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A Hero for Our Time: An Intimate Story of the Kennedy Years
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Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
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About the author
Ralph G. Martin
67 books8 followersRalph G. Martin was an American journalist who authored or co-authored about thirty books, including popular biographies of recent historical figures, among which, Jennie, a two-volume (1969 and 1971) study of Winston Churchill's American mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, became the most prominent bestseller. Other successful tomes focused on British royal romance (Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson in 1974, as well as Prince Charles and Lady Diana in 1985) and on the Kennedy family (John F. Kennedy in 1983 and Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. in 1995).
Born in Chicago, Martin was eight years old when his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. He studied at City College of New York and, subsequently, the University of Missouri, where he graduated in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.
Twenty-one years old upon receiving his diploma, Martin decided to hitchhike and found a newspaper job at the Box Elder News Journal which served Brigham City, the county seat of Utah's Box Elder County. In December, following the U.S. declaration of war in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Martin enlisted in the Army and spent the war as a combat correspondent for the Armed Forces newspaper Stars and Stripes and the Army weekly magazine, Yank. In 1944, after having interviewed New York City's mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, for Yank, Martin asked La Guardia to perform his marriage ceremony to Marjorie Pastel.
Returning to civilian life in 1945, Martin began working as editor for news and analysis publications Newsweek and The New Republic and became executive editor at decorating and domestic arts magazine House Beautiful. During the months preceding the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections, he served as a member of the campaign staff for the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson.
Having lived for years in the Connecticut town of Westport, near New York City, Martin moved to the Kendal on Hudson retirement community in another of the city's suburbs, Sleepy Hollow, where he died seven-and-a-half weeks before his 93rd birthday. He and his wife Marjorie were the parents of two daughters and a son.
Born in Chicago, Martin was eight years old when his family moved to Brooklyn, New York. He studied at City College of New York and, subsequently, the University of Missouri, where he graduated in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.
Twenty-one years old upon receiving his diploma, Martin decided to hitchhike and found a newspaper job at the Box Elder News Journal which served Brigham City, the county seat of Utah's Box Elder County. In December, following the U.S. declaration of war in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Martin enlisted in the Army and spent the war as a combat correspondent for the Armed Forces newspaper Stars and Stripes and the Army weekly magazine, Yank. In 1944, after having interviewed New York City's mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, for Yank, Martin asked La Guardia to perform his marriage ceremony to Marjorie Pastel.
Returning to civilian life in 1945, Martin began working as editor for news and analysis publications Newsweek and The New Republic and became executive editor at decorating and domestic arts magazine House Beautiful. During the months preceding the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections, he served as a member of the campaign staff for the Democratic nominee, Adlai Stevenson.
Having lived for years in the Connecticut town of Westport, near New York City, Martin moved to the Kendal on Hudson retirement community in another of the city's suburbs, Sleepy Hollow, where he died seven-and-a-half weeks before his 93rd birthday. He and his wife Marjorie were the parents of two daughters and a son.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 23, 2015
When I was in my junior year of college, one of my best friends gave me this book as a Christmas present (1984). From the moment I began reading "A HERO FOR OUR TIME", I was wholly captivated and fascinated to learn about the many dimensions to the man and President who was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. This was a book that I COULD NOT PUT DOWN. And it was also a book that made me keenly anxious and curious to learn more about him, this charismatic, highly intelligent, courageous, witty, and humane person. Indeed, to this day, I find President Kennedy endlessly fascinating.
November 26, 2018
Simply the best biography about President Kennedy and his family. A monumental work of analysis and research, that deserves to be read. From the childhood to the presidency, with interesting chapters dedicated to his relationship with Jackie, his father, his brothers and he as a man, outside the Oval Office.
Deep, wide, honest book. Ralph G. Martin was an excellence author!
Deep, wide, honest book. Ralph G. Martin was an excellence author!
August 4, 2024
A MORE "INSIDE" VIEW OF KENENDY AND HIS PRESIDENCY
Ralph G. Martin has also written books such as 'Seeds of Destruction: Joe Kennedy and His Sons,' 'Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill, Vol. 1: The Romantic Years, 1854-1895,' 'The Woman He Loved: The Story of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor,' etc.
