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The Kennedy Wit: The Humor and Wisdom of John F. Kennedy
For thousands of Americans, The Kennedy Wit seemed "the perfect way to remember him," as one letter to the publisher expressed it, and the book became one of 1964's leading national best sellers . Illustrated with 35 photographic reproductions.
126 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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About the author
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
362 books439 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress prior to his presidency.
Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940, joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded PT boats in the Pacific theater. Kennedy's survival following the sinking of PT-109 and his rescue of his fellow sailors made him a war hero and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, but left him with serious injuries. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working-class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, serving as the junior senator for Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book, Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy ran in the 1960 presidential election. His campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president.
Kennedy's presidency saw high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam, and the Strategic Hamlet Program began during his presidency. In 1961, he authorized attempts to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Mongoose. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba. The resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in nuclear war. In August 1961, after East German troops erected the Berlin Wall, Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and delivered one of his most famous speeches in West Berlin in June 1963. In 1963, Kennedy signed the first nuclear weapons treaty. He presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970. He supported the civil rights movement but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. His vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The FBI and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone, but conspiracy theories about the assassination persist. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revenue Act of 1964. Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs. Kennedy is the most recent U.S. president to have died in office.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress prior to his presidency.
Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940, joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded PT boats in the Pacific theater. Kennedy's survival following the sinking of PT-109 and his rescue of his fellow sailors made him a war hero and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, but left him with serious injuries. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working-class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, serving as the junior senator for Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book, Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy ran in the 1960 presidential election. His campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president.
Kennedy's presidency saw high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam, and the Strategic Hamlet Program began during his presidency. In 1961, he authorized attempts to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Mongoose. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba. The resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in nuclear war. In August 1961, after East German troops erected the Berlin Wall, Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and delivered one of his most famous speeches in West Berlin in June 1963. In 1963, Kennedy signed the first nuclear weapons treaty. He presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970. He supported the civil rights movement but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. His vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The FBI and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone, but conspiracy theories about the assassination persist. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revenue Act of 1964. Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs. Kennedy is the most recent U.S. president to have died in office.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 30, 2021
3.5 stars
"Mr. President, how did you become a war hero?" -- unidentified child
"Oh, it was absolutely involuntary. They sank my boat." -- President John F. Kennedy
Ted Sorensen rightfully gets a fair amount of credit for being a particularly good speechwriter for JFK (said president once referred to him as an "intellectual blood bank"), although on his own the 35th U.S. President was very gifted speaker with a knack for off-the-cuff humor and just the right turn of phrase. The Kennedy Wit, which was originally published the year after his assassination, assembles dozens of quotes from the campaigning and presidency years of 1960 to 1963. Kennedy comes across as an educated and well-read man who could skillfully take sly jabs at opponents, opposing political parties, or even himself or his family, and yet still sound respectful. My favorite excerpt was a note he penned to the young son of the newly appointed ambassador to India, as the son was upset about suddenly moving overseas and leaving behind his friends and school. Kennedy relates how he and his siblings experienced a similar situation in their lives, but then gently segues into how such a move could result in "fascinating possibilities" and ends things with a few sentences that were both perfectly funny and bittersweet. (The only complaints about this volume was that it was too brief and was padded with photographs.) We need JFK's style back in the White House!
"Mr. President, how did you become a war hero?" -- unidentified child
"Oh, it was absolutely involuntary. They sank my boat." -- President John F. Kennedy
Ted Sorensen rightfully gets a fair amount of credit for being a particularly good speechwriter for JFK (said president once referred to him as an "intellectual blood bank"), although on his own the 35th U.S. President was very gifted speaker with a knack for off-the-cuff humor and just the right turn of phrase. The Kennedy Wit, which was originally published the year after his assassination, assembles dozens of quotes from the campaigning and presidency years of 1960 to 1963. Kennedy comes across as an educated and well-read man who could skillfully take sly jabs at opponents, opposing political parties, or even himself or his family, and yet still sound respectful. My favorite excerpt was a note he penned to the young son of the newly appointed ambassador to India, as the son was upset about suddenly moving overseas and leaving behind his friends and school. Kennedy relates how he and his siblings experienced a similar situation in their lives, but then gently segues into how such a move could result in "fascinating possibilities" and ends things with a few sentences that were both perfectly funny and bittersweet. (The only complaints about this volume was that it was too brief and was padded with photographs.) We need JFK's style back in the White House!
February 22, 2010
Although I was only eight, I campaigned for Kennedy--if you call cutting school to attend a rally (where I got on stage behind him!) and bicycling around town to pull down Nixon posters campaigning. It was, after all, Dad's idea--I hadn't too many of my own and Dad was supporting the man.
This excessive commitment to Kennedy as candidate went over to Kennedy as president. I went out of my way to watch him on television, listen to him on the radio and read things by and about him. I watched Jacqueline's tour of the White House. I listened to the comedy album which had actors imitating him and his family many times. I got Dad his Why England Slept for Christmas in '63 along with Hoover's Masters of Deceit (boy, I sure was ignorant!) I bought the whole image thing and was pretty upset when he was murdered.
The Kennedy Wit was part of the Kennedy industry, a business which had started before John and ended only with Teddy in 1980. Bill Adler, the editor, has gone on to make many such books, giving us the wit and wisdom of such as Billy Graham, Jackie Onassis, Oprah, Reagan and even George Bush. At the time, I liked the thing, not even questioning how much of it was actually created by Kennedy himself rather than by one of his writers.
