Jack Kennedy: The making of a president

Jack Kennedy: The making of a president

by Barbara Leaming (Author)

Synopsis

Barbara Leaming's groundbreaking biography of the most charismatic of all twentieth-century American presidents reveals Britain's profound, lifelong impact on John F. Kennedy. In British history, literature and values, the young Jack Kennedy discovered an image of the man he wanted to be, and he spent much of his life struggling to become that man. Drawing on extensive new and astonishingly intimate primary materials and original interviews, for the first time a Kennedy biographer succeeds in finding the dramatic line that runs through Kennedy's complicated life, the trajectory of the friendships and forces that led to the White House and shaped his actions there. Here is the childhood reading of a sickly boy; Jack's rapturous engagement at the age of fifteen with the writings of Winston Churchill; and his transforming experiences as a member of the Second Sons' Club of young aristocrats in pre-war London, where his father was the American ambassador and where his sister introduced him to a group of friends who would have a deep and lasting influence on Jack.Post-war we witness his difficult political metamorphosis during the 1950s; his campaign for the White House on the Churchill ticket ; and the dramatic thousand days of the presidency as Kennedy moved to resolve the conflicts of a lifetime. As never before, we get a vivid, remarkably detailed picture of the intellectual and political formation of America's thirty-fifth president. Brilliantly researched, compellingly told, Jack Kennedy: The Making of a President is a colourful and tumultuous narrative of friendships and family, tragedy and triumph; a biography that will radically alter our understanding of both the man and his presidency.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 416
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Published: 27 Apr 2006

ISBN 10: 0297829181
ISBN 13: 9780297829188
Book Overview: Broadsheet newspaper serialisation Hitherto untapped sources from Britain Author has interviewed pre WWII friends of Kennedy

Media Reviews
'Toweringly talented biographer tackles the friskiest figure of the 20th century.' TATLER (May 2006) 'it is the thesis of this book that Kennedy's foreign policy, culminating in the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, owed almost everything to the fatherly influence of Macmillan and of his Washington ambassador, David Ormsby-Gore.' -- Peter Lewis DAILY MAIL (28.4.06) 'Starting with his formative years, this ground-breaking biography looks at the profound influence British history, literature, values and friendship had on the American President.' DAILY EXPRESS (5.5.06) Intriguing revisionist biography...showing that Kennedy's interest in English history formed the very foundation of his political convictions. No previous biographer has focused so sharply on Kennedy's attempts to apply Churchillian thought during his years in the White House...Leaming is excellent at interweaving Kennedy's psychological and intellectual development...A brave thesis, presented with forensic skill...Persuasively argued. -- Christopher Silvester TELEGRAPH (20.5.06) 'a fascinating look at an era when Britain's infleunce in Washington was far more sweeping than anyone has ever known before.' BELFAST TELEGRAPH (6.5.06) 'Barbara Leaming tells all, without being sensationalist or voyeuristic, and in so doing, adds to the stature of her well-researched book.' BIRMINGHAM POST (27.5.06) 'Barbara Leaming's lively and scholarly biography of the 20th Century's most charismatic US president is more than just another JFK book...[her] lively journalism is matched by her scholarly attention to detail...An extraordinary book and a great read.' IRISH INDEPENDENT (17.6.06) 'an absorbing and enjoyable book.' INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE (24.6.06)
Author Bio
Barbara Leaming is one of America's premier biographers. With the help of Orson Welles, she was the first to write a serious biography of this noted director and actor. She is also the author of the bestselling Katharine Hepburn, hailed by the Daily Telegraph as a book of rare distinction . Leaming's articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine and Vanity Fair. She is married and lives in Connecticut.