“Debating the Kennedy Presidency,” is written by two authors, James N. Giglio and Stephen G. Rabe, who discuss John F. Kennedy’s presidency, “…both eminent scholars who have studied Kennedy’s administration and have come up with two very different evaluations. The result adds an interesting new dimension to the debate over the Kennedy presidency…” –Burton I. Kaufman. John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts on May 29, 1917. He joined the military, served both the U.S. House of Representative and U.S. Senate, and later the 35th president of the United States. Kennedy gained those political positions with the help of his war hero status and family wealth. He was the first Catholic and youngest president, behind Theodore Roosevelt. The two authors discuss the issues Kennedy faced during his short time in office: Cuban missile crisis, Cold War, foreign affairs, and domestic policy.
The book starts off with Stephen Rabe’s view on Kennedy’s foreign affairs. Rabe focuses on how Kennedy dealt with the Berlin Wall, Cuba, Russia, and the Vietnam War. Rabe starts off by praising the success of Kennedy, “He faced down communist aggression in Berlin and Cuba. He made the world a safer place, negotiating a nuclear-test-ban treat with the Soviet Union. He championed nationalism… and he reached out to the world’s poor and needy with problems like the Alliance for Progress, the Peace Corps, and Food
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The reader can infer from the reading how the decisions made during the Kennedy administration shaped the last few decades in the United States, Cuba, Russia, and Vietnam. The book goes into great detail and shares different perspectives, whether it may be the position Nikita Khrushchev or Fidel Castro was in. All in all, it was not a bad read. Would I read it again? Probably not. I could find more interesting readings on John F. Kennedy