Forty Ways to Look at JFK - Gretchen Rubin - Hardcover

Kennedy as Ideal Leader A Positive Account Most of those who recount the story of John Kennedy present him in heroic termsmen such as Ben Bradlee, Red Fay, William Manchester, Kenneth O'Donnell, Dave Powers, Pierre Salinger, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Hugh Sidey, Ted Sorensen, and Theodore White. And of all the mythmakers, none did more than Kennedy and his family to construct the idea of John Kennedy. Just as in saint-making, when the "Postulator of the Cause" gathers every possible piece of information on the life of a prospective saint to search for signs of extraordinary virtue, these memorializers gather the evidence of Kennedy's character and accomplishments to testify to his merits. They furnish the evidence that proves their conclusion: John F. Kennedy was a great leader who transformed the spirit of America. On November 22, 1963, John Kennedy, the young president who radiated youth, energy, and possibility, was struck down by an assassinhis presidency cut short before he'd served even three years in office. Kennedy had had a meteoric rise in politics. He was elected to the House of Representatives at age twenty-nine and, six years later, won a Senate seat and, after eight years in the Senate, became president. He never lost an election. Kennedy was president for only 1,037 days, but during his short tenure, he achieved much. At the Cold War's most dangerous hour, he preserved the peace. He improved relations with the Soviet Union and replaced tension over Berlin with a limited test ban treaty. Despite pressure from advisers, he resisted escalation of dangerous situations during the Bay of Pigs, the Berlin crisis, the Cuban missile crisis, and in Vietnam. At home, he assumed leadership in the struggle for civil rights and galvanized a generation with a renewed zeal for public service. Kennedy believed it was American ideals, rather than American military might, that would lead the globe, and with his brilliant leadership, he captured the world's imagination. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the second son of nine children born to Joseph Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. Descended on both sides from Irish Catholic immigrants, Jack had an impressive political ancestry: one grandfather, John Fitzgerald, "Honey Fitz," was the legendary former Boston mayor, and the other, Patrick Kennedy, was a state senator and respected Boston ward leader. Jack's father, Joseph, was an extraordinarily successful businessman, and by 1957, Fortune would rank his family among America's richest, with a fortune estimated at between $200 million and $400 million. But Joe wasn't concerned only with money; in 1929, determined to free his children from the enduring Boston prejudice against Irish Catholics, he moved his family to New York. Joe also became involved in national politics. In 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed him chairman of the new Securities and Exchange Commission and, in 1937, to be the United States' ambassador to Britain. Although consumed with business and political affairs, Joe was an attentive and loving, if demanding, father who fostered an atmosphere of intense competition, while Rose made sure the Kennedy children had a proper Catholic upbringing, plenty of intellectual stimulation, and training in the social graces. Both parents had the highest expectations for their childrenespecially for their eldest, Joe Jr.but despite this pressure, the Kennedy family was very close. Jack grew up in a happy atmosphere of family affection, political engagement, and affluence, but his childhood was marked by frequent illnessesRubin, Gretchen Craft is the author of 'Forty Ways to Look at JFK - Gretchen Rubin - Hardcover' with ISBN 9780345450494 and ISBN 0345450493.