The Presidency of John F. Kennedy

by James N. Giglio

The author argues that John F. Kennedy's tragic death coloured views of his life, creating a national blind spot that has hindered fair assessment of his administration.

Genres: History

360 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 1991

Reviews

[Aaron Million · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the American Presidency Series from the University Press of Kansas, this entry on John F. Kennedy is quite good. James Giglio manages to adequately cover most facets of Kennedy's presidency without skimping on important context or details. That is admittedly tough to do given that this series tends to limit the length of each entry so as to make the books more digestible to most readers. Giglio is helped of course by Kennedy's presidency being tragically shortened.

The first chapter is not about Kennedy's presidency at all, but rather about his summarizing his life up to the point of his election in 1960. His father, Joseph P., looms over this chapter as he was the driving force behind not only the campaign but the pushing and prodding of Kennedy into Congress and then the Senate and finally as presidential nominee. Giglio also covers Kennedy's meritorious service in the Pacific theater of WWII and his near-brush with death. Kennedy, being in a position of wealth and privilege, and with multiple physical ailments that should have disqualified him from serving in combat, eagerly sought to serve, and not just at a desk job but in active combat. Honestly it is pretty difficult to think that someone in a similar position today would do the same thing.

One of the few areas where I thought that Giglio breezed through the topic too quickly was the 1960 election. The debates were critical to Kennedy's narrow victory over Vice President Richard Nixon, especially the first debate. But Giglio dispatches with that rather quickly. He also did not spend much time on the 1960 Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. But, the focus here is supposed to be on his presidency, so I get it.

Giglio thoroughly examines Kennedy's construction of his Cabinet, his subsequent misuse of it, and the workflow that he set up in the National Security Council. I am one of those presidential history nerds who enjoys reading about how presidents choose their Cabinets. They have to balance a lot of things: political favors, influence, debts owed, promises made, ideological differences, geographic representation, and - one would hope - integrity and the competence to do the job well. I think Kennedy's presidency represented the time when the amount of Cabinet meetings and the importance of the Cabinet as a whole in regards to debating an issue and providing advice to the president, began to decline. Kennedy preferred working in smaller groups, not having many Cabinet meetings, and showing little interest in certain departments. He utilized the NSC much more, sometimes to his detriment such as the Bay of Pigs mess shortly after he became President.

Giglio then goes topically through most of Kennedy's presidency, although he more or less keeps the chronology moving forward. He correctly skewers Kennedy's abysmal handling of the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Kennedy did not ask enough questions, relied too heavily on his gung-ho military advisers, was misled by the CIA, and didn't consult his Cabinet over the action. The result was a mess, which Kennedy rightly took the blame for.

There are also chapters on Civil Rights, the New Frontier, Kennedy's dealing with the third world, and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Giglio is most critical of Kennedy on Civil Rights, as he was slow to get engaged and seemed uninterested in what was going on until the issue was forced upon him. Once Kennedy recognized the vehement racism and, in some cases barbarism, being perpetrated against blacks in the South, he quickly pivoted and began to use the power of his office to speak out for Civil Rights, and to back it up with force when needed. You get a real sense of Kennedy growing in the office, and growing more comfortable in the office, in this chapter.

The Cuban Missile crisis is covered well. Despite only devoting one chapter to an event that was arguably the most critical one in the entire Cold War, one with books written about just that event, Giglio's treatment of it did not feel rushed or slapdash. Kennedy's maturity and confidence in his own authority is evident here as he refused to be bullied by hawks such General Maxwell Taylor or Dean Acheson into openly destroying the Soviet missiles that had been installed in Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy was by far Kennedy's closest adviser throughout his presidency, and it showed here as well. Whether someone is ultimately a fan of Kennedy or not, I think you would have to admit that he did a superb job of managing an unimaginably difficult and tense situation. While Kennedy's coolness and detachment can justifiably come in for criticism in other aspects of his life and presidency, those qualities may very well have greatly contributed to the avoidance of a nuclear war.

