John F Kennedy

Addressing civil rights activists in Selma, Ala., a year ago, Sen. Barack Obama traced his "very existence" to the generosity of the Kennedy family, which he said paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and thus meet his Kansan mother. The Camelot connection has become part of the mythology surrounding Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. It is a touching story -- but key details are either untrue or grossly oversimplified.

About 500 people crowded Saturday into the plaza where President Kennedy was shot 45 years earlier, all agreeing it was right to remember a pivotal moment in American history, even if they didn't all believe the official line. People bowed their heads during a moment of silence at 12:30 p.m. Some hawked JFK memorabilia or pitched conspiracy theories to visitors. Others offered their memories of the killing. Visiting from Pipersville, Pa.

A recently discovered home movie shows a brief but clear glimpse of President Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, seconds before his assassination. The silent, 8-mm color film is "the clearest, best film of Jackie in the motorcade," said Gary Mack, curator of the Sixth Floor Museum, which focuses on Kennedy's life and assassination. The film was unveiled on the museum's website, www.jfk.org. The assassination is not shown in the 40-second clip.

President Kennedy's Addison's disease, which came to light only after his election in 1960, was most likely caused by a rare autoimmune disease, according to a Navy doctor who reviewed Kennedy's medical records. The disease, autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2, or APS 2, also caused Kennedy's hypothyroidism, according to a report published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Hard though it is to believe these days -- when a celebrity's smallest sneeze is analyzed -- Kennedy's family and advisors were able to keep his medical history virtually secret.

They're the kind of tag-sale items left over when families clean out vacation homes: frayed sofas, chipped china cups and mismatched glasses. There are also a few straw baskets, some worn dictionaries, even an old wine bottle that's been turned into a lamp. However, the 691 lots being auctioned by Sotheby's Holdings Inc. in New York this week are not the flotsam of ordinary lives. These are artifacts from houses owned by President Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline.

An oak rocking chair that President John F. Kennedy used to rest his bad back sold for $96,000 to an anonymous telephone bidder at the opening of a three-day auction of property from the Kennedy family's homes. The bidding at Sotheby's New York showroom this week was brisk, with many lots selling for 10 to 20 times their presale estimates. A sugar bowl estimated at $100 to $150 sold for $7,200, and a group of assorted baskets worth $150 to $250 fetched $1,560.

A gold Rolex watch believed given by Marilyn Monroe to the late President Kennedy, inscribed "Jack with love as always Marilyn May 29th 1962," has been sold for $120,000, an auction house said Monday. The watch was sold in Boston with a poem titled "A heartfelt plea on your birthday," typed in black on a paper disk placed at the bottom of the gold case containing the watch. The two are rumored to have had an affair around that time.

Two flags that flew from the convertible that President John F. Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated in 1963 sold at auction for $450,000. The banners, one an American flag, the other bearing the presidential seal, were among the most-sought items at the three-day auction of memorabilia from the lives of John and Jacqueline Kennedy. Guernsey's auction house declined to identify the buyer.

The History Channel apologized Friday for presenting a program last November that suggested former President Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate his predecessor, John F. Kennedy.

In these days of rapidly changing technology and built-in obsolescence, nothing in our culture seems to last long -- except, that is, people's fascination with all things Kennedy.