Today is the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. E.J. Dionne had a nice column today in the Washington Post recalling the eloquence of JFK's speech, widely regarded as one of the best ever. Many of its phrases have found a place in our consciousness, and we still recall them on appropriate occasions.
It was also one of the shortest. At 1355 words, it is slightly shorter than one of my typical sermons. JFK didn't want to be known as a "windbag," says Dionne.
Best books on the Kennedy administration would definitely include Arthur Schlesinger's A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House and Theodore Sorenson's Kennedy. Both are insider accounts by admirers who are also good writers.
My personal favorite is President Kennedy by Richard Reeves. This book has a narrower focus. It deals only with the three years of Kennedy's presidency. Reeves is a good writer and an astute interpreter. Robert Dallek's An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 is also very good. Dallek is one of our most prominent historians.
David Talbot's book on the relationship of John and Robert Kennedy--Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years--deserves high marks and also contains some new information on RFK's personal views regarding JFK's assassination.
A book I haven't read, but plan is JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters by James Douglass. It's been highly recommended by several people.
The Reeves book is good. The others I got the most from were The Kennedy Imprisonment by Garry Wills (too bad Wills can’t be as tough on Obama as he was on JFK – he’s gone soft in his dotage), Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton,The Search for JFK by Joan and Clay Blair. Also liked JFK’s Navy buddy Paul Fay’s little memoir, still amusing and enlightening despite the Kennedy family’s giving the (perfectly harmless) text the Manchester treatment. Couldn’t get through the Sorenson book, I’m sorry to say.
America’s Queen, Sarah Bradford’s biography of Jackie, is very good, too. Also liked The Founding Father by Richard Whalen.
Posted by: Hypatia | January 20, 2011 at 07:04 PM
I'm currently reading JFK and the Unspeakable. Depressing.
Posted by: John Petty | January 28, 2011 at 10:29 AM