B - My books/videos related to JFK Life

Published in commemoration of the centennial of President John F. Kennedy’s birth, here is the definitive compendium of JFK’s most important and brilliant speeches, accompanied by commentary and reflections by leading American and international figures—including Senator Elizabeth Warren, David McCullough, Kofi Annan, and the Dalai Lama—and edited by JFK’s nephew Stephen Kennedy Smith and renowned historian Douglas Brinkley. Combined with over seven hundred documentary photos, it tells the story, in words and pictures, of JFK’s life and presidency, and depicts his compelling vision for America.

"JFK-A Vision for America" brings together in one volume John F. Kennedy’s greatest speeches alongside essays by America’s top historians, analysis from leading political thinkers, and personal insights from preeminent writers and artists. Here is JFK at his best—thought-provoking, inspiring, eloquent, and wise—on a number of wide-ranging topics, including civil rights, the race to the moon, the environment, immigration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and much more. JFK demonstrates the deep relevance of his words today and his lasting power and influence as an outstanding American leader and orator.

By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history. And while hagiographic portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have come and gone in the decades since his untimely death, these accounts all fail to capture the full person.
Beckoned by this gap in our historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall has spent much of the last decade searching for the “real” JFK. The result of this prodigious effort is a sweeping two-volume biography that properly contextualizes Kennedy amidst the roiling American Century. This volume spans the first 39 years of JFK’s life - from birth through his decision to run for president - to reveal his early relationships, his formative experiences during World War II, his ideas, his writings, and his political aspirations. In examining these pre-White House years, Logevall shows us a more serious, independently-minded Kennedy than we’ve previously known, whose distinct international sensibility would prepare him to enter national politics at a critical moment in modern US history.
Along the way, Logevall tells the parallel story of America’s mid-century rise. As Kennedy comes of age, we see the charged debate between isolationists and interventionists in the years before Pearl Harbor; the tumult of the Second World War, through which the United States emerged as a global colossus; the outbreak and spread of the Cold War; the domestic politics of anti-Communism and the attendant scourge of McCarthyism; the growth of television’s influence on politics; and more.

"JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956" is a sweeping history of the United States in the middle decades of the 20th century, as well as the clearest portrait we have of this enigmatic American icon.

"JFK: Reckless Youth" is the first volume of a monumental new biography of John F.Kennedy - a book that will astonish, entertain, and inform all those interested in the life of America's thirty-fifth president.

"JFK: Remembering Jack" is a visual and audio portrait commemorating one of America's most beloved leaders. More than 80 photographs, many of which have been rarely-if-ever-published , give a moving and intimate behind-the-scenes look at the life and times of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the man and the politician. This extraordinary volume includes an hour-long audio CD featuring some of Kennedy's greatest speeches.

On both sides of the Atlantic, John F Kennedy continues to be invoked by today's politicians in the hope that some of his magic might rub off on them. But, 50 years since Kennedy's election, Andrew Marr asks whether JFK's legacy has tarnished politics ever since.
Andrew examines in detail exactly what Kennedy stood for, and how the candidate got that message across. He goes in search of the substance that has long been obscured by the fascination with the Kennedy style.
He also examines how Kennedy embodied the hopes of a nation, and asks whether modern politics demands inspirational leaders rather than politicians bogged down in the details. Kennedy's soaring rhetoric set a high standard that people today yearn for politicians to reach.
THANKS to my friend Trevor Babbs, who sent me this video for my Kennedy Collection.

The theme that personality and circumstance dominate political life- that government consists primarily of "not measures, but men"- is the setting for Tom Wicker's compelling account of the presidencies of two of the last century's most astute politicians : JFK and LBJ.

An exam-focused study of the three main issues about JFK & LBJ, designed specifically for today's AS and A-level students. The three issues, which come up time and time again in the exams, are :
- Who was more effective in domestic reform?
- Who did more for black civil rights?
- Who was more responsible or US involvement in Vietnam?

