If the Kennedys are Americas royal family, then John F. Kennedy was the nations crown prince. Magnetic, handsome, and charismatic, his perfectly coifed image overshadowed the successes and failures of his presidency, and his assassination cemented his near-mythological status in American culture and politics. Struck down in his prime, he represented the best and the brightest of Americas future, and when he died, part of the nations promise and innocence went with him. That, at least, is the public version of the story.