Giglio's final two chapters are also good: one being on Kennedy's private life in the White House, and the other discussing the fallout from his assassination and the conspiracy theories that quickly developed after it. Giglio is critical of Kennedy for hiding his myriad medical problems from the American people. Giglio runs through just some of the daily medications that Kennedy took to manage his many issues, and it almost makes one nauseous just to think of swallowing so many different pills and getting injections so frequently. I don't think it is a stretch to say that there are people alive and well in their 90s who are in better physical condition than Kennedy was in his 40s. It is sort of difficult to find something that was not wrong with his body.

Giglio does not talk in detail about the assassination itself, but rather about the fallout from it. He goes into the various conspiracy theories that have popped up over the years, discusses the Warren Commission's report, and examines some of the inconsistencies that still exist between the official report and what many eyewitnesses reported seeing and hearing in Dallas. Ultimately, Giglio accepts that the Warren Commission, though hampered in its work by politics and egos and face-saving, managed to get it right. Whether the Warren Commission was correct or not is up to individual interpretation.

One thing that I did not like about this book is that Giglio wrote his chapters in one long narrative, with no breaks when the subject matter changed. Sometimes this was more glaring that others, especially during the third world chapter when he talks about various countries all over the globe. I also found that Giglio repeatedly criticized Dwight Eisenhower, usually by saying "Unlike Eisenhower, Kennedy..." and he then proceeded to praise something that Kennedy did. Overall I enjoyed this book and thought that it was a fair treatment of both Kennedy and his presidency. Until the last two sentences, when Giglio makes his personal view of Kennedy clear.

Grade: B+

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written survey of the presidency of JFK. The author begins with a short biography and the nomination and campaign of 1960. The book then talks about some of the main characters who formed his administration. Chapters are then devoted to the main issues that dominated his time in office. The Cuban Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Berlin crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, and the handling of emerging nationalistic governments in the third world.
The author details his domestic programs and how he tried to accomplish them in the face of conservative resistance from both parties. His confrontation with the steel companies over a price hike, his emerging awareness of civil rights, and the space program are all described.
The book also traces his personal side with information on his sexual infidelities, his vendetta against Castro, and his health issues.
All in all, I felt this was a good description of the early sixties and the forces that shaped Kennedy's thinking and actions.

[Erik Ryberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the Kennedy presidency with the highlights of foreign and domestic policies. If a book is needed to have strong knowledge this is an excellent choice by a historian. Accessible to the layman.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most readable Kennedy book I read for a history course on Kennedy. Just enough detail, but the writing flowed. Would recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about Kennedy's presidency.

[Reko Wenell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book covers the Kennedy presidency in just the correct depth and breadth to give a detailed overview without ever getting lost in the reeds. Not the most enjoyable read perhaps, but it really delivers in the promise of being about the presidency of John F. Kennedy, not the man himself nor the campaign to get there.

How was Kennedy then? He was an inspirational figure for sure and his speeches still capture one’s imagination as anyone who has read/listened to them can attest. But the result of a calculated effort since his youth. After his elder brother died, it became Kennedy’s job to run for office and fulfill his father’s desire to see his son become a president. His war heroism was purposefully reported and hightened to this end, he published ghostwritten books, and his father very innocently gave loans to newspapers after they covering Kennedy favourably. Kennedy was simultaneously a bit of a scoundrel and a serious man about foreign policy. He didn’t care that much for domestic issue but surrounded himself with experts (Kennedy was big into using academic and expert opinion on decision making) and was prepared to be persuaded by good arguments. He took leadership seriously and was ready to be accountable after making mistakes but he disliked institutional decision making. He began his term with the Bay of Pigs fiasco, but learned the lessons from it and implemented good decision making and advisory strategies successfully during the Cuban Missile Crisis. His new frontier men were serious people, dedicated to rational decision making and good governance yet unambitious and narrowviewed in the sense that they imaged themselves unideological, rational thinkers. Kennedy did not achieve many great legislative victories yet he did get a decent amount of legislation through Congress and a second-term might have let him pass Medicare, Medicaid and Civil Rights. He was unenthusiastic about Civil Rights, yet the protest moment managed to push him towards a better stance on the issue.

