1917-1963

A behind-the-scenes account of the five tragic days surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by former secret service agent Clint Hill, who served as body-guard to Jackie Kennedy.

On the anniversary of President John Kennedy's assassination,celebrated political scientist and analyst Larry J. Sabato--himself a teenager in the early 1960s and inspired by JFK and his presidency--explores the fascinating and powerful influence Kennedy has had over five decades on the media, the general public, and especially on each of his nine presidential successors. A recent Gallup poll gave JFK the highest job approval rating of any of those successors, and millions remain captivated by his one thousand days in the White House. For all of them, and for those who feel he would not be judged so highly if he hadn't died tragically in office, The Kennedy Half-Century will be particularly revealing. Sabato reexamines JFK's assassination using heretofore unseen information to which he has had unique access, then documents the extraordinary effect the assassination has had on Americans of every modern generation through the most extensive survey ever undertaken on the public's view of a historical figure.

JFK's final year in office was spent in a struggle for a sustainable peace with the Soviet Union. President Kennedy and his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, came close to Nuclear War during the Cuban Missile Crisis. They both emerged with the determination to forge a less threatening direction for the world. Together they would chart a path for future peacemakers to follow. The first of those measures was reached in the summer of 1963--the partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

January 1953 marked the year that Ted Sorensen and the freshman senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, began their professional relationship and personal friendship. The young lawyer from Nebraska worked closely with JFK on his most important speeches, as well as his book, Profiles in Courage. Sorensen followed him to the White House in 1960 and was there for some of the most crucial days in JFK's presidency. After Kennedy's assassination, Sorensen stayed with President Johnson for a few months before leaving to write a biography of JFK but he returned to Washington in 1968 to help run Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign.

A second revised edition of what is claimed to be the most balanced book on John F. Kennedy's White House years. Newly accessible archival material and declassifed documents show how domestic and foreign policies were interconnected at a time when the Cold War dominated national life.

For the first time a member of John F. Kennedy's Secret Service Detail reveals the inside story of the president's assassination, the weeks and days that led to it, and the aftermath.

This book describes the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, and explains that despite the decades of study there is still no agreement as to whether or not Oswald really killed JFK, if he acted alone, or whether he was involved in a conspiracy.

Contains an in-depth look at the Kennedy family during John F. Kennedy's presidency, focusing especially on his wife and children, and explores the impact of photography and the media on Kennedy's public image and persona.