I read that there are over 2000 books written about John F. Kennedy, with more being written every year. This year marks the 50th anniversary of his assassination and has seen a flood of new books about him. What follows above the fold are the descriptions of three older books covering his election, his life and his assassination. Below the fold there are three of the new entries, including one on his time in the Senate, his staff at the White House and his enduring legacy.
For the story of his election, there is none better than the Pulitzer Prize winning, The Making of the President 1960, by Theodore H White.
The Making of the President 1960
by Theodore H. White
Published by Harper Perennial
November 3rd 2009 by (first published 1961)
432 pages
A Harper Perennial Political Classic, The Making of the President 1960 is the groundbreaking national bestseller and Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the 1960 presidential campaign and the election of John F. Kennedy. With this narrative history of American politics in action, Theodore White revolutionized the way presidential campaigns are reported. Now back in print, freshly repackaged, and with a new foreword written by Robert Dallek, The Making of the President 1960 remains the most influential publication about the election of John F. Kennedy.
The greatest political story ever told—the epic clash between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon, as captured in Theodore White's dramatic and groundbreaking chronicle
The Making of the President 1960 is the book that revolutionized—even created—modern political journalism. Granted intimate access to all parties involved, Theodore White crafted an almost mythic story of the battle that pitted Senator John F. Kennedy against Vice-President Richard M. Nixon—from the decisive primary battles to the history-making televised debates, the first of their kind. Magnificently detailed and exquisitely paced, The Making of the President 1960 imbues the nation's presidential election process with both grittiness and grandeur, and established a benchmark against which all new campaign reporters would measure their work. The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction—and the first entry in White's influential four-volume "narrative history of American politics in action"—this classic account remains the keystone of American political journalism.
HarperCollins
My favorite biography of John F. Kennedy is An Unfinished Life by Roger Dallek. A thorough, engagingly honest look at our 35th President, Dallek neither sensationalizes nor hides relevant facts of Kennedy's life, health or womanizing.
An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
By Robert Dallek
Published by Little, Brown & Company
May, 2003
838 pages
Everywhere acclaimed for its compelling narrative, its fresh insights, and its dispassionate appraisal of John F. Kennedy's presidency, this #1 national bestseller is the first full-scale single-volume biography of JFK to be written by a historian in nearly four decades.
Drawing on previously unavailable material and never-before-opened archives, An Unfinished Life is packed with revelations large and small - about JFK's health, his love affairs, RFK's appointment as Attorney General, what Joseph Kennedy did to help his son win the White House, and the path JFK would have taken in the Vietnam entanglement had he survived. Robert Dallek succeeds as no other biographer has done in striking a critical balance - never shying away from JFK's weaknesses, brilliantly exploring his strengths - as he offers up a vivid portrait of a bold, brave, complex, heroic, human Kennedy.
Hachette Book Group
If you are going to read any book on the assassination of President John Kennedy, it should be this one. Written in a style known today as either creative non-fiction or overwrought (depending on point of view) Manchester's comprehensively detailed tome on the assassination is the foundation for any meaningful knowledge or understanding of what happened to a nation one day in Dallas.
The Death of a President: November 20-November 25, 1963
By William Manchester
Publisher: Harper-Row, Hachette Book Group
1967
711 pages
William Manchester's epic and definitive account of President John F. Kennedy's assassination -- now restored to print in a new paperback edition.
As the world still reeled from the tragic and historic events of November 22, 1963, William Manchester set out, at the request of the Kennedy family, to create a detailed, authoritative record of the days immediately preceding and following President John F. Kennedy's death. Through hundreds of interviews, abundant travel and firsthand observation, and with unique access to the proceedings of the Warren Commission, Manchester conducted an exhaustive historical investigation, accumulating forty-five volumes of documents, exhibits, and transcribed tapes. His ultimate objective -- to set down as a whole the national and personal tragedy that was JFK's assassination -- is brilliantly achieved in this galvanizing narrative, a book universally acclaimed as a landmark work of modern history.
