CHARACTER ABOVE ALL VOLUME 4 RICHARD REEVES ON JFK [ABRIDGED] [AUDIOBOOK] (Audio Cassette)

by Bob Wilson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The bestselling author of President Kennedy: Profile of Power historian and biographer Richard Reeves lends his unmistakable voice to the groundbreaking Character Above All audio series with an illuminating examination of one of America's most popular Presidents. Recorded live at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, Reeves continues a series of lectures delivered by a team of historians, biographers and journalists assembled by Robert Wilson to explore the Presidential character on leadership and the creation of trust. Reeves tells how JFK valued courage above all and became the first self-selected President. Despite his own character flaws, Kennedy was able to bring out the best in the character of the people. Character Above All is incomparable audio, crackling with the energy and excitement of a great mind at work and the intellectual urgency befitting a topic of lasting national importance.

From the Publisher
The bestselling author of President Kennedy: Profile of Power historian and biographer Richard Reeves lends his unmistakable voice to the groundbreaking Character Above All audio series with an illuminating examination of one of America's most popular Presidents. Recorded live at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, Reeves continues a series of lectures delivered by a team of historians, biographers and journalists assembled by Robert Wilson to explore the Presidential character on leadership and the creation of trust. Reeves tells how JFK valued courage above all and became the first self-selected President. Despite his own character flaws, Kennedy was able to bring out the best in the character of the people. Character Above All is incomparable audio, crackling with the energy and excitement of a great mind at work and the intellectual urgency befitting a topic of lasting national importance.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audioworks; Abridged edition (June 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671569112
• ISBN-13: 978-0671569112
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,505,087 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Iron John, March 12, 2008

By	Yaakov (James) Mosher (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Character Above All, Volume 4 (Audio Cassette)

The author of "President Kennedy: Profile of Power" gives an even-handed assessment of America's 36th president. Richard Reeves' 1995 speech was part of a lecture series examining presidential character from FDR to George H.W. (Poppy) Bush. Prof. Robert A. Wilson of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas (Austin) organized the series and edited the presentations. The speeches were later collected into book called "Character Above All."
President Kennedy valued courage above all, journalist Reeves tells us. He also appreciated irony. The hand of irony was heavy on at least two major events of the Kennedy Administration -- construction of the Berlin Wall and involvement in Vietnam. Despite understandable objections from freedom lovers worldwide, the Berlin Wall, of which Kennedy was practically co-architect, lessened the threat of nuclear war, Reeves reminds us. Alternatively, Vietnam gave added legs to communism, the opposite of what Kennedy intended, our author notes dejectedly.
Due to his health and sexual history, JFK could not be elected in today's journalistic climate, Reeves surmises. Reeves calls himself a skeptic of contemporary character issues, saying they're often a cover for "rotten, dirty politics." He isn't saying truth, traditional morality, and personal history are irrelevant. What Reeves posits is that presidential character should be viewed differently than how we judge our family, friends, and co-workers. This reasoning squares up with Jewish wisdom.
The ArtScroll Stone Edition Tanach's (Jewish Bible) introduction to the Book of Samuel states that the kings of Israel could not be the moral leaders of the people. That job necessarily fell to the prophets. Yet the kings were not allowed to divorce themselves from righteousness, being obliged to carry around a Torah scroll and read from it regularly.
The lives of kings David and Solomon are full of intrigue and strife as they attempted to better the national interest. Difficult to maintain one's own morality under such duress, never mind being the nation's guiding morals conscience. Yet David and Solomon knew Israel's and the world's long-term interests were spiritual, leaving for the ages the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and the Song of Songs. In the modern context, President Kennedy's speeches uplifted the human community.
Further, the Chanukah story relates a time when men of the Levitical priesthood assumed duties of kingship. The commentators judged this to be an aberration and not a desirable one. Rabbi Shimon teaches in "Ethics of the Fathers" (4:17) of three crowns (implying a separateness) -- the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship. This isn't a blanket prohibition against religious people holding public office. Rather, it's warning that attributes that make one a fine rabbi, priest, pastor, or imam might make that person a lousy president or governor. If one is a righteous rabbi or layman then one really need go no further since Rav Shimon teaches that the fourth crown (that of a good name) is better than the other three.
Despite some moral shortcomings amid noble striving, the streets of Solomon's Jerusalem were paved with gold. America's economic resurgence during Camelot (the Kennedy years) might be seen as a modern manifestation of this phenomenon.
Another reason for viewing presidential character as distinct from its rank-and-file cousin is the fact that history books distort what it's like being president, Reeves says. Works of history tend to put events in the contexts of a life or ideas, he points out, yet the existential day-to-day functioning of the presidency is vastly different. The modern presidency is a non-stop ride that calls for regular diversions into complicated crisis management as Reeves demonstrates in recounting a day in the life of JFK from 1963 that included major speeches on the Cold War and civil rights, a public row between Chinese and Russian communists, Gov. George Wallace challenging integration by standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama, and the murder of black leader Medgar Evers.
The greatest talent of JFK and other successful presidents is tapping what's unspoken in the hearts of the American people. Thus it is the character of the American people that is most important, Reeves wisely concludes.
Ironically, JFK was both optimistic and fatalistic. More specifically, he was mostly optimistic about the American nation yet mostly fatalistic about himself personally (he expected to die young because of serious health problems he contended with all his life). Actual cause of death, sadly, adds to the irony.
Kennedy's "iron will" gets extensive treatment from Reeves. That will bent people and institutions (JFK was the first candidate to use the primaries to lock up a major party nomination early, turning the focus away from the national party conventions).
Discussions about The Will bring to mind the philosophy of Germany's Arthur Schopenhauer. Although fatalistic, Kennedy managed to avoid pessimism, the central tenant of Schopenhauer's worldview. Schopenhauer held that resigning one's ambitions is the price for avoiding emotional pain. Yet Kennedy seems to have used his physical pain as a spur to ambition. JFK's determination proves the truth of what Rabbi Avigdor Miller said on at least one occasion -- pain and/or a deformity in someone is a very great opportunity.