All in all, I concur with Giglio in his assessment that Kennedy was a decent president: not a great one but not terrible either. The Cuban Crisis is the most important feather in his cap yet he bears responsiblity for bringing it about in the first place.

[Phillip Howerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Balanced and honest as possible, and avoids the tiresome hagiography and the loathsome spinning of the past. Refreshing.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it was shorter than most, that did not prevent the Kennedy presidency from being eventful, even without including the tragic end. The closest the world ever came to thermonuclear war was during the Cuban missile crisis, which is still a model for the management of a crisis between great powers. And the greatest public failure of a CIA sponsored action was the disastrous invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
While necessarily short, the description of the Cuban missile crisis was still amazing to read, as the hawkish position of the U. S. military commanders was clearly a harbinger of the same policy of ratcheting up the force that failed so badly in Vietnam. Some, although not all, of the commanders were for massive force, thinking that it would so intimidate the Cubans that it would be all over quickly. This event is one of the strongest arguments in favor of political control over the military and Kennedy showed himself to be strong-willed in doing all he could to find a political solution that allowed the Soviets a face-saving way to retreat.
Given all that has happened since then, it is amazing to be reminded that in the early years of the Kennedy administration the country in Southeast Asia that was considered most likely to fall under communist control was Laos. Here again, Kennedy showed himself willing to do whatever it took to find a political settlement. He was most reluctant to commit American combat forces in Southeast Asia, considering it dangerous and fraught will all kinds of unknown consequences.
This backdrop brings up the natural question as to whether Kennedy would have followed the path in Vietnam that Lyndon Johnson did. Giglio avoids spending a great deal of time on that continuous point of contention. However, he does bring up several very important points.

1) The disaster at the Bay of Pigs made him very skeptical of CIA and military “rosy scenarios.”
2) His dealing with hawkish elements during the Cuban missile crisis made him skeptical of military statements about the effect of overwhelming military power. It also showed that he was willing to restrict the military in its’ desire to blow things up.
3) Kennedy would most certainly have been re-elected in 1964 and as a President who would not face another election, he could have made unpopular, but correct decisions.
4) Kennedy and Khrushchev were beginning the process that was later known as détente, and that could have led to more of a political settlement in Vietnam along the model that was a modest success in Laos.

Together, these elements make one believe that Kennedy would not have made the same mistakes that Johnson did in Vietnam.
Kennedy’s record on civil rights is far more mixed and it is clear that brother Bobby, who was also Attorney General, did a great deal to push John towards more involvement. Once more, John Kennedy was politically cautious in trying to avoid alienating southern Democrats. And yet, he did press the issue, showing that he did understand how important it was. Giglio rightly takes Kennedy to task on this battle that needed to be fought.
Finally, the descriptions of Kennedy’s health problems and sexual exploits remind us of an earlier day when the press did have some standards in pressing into a public official’s private life. Kennedy was a very sick man who took drugs to cope, and there is some reason to believe that he would have been an invalid by the time he completed his second term. The much celebrated sexual escapades of Bill Clinton are trivial in comparison, as Kennedy seemingly would sleep with any woman willing to do so. As ironic as it sounds so many years later, most people felt that the greatest danger to his person was a consequence of his sexual adventures, where he often had sex with women where the only screening done was the verification that they were female.
The Kennedy presidency was successful in many ways, most notably in foreign affairs, as he managed to reach political accords that were reasonable and certainly better than all possible alternatives. He was a strange combination of strong will and weak flesh, both in the literal and figurative sense. Giglio captures all of this, describing a man and an era named after him that was the precursor of the turbulence of the late sixties, where the world seemed to be tearing itself apart.

This review also appears on Amazon

[Shane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I may be prejudiced against this book because I was forced to read it in Giglio's (note: the author's) History class.