For the serious biographer, history and the life story of a real individual are inseparably intertwined. Get the facts wrong, or distort them, and the life story gets distorted: becomes fiction. That is why, although a “critic of the Kennedys” as I was often labeled, I agreed to be interviewed last year for Robert Greenwald’s protest film, Stop the Kennedy Smears, along with Ted Sorensen and others.

At first, when Greenwald’s office sent me the proposed script of The Kennedys, I balked.

“Why?” I was asked.

“It’s just the usual trash-TV,” I said. “It’s trash entertainment! What did you expect?”

“But Nigel: the series is being made for the History Channel! It’s the first full drama series they’ve ever made! It will set the tone, the level of accuracy or inaccuracy, for the rest of the channel’s existence! And it’s being funded by a right-wing conservative, Joel Surnow!”

Put that way, I grew alarmed. Some of the History Channel’s documentaries involve docudrama segments, and are highly speculative — but there seems, on the part of the producers, to be a real determination to get at the history behind our past — not the sex, which is left to drama shows and entertainment channels.

I re-read the script — and found myself appalled, not only at the historical license taken by the writer, Stephen Kronish, but by the deliberate misrepresentations — especially of my hero, JFK.

In publishing JFK: Reckless Youth almost twenty years ago I had gotten into trouble myself with the Kennedys. Not because of my portrait of JFK — which was highly laudatory — but because I had described his parents, Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, in less than flattering terms. The family leaned upon well-known historians such as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Doris Goodwin, to write protest letters to the press. JFK’s surviving siblings — save for Rosemary, who had been lobotomized on the orders of her father — all signed a denunciatory op-ed article in the New York Times, drafted by Schlesinger, and titled: “Reckless Biography.” My mail was broken into, and circulated, at the National Archives’ JFK Library in Boston, and I was warned that no Kennedy-era official or friend would be “allowed” to speak to me for my proposed sequel, recording the rest of JFK’s life. Pained — since I had loved researching and writing the first volume — I returned to England and taught college.

How that memory has flooded back in recent days, as news came through of the cancellation of The Kennedys for the History Channel! For years I would get letters and emails, almost every week, begging me to take up my pen and continue my biography. But for me, the memory of the Kennedys’ reception remained bleak, and I had felt no desire to go back there and incur such wrath. I continued to teach, wrote other biographies — including a two-volume life of President Clinton — and two small works on the history and practice of biography.

“Why? Why won’t you write the sequel?” I am still asked, today. And my answer is the same as in 1992: that I loved writing Reckless Youth, and the love I felt had been expressed in my portrait of the gangly, wild young man who would capture the heart of the nation – and the world. Without that delight in portraiture, the book would be sterile, I argued. And besides, the very people I would have interviewed again — Ted Sorensen, Arthur Schlesinger, Burke Marshall, Kenneth Galbraith, McGeorge Bundy — have now all passed away.

Which brings me to the core of my objection to Joel Surnow’s show, The Kennedys — namely its travesty of biography, not just history.

Clearly, Stephen Kronish, the scriptwriter, had never read my JFK, though it was a NYT bestseller in 1992, and spawned an ABC television miniseries, scripted by the wonderful writer Bill Broyles, the next year, starring Patrick Dempsey. Instead, Kronish seemed intent upon hewing to a sort of 1950s Republican party line: namely that JFK was merely the spoiled, playboy son of an American billionaire bent on political power for himself. JFK, in that scenario, was therefore characterized by Kronish as a loser, uninterested in politics and only co-opted against his will upon the death of his elder brother, Joe Jr., in 1944.