In the turbulent times of a young man's high school experience, one must find his way, make himself known to his peers, and most of all, establish himself in the oftentimes hostile world he is trapped in. JFK & the Muckers of Choate takes a look at John F. Kennedy's time in high school at Choate, a preppy, Waspish, all-boys boarding school.
As a Catholic at a time when anti-Catholic sentiment was rampant, JFK finds that his four years in this Connecticut institution are much more jagged, complicated, and high-stakes than he expects. Why? It turns out that the future president actively defied Choate's sometimes authoritarian rulers and, in his own personal rebellion, associated himself with, and led, a number of similarly-minded iconoclasts who wind up as his closest companions, both then and afterward.
JFK's chaotic and adventure-filled high school days, as narrated by JFK himself, not only tell us a great deal about an important, yet largely unchronicled, stop on his rapid journey to the presidency, but, because it's entirely based on real events, offer us a thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating look at a charismatic American icon whom most readers will adore, many for the first time.

Did John F.Kennedy oppose-or promote- American intervention in Vietnam? What course did he pursue and why did he hide it from the public? What really happened on the battlefield and why did senior officials hide the facts from him?
In what may well be the most shocking and historically important work on the Vietnam War ever written, "JFK and VIETNAM" answers these questions and lifts the veil surrounding the struggle over intervention in the pivotal Kennedy years.

He was the most beloved president of modern times, with an approval rating as high as 83 percent. Yet few of us fully understand the presidency of John F.Kennedy.
Supporters hail him for the vision, vigor and compassion that he brought to the White House. They yearn for the "next John Kennedy" - as if he is the standard to which all presidents should aspire. Others mock his presidency, claiming he offered more flash than substance and that he accomplished little during his 34 months in office.
What is the truth?
"JFK Day by Day" brings us closer to that answer. The running timeline inside recounts the highlights of each of his 1,086 days in office. Longer stories detail and analyze the most important issues, events and decisions of his presidency - from inauguration to assassination. And other features cover events from his family life during his term. Hundreds of select images from the John F.Kennedy Presidential Library complement this visual chronology of his days in office.

The Film Legacy of John F.Kennedy's Presidential Reign.
96 mins of Camelot in one DVD.

Conover Hunt dedicates this book to people born after 1960 who not remember John Fitzgerald Kennedy. But in this volume Hunt provides valuable insights for readers of ALL ages into the origins of one of the nation's most powerful myths, the nature and chronology of the debate about Kennedy's accomplishments, and the birth of the controversy over his assassination in 1963.

This book has been a gift from my Irish collegue Maureen O'Shea. THANKS Maureen!

Italian Version.
Very detailed analysis, with many, many authoritative references footnoted, about JFK's political career in Congress and as President. Written and published before JFK's assassination on 11/22/1963 - so it is not influenced by "what could have been". A fascinating look at the other side of Camelot and a sobering read. regardless on one's opinion about JFK.
After his death, it was pulled off library shelves and out of bookstores.
The Italian version was published in 1964 in Italy.

In this definitive portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy—one of America’s most consequential and enigmatic presidents—J. Randy Taraborrelli delivers a deeply researched and authoritative biography. More than the story of a presidency, this is an intimate study of a man whose public triumphs were shaped—and at times overshadowed—by the complex realities of his private life, from his legendary family to his marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy.
Drawing from hundreds of interviews conducted over twenty-five years—as well as candid, first-hand oral histories from the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library, rare internal reports from the Secret Service, detailed files from the National Archives, and intelligence documents from both the CIA and FBI. This is JFK as never before captured by history: brilliant yet fallible, revered yet human—a figure whose legacy continues to shape America and the world.

This eBook is a commemorative collection of photos, documents and speeches that outline the positive influences and tragic events that chronical Kennedy's life.

A Special television series : "Presidential Libraries - History uncovered" on C-Span TV.
A first person view of the modern presidency from the men who held the office and those who served around them. With never- or rarely-seen film, video, recordings, and artifacts from inside the Presidential Libraries' vaults.
This is the complete episode dedicated to "JFK Presidential Library" in Boston.
John F.Kennedy : secretely recorded White House conversations on civil rights, the space race, and the Cuban Missile Crisis; rare films of JFK's early political career.

