A Disaster You've Never Heard of is Still Controlling Our Timeline

If social studies was taught by Mr. Ballen in story form, no one would fail.

Being 67 years old I knew right away you were talking about Joe and John Kennedy. I learned Joe died in grade school history but I was taught he was shot down. I never learned the real story. Thank you for schooling an old woman in WWII history.

I have a minor in history, and I love to hear him and all the stories. If we have more teachers like him, kids would love history and appreciate it!

Knew the story but loved your telling of it. I never realized the implications of that event. Thank you. Could listen to you all day

"Mistakes were made." is one of my favorite historical phrases of all time. Perfect for all occasions.

I'm 60, taught US History, and all of my uncles fought in WWII. I knew this was about the Kennedys as soon as you mentioned the rivalry and the father, but never knew the circumstances of Joe's death, just assumed he was shot down. One of your best, Mr. Ballen!!

I stumbled into this channel after seeing a few of the shorts. I really enjoy the format and the fact that there is no sensationalizing in these stories. As well, it's wonderful to see a Veteran who had significant struggles come out the other side and share of himself in such a way. I come from a long line of Military members ( and these are only the ones that I grew up with, I know it goes farther back but need to do more research - both Grandfathers, 2 Uncles, my Father and my brother, all USMC, except for 1 Uncle who was an Army Medic.) And while I, myself, am not a soldier, I've unfortunately had to deal with severe PTSD involving a very violent and invasive criminal event. So watching others with similar struggles aids in my own healing process - Thank You MrBallen, Tara W.

For anyone that is wondering, vengeance weapons, are actually the V-1 fly bombs (buzz bombs) which were launched from the French coastline and had preprogrammed flight paths to crash into major population centers, ultimately the V-1 wasn't a huge success and was discontinued for the more versatile V-2. The V-1 was the world first cruise missile , the V-2 was the worlds first ballistic missile.

I think the most tragic story from the Kennedy family (yes, more tragic than Joe's, John's, and Robert's deaths) is the horrifying case of Rosemary, how she was actually kept from being born for two hours until the doctor arrived (her mother's legs were kept crossed to keep Rosemary from going through the birth canal), that resulted in a dangerous lack of oxygen, leading to her having development issues. She had a very difficult time growing up, culminating with Joseph Kennedy's decision to have her get a lobotomy when she was 23, utterly destroying her life. Besides this, her mother didn't visit for 20 years and Joseph Kennedy never saw her again. They lied to their other children about her whereabouts and they didn't find out about her until after their father suffered a stroke in 1961. All-in-all, it was a tragedy of the Kennedy family's making and to me what happened to Rosemary was diabolical

1.6k likes and hundreds of comments before your video even drops that just shows how much you're loved!

Can someone explain how the American military didn’t know that the British Royal air force had already gotten the job done? How is that possible??

"Mistakes were made" is a great phrase! I know my dad used it at least once when my mom got a little surprise... on a stick.

Our 14 year old son (Zeke) discovered your channel a few years back and you have become a staple and HIS favorite! You announced your book coming out on your birthday! Well, Zeke (our son) happens to share his birthday with you! And he asked for your book for his 15th birthday!! I just pre ordered it! He will get so much joy from this, and we will too!!

The “Strange, Dark, & Mysterious” is the best. MrBallen getting close to 9 million subs. Well deserved. Fantastic storytelling.

I love your platform/stories Jon and feel so protective over it — like, I just want you to do so well so you can take care of your family while doing what you love!

he was a Kennedy... The wires being crossed was no accident. It's also hard to believe we didnt already know the Vengance weapons had been destroyed 5 weeks earlier.

“It should’ve been Joe” Yep, that’s definitely boggled my mind after hearing this story 🤯 butterfly effects are a strange phenomenon for sure!

I remember when you were at less than 100k followers now you're at 8.7million ... Very much deserved

I have watched a lot of MrBallen videos. This is the first one that legitimately gave me chills.

I recognized his picture as I had a 'read tons of Kennedy books' era, but it has been years and I really enjoyed your video as a refresher.