What nonsense! No wonder, I reflected as I re-read the Kronish script, it was marked as the product of “Asylum Entertainment” at the bottom of the title page! And how sad to miss the real drama of the Kennedys: namely the way that JFK single-handedly turned the rest of his family from proto-Republicanism to liberalism! After all, his father had returned from his ambassadorship to England determined to derail President Roosevelt’s re-election in the fall of 1940; Joe Jr. had become a prominent American Firster, and voted against President Roosevelt’s renomination as Democratic party candidate – and Robert Kennedy even worked for Joe McCarthy. How JFK managed to turn his family leftwards rather than further to the right, without alienating his father or his brothers, is the true stuff of the Kennedys’ history – and was nowhere to be found in the script: a script that never even mentioned PT 109, where JFK showed exemplary courage and leadership in war!

The fact that FBI transcripts, extensively quoted in my biography, show JFK was planning not only a future in politics already in 1940, four years before the death of his brother, but was aiming at winning the presidency, one day; the fact that he was a diehard supporter of President Roosevelt, and even persuaded his father, Ambassador Kennedy, not to speak against the Lend-Lease bill, which allowed Britain to hold out alone against the Nazis in the fateful year of 1941 — of this, there was nothing in Mr. Kronish’s script!

Relentlessly and titillatingly, Kronish’s script flitted from sexual escapade to escapade, trivializing history as it did so — causing me to wonder if it had been commissioned by National Enquirer rather than the History Channel. And later: was it possible that having reduced great historical events to the most juvenile of accretions, the script had left out the Cuban Missile Crisis: possibly the most important example of presidential leadership since World War II?

Portraying JFK as a bumbling, pragmatic drug-addict was pretty sick, I felt — and thus agreed to be interviewed for Greenwald’s protest film, which was widely seen on MSNBC and YouTube. Michael Wolff, biographer of Rupert Murdoch and writer for Vanity Fair, mocked me (rightly) as the “spluttering Brit”, and saw nothing wrong with the History Channel showing the series; so too was the response of Andrew Roberts, the conservative “court historian” of the George W. Bush administration, on BBC Radio. Neither of them had read the proposed script, however — and neither of them knows the first thing about JFK.

If you admire JFK’s idealism and the spirit of civility and hope that he inspired in our nation (I can say “our”, proudly, now that I am an American citizen), you will be appalled by Kronish’s endlessly salacious entertainment at JFK’s posthumous expense. Shame on him for accepting the dubious currency of a right-wing conservative, pursuing a Democratic-trashing agenda. I’m not promising to write JFK 2 — but one day, I might!

Nigel Hamilton’s JFK: Reckless Youth is still available in paperback, as is the ABC miniseries of the same name, via Netflix or video stores. Chapter 4 of his new book, American Caesars: Lives of the Presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush (Yale), covers both the public and private life of John F. Kennedy, whom Hamilton considers “the last of the great Caesars.”

A promotional trailer for “The Kennedys,” a multimillion-dollar mini-series prepared for the History channel, suggests it will offer a sweeping inside look at the backrooms and bedrooms of that political clan. There are stylized re-enactments of the life of President John F. Kennedy and his family, and a title card that reads, “Behind the public image lies the story of an American dynasty.”

But concerns about the accuracy of the story presented in “The Kennedys” led to a decision by History not to show it. That decision seemed like a sudden reversal, but it came after an unsuccessful yearlong effort to bring the mini-series in line with the historical record. That effort raised questions about the boundaries between dramatic license and documented fact, a particularly fraught issue given enduring sensitivities about the Kennedy legacy.

The announcement by History in December 2009 that it was planning to show “The Kennedys” was a major step for it into scripted programming. It came at a time when History, a cable channel owned by A&E Television Networks, was shedding its reputation for musty war documentaries in favor of red-blooded reality shows like “Ax Men” and “Ice Road Truckers.” The move was meant to bring History prestige, as well as to establish a connection to the “Kennedys” producer Joel Surnow, an Emmy Award-winning co-creator of the Fox series “24” and outspoken political conservative.