This excessive commitment to Kennedy as candidate went over to Kennedy as president. I went out of my way to watch him on television, listen to him on the radio and read things by and about him. I watched Jacqueline's tour of the White House. I listened to the comedy album which had actors imitating him and his family many times. I got Dad his Why England Slept for Christmas in '63 along with Hoover's Masters of Deceit (boy, I sure was ignorant!) I bought the whole image thing and was pretty upset when he was murdered.
The Kennedy Wit was part of the Kennedy industry, a business which had started before John and ended only with Teddy in 1980. Bill Adler, the editor, has gone on to make many such books, giving us the wit and wisdom of such as Billy Graham, Jackie Onassis, Oprah, Reagan and even George Bush. At the time, I liked the thing, not even questioning how much of it was actually created by Kennedy himself rather than by one of his writers.
April 28, 2016
I picked this book up in a JFK book auction. As I already owned most of the other items, this was what I bid for. The gavel went down at £10 and the book came with a glass paperweight that has set within it a JFK half dollar.
For the paperweight it was a good deal. 'The Wit of President Kennedy', a third impression printed in 1965 in the U.K. for 12/6d is a fine example of the good old days!
The author, the late Bill Adler was a prolific writer. The sleeve notes state, 'He roundly declares that he spends his spare time going through other people's mail-with a certain feeling of guilt-but not too much guilt!' (He could have been ably employed by the CIA.) Among his best sellers are such titles as 'Letters from Camp', 'Letters to President Kennedy', 'Love Letters to The Beatles'.
In similar vein to this book are titles such as 'The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln', 'The Wit and Wisdom of Jimmy Carter', 'The Quotable George W. Bush: A Portrait in his Own Words' and 'The Wit and Humour of Richard Nixon'. (Bet that's a hoot.)
Probably best to stay away from his 'The Anti-Cancer, Heart Attack, Stroke Diet Book'. He died in 2014, aged 84 from abdominal cancer.
For the paperweight it was a good deal. 'The Wit of President Kennedy', a third impression printed in 1965 in the U.K. for 12/6d is a fine example of the good old days!
The author, the late Bill Adler was a prolific writer. The sleeve notes state, 'He roundly declares that he spends his spare time going through other people's mail-with a certain feeling of guilt-but not too much guilt!' (He could have been ably employed by the CIA.) Among his best sellers are such titles as 'Letters from Camp', 'Letters to President Kennedy', 'Love Letters to The Beatles'.
In similar vein to this book are titles such as 'The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln', 'The Wit and Wisdom of Jimmy Carter', 'The Quotable George W. Bush: A Portrait in his Own Words' and 'The Wit and Humour of Richard Nixon'. (Bet that's a hoot.)
Probably best to stay away from his 'The Anti-Cancer, Heart Attack, Stroke Diet Book'. He died in 2014, aged 84 from abdominal cancer.
November 25, 2017
I was not fond of the formatting of this book. Being that it was published in 1964, I feel I cannot complain too much. It was separated into sections of campaigning, the presidency, the family, and press conferences. It was comprised of quotes all from JFK. It just didn’t flow well. It was however very interesting to read some of the things he said as well as to see that he too, campaigned in Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania.
July 2, 2017
A great short collection of quotes from the campaign and political career of President Kennedy. It showed a humorous and witty side that is often lost in other historical accounts of his life. It was a really enjoyable read.
April 30, 2011
This collection of spoken and written witticisms uttered by former President Kennedy is collected from campaign speeches, press conferences, and other public appearances as well as a few letters.
I suppose that had I been alive during the era in question, or were I more of a political scholar I would have found these bon mots more amusing. Unfortunately, my parents hadn't even met at the time, and I have little frame of reference for the people and institutions which were the target for Kennedy's humorous statements. My favorite, however, is something Kennedy said in Minneapolis about being ready to debate with Nixon, as he'd just had a go-round with Hubert Humphrey, and felt well-prepared by that exchange. As a Minnesotan, one can't help be familiar with Mr. Humphrey!
I would recommend this book mostly for Kennedy fans and political scholars.
I suppose that had I been alive during the era in question, or were I more of a political scholar I would have found these bon mots more amusing. Unfortunately, my parents hadn't even met at the time, and I have little frame of reference for the people and institutions which were the target for Kennedy's humorous statements. My favorite, however, is something Kennedy said in Minneapolis about being ready to debate with Nixon, as he'd just had a go-round with Hubert Humphrey, and felt well-prepared by that exchange. As a Minnesotan, one can't help be familiar with Mr. Humphrey!
I would recommend this book mostly for Kennedy fans and political scholars.
July 21, 2012
Most of the quotes were not all that memorable, but the book does have quite a few photos of President Kennedy which makes it enjoyable to leaf through.
April 6, 2012
I'm more interested in the way he said things than the (now-mostly-dated) quips he had to say.
July 26, 2012
He definitely will never be beat as the quickest political wit!
May 15, 2022
Startlingly and depressingly accurate quotes that applied as much in 1960 as they do in 2022.
January 4, 2014
It was interesting to learn a little more about Kennedy.
March 21, 2020
Quotes: It's a vital business, the running of a democracy, and it's important that all of us register to vote for the party of our choice.
I am supporting the party of my choice and I intend to vote in the November Elections. ~ JFK, August 1962
...I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians. ~ JFK not dated
I am supporting the party of my choice and I intend to vote in the November Elections. ~ JFK, August 1962
...I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians. ~ JFK not dated
August 4, 2024
Had to keep in context to the times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2025
Wish this book had been longer. So nice to have had a president with a sense of
Humor.
Humor.
November 2, 2022
Best picture book ive read this year!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2014
I re-read this periodically to bring a little humor and light into my life.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews