19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE DVD OF THIS THING IS AMAZING, October 13, 2003
This review is from: The Uncommon Wisdom of JFK: A Portrait in His Own Words (Hardcover)
You forget all the things JFK did and said until you read this thing. Wow, it really reminds you. But the best part is the DVD that comes with it which is only probably forty minutes, but it has all this film (color and black and white) of Kennedy. I had always wanted to see him saying "Ich bin ein Berliner!"
In the end, the film of him playing with his son just tears your heart out. The DVD is worth it alone.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, January 20, 2005
This review is from: The Uncommon Wisdom of JFK: A Portrait in His Own Words (Hardcover)
Everything about this book is quality from the design, to the paper to the elegant font. It captures the essence of JFK because it's not someone else's memoir or perceptions. This is all JFk in his own words. One quote is particularly striking. Before taking office JFK quotes Lincoln on the subject of fate and purpose as president.
Also, the book includes a DVD filled with remakable and touching images.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer", December 30, 2005
This review is from: The Uncommon Wisdom of JFK: A Portrait in His Own Words (Hardcover)
I have read a pile of books and watched a ton of TV about JFK;and I have to put this one right up there with the best of them.It was about 1958 when I first became aware of him.By 1960,I had finished University,and had been working for about a year.What really amazed me was that I was a new engineer of 23, just starting my career and here was this fellow who had spent 4 years in WWII,a Navy Lieutenant Hero from the Pacific,already travelled the world,spent 14 years as a Congressman and Senator;and now at the ripe old age of 43, elected President of the USA,the most powerful in the world with the job of dealing with the Communist threat of world domination...and he's only 18 years older than me.
Although I had been following politics since High School days;my lifelong interest really took off around 1960;and what an interest and roller coaster ride we were in for in the next 4 years,and to a large degree,ever since.
This book captures the JFK I knew,and most of all in his own words.There,s hardly a thing in this book that I don't remember watch happen on TV.I have to agree with the other reviewers that the DVD is fantastic.There is the old idea that a book is better than a movie.Our teachers tried to drill that into us,but they had little success in winning me over."Gone With the Wind","Casablanca",Westerns,War movies;you name it,the movies won me over every time.The same holds here.It is one thing to read the words as JFK spoke them;but listening to him and watching him again brings back the memories,exactly as I remember them.Even these black and white newsreels enhance the power of his words;and it is almost a forgotten thing that there was TV without color.If you tell a kid today that you watched the first man land on the moon,I think it was 1969, on a black and white TV;he'll probably say "Why?".When you say," there was hardly any color TV then";the reply is something like,"Oh?"
JFK captured the audience every time he came in contact with a camera,crowd or audience.In the DVD,there are a couple of shots where he was debating Nixon,who doesn't say a word.That is the way I remember JFK,when he said something,there wasn't much else to say.Everyone loved his press conferences,friend and foe alike;and probably nobody enjoyed them more than himself.I can't think of anyone else in public life that can hold a candle to his improptu wit and humor...and he could do it without being hurtful.I can only imagine what the 'banter' must have been like behind closed doors or with friends on a social basis.Think about times with Sinatra for instance;we'll never know.But oh,the stories that must be told by those who 'knew' him.
I can't recommend this book highly enough to those who lived through the Kennedy years.To those who didn't,this book will give you an idea of what the JFK wisdom and wit was all about.
I think that Kennedy hit the nail on the head about what it means to be President with these words:
"Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer."
Herein lies the reason that ,no matter what party the President comes from,the President has to be the President of all the people,and can expect a lot of objection from the other side.It may be too bad but it goes with the territory and the reason Presidents seldom let it bother them.
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