JFK

Even though Kennedy enjoys “larger-than-life status,” writes Pulitzer Prize–winning Harvard historian Logevall, not many "serious" books have been written about him, especially drawing on the vast corpus of archival material now available. Taking his subject from birth into his years in Congress, the author concentrates closely on World War II, a crucible in many ways. For one thing, his actions as commander of the ill-fated PT-109 exhibited a bravery that went far beyond noblesse oblige; even Garry Wills, no fan, remarked, “His physical courage can never be questioned.” Kennedy earned the Navy’s highest honor, propelling him to national attention. When Kennedy returned home, he was committed to a life of public service that would manifest itself in electoral politics. Logevall dismantles the standard narrative that the firstborn Kennedy son, Joe Jr., who died in combat, was “the Kennedy child marked for political stardom.” Though Joe Jr. had many of the necessary attributes—good looks, courage, sociability—he had also been an isolationist and even an admirer of Hitler and Franco in the 1930s, expressed in his Harvard thesis, all copies of which “seem to have vanished in the years following his graduation, suggesting the family perceived the problem.” As early as 1944, Logevall reveals, JFK was meeting with political operatives to identify opportunities; upon entering Congress, he first identified as a rather conservative Democrat, even supporting the infamous anti-communist crusader Joseph McCarthy. He moved toward the center after McCarthy’s downfall, learning the art of the political compromise—which, writes the author, he insisted “can be, should be, at the level of policy, not principle.” More critical than the reminiscences of early aide Theodore Sorenson but appreciative of Kennedy’s complex, thoughtful view of politics, this study casts the “playboy president” in a largely positive light.

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