Ask not . . .'
January 20, 1961. On this day 50 years ago, John Fitzgerald Kennedy began his presidential odyssey.
By EDITORIAL | January 19, 2011

Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

Historical fiction: Black Ops packs the Cold War with action
Like other Call of Duty games, Black Ops is rated M for Mature, but that rating doesn't cut it anymore.
By MADDY MYERS | November 17, 2010

Dream on

Heinrich Schütz’s swan song; the Pops’ 125th-anniversary commission
Some lovers of religious music consider Heinrich Schütz even greater than Bach, who was born 13 years after Schütz’s death.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 27, 2010

Meet Evan Thomas

The parallel careers of Newsweek's premier wordsmith
Narrative is the throughline in the professional life of Evan Thomas.
By PETER KADZIS | May 13, 2010

Hearing voices

Dave Tompkins chases the Vocoder in his book How To Wreck a Nice Beach
Don’t be fooled by its textbook appearance — How To Wreck a Nice Beach (Melville House/Stop Smiling) is hardly a dry anthropological study of “The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop,” as the subtitle suggests.
By CHRIS FARAONE | May 14, 2010

Stars, bars, and open arms

Flags + Guns Dept.
The first thing I noticed when pulling into the Preble Street parking lot on Back Cove for last Sunday’s open-carry firearm event, which had been organized to encourage Mainers to legally wear their guns in public, was the Confederate flag.
By RICK WORMWOOD | April 28, 2010

Nudity throughout history

By ALEXIS HAUK | March 17, 2010

Keep streets safe and children in school

Letters to the Boston editor, February 19, 2010
Thank you for your very insightful "War Over Peace" article.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | February 17, 2010

Review: The Most Dangerous Man in America

Hail to Daniel Ellsberg
At age 79, Daniel Ellsberg is getting the last guffaw.
By GERALD PEARY | February 16, 2010

Battle of the Bulger

Former Mass. Sen. Pres. William Bulger defends James Michael Curley's legacy — and his own
Earlier this fall, with almost no fanfare, Beverly-based Commonwealth Editions published a new biography of Boston's archetypal politician — James Michael Curley: A Short Biography with Personal Reminiscences — written by former Massachusetts Senate president William Bulger.
By ADAM REILLY | December 16, 2009

Review: Z (1969)

Z lives on 40 years later
John F. Kennedy wasn't the only political leader murdered in 1963. On May 22 of that year, Gregoris Lambrakis, a left-leaning, pacifist member of the Greek parliament and an aspiring presidential candidate seeking to replace the reigning right-wing government, was assaulted after a peace rally in Thessaloniki. He died five days later.
By PETER KEOUGH | December 01, 2009

Taking sides

The US Senate election is forcing Massachusetts pols to choose their team. Plus, Pagliuca’s plan, and the state GOP tries to get serious.
The stakes are high in the battle for Massachusetts’s first new US senatorship in a quarter-century.
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 04, 2009

Review: Earth Days

Did you know Nixon once signed progressive eco-legislation?
Those who worry that the eco-movement seems incapable of getting beyond its white upper-middle-class base will be disturbed anew by Robert Stone’s Earth Days , where every talking head is a well-bred Caucasian.
By GERALD PEARY | October 07, 2009

With Kennedy's death, a chance to move beyond royalty

Dynasties
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the last "lion" of the Massachusetts clan, finally rests – in peace, I hope.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | September 02, 2009

Ted Kennedy's real record

A note on the 32-year-incumbent's accomplishments
When a 32-year incumbent seeks re-election, there is a long and well-documented record that can be examined. So it's disconcerting to note that admit all the miles of newsprint and videotape that have been expended covering the US Senate campaign, little has been said of what Ted Kennedy has or hasn't accomplished.
By AL GIORDANO | August 26, 2009

Shooting from the lip

Kennedy's gaffe on Iran manages to make a bad image worse
Washington – Edward M. Kennedy's presidential campaign has a serious problem, and the problem appears to be Edward M. Kennedy. During the week in which leadership was transformed from a word in the lexicon of his campaign rhetoric to a measurable reality, Kennedy succeeded in verbally vanishing himself to a political isolation.
By MARCO TRBOVICH | August 26, 2009

Public and private affairs

The case for making a campaign issue of Teddy's reputation for philandering
Philandering, like heavy drinking, traditionally has been one of those activities that the boys in the press keep mum about when reporting on the boys on the Hill, or the boy in the White House, or any boy, for that matter. The rationales for this silence are curiously contradictory.
By SUZANNAH LESSARD | April 20, 2010

Robert McNamara, RIP

Memories of Vietnam should speed Obama's exit plans for Iraq and Afghanistan
As secretary of defense under President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara prosecuted the Vietnam War on a day-to-day basis, just as Donald Rumsfeld orchestrated the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for George W. Bush.
By EDITORIAL | July 08, 2009

Crossword: ''Triple threats''

Five names, one unusual pattern
Five names, one unusual pattern
By MATT JONES | April 16, 2009

Review: Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived

What would JFK do?
There's not much "virtual" in Kosi Masutani's thoughtful if artless documentary about the JFK administration — which is to its credit.
By PETER KEOUGH | April 08, 2009

Amnesty International liberates City Hall

The kids are all right
Old-school Jamaica Plain and Cambridge hippies had better step up their game.
By CHRIS FARAONE | April 01, 2009

By | January 01, 0001

Interview: Alan Moore, author of Watchmen

From the Boston Phoenix archives: the watchmaker speaks.
The winner of several "Best Comics Writer" awards on both sides of the Atlantic, he's best known in America as the author of the DC Comics series Swamp Thing and, of course, Watchmen.
By M. HOWELL | March 05, 2009

The center of the universe

Renaissance man Richard Goodwin explores the roots of religious wars by channeling anti-hero Galileo in the play Two Men of Florence .
Real-life quantum leaper Richard Goodwin was sort of a 1960s political Zelig — everywhere you looked, there he was.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | March 10, 2009

Appearing Act

Obama's 'personal presidency' is overexposing the Commander in Chief, and painting him into the corners of the Oval Office.
Barack Obama is ubiquitous.
By STEVEN STARK | March 10, 2009

Strange bedfellows

Carr plays nice with Randy Price. Plus, the Globe's tough new Kennedy bio defies expectations.
Wait, lemme get this straight: Was that Howie Carr — who's known for accompanying on-air references to homosexuality with a crude audio approximation of gay sex — happily schmoozing with guest Randy Price this past week?
By ADAM REILLY | February 20, 2009

President Obama

The trek ahead
In retrospect, it all seems of a piece: suitably fitting, almost ordained.
By EDITORIAL | January 21, 2009

Revenge of the nerds

For the first time since JFK, 'the best and the brightest' are back in the White House. Will Ivy-League intellect be enough to set the country straight?
Barack Obama's new administration has been characterized many ways — as a return to liberalism, a Chicago Mafia, and the harbinger of a new age.
By STEVEN STARK | January 21, 2009

Inauguration daze

If a presidential speech is made outside of prime-time TV-viewing hours, does it make a sound?
For the next week, the press and pundits will talk all about the historical importance of Barack Obama's inaugural address. And, based on his past rhetorical performances, it should be a great one.
By STEVEN STARK | January 19, 2009