But on Jan. 7, History announced that it would not broadcast “The Kennedys” after all. It said, “After viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand.” Starz, FX and Showtime also passed on the project. “The Kennedys,” produced by Muse Entertainment, a Canadian company, and Asylum Entertainment in the United States, is scheduled to be shown in the coming months in 30 countries, including Canada and Britain. DirecTV, a subscription satellite television service, has expressed interest in showing the mini-series in the United States but said on Monday that it had not yet seen it.

The cryptic statement from History seemed to reflect criticism that dogged the project for months, even before it started production. In February a group of historians organized by a liberal filmmaker, Robert Greenwald, issued a condemnation based on early drafts of scripts obtained by Mr. Greenwald. These historians said the scripts contained factual errors, fabrications and more than a dash of salacious innuendo. Among the critics was Theodore C. Sorensen, the longtime adviser and speechwriter to President Kennedy. (Mr. Sorensen died in October.)

When those denunciations surfaced, History said that the scripts were incomplete and that the final drafts would be rigorously reviewed for accuracy. With the mini-series under a microscope, its producers turned to two other historians, Steven M. Gillon and Robert Dallek, to help restore its credibility.

The two brought estimable credentials to the table. Mr. Dallek, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, has written books on the modern presidency, including the biography “An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963.” And Mr. Gillon, whose books include “The Kennedy Assassination — 24 Hours After” and who serves as the resident historian of the History channel, had taught John F. Kennedy Jr. at Brown University.

No one who worked on the mini-series or reviewed its contents would describe them for attribution. These people either did not want to jeopardize business with History or its parent companies, or to make known their relationship with “The Kennedys” or History’s advisory board. This account is based on conversations with two people involved in reviewing the content of the mini-series and a person familiar with that process; a person on the History advisory board; and a person with direct knowledge of the board’s discussions.

During the winter and spring, Mr. Gillon and Mr. Dallek reviewed screenplays for “The Kennedys” and were concerned with what they read, according to three people with direct knowledge of the review process. These people said there were problematic scenes unsupported by facts, including depictions of the Kennedys’ sexual proclivities.

Some disputed material was altered or taken out. A scene in which Joseph P. Kennedy asks the Chicago mobster Sam Giancana to help throw the 1960 presidential election to John F. Kennedy was updated to add Frank Sinatra as a mediator between Kennedy senior and Giancana.

Not all of Mr. Gillon and Mr. Dallek’s recommendations were taken, but with the clock ticking and the magnitude of the project bearing down on them, the two historians agreed that the scripts met a minimum standard for the production to move forward, according to the people with direct knowledge of the process.

“The Kennedys” was filmed in Toronto from June to September with a cast featuring Greg Kinnear as President Kennedy and Katie Holmes as Jacqueline Kennedy. But when edited episodes were presented to the consulting historians in late 2010, they were surprised by what they saw.

Three people who have viewed “The Kennedys” say the filmed episodes still have scenes of questionable factuality. In an episode set during the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, Jacqueline Kennedy gathers her children and tells President Kennedy she can’t tolerate his behavior and is leaving the White House.

Richard Reeves, a journalist whose books include “President Kennedy: Profile of Power,” said those events most likely never occurred. “It was just the opposite,” he said: the first lady remained with the president during the standoff at his request.

The three viewers said the mini-series also portrayed a sexual relationship between President Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, which Mr. Reeves dismissed. “There are a thousand books on Kennedy,” he said. “But I don’t think there’s a debate about it among serious historians.”

Mr. Reeves said there was a factual basis for scenes that showed the president and his wife taking pills, prescribed and not, for a variety of ailments.

Mr. Dallek said that in contrast to recent presidencies that had “a desultory quality” and “demoralized” the country, President Kennedy’s was still remembered by many for its optimism and Kennedy’s inspirational speeches.

“These are the kinds of things that give people the feeling that, ‘If only Kennedy was still president,’ ” Mr. Dallek said.

The genre of biographical films has all but trained audiences to expect a certain amount of fictionalization with their facts, said Gary Lico, the chief executive of CableU, a research firm that tracks cable television.