A For fans of conspiracy theories and JFK assassination theories, the untold story of Indonesia, gold, JFK, Allen Dulles, the CIA, and secret military coups.

Two of the most fascinating figures in history, John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, and Allen Dulles, our nation’s longest-serving CIA director, often clashed over intelligence issues and national security. However, one such conflict has remained in the shadows until now. JFK vs. Allen Dulles: Battleground Indonesia takes listeners to the vast archipelago 3350 miles wide where this secret showdown occurred.
In 1936, an Allen Dulles-established company discovered the world's largest gold deposit in remote Netherlands New Guinea. In 1962, President Kennedy intervened, and Netherlands New Guinea was added to President Sukarno's Indonesia. Neither Sukarno nor JFK was aware of the gold, since Dulles had not informed Kennedy. Dulles planned a complicated and ruthless CIA regime-change strategy to seize control not only of Indonesia itself, but also of its vast resources, including the gold. This strategy included a push to start Malaysian Confrontation. Yet Kennedy's plan to visit Jakarta in early 1964 would have sunk Dulles' master plan, which included the destruction of the Indonesian communist party as a wedge to split Moscow and Beijing. Only an assassin's bullet put an end to Kennedy’s plan of peace. Did Allen Dulles arrange for JFK to be killed to save his plan and his gold? Was his coup for gold successful with JFK out of the picture?
Using archival records as a basis, Greg Poulgrain adds word-of-mouth evidence from those people who were directly involved - such as Dean Rusk and others who worked with President Kennedy and Allen Dulles at the time; or the person who was with Michael Rockefeller when he mysteriously disappeared in West New Guinea during this whole affair.

“I’d rather win a Pulitzer Prize than be President of the United States,” John F. Kennedy confided to author Margaret Coit shortly after his election to the Senate in 1953. Kennedy got his wish four years later, when his book Profiles in Courage was awarded the Pulitzer for biography—even though it wasn’t among the finalists for the prize. Furthermore, the role of Ted Sorensen in drafting the main chapters in the book was never acknowledged by Kennedy’s inner circle, and Kennedy himself was hyper-sensitive until his dying day about rumors that cast doubt on his ownership of Profiles in Courage. Still, Jack Kennedy the writer is part of the Kennedy narrative that helped propel his political career. And he did indeed work for a time as a journalist, and brought a measures of erudition, wit, and charm to his speeches. But if the rumors surrounding authorship of Profiles in Courage were proven to be true prior to his ascendance to the Presidency, there might have been no brief and shining moment in America called Camelot.

Reflecting rare autobiographical moments in John Kennedy's administration and the political events of the early sixties, this book outlines the education of a young president. From January 1961 to November 1963, John F. Kennedy offered a hope that postwar America could be both strong and considerate, pragmatic and visionary - the the United States could provide leadership for the world and the highest quality of life for its people. The official Kennedy writings presented here are those to key members of his administration.

John e Marilyn: le chiavi del mistero

A fatal destiny unites the lives of three protagonists, the most beloved of the American world of our century.
They are John and Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy, two men, two presidents, whose lives revolved around an equally famous character: Marilyn Monroe.
The charming actress knew the Kennedys' secrets better than anyone else, perhaps linked to their tragic and mysterious disappearance.

VHS cassette of 60 minutes, distributed with the magazine Videorama n3/1992.

John F. Kennedy

The young president who brought vigor and glamour to the White House while he confronted cold war crises abroad and calls for social change at home
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a new kind of president. He redefined how Americans came to see the nation's chief executive. He was forty-three when he was inaugurated in 1961the youngest man ever elected to the officeand he personified what he called the "New Frontier" as the United States entered the 1960s.
But as Alan Brinkley shows in this incisive and lively assessment, the reality of Kennedy's achievements was much more complex than the legend. His brief presidency encountered significant failuresamong them the Bay of Pigs fiasco, which cast its shadow on nearly every national-security decision that followed. But Kennedy also had successes, among them the Cuban Missile Crisis and his belated but powerful stand against segregation.
Kennedy seemed to live on a knife's edge, moving from one crisis to anotherCuba, Laos, Berlin, Vietnam, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. His controversial public life mirrored his hidden private life. He took risks that would seem reckless and even foolhardy when they emerged from secrecy years later.
Kennedy's life, and his violent and sudden death, reshaped our view of the presidency. Brinkley gives us a full picture of the man, his times, and his enduring legacy.

