Summary Of The Week The World Stood Still By Sheldon Stern

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Sheldon M. Stern’s book The Week the World Stood Still gave eye opening information into the secrets of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the ‘inner sanctum of the Kennedy administration during the Cuban Missile Crisis, arguing convincingly that Kennedy acted with great caution during one of the great showdowns of the cold war.’ Sheldon strongly believed that JFK had made the correct decisions while he was in the risky situation including Cuba and their missiles. Writing the book was easy for Sheldon, as he was a historian at the John F. Kennedy library. He had access to the recordings that Kennedy had taken many years ago. He was able to access everything Kennedy had done in his presidency. Being a fan of the Kennedy administration, he wanted …show more content…

Kennedy was so well composed in front of the people that needed him most, that his citizens were hardly worried. I also have come to agree with Stern on the fact that it is actually a very good thing that JFK put the recorders in the oval office. Years later, we are thankful for them because we got a chance to relive history and see it through the eyes of the man heading it all. Stern wrote a very good book because even though he showed mostly JFK’s successes, he also allowed the reader to see the parts of JFK that weren’t as golden as his reputation. JFK was open to people and their suggestions but most of the time, he was not good at hiding his skepticism and, often when he felt something was stupid he would let the person know his beliefs. ‘JFK nonetheless asked yet again, “What impression do they get over there in the Kremlin, that we let this one go?”’ Stern knew that Kennedy was not always the picture perfect president. He felt that it was important for people to be able to see all sides of the president that he had come to love. Both the good and bad sides of JFK made him a president that was able to pull our country through the Cuban missile crisis. For Sheldon to include this in his book, made it much more convincing and therefore improving the quality of the