Listen to Legacy from Wondery and Goalhanger Podcasts. Each season, historian Peter Frankopan and broadcaster Afua Hirsch tell the wild stories of the most extraordinary men and women to have ever lived – and ask whether they have the reputation they deserve.

Born into great privilege, John F. Kennedy became one of the most influential world leaders of the 21st century. His liberal domestic agenda inspired optimism among the next generation of Americans whilst his foreign policies were defined by the Cold War and the space race. His assassination in 1963 sustains the public’s fascination and has cemented his place as one of the world’s most influential cultural and political icons. And with the US elections coming up, how much of it can we attribute to JFK?

In this clip of Legacy, JFK is in the eye of the storm of one of the most terrifying geo-political moments of modern history: the Cuban Missile Crisis. Will history look down on him as a hero or a failure?

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