The summer that changed everything for the Kennedys

Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. Was the summer of 1944 the one that gave us one of history's most iconic presidents? It's a question tantalizingly raised in historian Leigh Straw's new micro history of one summer at Cape Cod, when members of the Kennedy family converged in their house in Massachusetts, for a pivotal period that will be marked by scandal and personal tragedy. What happened that summer to the Kennedy family, and what light does it shed on the broader story of the Kennedy political dynasty? Lay spoke to Eleanor Evans.

We're talking about a pivotal moment in the Kennedy dynasty, the summer of 1944, what friends called a turning point in the road for this family. Now, why is this so significant? I think there's the what-ifs of the family. You know, what if certain members of the family hadn't died? What could have been into the later 20th century, 20?

first century. So I think that captures our imagination, but I think they are really fascinating because they're like one of those ancient Greek stories. There's all the tragedy. There's the issue of hubris and other things that run through the generations of the family. And I think they're also just deeply fascinating as a very

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