John F. Kennedy [Quotes/Trivia]

A mini-book, with short biography and quotes from JFK.

John F. Kennedy American

In this biography of President Kennedy, Charles Dollen shows the forces that shaped the mind and heart of John Kennedy and his family and friends. The "real man" is presented top the reader along with an analysis of the important event of his life. 

John F. Kennedy and Europe

When John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the thirty-fifth president of the United States in January 1961, the cold war was at its height. Although the Soviet Union’s menace and reach were global and its best opportunities for expansion lay in the newer, poorer countries of the Third World, Kennedy believed that Europe represented the war’s front line. In Eastern Europe, Soviet power was achieving its greatest and most brutal successes; in Western Europe, the United States and its traditional allies had mobilized NATO to discourage a Soviet-led invasion or nuclear attack; and in the heart of Europe, West Berlin presented the single most likely detonator for what Kennedy termed “mankind’s final war.” In this politically volatile climate, Kennedy gave top priority to Europe, recognizing that the continent, during his presidency, was the key to America’s success, security, and survival in a dangerous world.
John F. Kennedy and Europe offers a sterling collection of essays by both participants in and scholars of United States policy toward Europe from 1961 to 1963. Included in the volume are contributions by British historian Alistair Horne, journalist John Newhouse, policymaker Walt W. Rostow, and arms control specialist Carl Kaysen. The essays treat such important topics as Kennedy’s relationships with European leaders, his administration’s Italian and Portuguese policies, the Limited Test-Ban Treaty of 1963, and the balance-of-payments crisis with Europe.
Together, these essays prove to be an indispensable, balanced contribution to cold war historiography and a landmark event in the study of the dynamics of what is still called the Atlantic partnership.

John F. Kennedy and PT109

Before he was President of the United States, John F.Kennedy was a lieutenant in the U.S.Navy during World War II. As young captain of PT109 he had to deal with the dramatic night when his boat was sunk.  Kennedy's actions during this crisis changed him from a PT-boat skipper into a war hero. This book explores one of the most dramatic events of WWII : how John F.Kennedy saved his crew.

John F. Kennedy and PT-109

Before he was President of the United States, John F.Kennedy was a lieutenant in the U.S.Navy during World War II. As young captain of PT109 he had to deal with the dramatic night when his boat was sunk.  Kennedy's actions during this crisis changed him from a PT-boat skipper into a war hero. This was the book about that experience, published in 1962, when JFK was President.

John F. Kennedy and the politics of arms sales to Israel

This book draws upon the collections of documents available in the Kennedy Presidential Library and the Israeli State Archives, many of which have only recently been declassified. It is a well-researched analysis that expertly fills an historical gap, provides rich theoretical insights beyond the case and has important implications for ongoing debates about US-Israeli relations.

John F. Kennedy on Leadership

Perhaps no figure in recent memory more fully personifies leadership than President John F.Kennedy. Leading the nation in a time of unprecedented turbulence, challenge and opportunity, Kennedy led his administration (and the country) with a courage and determination that even his harshest critics respected.
This book identifies eleven core principles that made Kennedy, both before and during his presidency, a unique and dominant force who would serve as the standard by which future leaders would measure themselves - and by which they would be judged.

John F. Kennedy - A Life in Pictures

A celebration, in photographs, of the life of John F.Kennedy (1917-63), the thirty-fifth president of the United States. This is the first book to extensively illustrate the man as well as the icon, and to cover the glamour and success of his life from childhood and student days to congress, fatherhood,  presidency and the tragedy of his untimely death.

