An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963

An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek

Surprisingly, biographies of John F. Kennedy seem rare and hard to find. There are a lot of books out there strictly about his presidency, even more about the Kennedy family and legacy, and there’s probably enough books on Kennedy’s assassination to fill a warehouse (pun not intended), but there doesn’t seem to be many actual biographies of his entire life.  Being a modern reader, my search usually goes no further than Amazon, and if a book is out-of-print or significantly old, I tend to pass.  It’s also  more appealing to me if a volume is available in electronic format. Something about reading a 900-page book on an e-tablet is much less intimidating than heaving around a 10-lb hardback book.

This book was a welcome find and a highly satisfying read. The author balances the life of his subject matter adequately. The bulk of the volume deals with his (approximate) 1,000-day tenure as president with a fair amount dealing with his life up until he’s elected Commander in Chief. We read a lot about his upbringing and famous family, yet there’s very little in this book about Jackie and his own children. One gets the impression that Camelot was less than ideal on the actual home front. Sure, Jackie was the most glamorous First Lady in history, yet one concludes that their marriage was less than ideal.  I’m sure it doesn’t help when the husband behaves like a tomcat with a testosterone problem. It’s well documented that Kennedy couldn’t keep his hands off the multitude of attractive women that he regularly met during his life. Fortunately, these incidents are not discussed in length either. Author Robert Dallek does firmly admit that Kennedy had a problem in this area, and we read snippets throughout, but the book doesn’t get burdened with the sordid details as it could have easily done.

When we read of Kennedy’s aristocratic spoiled upbringing, it’s very easy to dislike the man right away. It’s also much easier to outright hate his snob of a father, Joe Kennedy.  A wealthy man obsessed with power, it’s clear to see that Joe’s priorities are not in alignment with what makes a happy, stable family. Joe Kennedy couldn’t give a rip about happiness. He’s all about power and raises his children with a fierce competitive spirit. He indirectly makes it known to his children that being second-best at anything is never acceptable.  When eldest son Joe Jr. is killed in World War II, his father is much more upset that his political plans for the future have been upturned than the fact that he’s actually lost a son forever.  When sister Rosemary clearly displays a learning disability and becomes more unstable as she grows into adulthood, Joe chooses to lobotomize his ‘embarrassment’ of a child and she’s sent off to an institution to wilt away far from the eyes of the curious public.

With Joe Jr. now gone, Joe Sr. expects second son John (‘Jack’) to fill in his brother’s shoes and fulfill daddy’s rapacious quest to climb the ladder of politics as high, and as quickly as possible. Jack serves one term as a congressman in the House of Representatives, quickly gets elected Senator four years later, and is elected to President in 1960 at the unheard-of age of only 42.  Throughout these campaigns, we clearly see that Jack could have never made it without Daddy’s money nor influence.  This is a game to Joe Sr. and Joe Sr. doesn’t play games to have fun.  Of course, it’s also incredibly helpful to Jack that he’s charming, good looking and comes from a famous family.  Yes, Kennedy’s quick ascension is mostly due to style and not substance.

Fortunately, JFK is a quick learner and is quite an expert in foreign affairs for such a young man.  Although wealthy, his papa always expected Jack to always be learning, and Jack is someone who CAN handle a job such as President of the U.S.  We do read, though, that his first year as president is quite rough. Being a fastidious learner, though, allows Kennedy to quickly learn from his mistakes, and by the end of 1962, he has a much firmer grip on the world around him and what must be done.

It also helps that Kennedy understands the political game. Every decision he makes requires him to think beyond the morality of the decision. He has to be mindful of what Congress thinks, what the fickle public will think, and most importantly, if his decisions will help or harm him when he runs for reelection in 1964.  Hindsight views such assessments as shallow. Consider the Civil Rights issues and the plight of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to bring justice to the African-American population across the nation, particularly in the Jim Crow South.  

Kennedy knows he should do more for African-Americans and is rightly judged with malice by black leaders for not doing enough, but Kennedy knows he must tread carefully.  If he alienates his white-southern base, he won’t be reelected in 1964. If he’s not reelected, he won’t be able to do anything for Civil Rights. As harsh as this sounds, history shows that, sadly, JFK was right when he chose to balance on the precipice. One only look at the presidency of Jimmy Carter to see that neglecting to play the ‘political’ game will put you out of favor quickly in Washington, and you can kiss your chances of re-election goodbye. One can’t serve their constituents if they have no constituents.

All the major elements of Kennedy’s presidency are discussed in this biography.  In addition to Civil Rights, there’s Vietnam, the Vienna Summit with Khrushchev, Berlin, and lots and lots of Cuba.  The major events get plenty of page space within this book, and this is a good thing.  When domestic issues are brought to the forefront such as inflation, the gold standard, battles with the U.S. Steel moguls, and unemployment, it’s very easy to yawn and scan the pages. Fortunately, author Dallek realizes this and doesn’t devote as much attention to these issues as he does ‘the good stuff’.

The one area in this book that I thought Dallek could have improved on, was the issue of Kennedy’s perpetual illnesses. Kennedy was a very sick man with a host of maladies in his younger days, and we read about them ad nauseum. At times, I felt like I was reading a medical journal. For some reason, the author tends to go into too much detail around Kennedy’s symptoms, treatments, recoveries, and invasive medical procedures. At times it was quite gross. True, Kennedy was very ill, but I felt the author could have communicated this point to his readers without all the deep detail.

Perhaps the thing I enjoyed the most about this book is that author Robert Dallek handles his subject matter with no bias; neither good nor bad.  Like many people, he doesn’t fawn nor drool over Kennedy’s ‘legacy’ (this was a big problem with the Ted Sorenson account of JFK’s presidency. Sorenson’s devotion was quite sickening. I felt Sorenson would have drank Kennedy’s bath water had he been asked).  In fact, the epilogue of this book (2013 edition), the author attains that Kennedy probably shouldn’t be awarded the accolades that are commonly attributed to him.  His conclusion is that Kennedy was a president who bordered somewhere between “very good” and “great”, yet he‘s a far cry from being one of the ‘best presidents ever’ which is how many opinion polls tend to rate him.  Dallek’s conclusion is that when a young, charming, good looking president gets gunned downed by an assassin’s bullet, the public can tend to let their emotions dictate a biased evaluation of the subject matter.

This is exactly the conclusion I arrived at before I read Dallek’s epilogue.   Kennedy truly rose to the presidency because of his looks, his money, and his family, yet he was very smart, and learned quickly on the job.   Image is important for a politician. Whether or not it should be, history shows us time and time again that it is. Kennedy used his for his advantage, and in most cases, made the U.S. and the world a better place.