Customer Reviews

The Kennedys at War: 1937-1945

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I came away impressed with Mr. Renehan's prose-style, which engages one immediately and makes one sail through the book. This is, as they say, a "real page-turner." I also came away impressed with the many new sources Renehan has unearthed: aged contemporaries of Joe Kennedy Jr. and Jack who have yielded a great trove of previously-unpublished tales. But the story doesn't stop with Jack and PT-109 or Joe Jr. blowing up with his Liberator bomber over the British coast. No, Mr. Renehan also digs deep into previously unpublished correspondence between the old man, Ambassador Kennedy, and Secretary of State Cordell Hull to document the Ambassador's power-play with Hull and FDR over Chamberlain's policies of appeasement. Mr. Renehan further renders the touching, tragic story of Kick Kennedy and her brief marriage to Billy Hartington in quite a tender and wonderful manner. This book is neither hagiography nor character-assasination. Renehan is not the Kennedys' prosecutor, nor is he their lawyer. He is just a first-class historian, digging up great new information and telling the story straight, as it ought to be told. I recommend THE KENNEDYS AT WAR very highly.

There are nine customer reviews to date for THE KENNEDYS AT WAR. This one, once it gets posted, will make ten. Six of the nine customer reviews to date are favorable, and three unfavorable. The three unfavorable have all been written by the same customer, a fellow from Cheyenne, Wyoming, who evidently has an axe to grind with THE KENNEDYS AT WAR. Since multiple votes appear to be allowed, I'll register mine once again. (I'm already one of the six favorable.) I stand by what I've said before. I found the book to be very insightful, enlightening and well-written: just as the reviews in Publisher Weekly, Kirkus and other major publications suggested it would be. As far as original sources are concerned, I see that in addition to interviewing several WWII vets who knew JFK and his brother Joe Jr., the author has also, along with other primary sources, mined previously unpublished correspondence between JPK Sr. and Lady Nancy Astor of Cliveden, copies of this correspondence having been provided to the author by Lady Astor's son, Major Sir John Astor. How is that for an original source?

I picked this book up Sunday morning after reading a rave review (written by former RI governor Bruce Sundlun, who is a vet of WWII) in THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. Nearly three-quarters of the way through, I find it delivers a refreshing and engagingly-written view of the Kennedy family during those troubled and tragic days of war. PT 109 forms only a tiny slice of the really epic story Renehan tells here. There is also Joe Jr.'s troubled life and martyrdom. There is Kathleen Kennedy's troubled coming of age and her young (nearly instantaneous) widowhood. And there is the disaster of JPK Sr.'s years at the Court of St. James's. I respectfully disagree with those who say Renehan has not done much in the way of original resarch. The sections on JPK Sr.'s ambassadorship, for example, seem (from a glance at the footnotes) to be thoroughly grounded in diplomatic correspondence at the FDR Library and in the Cordell Hull Papers, etc. Likewise Renehan has done fresh interviews with vets of the Solomons campaign, etc., etc. Renehan even interviewed the last surviving member of the PT-109 crew, who died last summer.

Renehan is one of our finest writers of popular history. This is a decision I made long ago when I first read his THE SECRET SIX, and later THE LION'S PRIDE, both also available from Amazon. With THE KENNEDYS AT WAR, he seems to be continuing the line of inquiry he first developed in THE LION'S PRIDE: the study of gifted and prosperous young people during time of war. It is very interesting to watch what happens when Jack Kennedy and his older brother Joe Jr., both from a life of wealth, encounter the democratic (small "d") institution that is military service. A great story this, featuring characters that can't help but intrigue and engage the reader.

No other Kennedy book that I've read (and I've read 'em all, I think) gives the in-depth yet balanced coverage found here with regard to the war years. This book covers ALL aspects of the Kennedy family during WWII. Renehan has included not just PT-109, but also Kick Kennedy Hartington's unique story of love and loss and redeption, and one of the most brilliant studies of Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. ever penned. What is more, the portrait of Ambassador Kennedy and his appeasement (what amounted very nearly to pro-Nazi lobbying at Whitehall and in DC) is both stunning and frightening. Renehan has done a great deal in the way of original research, using heretofore unavailable letters and diaries, and interviewing a number of Jack and Joe and Kick's surviving contemporaries (those few that still survive). I found this book to be a VERY good read, and I recommend it highly.