John F. Kennedy - America's Youngest President

Book of the series "Childhood of Famous Americans".
One of the most popular series ever published for young Americans, these classics have been praised alike by parents, teachers and librarians. With these lively, inspiring, fictionalized biographies - easily read by children of eight and up - today's youngster is swept right into history.

John F. Kennedy - Biography

In this book, Joyce Milton presents an insightful assessment of the 35th President's life and legacy.

John F. Kennedy - Commander in Chief
[A profile in Leadership]

John F.Kennedy's presidency has been well examined, but a frequently overlooked yet crucial component of it was his leadership of the United States armed forces.
In this book Pierre Salinger, press secretary and confidant to the president, provides an insightful view of this side of John F.Kennedy. He shares his unique understanding of all the major events of the Kennedy administration that had a military component.

John F. Kennedy - His Life and Legacy
[Introduction by Caroline Kennedy]

A voracious reader of biographies, President Kennedy has fittingly been the subject of many volumes himself. When asked why he enjoyed reading biographies, President Kennedy replied it was because they answer the question "What's he like?".
In attempting to answer that question, author Shelley Sommer presents John F.Kennedy in his many roles - as a boy, a young man, a war hero, a politician, a husband, a father, and finally a President.
This look at John F.Kennedy, illustrated with photos from the Kennedy Family Collection and the Kennedy Library, gives young readers a look at a dynamic man whose personality and politics helped to shape the twentieth century and continue to influence American life today.

John F. Kennedy - il video-album commemorativo

1. Presidency years
2. Four dark days
3. Childhood years

110 min/color

John F. Kennedy - L'uomo della Nuova Frontiera

Book in Italian.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy, which occurred precisely at the moment when the President's political and moral actions were about to bear fruit, not only plunged the United States and, by extension, the entire world into uncertainty about its future, but also shocked global public opinion, which, while perhaps limited to the most superficial aspects, nevertheless sensed the exceptional greatness of the man who was disappearing.
The authors of this volume, written in 1964, set out to strip this popular perception of its more superficial motivations and instead ground it in geopolitical reality.

John F. Kennedy - Portrait of a President

This dramatic study had almost been completed when Kennedy was assassinated. Written without the piety of mourning or the wisdom of hindsight, by Time Magazine's correspondent at the White House, it details the three dynamic years which crowned a short but fruitful life and conveys, with the immediacy of a dispatch from the front, the image of one man opening up a New Frontier in government.

John F. Kennedy Quotes
[100 Thoughtful Quotes By US President John F. Kennedy]

100 Thoughtful Quotes By US President John F. Kennedy (Kindle edition).

John F. Kennedy - The Making of a Leader

"TIME for Kids" Biographies.
Take a close-up look at John F.Kennedy, America's youngest elected President. Interviews with experts and lively writing deliver the accurate reporting you expect from "TIME for Kids".
Historical and contemporary photographs capture the life of this popular leader and show how he influenced our world today.

 Roger G.Kennedy
2009

John F. Kennedy - The London Story

Two months after his twenty-first birthday, a young Harvard student arrived to join his father the American Ambassador in London. Jack, as he was known to family, had no idea how his journey to England on the eve of war would come to change and shape his life. Jack’s beloved sister Kick was presented at Court that summer and hailed by the Press as ‘most exciting debutante’ that year. She introduced her brother to a small circle of young aristocrats, all descended from families that had long ruled England. Fascinated by books on Britain’s history and tales from the Court of King Arthur, Jack felt immediately at home.

The eager student from Boston was soon sharing tea with a thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth, partying at Blenheim Palace and speeding across Europe as the borders were closing. Amongst the last to escape Berlin he would return with a secret Embassy note predicting hostilities ‘within a week’. With sister Kick and brother Joe he raced to Parliament to see Chamberlain declare war and Churchill rise to inspire a nation in its hour of need. Jack was spell-bound. He would forge lifelong bonds of friendship sharing such dramatic times with his young aristocratic circle. This family circle, after Kick’s marriage, would then come to play an astonishing role in shaping Jack’s actions from the Cuba Missile Crisis to Berlin when the free world came close to nuclear Armageddon.

