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Prelude to Leadership: The Post-War Diary, Summer 1945
Prelude to Leadership is the private diary of John F. Kennedy when he was a 28-year-old reporter in Europe. It offers a short yet intimate look into the mind of the man who was to become the 35th President of the United States.
210 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
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About the author
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
367 books433 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress prior to his presidency.
Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940, joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded PT boats in the Pacific theater. Kennedy's survival following the sinking of PT-109 and his rescue of his fellow sailors made him a war hero and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, but left him with serious injuries. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working-class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, serving as the junior senator for Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book, Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy ran in the 1960 presidential election. His campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president.
Kennedy's presidency saw high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam, and the Strategic Hamlet Program began during his presidency. In 1961, he authorized attempts to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Mongoose. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba. The resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in nuclear war. In August 1961, after East German troops erected the Berlin Wall, Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and delivered one of his most famous speeches in West Berlin in June 1963. In 1963, Kennedy signed the first nuclear weapons treaty. He presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970. He supported the civil rights movement but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. His vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The FBI and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone, but conspiracy theories about the assassination persist. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revenue Act of 1964. Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs. Kennedy is the most recent U.S. president to have died in office.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress prior to his presidency.
Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940, joining the U.S. Naval Reserve the following year. During World War II, he commanded PT boats in the Pacific theater. Kennedy's survival following the sinking of PT-109 and his rescue of his fellow sailors made him a war hero and earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, but left him with serious injuries. After a brief stint in journalism, Kennedy represented a working-class Boston district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953. He was subsequently elected to the U.S. Senate, serving as the junior senator for Massachusetts from 1953 to 1960. While in the Senate, Kennedy published his book, Profiles in Courage, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy ran in the 1960 presidential election. His campaign gained momentum after the first televised presidential debates in American history, and he was elected president, narrowly defeating Republican opponent Richard Nixon, the incumbent vice president.
Kennedy's presidency saw high tensions with communist states in the Cold War. He increased the number of American military advisers in South Vietnam, and the Strategic Hamlet Program began during his presidency. In 1961, he authorized attempts to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Mongoose. In October 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases had been deployed in Cuba. The resulting period of tensions, termed the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly resulted in nuclear war. In August 1961, after East German troops erected the Berlin Wall, Kennedy sent an army convoy to reassure West Berliners of U.S. support, and delivered one of his most famous speeches in West Berlin in June 1963. In 1963, Kennedy signed the first nuclear weapons treaty. He presided over the establishment of the Peace Corps, Alliance for Progress with Latin America, and the continuation of the Apollo program with the goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970. He supported the civil rights movement but was only somewhat successful in passing his New Frontier domestic policies.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. His vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the presidency. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later. The FBI and the Warren Commission both concluded Oswald had acted alone, but conspiracy theories about the assassination persist. After Kennedy's death, Congress enacted many of his proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Revenue Act of 1964. Kennedy ranks highly in polls of U.S. presidents with historians and the general public. His personal life has been the focus of considerable sustained interest following public revelations in the 1970s of his chronic health ailments and extramarital affairs. Kennedy is the most recent U.S. president to have died in office.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 16, 2019
EXCEPTIONAL BOOK. LOVED LOVED LOVED IT!!! Just when you thought you knew how great JFK was, along comes a book (his diary) that shows you he was so much greater and smarter than ANYONE could ever have imagined... It also showed me the greatest thing about JFK when it came to politics, he was absolutely truthful and honest about the facts whether you wanted to hear them or not. It has raised my respect, admiration and absolutely in AWE of this AMAZING MAN and the ONLY REAL PRESIDENT this country has EVER HAD ...
May 22, 2017
Prelude to Leadership is the private diary of John F. Kennedy when he was a 28-year-old reporter in Europe. It offers a short yet intimate look into the mind of the man who was to become the 35th President of the United States.
As World War II was ending and the Cold War was just beginning, a young naval hero decommissioned before war's end because of his crippling injuries, traveled through a devastated Europe. During the trip, John F. Kennedy kept a diary, never before published. As the diary makes clear, that European trip was a turning point in the future President's life. It was on this trip that Kennedy first confronted the "long twilight struggle" for the preservation of Western freedom that would define his Presidency. In these few months, an agenda for a Presidency began to be forged, and the closing pages of the diary make clear that it was at this moment in time that Kennedy began laying plans for his first run for Congress, the first step in his journey to the White House.
One of the most interesting elements of this read was JFK's views of the Russians and their behavior toward the German people and the allied countries that helped to defeat Nazi Germany. In short, the Russians haven't changed their behavior or ideology since the end of World War II. A fascinating look at post-war Europe and the experiences that helped form a young John Kennedy's political views and prepare him for his political life and the presidency.
As World War II was ending and the Cold War was just beginning, a young naval hero decommissioned before war's end because of his crippling injuries, traveled through a devastated Europe. During the trip, John F. Kennedy kept a diary, never before published. As the diary makes clear, that European trip was a turning point in the future President's life. It was on this trip that Kennedy first confronted the "long twilight struggle" for the preservation of Western freedom that would define his Presidency. In these few months, an agenda for a Presidency began to be forged, and the closing pages of the diary make clear that it was at this moment in time that Kennedy began laying plans for his first run for Congress, the first step in his journey to the White House.
One of the most interesting elements of this read was JFK's views of the Russians and their behavior toward the German people and the allied countries that helped to defeat Nazi Germany. In short, the Russians haven't changed their behavior or ideology since the end of World War II. A fascinating look at post-war Europe and the experiences that helped form a young John Kennedy's political views and prepare him for his political life and the presidency.
October 26, 2017
A fantastic insight into the mind and thoughts of JFK during his travels around Europe after the Second World War.
All too brief a read but fascinating nonetheless!
All too brief a read but fascinating nonetheless!
October 21, 2022
Brilliant.
November 2, 2016
Informative, cool insights
January 30, 2012
This is the quick, unabridged, and insightful diary of "Jack" F. Kennedy during the obscure years between his emergence as a Pacific War hero from a wealthy, connected family to the struggle in the years before his presidency. Surprisingly, these are the only known writings of Kennedy during this period of his life, and the journal consists of the writings, thoughts, and notes he took of war-devastated Europe on his European tour in 1945 with Ambassador Forrestal, a family friend. Ever-curious, with a wry humor and a knowledge of European politics inspired by his role-model, Winston Churchill, travel with the legendary JFK as he jots down observations and events on the state of torn Berlin, the Potsdam conference, and Hitler's "Eagle Nest." For the effects of this tour on his famous presidency, learn of his critical relationships with important figures such as Eisenhower and De Valera, prime minister of neutral, republican Ireland, and countless more.
Prelude to Leadership will reveal the true politics and relationships between Russia and the U.S. in the tense build-up to the Cold War from a privileged young journalist's point of view. Before this book, I had never thought past WWII and the beginning of the Cold War; however, Kennedy's journal aptly describes war-torn Europe. I recommend this to anyone even slightly interested in world politics and history!
Prelude to Leadership will reveal the true politics and relationships between Russia and the U.S. in the tense build-up to the Cold War from a privileged young journalist's point of view. Before this book, I had never thought past WWII and the beginning of the Cold War; however, Kennedy's journal aptly describes war-torn Europe. I recommend this to anyone even slightly interested in world politics and history!
February 6, 2014
I loved seeing the thought process of the young man as he traveled through war torn Europe at the end of World War 2. This is a wonderful addition to my knowledge of JFK.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews