[.ca] President Kennedy: Profile of Power (ISBN 0671892894)

Wonderful Personal View Of Kennedy's Presidential Years!:
Noted author, pundit, and journalist Richard Reeves has a well-deserved reputation as a journalist and author, as this classic book detailing the three-year term of slain president John F. Kennedy deftly illustrates. This tome, based on Reeve's own extensive research into the vast cornucopia of official correspondence, White House files, and literally hundreds of personal interviews, weighs the evidence of JFK's tenure in office, during the fabled thousand days of the Kennedy administration. Indeed, it is a quite detailed reconstruction of the day to day life within the orbit of the administration from its launching in early 1961 up to its denouement with his assassination in November 1963. As such, it provides an "up close and personal" view of the presidency in action, and gives one an incredible insight into what it means to be the President. Moreover, given the times in which the Kennedy administration lived out its short lifespan, it is a brilliant look at some momentous events and phenomena, from the Berlin crisis of 1961 to the unfolding civil rights movement under the masterful ministrations of firebrand Martin Luther King. What is so unforgettable about Reeves' exposition is the fact that he manages to give us both memorable history as well as a very personal glimpse of the fascinating and charismatic man inhabiting the oval office in a singular book, one that has remained, in the ten years since its original publication, a standard on the JFK years. He shows how badly Kennedy wanted to succeed as president. Overcoming personal pain, religious prejudice, and his father's unseemly legacy to become one of the nation's most popular executives. And the times certainly gave him all the fuel to test himself, as any one man might need to prove himself. Humiliated by the events of Khrushchev's bullying moves in the Berlin corridor, Kennedy became convinced the Soviets were determined to start a war, one Kennedy understood no one would really win. Yet, with steely resolve, Kennedy began preparing both himself and the nation at large for the war of wills that began to unfold. Thus, throughout the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, Kennedy feared we were on the very brink of Armageddon, yet managed to steer us through the maze by both brilliant backdoor diplomacy and a dollop of devious wheeling and dealing to placate the Soviets. In the meantime, he administered the single largest military build-up of the Cold War era, massively increasing our capability to better meet the perceived Soviet threat both in conventional and nuclear conflict. On the domestic scene, he witnessed turbulence due to both the civil rights movement and the violence of white hate groups in the South against it. He employed federal troops, as Eisenhower had done before him, to stabilize potentially explosive situations, and moved to establish a more comprehensive voting rights bill and further civil rights legislation in Congress, though none of it came to fruition before his death. The book takes us back into these eventful and exciting times, when he was deciding most fatefully on issues as far flung as our involvement in Vietnam to the best way to reach a kind of detent with the Soviets, from strong-arming the steel industry back into compliance with the law and with the building of the Berlin Wall. This is a fascinating book, one that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey into the past, and one I highly recommend. Enjoy!

The man behind Camelot:
Reeves has quite literally stripped away the varnish that has accumulated over the years on the 1000 Days of Jack Kennedy. He has assembled a journal of sorts, giving the reader a fast-moving account of one of America's most enigmatic presidents. It is an interesting mixture of policy decisions, candid observations and revealing episodes that give one of the most complete pictures of President Kennedy. The narrative starts a few days before the administration took office with the cabinet decisions that were being made, then guides the reader through the tumultuous inauguration ceremonies both on stage and backstage. Reeves deals with the troubling first 100 days of the administration in a very candid way, showing the indecision of Kennedy when it came to Cuba and Berlin. Kennedy was being pulled in all directions, putting too much faith in the CIA and dismissing the criticisms of his newly assembled cabinet. Eventually, Kennedy found his feet and began to project the confidence that had won him the presidency. Reeves provides so many telling anecdotes, especially concerning Kennedy's health, which was never very good. This was one of the first books to reveal Kennedy's drug dependency to stave off Addison's disease and his excrutiating back pains. There is also Hugh Sidey's memorable swimming pool interview. The book feels as though it were written by an aide close to Kennedy during his administration. Reeves has assembled an impressive array of quotes and first person observations into a seamless narrative. He has demystified the myth of Camelot, without diminishing the stature of the man. Reeves evocatively illustrates how Kennedy was able to project power in spite of his numerous handicaps, both physical and political.

On The Job Training:
The author took an interesting view of the subject matter, instead of a dry history lecture the author tries to put the reader in the shoes of JFK and really show you what it was like to be him or at least with him in his presidency. I learned a lot from this book, the unorganized and stumbling start to his presidency, his lack of attention and in depth understanding of what was going to happen with the bay of pigs and his relationship with Khrushshev were all very interesting and new for me. I was also struck by how conservative this Democratic President was and his almost forced work on the Civil Rights issues. The book gives you a real look at the three years he was in office, not an overly positive Camelot view and not a tabloid style gossip sheet only talking about women. What was so great is that the author was able to obtain so many actual conversations that JFK had with staff. You could really get a sense of the man from the interactions that the author chose to detail. Based on the bibliography and source notes, you can tell that the author spent a great deal of time on research and it shows in the quality of the book. One last point is that I also gained a better understanding of LBJ and the differences in how much more liberal he was then JFK. My only issue, and it is minor, is the end of the book did tend to drag a bit with the Vietnam War info. I also would have liked a bit more detail on the Cuban missile crises, but the author did a good job given the overall time frame and space limitations the book offered. The details of some of the letters being passed back and forth could have been left out of the book for me. Overall the book was very good and interesting. I do not think you need to be a political junkie to enjoy the book.

Camelot without tears:
I have read my share of books on Kennedy, both fawning works and works that like to portray the New Frontier as Babylon on the Potomac. However this book is a bit of a first, it presents us with the details of the administration's workings and gives us a sense of what really happened in the White House and elsewhere during 1961-1963. What I came away from in reading this book was a time in which Kennedy frequently found himself in over his head. The best moment, and the one that illustrates this for me perfectly was an encounter with Charles de Gaule in Paris. Like a student that is too cleaver, JFK makes a cleaver remark regarding Indo-China. De Gaule counters by trying to warn Kennedy away and providing a basis for doing so. The French had been in Vietnam before and probably, at least in this instance, had some insight. Kennedy declined to take de Gaulle's advice, but fearful that the former general might make these remarks public demanded silence in return. De Gaulle indicated that he was not in the habit of behaving in this fashion and that was the end of that session. No, moments like this do not make it into the movies in which people with good hair and teeth mouth homilies, but they are genuine and are probably more indicative of how things really worked than the sorts of things that have pretended to be historical works over the years.

absorbing and clear-headed biography:
My immediate sense of this book was that it portrays a very different world than today. The biggest issues of Kennedy's time: fear of nuclear war; the Berlin wall; Cuba; nuclear test ban treaties; and civil rights struggles in the South. Unlike some other preidential biographies, the issues here are never boring ... well, until the end, when Kennedy and the book get bogged down a little too much in Vietnam. One of the really nice things about this book is the way Reeves conveys a sense of Kennedy's almost surreal daily life. In a single day he might have a meeting about a test ban treaty, then one on Vietnam, then a phone conversation with Martin Luther King on civil rights; squeeze in a quick meeting with high school students in-between (including young Bill Clinton), and cap it off at the end of the day with a hot bath for his back and a secret liason with a mistress.