Rising Star, Setting Sun

by John T. Shaw

After winning the presidency by a razor-thin victory on November 8, 1960, over Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s former vice president, John F. Kennedy became the thirty-fifth president of the United States. But beneath the stately veneers of both Ike and JFK, there was a complex and consequential rivalry.


In Rising Star, Setting Sun, John T. Shaw focuses on the intense ten-week transition between JFK’s electoral victory and his inauguration on January 20, 1961. In just over two months, America would transition into a new age, and nowhere was it more marked that in the generational and personal difference between these two men and their dueling visions for the country they led. The former general espoused frugality, prudence, and stewardship. The young political wunderkid embodied dramatic themes and sweeping social change.


Extensively researched and eloquently written, Shaw paints a vivid picture of what Time called a “turning point in the twentieth century” as Americans today find themselves poised on the cusp of another watershed moment in our nation’s history.

Genres: Presidents, Nonfiction, History, Politics

336 pages, Paperback

Published September 10, 2019

Reviews

[Leslie Kimmelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating study of the transition between two iconic presidencies. Though filled with interesting detail, it never bogs down, and the writing itself is a pleasure: thoughtful, fluid, and balanced. Like everything else today, the story has real resonance--two candidates who, after a hard-fought campaign, put their differences aside and set the bar for a graceful and peaceful transfer of power.

[Rory · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you know absolutely nothing about John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower, this is a fine introduction to these national monuments. Otherwise, it's a mostly tiresome retread of what's already known and studied that takes its sweet time to get to its reason for being published, thinly disguising that there isn't a whole lot of that featured information, hence the biographical stuffing. Yet when finally reaching the transition chapters, the wait for them can almost be forgiven as they're all enormously valuable, in part of the subject that's not readily thought about and, after reading John T. Shaw's detailed, clearly fascinated efforts, should be.

[Steve B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe that most would agree that Theodore White's, 'The Making of the President: 1960' is the gold standard of the 1960 presidential campaign and transition of power from Eisenhower to JFK. Shaw's book details the transition from Eisenhower administration to a Kennedy administration extremely well. The relationship between the principals on both sides and the issues they faced are well documented. The only downside is that the transition is only the last one half of the book. The first half is a rather brief and general depiction of Eisenhower and Kennedy and a brief summary of the 1960 campaign. White's book is still the gold standard.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly, a book written in 2018 that does not strongly sway towards a specific political narrative.

[Chauncey Seeger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is very well-researched, but the pacing feels a bit off. Reads like a report. I preferred The General versus The President.

[Erik Ryberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting if you want to know what is occurring during the transition between presidencies at a microlevel. Rather lacking in relevance for understanding the importance of the changes connected to these presidents though.

[Gerry Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Shaw has written an intriguing account of the Eisenhower-Kennedy transition in Rising Star, Setting Sun. Perhaps the most cooperative transition in the nation’s history it was, nonetheless, fraught. Ike and JFK represented the oldest and youngest presidents and approached each other warily. JFK had campaigned against the stagnation of the Eisenhower years and the old general resented it. The ten weeks between election and inauguration tested each.

[Marjorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pawac read author here in January