“I don’t think it’s unique to television; talk to me about ‘The Social Network,’ ” Mr. Lico said, referring to David Fincher’s hit film, a fictionalized account of the creation of Facebook.

David Nevins, Showtime’s president of entertainment, said last week that though his network passed on “The Kennedys,” he felt the mini-series “was well-acted, well-made, very watchable.” He said, “I don’t know what the big deal is,” adding that it looked as if it could “play at a lot of places” on American TV.

Whether or not the factual liberties taken by “The Kennedys” are typical of biographical films, the mini-series presented a particular challenge for History, given the show’s venerated subjects and the channel’s reputation for fact-based entertainment.

“One of the tenets of the History channel for years,” Mr. Lico said, “whether it’s been ‘Ice Road Truckers’ or ‘America: The Story of Us,’ has been, tell us something we don’t know about something we think we know.”

After watching “The Kennedys,” Mr. Dallek and Mr. Gillon continued to make their concerns known to History executives. Mr. Dallek, who was compensated for consulting on “The Kennedys” and had an option to be paid for publicly endorsing it, chose not to exercise that option.

If the Kennedy family were to be displeased with the mini-series, it would have the leverage and connections to make this known to History and its governing board, which is made up of executives from NBC Universal, the Disney/ABC Television Group and the Hearst Corporation, A&E’s parent companies. Caroline Kennedy writes books for Hyperion, the publishing imprint of the Disney/ABC Television Group; and Anne Sweeney, president of that television group and a History board member, is a friend of Maria Shriver’s.

But people familiar with the discussions of the History board say that when it convened at the end of 2010, its unease about the accuracy of “The Kennedys” was more than sufficient to turn it against the project.

Neither Mr. Dallek nor Mr. Gillon felt the mini-series met History’s standards. The board was also said to be strongly influenced by memos from the historians detailing remaining factual inaccuracies and errors, a board member said. When the final votes were tallied, “The Kennedys” had lost its United States broadcaster.

Michael Prupas, president and chief executive of Muse Entertainment, said the mini-series was “based on the truth, and if anything is a positive, very positive presentation of the Kennedy family.” In a joint statement with Muse, Asylum Entertainment said it was proud of the “painstaking efforts that went into creating a drama that is compelling while rich in historic detail.”

Whatever happens with “The Kennedys,” Mr. Reeves offered a prediction about America’s fascination with that family:

“People thought it would end with a certain generation, and it won’t end because they are cultural figures. The Kennedys are never going away.”

Money talks, history walks

Showtime announced on Sunday that it will not air The Kennedys, a dramatic retelling of the Camelot myth.

Showtime Won’t Air ‘Kennedys’ Miniseries Either

The History Channel had also passed up the opportunity to be the one to air this special.

Greg Kinnear as JFK, Katie Holmes as Jackie O, Tom Wilkinson as Papa Joe, and something spelled very much like Chris Diamatopoulous as Sinatra. I’m not sure who was playing me.

I’m told that the movie went totally over the top. When something came up in history to make JFK look not-that-bad, they altered it to make JFK seem in-over-his-head and corrupt.

An entire website was set up to combat this film, and powerful figures like Maria Shriver and Caroline Kennedy spoke out to rally support against it.

Here’s the website- Stop Kennedy Smears | Brave New Films

We agree with Showtime’s decision, and feel that the Kennedy story should be treated with the utmost respect and historical accuracy. We also feel that people like the deviant Kinnear and the Scientologist loony Holmes should probably check their own back yards before foisting this piece of ship onto us.

Now, somebody get me some goddamned Chivas/rocks!

A controversial miniseries about the Kennedy family has been dropped by History Channel in the U.S. after the network deemed that it was not a fit for the network’s brand.

“We have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand,” the network said in a statement late Friday about the eight-part miniseries, The Kennedys, starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie. Canadian Barry Pepper plays Robert F. Kennedy.

