Kenneth O'Donnell

Kenneth Phillip O'Donnell (March 4, 1924–September 9, 1977) was a top aide to U.S. President John F. Kennedy and part of the group of Kennedys' close advisors called the "Irish Mafia." He is the son of famed Holy Cross football coach and athletic director, Cleo O'Donnell, as well as the father of Earthlink co-founder, Kevin M. O'Donnell.

Born Phillip Kenneth O'Donnell in Worcester, Massachusetts, he had his given and middle names legally reversed in the 1960s. During World War II O'Donnell served in the US Army Air Corps (1942-1945). After the war O'Donnell studied at Harvard College, where he met Robert Kennedy. He later attended Boston College Law School.

In 1951 O'Donnell worked as a salesman for Hollingsworth and Whitney in Boston. A member of the Democratic Party, O'Donnell helped in the campaign to get John F. Kennedy elected to the United States Senate. O'Donnell worked in public relations before being appointed as Assistant Counsel to the Senate Select Committee to Investigate Improper Activities in Labor-Management Relations (1957-59).

In 1960 O'Donnell was the organizer and director of John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign schedule. The following year he became Kennedy's special assistant. In this role he functioned in many ways as Kennedy's Chief of Staff, a position that Kennedy never filled during his tenure in the White House. O'Donnell was an early critic of the Vietnam War and advised Kennedy to bring an end to America's involvement in the conflict. The recent autobiography "Counselor" by Ted Sorenson, who served as special counsel to President Kennedy, revealed O'Donnell's role in polarizing the JFK staff into the professional "politicians" and the academicians (such as Sorenson and Arthur Schlesinger). His antipathy to Sorenson ran so deep that in 1976/77 he worked to derail Sorenson's nomination as Director of Central Intelligence for Jimmy Carter.

He was co-author of "Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye", Little Brown & Co (Library of Congress)

O'Donnell in the movies

*"The Missiles of October" (1974, TV): played by Stewart Moss
*""Kennedy"" (1983, TV): played by Trey Wilson
*"JFK" (1991): played by David Benn
*"Thirteen Days" (2000): played by Kevin Costner
*"Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis" (2000, TV): played by Brian Wrench