Adventures on the New Frontier

After John F. Kennedy’s election and before his inauguration, filmmaker Robert Drew screened the breakthrough Drew Associates film Primary for the president-elect and his wife in West Palm Beach. Kennedy appreciated the film, so Drew proposed another, this one to document a president dealing with a crisis. Kennedy told Drew to do some test shooting to see if he could forget the camera as he had when he campaigned in Wisconsin. Drew and D. A. Pennebaker went to the White House for a two-day test shoot, during which they were given free rein to film everything that happened. During a meeting with the joint chiefs of staff, when the subject of Cuba arose, an admiral had to remind the president that the camera was there. This footage was broadcast as Adventures on the New Frontier.