“We recognize historical fiction is an important medium for storytelling and commend all the hard work and passion that has gone into the making of the series, but ultimately deem this as the right programming decision for our network.”

The series drew the ire of several Kennedy administration staffers as well as liberal-leaning documentarian Robert Greenwald, who started a campaign to stop the production on the website stopkennedysmears.com.

They contend the series, filmed in Toronto last summer, contains errors of fact. It is also the brainchild of producer Joel Surnow, the creator of the series 24, who is a well-known conservative.

The series was billed as “an inside look behind the secret doors of the White House,” which also “unveils the secrets of the Kennedy family.”

Former Kennedy aide Theodore Sorensen, who said he got a copy of the script, called the series “malicious” and “vindictive” in a New York Times article last February. He says some scenes depicted never happened. History responded by saying the script had been revised.

Supporters of the family say they aren’t happy about reported allusions in the series to Kennedy’s philandering.

Greenwald, who collected 50,000 signatures, says he can’t believe the series got into production.

“I’ll never understand why the History Channel let it get as far as it did. They’re intelligent people over there.”

While the series may never air in the U.S., it will be shown elsewhere. The Montreal production company behind the series, Muse Entertainment, holds the broadcast rights outside of the U.S. and it has sold the series to foreign networks.

It is set to air in Canada on History Television on March 6.

PASADENA, Calif. –

After the History channel said it would not air a controversial miniseries on the Kennedy family, producers were already seeking another television home.

The Showtime pay cable network has been approached to air the eight-part series, a spokesman said on Saturday. Eight years ago, Showtime aired a movie about President Reagan that CBS had made but decided not to broadcast when it faced pressure from some of that former president’s family.

Showtime won’t make a decision about the Kennedy miniseries until its executives have a chance to see it, spokesman Richard Licata said.

The multi-million dollar miniseries, which stars Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John and Jackie Kennedy, was History’s most expensive project ever. But the network issued a statement late Friday saying that after watching the finished product, “we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand.”

Producers have sold the rights to air the series in other countries, including Canada. The producers, Muse Entertainment and Asylum, said in a statement they were confident U.S. television viewers would have a chance to see the series.

A concerted effort was made to quash the series. Liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald collected 50,000 petitions urging History not to air it, and he produced a short film condemning the project on a website, stopkennedysmears.com. He had been given an early script, which included one scene where President Kennedy tells his brother Robert about his need to have sex with other women.

Former Kennedy aide Theodore Sorensen also harshly condemned the film, saying scenes in the script where he was depicted didn’t actually occur.

History also likely felt corporate pressure. The network is owned by the A&E Television Networks, which itself is owned jointly by NBC Universal, the Walt Disney Co. and the Hearst Corp.

A top Disney executive, Disney-ABC Media Networks co-chairwoman Anne Sweeney, is also on the board of directors for the Special Olympics, the organization started by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, President Kennedy’s sister.

Hyperion, a Disney-owned publisher, plans in September to release a book and audiotapes based on interviews that Jackie Kennedy gave to historian and family friend Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in 1964. They had been sealed since then but will be released on the OK of daughter Caroline Kennedy, who is scheduled to edit the project and write an introduction. It’s the 50th anniversary of the first year of Kennedy’s presidency.

The Showtime pay cable network has been approached to air the eight-part series, a spokesman said on Saturday. Eight years ago, Showtime aired a movie about President Reagan that CBS had made but decided not to broadcast when it faced pressure from some of that former president’s family.

Showtime won’t make a decision about the Kennedy miniseries until its executives have a chance to see it, spokesman Richard Licata said.

The multi-million dollar miniseries, which stars Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as John and Jackie Kennedy, was History’s most expensive project ever. But the network issued a statement late Friday saying that after watching the finished product, “we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand.”

Producers have sold the rights to air the series in other countries, including Canada. The producers, Muse Entertainment and Asylum, said in a statement they were confident U.S. television viewers would have a chance to see the series.

