Earlier this year, while researching a book on Kennedy, historian Robert Dallek, gained exclusive access to JFK’s medical files and uncovered shocking secrets about the state of the president’s health. Behind the images of all that “vig-ah,” there was a mask of pain , and a steely determination to keep it private. Dallek wrote about his findings in the article “The Medical Ordeals of JFK,” which appears in the December issue of the Atlantic Monthly Magazine. The article is an excerpt from his forthcoming biography “An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. ”

Do these new revelations about the president’s health change the way you see JFK and is presidency? Was President Kennedy’s failure to disclose his health status represent a moral failing? Or, does his silence speak to his bravery?

Guests:

Robert Dallek, presidential historian and author of forthcoming book “The Medical Ordeals of JFK.” An excerpt of the book appears in the December issue of the Atlantic Monthly magazine