The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power [Paperback]

Garry Wills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0618134433 | ISBN-13: 978-0618134434 | Edition: 1

From one of America's foremost historians, The Kennedy Imprisonment is the definitive historical and psychological analysis of the Kennedy clan. The winner of a Pulitzer Prize, Garry Wills reveals a family that enjoyed public adulation but provided fluctuating leadership, that experienced both unparalleled fame and odd failures, and whose basic values ensnared its men in their own myths of success and masculinity. In the end, Wills reveals that the the Kennedys' crippling conception of power touched every part of their public and private lives, including their relationships with women and world leaders. Sometimes gossipy, sometimes philosophical, The Kennedy Imprisonment is a book that is as true, insightful, and relevant as ever.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

GARRY WILLS, a distinguished historian and critic, is the author of numerous books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lincoln at Gettysburg, Saint Augustine, and the best-selling Why I Am a Catholic. A regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, he has won many awards, among them two National Book Critics Circle Awards and the 1998 National Medal for the Humanities. He is a history professor emeritus at Northwestern University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (November 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618134433
• ISBN-13: 978-0618134434
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #902,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Garry Wills is one of the most respected writers on religion today. He is the author of Saint Augustine's Childhood, Saint Augustine's Memory, and Saint Augustine's Sin, the first three volumes in this series, as well as the Penguin Lives biography Saint Augustine. His other books include "Negro President": Jefferson and the Slave Power, Why I Am a Catholic, Papal Sin, and Lincoln at Gettysburg, which won the Pulitzer Prize.

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35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful Study of America's First Family, July 3, 2000

By 

David Montgomery "Book Critic" (davidjmontgomery.com) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Kennedy Imprisonment a Meditation on Power (Paperback)

Garry Wills is one of the most popular contemporary historians. He is the former Henry R. Luce Professor of American Culture at Northwestern University and the author of numerous books, including "Reagan's America," "Nixon Agonistes," and "Lincoln at Gettysburg," for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. "The Kennedy Imprisonment" is one of his best, a book filled with intriguing insights into the most famous of American families. It is an extremely well written, entertaining, and important book.

Wills is primarily conducting a "meditation on power." He examines the notion of power as it pertained to the three most famous Kennedy brothers: John, Robert, and Edward. It all began with their father, the person who influenced them most. Joseph Kennedy--bootlegger, Hollywood mogul, and Ambassador to the Court of Saint James--was a man of great ambition. At one time, he had presidential aspirations of his own. When those fizzled, he transferred them to his sons, first Joe Jr. and then Jack.

The elder Kennedy manipulated his son's career and, more importantly, his image with all of his considerable skill. He had John's senior paper published as a book, "Why England Slept." He exaggerated John's war record with an article in the "New Yorker." He orchestrated his campaign to win the Pulitzer Prize for "Profiles in Courage," a book John did not actually write. Image, not substance, was what really mattered, and it was an early source of John Kennedy's, and, by extension, his brothers', power.

When John Kennedy ascended to the presidency--that is, when he rose to power--he was determined to be the antithesis of Dwight Eisenhower. Ike was old, Jack was young. Ike ruled by committee, Jack by fiat. Ike was tranquil, Jack was active. Most importantly, Kennedy was a man with charisma, in the sense that Max Weber meant it. Eisenhower ruled as a traditional "father-king." His authority came from his distinguished record of accomplishments and the dignity of his office. Kennedy's authority, however, came from within himself. His power emanated from his force of will, energy, self-confidence, brash intelligence, and personal style.

The man was what was important, not the office or the institution. His decisions were swift and arbitrary; he thrived in crisis, a common characteristic of the charismatic leader. He even created crises when necessary (e.g., the US Steel confrontation) and intensified them once they occurred (e.g., the standoff with Cuba). He saw the role of government as "defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger." He treated the Soviet menace as a "twilight struggle" with the enemy of freedom (shades of the Evil Empire). In crisis, he was at his best, able to demonstrate to everyone that he was the one man, the single hero that could save them.

His charisma allowed Kennedy to recruit his illustrious circle of disciples; the "best and the brightest." They were attracted by the power and the glamour of the Kennedy presidency, eager to become knights riding in service to Camelot. They were men who would not otherwise have been willing to serve in subordinate positions, but were glad to do so when it meant working for a Kennedy.

Having such competent advisors allowed him to utilize his power in broad and aggressive ways. Unfortunately, this also worked to his disadvantage. A sense of "we're so smart, we can do anything" pervaded the White House, resulting in unwise and even foolhardy decisions being made. This was seen most prominently in their dealings with Cuba and Vietnam.

Kennedy's style as president was unlike anything seen before. He was young and handsome, married to a sophisticated, beautiful woman-such a refreshing change from the stodgy, conservative Eisenhower years. Kennedy was a swinger, a man's man, a dedicated student of the Sinatra-Hemingway-Mailer school of macho bravado. He loved Hollywood and the Rat Pack and James Bond. He courted Marilyn and had assignations with a mobster's moll.

This style helped mold the image, helped create the charisma, helped feed the power. It made Jack a legend, but it hurt Bobby, and it crippled Ted. After Dallas, Camelot was over and the memories of the good times turned to acid in the stomachs of many Americans. They were still willing to accept Bobby--after all, he'd been there in the beginning--but when it came to Teddy, they were far less forgiving. After Chappaquidick, his hopes of one day following Jack were all but gone.

The power, prestige, and success of the Kennedy brothers followed a downward curve from Jack to Ted. After Jack was assassinated, there was still Bobby, the trusted younger brother and confidant, to carry on the dream. Ultimately, he proved a less than able caretaker. Even if he could have beaten Humphrey, he likely would have lost to Nixon, the ultimate defeat for a Kennedy. When he too was killed, the responsibility fell on Ted's shoulders and he was not strong enough to carry that much weight.

The burden of living three lives, with his the least important, was too heavy for Ted to bear. That is the true meaning of the title, the Kennedy imprisonment. Ted is a prisoner of the past, both his brothers' and his own. He is a prisoner of lost hopes and abandoned dreams, of what might have been and what never was. Teddy, the youngest and nicest, but the least capable, could never meet those expectations. He never could be Jack and, failing that, he could not even be Bobby. To live up to the ideal of two martyred heroes is too much to ask of anyone, even a Kennedy.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars just okay, October 2, 2010

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cinderbean - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power (Paperback)

had some interesting theories but was author was touted as being one of the best sources on Kennedy (by Vanity Fair). I found it to be very gossipy.

5 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars FURTHER PICKING THE DRY BONES OF THE GREAT AND FALLEN, September 16, 2006

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C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Kennedy Imprisonment: A Meditation on Power (Paperback)

will the industry profitting from our past possibilities, our possibility for glory as a nation, never end?

Leave our dead to rest and honor our dead.

DO not pick each marrow dust from within their great bones.

HOnor our dead and arise to be who we once were to be.

Not what we have now so disgracefully become.

TO rationalize their sacrifice through books such as these we dishonor our dead and accomplice their assassinations. We do not share in their intelligent heroism and march on but cowardly stick another blade into their mighty bones. Et tu, Wills?