A concerted effort was made to quash the series. Liberal filmmaker Robert Greenwald collected 50,000 petitions urging History not to air it, and he produced a short film condemning the project on a website, stopkennedysmears.com. He had been given an early script, which included one scene where President Kennedy tells his brother Robert about his need to have sex with other women.

Former Kennedy aide Theodore Sorensen also harshly condemned the film, saying scenes in the script where he was depicted didn’t actually occur.

History also likely felt corporate pressure. The network is owned by the A&E Television Networks, which itself is owned jointly by NBC Universal, the Walt Disney Co. and the Hearst Corp.

A top Disney executive, Disney-ABC Media Networks co-chairwoman Anne Sweeney, is also on the board of directors for the Special Olympics, the organization started by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, President Kennedy’s sister.

Hyperion, a Disney-owned publisher, plans in September to release a book and audiotapes based on interviews that Jackie Kennedy gave to historian and family friend Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in 1964. They had been sealed since then but will be released on the OK of daughter Caroline Kennedy, who is scheduled to edit the project and write an introduction. It’s the 50th anniversary of the first year of Kennedy’s presidency.

A big-budget miniseries about John F. Kennedy’s presidency that was criticized over its historical accuracy before it was even filmed will not be shown on the History Channel, the cable network has announced.

The series, called “The Kennedys,” was supposed to be the History Channel’s first major move into scripted programming, with a high-profile cast, a well-known if controversial producer and a multimillion-dollar price tag.

But on Friday, the channel said in a statement that this “dramatic interpretation” of the Kennedys’ story, which had been filmed and was being prepared for broadcast in the spring, “is not a fit for the History brand.” The decision was first disclosed by The Hollywood Reporter.

In December 2009, the History Channel announced that it had ordered “The Kennedys” from the producer Joel Surnow, an Emmy Award-winning creator and former executive producer of the Fox series “24,” who is well known for his conservative politics. At that time, Mr. Surnow said he could handle the Kennedy saga fairly, telling The New York Times in an interview: “We’re not making judgments about their political decisions. This is a family story.”

But last February, “The Kennedys” was criticized by a group of historians who were shown early drafts of the script by Robert Greenwald, a liberal filmmaker who had obtained copies. Among the critics was Theodore C. Sorensen, the former Kennedy adviser, who said of the screenplays, “Every single conversation with the president in the Oval Office or elsewhere in which I, according to the script, participated, never happened.” (Mr. Sorensen died in October.)

The History Channel said then that the scripts in question were incomplete drafts and that it stood by the accuracy of more current drafts that were annotated by the screenwriter, Stephen Kronish.

Production on the series began in the summer with a cast that included Greg Kinnear as President Kennedy, Katie Holmes as Jacqueline Kennedy and Tom Wilkinson as Joseph P. Kennedy.

Even the left-leaning documaker who led the charge to criticize “The Kennedys” is surprised at the awkward timing of History’s decision to scrap plans to air the miniseries.

“This whole thing has been abysmally handled,” said Robert Greenwald, who launched the website StopKennedySmears this time last year to bring attention to what he and numerous historians viewed as egregious distortions of John F. Kennedy’s political legacy in an early draft of the script.

History had been eyeing a March or April premiere date for the eight-part saga of the Camelot era — a project touted for more than a year by History g.m. Nancy Dubuc as the cabler’s splashy foray into scripted programming. But word surfaced on Friday that the cabler was hastily backing out of its deal on the $30 million mini starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes.

“While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand,” History parent A&E Television Networks said in a statement issued Friday evening.

People close to the situation said the driving force was rising pressure from the Kennedy family and associates on A&E Television Networks’ owners, Disney, Hearst and NBC Universal. The project had been under scrutiny from the start because it was exec produced by Joel Surnow, the co-creator of “24″ who is known for his conservative political views. The idea for the mini, however, began with History execs, who then recruited Surnow.

