The Kennedys were one power couple who knew how to court the media. They were blessed with Hollywood good looks, wit and charm - and they made sure the voting public knew it. In one particularly canny move, they allowed celebrated Harper's Bazaar photographer Richard Avedon to take their family portraits for the magazine just three weeks before Kennedy's official inauguration. The pictures showed the American people their ideal president - wholesome, stylish, an everyday family man and all-round great guy. As glorified publicity shots they worked a treat. But nowadays, of course, they also have the haunting allure that only pictures of a doomed icon can have. Holly Kyte
FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 28, 2007
The Kennedys: Portrait of a Family, photographs by Richard Avedon (Thames & Hudson, £19.95) 
This Soviet sporting life
