Customer Reviews

The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (American Presidency (Univ of Kansas Paperback))

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This book is neither an uncritical appraisal of Kennedy nor a damning account. Rather, the author has managed to give a critical but not biased view of Kennedy's presidency. Naturally, this involves disproving a couple of myths about "Camelot". I had to read this book for a university course about Kenndey's presidency and can recommend it to anyone interested in a fair account.

While it was shorter than most, that did not prevent the Kennedy presidency from being eventful, even without including the tragic end. The closest the world ever came to thermonuclear war was during the Cuban missile crisis, which is still a model for the management of a crisis between great powers. And the greatest public failure of a CIA sponsored action was the disastrous invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
While necessarily short, the description of the Cuban missile crisis was still amazing to read, as the hawkish position of the U. S. military commanders was clearly a harbinger of the same policy of ratcheting up the force that failed so badly in Vietnam. Some, although not all, of the commanders were for massive force, thinking that it would so intimidate the Cubans that it would be all over quickly. This event is one of the strongest arguments in favor of political control over the military and Kennedy showed himself to be strong-willed in doing all he could to find a political solution that allowed the Soviets a face-saving way to retreat.
Given all that has happened since then, it is amazing to be reminded that in the early years of the Kennedy administration the country in Southeast Asia that was considered most likely to fall under communist control was Laos. Here again, Kennedy showed himself willing to do whatever it took to find a political settlement. He was most reluctant to commit American combat forces in Southeast Asia, considering it dangerous and fraught will all kinds of unknown consequences.
This backdrop brings up the natural question as to whether Kennedy would have followed the path in Vietnam that Lyndon Johnson did. Giglio avoids spending a great deal of time on that continuous point of contention. However, he does bring up several very important points.

1) The disaster at the Bay of Pigs made him very skeptical of CIA and military "rosy scenarios."
2) His dealing with hawkish elements during the Cuban missile crisis made him skeptical of military statements about the effect of overwhelming military power. It also showed that he was willing to restrict the military in its' desire to blow things up.
3) Kennedy would most certainly have been re-elected in 1964 and as a President who would not face another election, he could have made unpopular, but correct decisions.
4) Kennedy and Khrushchev were beginning the process that was later known as détente, and that could have led to more of a political settlement in Vietnam along the model that was a modest success in Laos.

Together, these elements make one believe that Kennedy would not have made the same mistakes that Johnson did in Vietnam.
Kennedy's record on civil rights is far more mixed and it is clear that brother Bobby, who was also Attorney General, did a great deal to push John towards more involvement. Once more, John Kennedy was politically cautious in trying to avoid alienating southern Democrats. And yet, he did press the issue, showing that he did understand how important it was. Giglio rightly takes Kennedy to task on this battle that needed to be fought.
Finally, the descriptions of Kennedy's health problems and sexual exploits remind us of an earlier day when the press did have some standards in pressing into a public official's private life. Kennedy was a very sick man who took drugs to cope, and there is some reason to believe that he would have been an invalid by the time he completed his second term. The much celebrated sexual escapades of Bill Clinton are trivial in comparison, as Kennedy seemingly would sleep with any woman willing to do so. As ironic as it sounds so many years later, most people felt that the greatest danger to his person was a consequence of his sexual adventures, where he often had sex with women where the only screening done was the verification that they were female.
The Kennedy presidency was successful in many ways, most notably in foreign affairs, as he managed to reach political accords that were reasonable and certainly better than all possible alternatives. He was a strange combination of strong will and weak flesh, both in the literal and figurative sense. Giglio captures all of this, describing a man and an era named after him that was the precursor of the turbulence of the late sixties, where the world seemed to be tearing itself apart.

I've read a few of these books from this series of presidents and this one is extremely through and deep. The author did a wonderful job of extracting deep, dark details of major events in JFK's years. A great look into our relationship with Russia and the civil rights struggle in America, this book is very fair to not be too negative or positive. Also, I did enjoy his summary of JFK's impact on society and it helped me understand most people's found memory of this president.