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The Kennedy Wit: The Humor and Wisdom of John F. Kennedy
Hardcover book with dust jacket. Sixth printing, 1964, The Citadel Press, NY. 83 pages with many black/white photographs of President Jack Kennedy in informal poses. The boards are a dull pink.
203 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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358 people want to read
About the author
Bill Adler
335 books15 followersBill Adler pursued his goal of being the P.T. Barnum of books by conceptualizing, writing, editing, compiling and hustling hundreds of them — prompting one magazine to anoint him “the most fevered mind” in publishing.
Mr. Adler achieved early success by collecting and publishing letters children had written to President John F. Kennedy. He followed up with children’s letters to Smokey Bear, Santa Claus, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and President Barack Obama, among many others.
He helped popularize novels written by political, entertainment and sports celebrities, supplying ghostwriters and even plots. He signed up beauty queens to write diet and exercise books.
As an agent, his clients included Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Howard Cosell, Mike Wallace and Ralph Nader.
Mr. Adler was best known for his own titles. He wrote “What to Name Your Jewish Baby” (1966) with Arnie Kogen and “What Is a Cat? For Everyone Who Has Ever Loved a Cat” (1987). In 1969, he compiled “The Wit & Humor of Richard Nixon.” In 1995, he published “Cats’ Letters to Santa.”
One of his more famous tricks — a word he preferred to gimmicks — was the 1983 mystery novel “Who Killed the Robins Family?” by Bill Adler and Thomas Chastain. On the cover was an offer of a $10,000 reward for solving a series of fictional murders.
A team of four married couples from Denver won by coming up with the answers to 39 of 40 questions posed in the book. The book reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list in January 1984 and remained there for the better part of a year, selling about a million copies.
“Ideas are my mistress,” Mr. Adler told United Press International in 1986, saying he used his “given abilities to conceptualize books.”
It was People magazine that commented on Mr. Adler’s “fevered mind” in 1983, adding that publishing traditionalists regarded book packagers like Mr. Adler as “money-crazed barbarians with the sensibilities of turnips.”
Referring to Mr. Adler’s books, Roger W. Straus Jr., president of the publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux, told People: “They’re pretty chintzy, as a rule. It’s like throwing a quarter in the street. If you listen attentively, you find out it ain’t silver when it hits the ground.”
Others disagreed. “I consider Bill Adler unparalleled in the publishing industry — terribly, terribly original,” Mr. Cosell said.
One of Mr. Adler’s best-selling books was a collection called “The Kennedy Wit.” The president’s aides approved the project early in the administration, but Kennedy was said to have been angry about it, causing Random House to drop the idea. Mr. Adler suspected that the president had not wanted his humor emphasized so soon after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.
After 35 more publishers turned the book down, Mr. Adler finally obtained a $2,500 advance from Citadel Press, a small publisher. The book, released in 1964, after the president’s assassination, was on the New York Times best-seller list for more than six months and sold more than 1.4 million copies.
William Jay Adler was born in Brooklyn on May 14, 1929. His parents died when he was a child, and he was raised by relatives. He attended Brooklyn College for three years and was drafted into the Army, then trained as a flamethrower for the Korean War.
After finding out that flamethrowers led infantry into battle, he applied for Armed Forces Radio, saying he had experience in broadcasting, though he did not. He was a disc jockey in Tokyo until his discharge in 1953. He then worked in broadcasting, as humor editor at McCall’s magazine and as a book editor for Playboy, where he first came up with book ideas.
One brainstorm was to ask the Kennedy White House if he could read mail sent to the president. In a time of much looser security, he was allowed to spend the day copying letters in the White House pos
Mr. Adler achieved early success by collecting and publishing letters children had written to President John F. Kennedy. He followed up with children’s letters to Smokey Bear, Santa Claus, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and President Barack Obama, among many others.
He helped popularize novels written by political, entertainment and sports celebrities, supplying ghostwriters and even plots. He signed up beauty queens to write diet and exercise books.
As an agent, his clients included Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Howard Cosell, Mike Wallace and Ralph Nader.
Mr. Adler was best known for his own titles. He wrote “What to Name Your Jewish Baby” (1966) with Arnie Kogen and “What Is a Cat? For Everyone Who Has Ever Loved a Cat” (1987). In 1969, he compiled “The Wit & Humor of Richard Nixon.” In 1995, he published “Cats’ Letters to Santa.”
One of his more famous tricks — a word he preferred to gimmicks — was the 1983 mystery novel “Who Killed the Robins Family?” by Bill Adler and Thomas Chastain. On the cover was an offer of a $10,000 reward for solving a series of fictional murders.
A team of four married couples from Denver won by coming up with the answers to 39 of 40 questions posed in the book. The book reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list in January 1984 and remained there for the better part of a year, selling about a million copies.
“Ideas are my mistress,” Mr. Adler told United Press International in 1986, saying he used his “given abilities to conceptualize books.”
It was People magazine that commented on Mr. Adler’s “fevered mind” in 1983, adding that publishing traditionalists regarded book packagers like Mr. Adler as “money-crazed barbarians with the sensibilities of turnips.”
Referring to Mr. Adler’s books, Roger W. Straus Jr., president of the publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux, told People: “They’re pretty chintzy, as a rule. It’s like throwing a quarter in the street. If you listen attentively, you find out it ain’t silver when it hits the ground.”
Others disagreed. “I consider Bill Adler unparalleled in the publishing industry — terribly, terribly original,” Mr. Cosell said.
One of Mr. Adler’s best-selling books was a collection called “The Kennedy Wit.” The president’s aides approved the project early in the administration, but Kennedy was said to have been angry about it, causing Random House to drop the idea. Mr. Adler suspected that the president had not wanted his humor emphasized so soon after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.
After 35 more publishers turned the book down, Mr. Adler finally obtained a $2,500 advance from Citadel Press, a small publisher. The book, released in 1964, after the president’s assassination, was on the New York Times best-seller list for more than six months and sold more than 1.4 million copies.
William Jay Adler was born in Brooklyn on May 14, 1929. His parents died when he was a child, and he was raised by relatives. He attended Brooklyn College for three years and was drafted into the Army, then trained as a flamethrower for the Korean War.
After finding out that flamethrowers led infantry into battle, he applied for Armed Forces Radio, saying he had experience in broadcasting, though he did not. He was a disc jockey in Tokyo until his discharge in 1953. He then worked in broadcasting, as humor editor at McCall’s magazine and as a book editor for Playboy, where he first came up with book ideas.
One brainstorm was to ask the Kennedy White House if he could read mail sent to the president. In a time of much looser security, he was allowed to spend the day copying letters in the White House pos
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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