The producers behind “Kennedys,” Asylum Entertainment and Canada’s Muse Entertainment, immediately began shopping the project for a new home. Surnow declined requests for comment.

“We are proud of the work all of our talent put into the making of ‘The Kennedys’ and the painstaking efforts that went into creating a drama that is compelling while rich in historic detail,” Asylum and Muse said in a statement. “Although we regret this does not fit into the History Channel’s plans, we are confident that television viewers in the United States will join viewers from around the world in having an opportunity to watch this series in the near future.”

The mini is still set to air in numerous foreign markets, including on the Canadian iteration of History (which is not owned by A&E Television Networks) on March 6. Because of its starry cast and subject matter, “Kennedys” was a strong draw for Muse in overseas markets.

Given the kerfuffle with History, pay TV seemed a likely prospect for “Kennedys.” But HBO and Starz made it clear they were not interested in the property. Producers sent copies of the complete mini over the weekend to Showtime toppers Matt Blank and David Nevins, who were expected to screen it and make a decision in the near future. Nevins has deep ties to Surnow through his years as prexy of “24″ producer Imagine Television.

As the airdate for “Kennedys” drew near, Disney found itself in a particularly touchy situation as its Hyperion publishing cut a book deal last year with Caroline Kennedy and the Kennedy Foundation Library. The book, due out in September, will consist of previously undisclosed interviews that Jacqueline Kennedy gave in the spring of 1964 to historian Arthur Schlesinger. Moreover, Disney/ABC Television Group prexy Anne Sweeney has a Kennedy connection through her role as a board member of the Special Olympics, the org founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Sources close to the situation emphasized that Caroline Kennedy and other family members and associates mounted a full-court press with top execs at Hearst and NBC U to raise their concerns about the project. Caroline Kennedy’s cousin Maria Shriver has longstanding ties to NBC U through her past role as an NBC News correspondent.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the start of Kennedy presidency, which also heightened the family’s sensitivity to the timing of the mini.

Insiders said that pressure was mounting as execs began screening the nearly finished product. Friday’s news was a blow to many at History who believed the mini was strong and a good vehicle to launch the cabler into the scripted programming biz. There was also hope it would raise History’s profile by serving as awards bait for its cast, which also includes Barry Pepper as Robert F. Kennedy and Tom Wilkinson as Joseph Kennedy.

History’s about-face spelled victory for activist documentarian Greenwald. Last February, Greenwald marshaled historians and Kennedy associates to sound the alarm after he obtained an early draft of the script. History insiders, meanwhile, saw Greenwald’s campaign as an unfair smear job on the project simply because of Surnow’s involvement — especially since the script by “24″ alum Steve Kronish was in its very early draft form.

Greenwald told Variety that he was gratified by History’s decision to back out of “The Kennedys” but he’s puzzled as to why the cabler, and its parent companies, waited until the 11th hour to pull the plug rather than adjusting the script before shooting began.

“The whole thing has been totally mishandled from the start,” Greenwald said. “They’ve paid a lot of money for this thing, and it could have been avoided,” he said.

The major beefs of Greenwald and the experts who lent their voices to his campaign boiled down to the portrayals of JFK and RFK as utterly sex-crazed and of father Joseph Kennedy as purely power mad.

“The sexual content was used to smear the (Kennedy family) accomplishments,” Greenwald said. “Nothing JFK did was any good because for him it was all about sex and power.”

Greenwald said his campaign had no support from the Kennedy family. His efforts resulted in a front-page New York Times story on the controversy. In Greenwald’s view, that should have put History’s corporate masters on notice.

Disney and ABC withstood a similar firestorm with its 2006 mini miniseries “Path to 9/11,” which was blasted as the work of politically motivated writers and producers determined to lay the blame for the terrorist attacks on the Clinton administration. And in 2003, CBS buckled under the pressure of a storm of protest over the portrayals of Ronald and Nancy Reagan in “The Reagans” mini, which wound up airing on its sibling cabler Showtime.

