President Kennedy - Profiles in Power

President Kennedy – Profile in Power by Richard Reeves

I watched a series on the 60s on Netflix recently. One episode focused on John F. Kennedy. One of the several historians that was interviewed was a fellow named Richard Reeves. He seemed rather articulate, and the caption said he was the author of a book.  So I thought, “why not?”  A bit of a crapshoot maybe, but the dice rolled up seven. This was an excellent book.

This book is a fairly detailed look at JFK’s presidency. It’s not a biography.  I was a bit leery of that fact.  I had already read a book detailing Kennedy’s presidency – Ted Sorensen’s “Kennedy”.  I didn’t like it.  It REALLY made me nervous when this author actually praised that book early on in THIS book.  I was petrified of a repeat.  Safe to say, this book was much better.

I won’t detail Sorensen’s retrospective, I’ll focus on this book. It seems like this book’s biggest advantage is that the author knows how to keep his readers engaged.  “Profile in Power” is actually the perfect subtitle.  We see how this young, wealthy aristocrat handles the most powerful position in the world. Nothing is sugar coated. We get the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Quite often, the ugly is quite ugly.

He portrays Kennedy as human. The man had flaws, yet I came away with the impression that JFK was a good president.  We read a lot about Khrushchev, Cuba, Vietnam, and Civil Rights. The latter topic was a bit harsh. Contrary to what some historians want to believe, Kennedy was not that much of an advocate for Civil Rights. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in the cause, he just felt issues weren’t a priority. Yes, he made some strides, but many would argue far too little.  We read a lot about the many, now famous, incidents that took place in the early sixties, and one comes away with the feeling that our President really should have done much more in this area.

I enjoyed reading about the tensions with Cuba (i.e. Russia) and Vietnam the best. We see the young president learn from his mistakes, and make some very tough decisions.  The Vietnam parts were also eye-opening. Again, many in the history department have sugar coated Kennedy’s record and involvement. Contrary to what Oliver Stone tells us, Kennedy did not want to “end Vietnam”. We must remember that during Kennedy’s administration, the vast majority of Americans couldn’t even find Vietnam on a map, so it’s only in hindsight that we can be as judgmental as we tend to be.

And, yes, there are a lot of women.  Supposedly, Kennedy was taking some hardcore medication for his back pain which included the side effects of a) having a tan complexion and b) rather amorous. So I guess this would allow many to give the former president a free pass when it came to his consistent infidelities.  You wonder why such medication wouldn’t be available on the black market. But never mind.

Like all great leaders, Kennedy can be tough when he needs to be. We prefer to see our leaders through rose colored glasses, but we see plenty of instances when the leader, at least behind the scenes, attempts to get things done in rather unconventional methods.  One of my favorite episodes concerns little brother Ted. Ted becomes a new senator in Massachusetts solely because of the Kennedy name. When Ted complains to his brother that one of the new policies JFK is enacting is hurting his constituents back home, the president replies, “Tough sh!t”.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My only complaint is, like Kennedy’s presidency itself, the book ends too abruptly.  As soon as Kennedy leaves for Dallas, the book basically stops.  I mean, we all know that Dallas was the end of Kennedy’s presidency, but I would have liked to have read a bit more.  Maybe the author could have offered his opinions of the LBJ administration and discussed how he felt things could have been different? Of course, it would have all been speculation, but it would have been a rather nice addendum.

My favorite historical accounts of famous people are ones that show an evenly balanced person – good and bad.  Unlike the Ted Sorensen book (the guy was so loyal, I’m convinced he would drink Kennedy’s bathwater if asked), this one is just that.  This book is now over 20 years old, but reads as though it was written yesterday. I doubt you could probably find this book at a bookstore due to its age, but it’s worth ordering online (as I did).    I’m very glad I accidentally stumbled upon this one.