- This article is about a fictional representation of a real world subject.
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his death in 1963. He was one of the few Presidents of the 20th century to have no previous ties with the Philosophers, something the CIA used to their advantage when trying to discredit The Boss.
History[]
Kennedy served in the military before he became a politician. He was elected President of the United States in 1961, defeating future President Richard Nixon.
In 1961, Kennedy authorized a CIA-sponsored operation to support Cuban exiles in the overthrow the Castro regime, in what became known as the The Bay of Pigs Invasion. The invasion ultimately failed when Kennedy, wanting to neither commit the United States to the invasion of Cuba nor risk going to war with Castro's Soviet allies, refused to authorize air support for the rebels. The same year, Kennedy fell into disfavor with the Philosophers. On September 25, he also gave a speech to the UN General Assembly stating that the creation and promotion of the organization was the only true alternative to war. He also promised on the same day to put an American on the moon by the end of the decade, something that eventually proved to be true in 1969, although Zero expressed doubts about it.
The following year, Kennedy agreed to hand over Russian defector Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov to the Soviets if they would withdraw their forward-deployed IRBMs and strategic bombers from Cuba, during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and was succeeded by Lyndon B. Johnson. His death came as a blow to then-Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's power base, with the Red Army's extremist faction seizing the opportunity to revolt against his leadership. In addition, his assassination also led to some conspiracy theories about it being an inside job, including how the assassin shot him via the Grassy Knoll.
Behind the scenes[]
John F. Kennedy first appears in archived film footage in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (MGS3), which is used for both the Virtuous Mission briefing and flashbacks. His initials, JFK, were first used in the script for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (MGS2), to identify the AI that communicates with Raiden, following the GW AI's supposed destruction. Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, appears in person during Naked Snake's award ceremony, following the success of Operation Snake Eater.
Kennedy is also indirectly referenced by Drebin 893 in the Naked Sin epilogue of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, when the latter cites the former's September 25, 1961 speech to the UN General Assembly.[1] He, or rather, his assassination, was also given an indirect mention in MGS2 in the New York Mirror, where the reviewer for In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, George Franklin, referred to the "Grassy Knoll" when making comparisons to the conspiracy at Shadow Moses, referring to where Lee Harvey Oswald was suspected to have fired the bullet that killed Kennedy.
Kennedy is the reason why the setting of MGS3 takes place the year after Hideo Kojima's birth rather than the year of, as the latter wanted to have Kennedy's assassination play a major role in the plot of MGS3.[2] The Metal Gear Saga timeline implied that Kennedy's assassination had been arranged by the Philosophers due to his losing favor in them, although Peace Walker would later reveal that he had no prior ties to the organization.
Appearances[]
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (archival footage)
- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (indirectly mentioned)
References[]
- ^ Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Kojima Productions (2008).
Drebin 893: I'm guessin' the UN is gonna be more important than ever, what with multilateralism and all. A certain President [John F. Kennedy] said it best back during the Cold War... For in the development of this organization rests the only true alternative to war. - ^ MGS3: The Countdown, A Tale of Fighting the Illusion of "The Times"