Martin Sheen knows a thing or two about presidents — and we’re not just talking about his time spent running NBC’s “The West Wing.” The actor portrayed John F. Kennedy in the 1983 miniseries “Kennedy” and is actually a close friend of America’s First Family.
So when TheWrap spoke with the narrator and executive producer of CNN’s upcoming six-part docuseries “American Dynasties: The Kennedys” on Friday, we had to ask him how JFK might have responded to the recent rash of school shootings. For one, Sheen says our 35th president would “have confronted those bastards” at the NRA — unlike Donald Trump.
“Well, very clearly he would have had an even and direct response. And it would have been human and compassionate,” Sheen told us. “And I dare say — and no one would be able to predict what they would have done — but I think it’s clear from what we witnessed they did in the past that those weapons would not be in the hands of stark raving mad people. And very few of those weapons would probably be even accessed outside of the military. So I don’t think that they would have allowed it to become such a crisis and rolled over to the NRA. I think they’d have confronted those bastards and they would have made it real clear that this is not gonna go down.”
Nope, Sheen thinks NRA chief Wayne LaPierre’s “bullying organization” couldn’t have stood a chance against the Kennedy administration, who would have “put them in a place where they couldn’t have gotten away with all this.”
“You know, when the steel companies were going to raise their prices in JFK’s first few months in office, he went right at them,” Sheen added. “And he made it real clear that you’re not going to challenge us on these very, very fundamental issues. We’re standing between you and the people we serve. We’re not here to serve big business. We’re here to serve the American public. And you know, the first duty of a federal officer is to protect the Constitution. And the first duty of a soldier is to protect the weak. And so I don’t think we would have gotten this far had the Kennedys survived, with this bullying organization the NRA. You know, they would have put them in a place where they couldn’t have gotten away with all this.”
“American Dynasties: The Kennedys” premieres March 11 at 9 p.m. on CNN.