JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy

by Herbert S. Parmet

Presidency of John F. Kennedy Volume II - Library of the Presidents Series in Full Leather [Hardcover] Herbert S. Parmet (Author)

Genres: Biography

407 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1983

About the author

Herbert S. Parmet was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at The City University of New York.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://bestpresidentialbios.com/2017...

“JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy” was published in 1983 and is the second book in a two-volume series by historian Herbert Parmet. He was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at the City University of New York and author of eleven biographies, the most recent of which was “Richard M. Nixon: An American Enigma.” Parmet died early this year at the age of 87.

With 355 pages in this concluding volume, Parmet’s series runs nearly 900 pages in total (excluding nearly a hundred pages of note) making it the most detailed exploration of the life of John Kennedy at the time of its publication. It also benefits from a detached and judiciously balanced perspective; unlike some earlier Kennedy biographers, Parmet cannot be accused of having been seduced by the Camelot motif.

While the author’s writing style here cannot be described as lively and free-flowing it does prove more descriptive, and occasionally less academically-tilted, than in the previous volume. Still, this is not a seamless and colorful narrative – it more often resembles a series of essays or “white papers” produced for a history seminar than a biography intended to paint a vibrant portrait. And its organizational structure, which is neither strictly chronological nor rigidly topical, will leave some readers frustrated.

Unfortunately for some readers, Parmet assumes his audience is already familiar with the history of Kennedy’s era. Topics are often introduced using “immersion” – jumping squarely into the heat of the discussion at the risk of leaving readers struggling to understand context and implications. The Bay of Pigs discussion, for example, begins more like a post-mortem than an introduction and only slowly reveals the full story.

In addition, Parmet makes no attempt to paint a robust description of his subject. Particularly revealing is that the author reserves a chapter for a discussion of Kennedy’s relationship with friends, colleagues and “allies.” Although this is a welcome addition to the book (in the absence of a more natural injection of this topic throughout the text) this compartmentalization limits what the reader learns of JFK on a personal level.

Finally, and perhaps most disappointing, the author provides no overarching theme, no threads connecting the chapters and no sweeping conclusions which readers might reasonably expect of a book authored by an esteemed historian on such a controversial figure.

The volume is not without merit, however – particularly for sophisticated consumers of 1960s history. History buffs will appreciate Parmet’s frequent nuggets of wisdom and his chapter on Kennedy’s efforts in the area of civil rights is particularly strong. He also occasionally adds surprising touches to the text such as an interesting snippet on Rose Kenedy and a revealing description of Jackie Kennedy’s efforts to redecorate the White House.

Overall, however, this final volume of Herbert Parmet’s series on JFK will prove more disappointing than satisfying for most readers. While it contains most of the raw material required for anyone to gain a rich understanding of the Kennedy presidency, it is better-suited for readers who are already familiar with both Kennedy and his times.

Overall rating: 3½ stars

[Andrew Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty clear-eyed view of the much mythologised president, which explains his appeal without entirely coming under the Camelot spell. It's by intention very much a history from above account, so don't expect social history so much as the interplay between different politicians and their characters and policy agendas. There's also discussion of his personal life which perhaps tries a bit too hard to avoid being sensationalist. Like his presidency, it's dominated by foreign affairs, including a fair bit on Laos that I was unaware of, but the most interesting parts are on the more familiar discussions around Vietnam (and the debate over whether Kennedy really planned to disengage) and Cuba. His attitude to Civil Rights is quite well summarised - as a conundrum to solve rather than an injustice to fight. But in this area in particular the relatively fleeting references to the activists outside the White House is a weakness.

[Dakota G.]

This book really captured the whole idea of what it was like in Kennedy’s view. It talks from various topics from his life in the office to the missile Cuban crisis to the friends and allies of the United States of America. It briefly talked about him preparing to be the next President of the United States. It also talked about making the world safe and especially Laos. It talked about the invasion of Cuba from the Bay of Pigs. The Cuban missile crisis was probably the most dangerous threat the United States of America ever saw due to one reason and that is because they are so close to us that by the time they would launch the missile it could have already his a state including Florida. John F. Kennedy said in 1962 just before Christmas that they are very involved with Congo’s affairs. Then when he got assassinated not that much later it affected about every country except Cuba because we did not trade with them but it affected them because they had to get used to the new president. Then sadly not that much after John F. Kennedy got assassinated his brother got murdered in court. John f. Kennedy was known for traveling to other countries and trying to make more allies by meeting the leader of the country that he traveled to. By him traveling he upped the United States of America’s defense by getting more countries as our allies and that would up our security because we would have more people if any country especially Cuba tried to attack.

[Chris Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it was written in the 1980 it did provide a great look in to the presidency of a great man. I liked how it started out with the campaign and offered great incite in to the role that the Kennedy family played. I wish the book had elaborated more on the Cuban missile Crisis but all in all a great read