The Body Of JFK (2004)

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.

When John F Kennedy entered the Whitehouse in 1961, he took with him eight personal physicians to tend to his medical requirements and maintain his image as a healthy President.

He had been a sickly child and had to endure illness all through his life, keeping much of it secret from his father and, later, once he entered politics, from the American public.

He suffered in four key areas: his back, his adrenal system, his stomach and his immune system.

His immune system deficiency reached such a crisis point that advisors were concerned that any medical trauma (an operation, for example) might kill him.

The Body of John F Kennedy explores the courage of the iconic President and asks why he felt it necessary to keep his health issues out of the public domain. It looks at the positive and negative impact his illnesses had on his life and wonders how long he would have lived had he not been cut down by an assassin's bullet.