He wrote in the Prologue to this 1983 book, "It was a cool September midnight in 1959... As John Fitzgerald Kennedy stood up to shake my hand... he said, 'I heard you were going to do a hatchet job on me.' ... Ed Plaut and I were then co-authoring a book on presidential campaign techniques ... I assured him ... that we simply wanted to write an honest book... Jacqueline Kennedy must have worried a great deal during the months before our book appeared... When the book was published... her quiet gratitude may have been one of the reasons she answered a national magazine query about her favorite books that year and listed ours among them. That book was primarily political, but this one is more about magic." (Pg. xi-xii)
Of the Kennedy family, he wrote, "They hated to lose... That came from their father. The surprise was that they were all rich enough to become wandering wastrels or alcoholics, but instead devoted themselves to public service and public responsibility. That came from their mother." (Pg. 20)
He observes, "The Senate began to bore him... he didn't have the patience needed to push an idea into law by compromising positions and converting others. His attendance record was bad. The personality trait Kennedy most struggled against, and unsuccessfully, was his impatience. He was unwilling to hear what he already knew... He was not one for painstaking persuasion." (Pg. 96)
About religion, Martin notes, "His first loyalty was to his country, not his religion, Kennedy repeated. He pointed out that in every instance where Catholic political power bore down on a controversial issue, he voted the other way... He told reporters that he felt a Catholic president could more easily withstand Catholic political pressure than a non-Catholic." (Pg. 203)
He points out, "All through his presidency, to the time of his death, Kennedy almost always used his crutches when he was out of public sight... He even used his crutches in the yard if there was no one else there. Only his closest friends and family knew... The pain was constant, varying only in degree... The suffering and the lifetime crippling by polio converted a carefree Roosevelt into a deeper-thinking, more compassionate man. Critical back operations and the never-ending pain that followed created a similar sensitivity in Kennedy. Only a few knew this was so." (Pg. 258)
Not the most detailed treatment of JFK, there is more than enough "inside" information to please anyone wanting more information about this still-iconic President.
Ralph G. Martin has also written books such as 'Seeds of Destruction: Joe Kennedy and His Sons,' 'Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill, Vol. 1: The Romantic Years, 1854-1895,' 'The Woman He Loved: The Story of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor,' etc.
He wrote in the Prologue to this 1983 book, "It was a cool September midnight in 1959... As John Fitzgerald Kennedy stood up to shake my hand... he said, 'I heard you were going to do a hatchet job on me.' ... Ed Plaut and I were then co-authoring a book on presidential campaign techniques ... I assured him ... that we simply wanted to write an honest book... Jacqueline Kennedy must have worried a great deal during the months before our book appeared... When the book was published... her quiet gratitude may have been one of the reasons she answered a national magazine query about her favorite books that year and listed ours among them. That book was primarily political, but this one is more about magic." (Pg. xi-xii)
Of the Kennedy family, he wrote, "They hated to lose... That came from their father. The surprise was that they were all rich enough to become wandering wastrels or alcoholics, but instead devoted themselves to public service and public responsibility. That came from their mother." (Pg. 20)
He observes, "The Senate began to bore him... he didn't have the patience needed to push an idea into law by compromising positions and converting others. His attendance record was bad. The personality trait Kennedy most struggled against, and unsuccessfully, was his impatience. He was unwilling to hear what he already knew... He was not one for painstaking persuasion." (Pg. 96)
About religion, Martin notes, "His first loyalty was to his country, not his religion, Kennedy repeated. He pointed out that in every instance where Catholic political power bore down on a controversial issue, he voted the other way... He told reporters that he felt a Catholic president could more easily withstand Catholic political pressure than a non-Catholic." (Pg. 203)
He points out, "All through his presidency, to the time of his death, Kennedy almost always used his crutches when he was out of public sight... He even used his crutches in the yard if there was no one else there. Only his closest friends and family knew... The pain was constant, varying only in degree... The suffering and the lifetime crippling by polio converted a carefree Roosevelt into a deeper-thinking, more compassionate man. Critical back operations and the never-ending pain that followed created a similar sensitivity in Kennedy. Only a few knew this was so." (Pg. 258)
Not the most detailed treatment of JFK, there is more than enough "inside" information to please anyone wanting more information about this still-iconic President.
August 4, 2014
I have had a very long held debt to know more about this mythical JFK of all times and this book well helped pay that. This quote by Dean Acheson is a fitting summary.
"I have a curious and apprehensive feeling as I watch JFK that he is sort of an Indian snake charmer. He toots away on his pipe and our problems sway back and forth around him in a trance like manner, never approaching, but never withdrawing; all in a state of suspending life include the pipe player, who lives only in his drama....Someday one of this snakes will wake up; and no one will be even able to run...."
"I have a curious and apprehensive feeling as I watch JFK that he is sort of an Indian snake charmer. He toots away on his pipe and our problems sway back and forth around him in a trance like manner, never approaching, but never withdrawing; all in a state of suspending life include the pipe player, who lives only in his drama....Someday one of this snakes will wake up; and no one will be even able to run...."
July 17, 2019
In 1983 Ralph Martin authored a JFK biography entitled "A Hero For Our Time". The book captures the personality and character of the president, his family, and wife Jackie. It is written from the perspective of personal interviews and reads like a tabloid's chronicle of his charisma and foibles. I enjoyed the author's writing style and perspective.
December 15, 2007
Rated: B
November 30, 2014
A middling biography of a middling president.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews