‘JFK had a rare ability to combine substance, style and wisdom about big things – war and peace, space, civil rights. And he was Hollywood-handsome, irresistible to women, but also fully presidential,’ said Professor Larry Sabato, director of the Centre for Politics at the University of Virginia and author of The Kennedy Half Century. ‘JFK was also lucky to serve at a time of peak American power and very little cynicism. His murder helped bring an end to an age of innocence. That’s why so many Americans pine for the Kennedy days.’