Hachette Book Group
Much has been written about the controversy between the Kennedys and Manchester before the book finally saw the light of day, with one of the best summaries written a few years ago by
Sam Kashner for Vanity Fair. In a nutshell, Jackie Kennedy objected to the large fee that Manchester would receive for a Look Magazine serialization of the book. All profits from the book itself, save $40,000 which went to Manchester, would go to the JFK Library as was agreed in the original contract. The Kennedys also objected to some of the disclosures in the book. I suggest you read the article for all of the details.
JFK in the Senate: Pathway to the Presidency
by John T. Shaw
Published by Palgrave Macmillan
October 15th 2013
256 pages
Before John F. Kennedy became the charismatic 35th president of the United States and an enduring American icon, he served for nearly eight years as the junior senator from Massachusetts. From 1953 to 1960, he mastered the nuances of American politics and carefully charted a path to realize his presidential ambitions. "In all my life, I never saw anybody grow the way Jack did," said House Speaker Tip O'Neill of Kennedy's Senate years.
In the first book to focus on his tenure as a senator, JFK in the Senate shows how Kennedy used the upper chamber as a policy and political training ground. Join me as I explore Kennedy's role in some of the most important domestic and international challenges of that era, including the threat posed by the Soviet Union and China, France's faltering military interventions in Vietnam and Algeria, and the battle to reform the labor movement.
Unlike Lyndon Johnson, the Senate Democratic leader, JFK never aspired to be a dealmaker who kept the institution under his control. Instead, he envisioned himself as a historian-statesman in the mold of his hero, Winston Churchill, moving easily between the worlds of ideas and action. Drawing on archival research, memoirs, and interviews with congressional experts and former Kennedy aides, JFK in the Senate provides fresh insights into this overlooked period of Kennedy's remarkable political career.
John T Shaw
Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House
By Robert Dallek
Published by HarperCollins
October 8, 2013
525 Pages
Fifty years after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls “Kennedy’s leading biographer,” delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors—their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot’s Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy’s administration—including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam—were indelible.
Kennedy purposefully put together a dynamic team of advisors noted for their brilliance and acumen, including Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, and trusted aides Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger. Yet the very traits these men shared also created sharp divisions. Far from being unified, this was an uneasy band of rivals whose ambitions and clashing beliefs ignited fiery internal debates.
Robert Dallek illuminates a president deeply determined to surround himself with the best and the brightest, who often found himself disappointed with their recommendations. The result, Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House, is a striking portrait of a leader whose wise resistance to pressure and adherence to principle offers a cautionary tale for our own time.
HarperCollins
The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy
by Larry J. Sabato
Published by Bloomsbury USA
October 15th 2013
624 pages
An original and illuminating narrative revealing John F. Kennedy’s lasting influence on America, by the acclaimed political analyst Larry J. Sabato.
John F. Kennedy died almost half a century ago—yet because of his extraordinary promise and untimely death, his star still resonates strongly. On the anniversary of his assassination, celebrated political scientist and analyst Larry J. Sabato—himself a teenager in the early 1960s and inspired by JFK and his presidency—explores the fascinating and powerful influence he has had over five decades on the media, the general public, and especially on each of his nine presidential successors.
A recent Gallup poll gave JFK the highest job approval rating of any of those successors, and millions remain captivated by his one thousand days in the White House. For all of them, and for those who feel he would not be judged so highly if he hadn’t died tragically in office, The Kennedy Half-Century will be particularly revealing. Sabato reexamines JFK’s assassination using heretofore unseen information to which he has had unique access, then documents the extraordinary effect the assassination has had on Americans of every modern generation through the most extensive survey ever undertaken on the public’s view of a historical figure. The full and fascinating results, gathered by the accomplished pollsters Peter Hart and Geoff Garin, paint a compelling portrait of the country a half-century after the epochal killing. Just as significantly, Sabato shows how JFK’s presidency has strongly influenced the policies and decisions—often in surprising ways—of every president since.
Among the hundreds of books devoted to JFK, The Kennedy Half-Century stands apart for its rich insight and original perspective. Anyone who reads it will appreciate in new ways the profound impact JFK’s short presidency has had on our national psyche.
Bloomsbury Publishing
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