Hopelessness In The Midst Of All The Pleasure

According to Thomas Reeves in his book about John F. Kennedy, A Question of Character, JFK became very promiscuous after the deaths of his brother and sister, Joe and Kathleen.  Feeling that he hadn't long to live himself, he "accelerated his pursuit of pleasure.  Especially after Eunice moved out of the Georgetown house in 1948, girls went in and out of Jack's bed in such numbers that he often neglected to learn their first names, referring to them the next morning merely as "sweetie" or "kiddo."

"Jack confided a bit in one woman who resisted his advances... (She later wrote): 'During one of these conversations I once asked him why he was doing it--why he was acting like his father, why he was avoiding real relationships, why he was taking a chance on getting caught in a scandal at the same time he was trying to make his career take off.  He took a while trying to formulate an answer.  Finally he shrugged and said, "I don' know, really.  I guess I can't help it."'"

He spoke those words with a "sad expression on his face.  He looked like a little boy about to cry."

- Thomas C. Reeves, A Question of Character (The Free Press, 1991)