He and those closest to him were extraordinarily skillful at creating positive images that continue to shape public impressions. military chiefs, their plans for an invasion of Cuba, the American press corps in Saigon, and the wisdom of an expanded war in Vietnam.Īs with all our most interesting public figures, Kennedy is an elusive character, a man who, like all politicians, worked hard to emphasize his favorable attributes and hide his limitations. in World War II, how Bobby Kennedy became attorney general in 1960, and what JFK thought of U.S. To cite just a few examples, new documents reveal more clearly the cause of the accident that killed Joseph Kennedy Jr.
I also took guidance from science writer Jacob Bronowski: "Ask an impertinent question and you are on your way to a pertinent answer." As I worked my way through the records, I was startled by how many fresh things could be said based on the combination of old and new files about the man, his family, and his political career. The availability of new materials-written contemporary documents, telephone and Oval Office tapes, and entire oral histories or parts thereof-seemed ample reason to revisit Kennedy's personal and public lives. Why another Kennedy book? I was asked repeatedly during the five years I worked on this biography. Kennedy, but Dallek succeeds in this riveting and well-documented biography.Think where man's glory most begins and ends, And say my glory was I had such friends. "It's hard to believe that someone could find anything new to say about John F. This is nothing if not a profile in courage." ― Ted Widmer, New York Times Book Review
An Unfinished Life has the sober judgment and nuanced accuracy that make it ring true in all the controversial and tricky parts." ― Jack Newfield, Los Angeles Times "Comprehensive, judicious, evenhanded, original. Robert Dallek succeeds as no other biographer has done in striking a critical balance - never shying away from JFK's weaknesses, brilliantly exploring his strengths - as he offers up a vivid portrait of a bold, brave, complex, heroic, human Kennedy. Drawing on previously unavailable material and never-before-opened archives, An Unfinished Life is packed with revelations large and small - about JFK's health, his love affairs, RFK's appointment as Attorney General, what Joseph Kennedy did to help his son win the White House, and the path JFK would have taken in the Vietnam entanglement had he survived.
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