By zeroing in on a narrow slice of years (1937-45), Renehan is able to go into detail that other writers on the Kennedys have simply not had space for with regard to the war years. His evocation of Jack Kennedy in the South Pacific seems especially good. The best, I think, that I've read. Also, Renehan dives quite deeply into the story of Kick Kennedy and her courtship/marriage with Billy Hartington, heir to the Duke of Devonshire, and it is all very well told.

I learned a lot I had not known before, especially about Joe Jr., Kick and the young Jack. Renehan spins a good story, and is very perceptive in his analysis of the various conflicts, motivations and tensions at work in the family during the war years. Great stuff.

I just loved this book. Renehan does a terrific job of portraying the complex and interesting Kennedy clan during a key formative moment: the years of World War II.

Note to the previous reviewer: I agree, it was very disengenuous of the author to focus on "Kennedy Kennedy Kennedy" in a book entitled "The Kennedy's at War".

Good portrait of the malevolent Joseph P. Kennedy who continued with his defeatist meanderings even after U.S. entry into the War. Joe Jr. emerges as a chip off the old block, while the future President seems to have benefitted from a lower level of expectations and parental guidance.

The author references young Jack's frequent illnesses, and more frequent affairs, but he doesn't dwell on them unnecessarily. Instead, he provides ample evidence of a complex young man with an incisive analytical mind and a casually fatalistic approach to life.

As a professor in a small midwestern college, I have noticed that students tend to generalize about historical periods. One of the generalizations usually is that America was united in opposing Nazism and that most Americans were looking for an excuse to enter the war. The "America First" isolationists are treated as a historical anomaly rather than a powerful political force.

Renehan's story of the Kennedy family (focusing primarily on Joseph, Joe, Jr., Jack, and Kathleen) provides evidence that support for avoiding war was found even among prominent Democratic families. Joseph used his position as ambassador to England to promote isolationism, arguing first that Hitler should be appeased as Chamberlain was doing, then, that the US should recognize the futility of supporting a doomed England against the Germans. At the beginning of the volume, Joseph's position seems reflective of the family as a whole. Joe, Jr. does little to change from that position. Jack, on the other hand, moderates his position and shows himself to be quite pragmatic as an aspiring politician.

While Renehan talks about Joseph and his adult children, the portraits of Joe Jr. and Kathleen remain somewhat flat. He does better at presenting a multi-dimensional picture of Joseph. He is best at presenting a deep image of Jack. It appears that his sources for Jack were best, including interviews and materials from the Kennedy presidential library. The sources on other family members are not as rich.

Most of the critiques offered by other reviewers suggesting that Renehan is merely presenting the "Kennedy Myth" are addressed in the volume. Rumors of a ghost writer for Jack's Why England Slept and the purchase and storing of huge numbers of the volume by Joseph to ensure its status as a best-seller are dismissed. The story of PT 109 is presented from available sources. (It seems common among Kennedy critics to suggest that Jack was inept as a naval officer or that he was to blame for the sinking of PT 109, given Jack's herculean efforts to get into the war, such a criticism seems pointless.) Renehan attempts to present an accurate portrait so there is plenty of ammunition for those who wish to criticize the Kennedys. The numerous affairs of all three Kennedy men are here without defense. Jack's concern about losing his faith is here. It seems that Renehan is fair and as honest as his sources allow him to be.

There are some minor errors of note--Renehan refers to Jack's friend (and later Supreme Court justice) Byron "Whizzer" White as having been a football star at Colorado State. White was a Colorado Buffalo (not a Colorado State Ram). He also makes reference to a Naval acquaintance of Jack's as a "hard-rock Baptist" -- I think the proper term would be "hard-shell Baptist" (I'm not sure what a "hard-rock Baptist would be.)

Nevertheless, this is an interesting read and provides new light on a prominent American family at a significant time in American history.