John F. Kennedy: The Presidential Portfolio: History as Told Through the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum - Hardcover

Kenney, Charles C.; Kenney, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1891620363 ISBN 13: 9781891620362

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2000

Synopsis

PublicAffairs is proud to introduce the first volume in our new Presidential Library Series, edited by renowned presidential historian Michael Beschloss.

Each year, thousands of people visit the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum to experience the "thousand days" of his presidency and learn what it took to be the leader of the most powerful nation on earth. Now readers can revisit the tenure of one of America's most mythic figures and most controversial presidents through this elegantly designed book and portfolio.

John F. Kennedy: The Presidential Portfolio is a unique time capsule that captures the essence, style, and excitement of the Kennedy presidency. Readers will travel back in time to the breathtakingly close election; the drama of the Cuban Missile Crisis; the careful political maneuvering at the start of the civil rights movement; the Bay of Pigs fiasco; and the inspiring creation of the Peace Corps. Key figures, such as First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, are vividly profiled. And bound to each book is a 90-minute CD recording of never-before-heard Kennedy phone conversations and dictations.

For Kennedy Library visitors, fans of Camelot, or anyone interested in American history, this historically authoritative examination of the man, his era, and an institution is an essential reference volume and a beautiful gift.

About this title

Review:

Drawing on the resources of the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum--which include millions of pages of documents, more than 100,000 photographs, and many thousands of books, audiotapes, and film reels--this slender book is far more than a keepsake for visitors to that institution. Instead, it offers a thoroughly illustrated, thoughtful, and sometimes even critical overview of the late president's life and political accomplishments.

Though born into a vast fortune, John Kennedy, notes historian Charles Kenney, had to overcome a great deal of difficulty (including frequent illness and a pronounced lack of direction) before arriving at the confident sense of purpose that characterized his public image. (Kennedy, the author notes, was also given to vanity, and he worked extraordinarily hard "to remain slender, well-groomed, and carefully tailored," while shunning the ostentation of an earlier generation of powerbrokers and politicians.) Charting Kennedy's evolution from playboy to war hero and scholar, and thence to a leader buffeted by one crisis after another, the book makes generous use of the president's own words--and, especially, of once top-secret correspondence and memoranda. An audio CD, containing recorded addresses, speeches, telephone conversations, and dictations, accompanies the book.

The publication coincides with the 37th anniversary of the president's assassination--which, notes historian Michael Beschloss, 80 percent of Americans polled believe was the result of a conspiracy, not a lone gunman--and with the 2000 presidential election, the conduct of which may make some readers more nostalgic than ever for the comparatively pure vision of Kennedy's Camelot. --Gregory McNamee

About the Author:

Charles Kenney is a novelist and former journalist at The Boston Globe. He is, most recently, the author of The Son of John Devlin. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1891620363
• ISBN 13: 9781891620362
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256