In John F. Kennedy: The London Story, the author reveals the extraordinary role Britain came to play in Jack’s life. By looking at his early life, we see how he became the man to lead and inspire the free world. Ideal for any history or politics enthusiasts, or anyone with an interest in how early events shape a life.

John F. Kennedy - une Famille, un President, un Mythe

French book.
 Written by a leading French specialist in American history, this biography of Kennedy helps us better understand the mysteries that still surround this complex figure today. Elected on November 8, 1960, the 35th President of the United States served for only 1,000 days. But the legend of John F. Kennedy continues to haunt our memories. Mysteries about the man, his policies, his private life, and his tragic death persist. His assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963, remains shrouded in mystery, and attempts to solve the enigma persisted for a long time. His political career, built on charm and intelligence, a flair for publicity and a concern for image, and a cautious, tentative "liberalism," is surprising. His personality is complex and resists simplistic analyses. What remains is the fascination with a charismatic president, with a family that formed a clan, experienced many vicissitudes, and aroused the tireless curiosity of the media.

John F. Kennedy visto da vicino

Italian book, written from Italian journalist Francesco Rossi, after years of research on John F. Kennedy's politics and history of United States after second world war.

John F. Kennedy : War Hero

In 1943, Lieutenant John Fitzgerald Kennedy, skipper of PT-109, was on night patrol when a Japanese destroyer crashed into his boat and cut her in two. Alone and adrift in enemy waters, Lieutenant Kennedy repeatedly risked his life to save his surviving men from capture or death.
Here is a magnificent and inspiring story : a full and authentic account of the World War II service of the future President of the United States, and the heroic action for which he received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy reads the "Declaration of Independence"

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum released a 1957 recording of Senator John F. Kennedy reading the Declaration of Independence in full, which was made exclusively for New York radio station WQXR's 1957 July 4th observance.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy 's Birthplace
[A Presidential Home in History and Memory]

John F.Kennedy National Historic Site in Brookline, Massachusetts preserves and interprets the 1917 birthplace of the nation's 35th President. The house was the first home shared by President Kennedy's father and mother, Joseph P. and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, from 1914 to 1920. The historic house, grounds, collections and neighboring Brookline community document the formtive years of the prominentKennedy family and permit exploration of the early influences which shaped the character and ambitions of John F.Kennedy.
The site was repurchased by the family as a memorial to President Kennedy in 1966 and refurnished to its circa 1917 appearance under the close supervision of the rpesident's mother, based on her recollections. Many pieces in the collection are original to the family's tenure in the house; other are Kennedy family pieces, appropriate antiques, or period reproductions selected for interpretive value.
Following the refurnishing, the Kennedy family donated the birthplace to the National Park Service in 1969. (In 1967 Congress passed legislation authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to acquire te Brooline property.
The National Park Service commissioned this book for two reasons. The first was to situate Joe and Rose Kennedy within Brookline's Beals Street neighborhood to provide a better understanding of the spheres in which the Kennedy family members lived, worked and played. The second was to analyze the significance of the creation of the site as a memorial to the recently assassinated president.

John F.Kennedy's North Carolina Campaign

On September 17, 1960, Sen.John F.Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for president, flew to Greenville for a campaign rally on the campus of East Carolina College. Kennedy's ECC rally was part of a marathon daylong blitz that continued statewide through Greensboro and Charlotte.
The campaign intended to go as far west as Asheville but due to inclement weather concluded with dinner at the governor's mansion in Raleigh and a rally at Reynolds Coliseum.
With photographs as key primary sources, this book explores what happened that day, why it happened, and its significance in North Carolina's political history.

"Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye"

Millions of Americans respected and loved President Kennedy. Kenneth O'Donnell and David Powers not only loved Kennedy, but knew him better for a longer period of time than almost all of the other men and women involved with his political career. This is  a record of the affection and devotion of two men to one of the most important figure of our time .