In an interview with the New York Times at the time the mini was greenlit, in December 2009, Surnow denied that there was any political agenda driving his interest in the JFK story.

“We’re not making judgments about their political decisions. This is a family story,” Surnow told the Times. The question of his personal political bent “will cease to be an issue — it’s something that I’ll be asked about, and I’ll be answering this question 500 times when it comes out, but when people see it and realize what we’re doing, it will feel like an irrelevant question after a while.”

Joel Surnow and the rest of the creative team involved with History’s eight-part miniseries “The Kennedys” are absorbing the shock of the news that the cabler has tabled plans to run the starry production starting in spring.

Move comes as a big surprise to the TV world as History has been touting the project starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes as a tentpole for the fast-growing channel. History reportedly had set aside $20 million in marketing coin to tubthump the mini.

In a sign of how surprised “The Kennedy’s” producers were by the news, Muse Entertainment and Asylum Entertainment retained Crisis PR firm Sitrick and Co. to distribute a statement:

“We are proud of the work all of our talent put into the making of “The Kennedys” and the painstaking efforts that went into creating a drama that is compelling while rich in historic detail. Although we regret this does not fit into the History Channel’s plans, we are confident that television viewers in the United States will join viewers from around the world in having an opportunity to watch this series in the near future.”

“The Kennedys” had already drawn major scrutiny because of Surnow’s unabashedly conservative leanings and criticism from some that the script was skewed to be highly critical of Kennedy’s legacy and his liberal ideology.

There was immediate speculation that pressure from the Kennedy clan on the owners of History parent A&E Television Networks — Disney, Hearst and NBC Universal — may have played a part in the decision.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s inauguration as president, and the start of the fabled “Camelot” era, and thus the family may have been particularly sensitive to the timing of the mini. Disney-ABC Television Group chief Anne Sweeney, who sits on the board of A&E Television Networks, has a connection to the Kennedy family through her role as a board member of Special Olympics, though sources stressed there was no indication that Sweeney or Disney drove the decision to table the project.

Of course, there was also immediate speculation that producers would aim to shop the project to other outlets.

“Upon completion of the production of ‘The Kennedys,’ History has decided not to air the eight-part miniseries on the network,” A&E Television Networks said in a statement. “While the film is produced and acted with the highest quality, after viewing the final product in its totality, we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand. We recognize historical fiction is an important medium for storytelling and commend all the hard work and passion that has gone into the making of the series, but ultimately deem this as the right programming decision for our network.”

History insiders admitted to being distraught by the news that the mini would be tabled, as many execs there felt the final product was very strong and an Emmy contender.

The decision was believed to have come down from the board that oversees A&E Television Network within the past few days. Reps for Surnow, Kinnear, Holmes and others involved with the project were informed on Friday.

Insiders have vehemently denied that the mini came at the story of the Kennedys from a politically charged point of view and that great care was taken to make the story historically accurate. Within History, there has long been suspicion that outside forces were intent on smearing the project, as early drafts of the script leaked and the New York Times ran a front-page story about the campaign by Kennedy associates and filmmaker Robert Greenwald to criticize the historical veracity of the mini.

In addition to Kinnear and Holmes, thesp Barry Pepper had a standout role in the mini as Robert F. Kennedy and Tom Wilkinson played patriarch Joseph Kennedy.

Disney previously weathered criticism that its 2006 miniseries “Path to 9/11″ was the byproduct of writers and producers who were determined to lay the blame for the terrorist attacks on the Clinton administration. And in 2003, CBS buckled under the pressure of a storm of protest over the unflattering portrayals of Ronald and Nancy Reagan in “The Reagans” mini, which wound up airing on Showtime.

“The Kennedys” is likely to have plenty of interest from other networks because of the advance PR from the controversy and also its high-wattage cast.

Reps for A&E Television Networks would not comment beyond the statement.