The Kennedy Mystique - Creating Camelot
The Kennedy Mystique: Creating Camelotexamines the skill with  which John F. Kennedy used the media to create and sustain an image of  glamour. Under Kennedy, not only was there an official White House  photographer (Cecil Stoughton), but Kennedy had his own personal  photographer (Jacques Lowe) who captured most of the intimate photos that  have defined Kennedy in retrospect. In interviews, Stoughton and  journalists of the time like Ben Bradlee discuss how Kennedy deflected  attention away from his health and womanizing, focusing the public on a  young, vital president and his warm, loving family. As television began to  take hold of the country, becoming its dominant medium, Kennedy's  photogenic looks became a powerful political tool.The Kennedy  Mystique: Creating Camelotdoesn't push its analysis too deeply, but  it does describe the beginning of an era in which image has become as  important to politics as substance.--Bret Fetzer