Government and the opposition party. We are going to take questions in five minutes but i have one or 2 more things to ask. The only points in your book i stumbled at all were the same two that David Kennedy mentions in his glowing wonderful review in this weeks New York Times book review. Those are the mccarthy period, question of authorship of profiles encourage. Sy i might be wrong in thinking jfk is more of a harder, trying its hardest to make a difficult call on that. Why we shouldnt think he may have written some notes for profiles encourage, but he didnt like the book page for page. Reporter the first part of this is not something i should be admitting before a live audience. When you read this more than in draft, i said i need to tweak this and address this and the people at random house, i have such a wonderful publisher. We can do this. In response, i havent could only do a few words or change a few sentences. I do think before your intervention i suggested he was overly, had something to do with close ties to mccarthy, but bobby, havent talked about bobby who was close to mccarthy and would remain close, flew to wisconsin for mccarthys funeral and partly about massachusetts politics. Irish catholics constitute a large part of the electorate. Interesting comparison. Right through to the end through the century in 54 of joe mccarthy, Public Opinion survey showed the support of roughly 40 of the electorate. Interesting how the Senate Begins to move, a lot of americans stay with him to the end. Jack kennedy would have spared himself a lot of grief if he had instructed sorenson he was in the hospital for legitimate reasons. Those authors who say he went to the hospital to dodge mccarthy, that is not true. Ray procedure called pairing, he could have instructed sorenson to vote as he should have done. Here is another quick little thing. And 56 at the aforementioned Democrat National convention. He had a meeting with eleanor roosevelt. I am paraphrasing, why didnt you come out against mccarthy . Maybe you have an explanation. I dont write about this in the book, maybe i have he raced it but why would he not in the summer of 56 when attacking joe mccarthy, the guys suspense force is gone why would jack kennedy not say to mrs. Roosevelt you know what . I dont think he ever like to mccarthy in personal terms but political terms, even then he didnt want to criticize mccarthy and cant quite figure that else. I can only imagine he was loyal to his family, that didnt mean enough to him, what his appeasement did to reject his fathers that way. My parents were a little younger than jfk and mccarthy was the litmus test for them as liberal democrats, whether a politician could be trusted, whether they could respect a politician and they ended up largely because stevenson was more outspoken. When it came to 1960 they celebrated kennedys election, he was not a man. A decisive effects not so much on the politics of that time but how democrats im. One other thing. It is worth noting the Democratic Party as a whole, like hubert humphrey, for a long time unwilling to criticize mccarthy, pretty far into 54 to see broad parts of the party go after him in a serious way. Kennedy is not alone. Senior senator from massachusetts, republican, just as cautious if not more so than jack kennedy, hes not alone, sector vote is the problem. And profiles of courage, i hear you, we do a little bit. The evidence is pretty powerful that the brought architecture of the book, the themes of the book, that has salience in our own day, the part about the need for evidencebased discourse, bargaining in good faith, and ultimately for compromise. Those arguments, those themes are Jack Kennedys. Ted sorensen is too young, 25 or 26, hes not going to be able to articulate those things. The introduction on the conclusion, the most interesting part of the book, those are more than kennedys notes. Had he not won the pulitzer this never would have been the number one question. Should have responded is a fair question. One of the proudest moments, is it reasonable to expect him to turn it down . I dont know. I dont know what that would have meant to aspiring politicians. No question the middle chapters were drafted by others, not just sorenson but professors who helped them. This is more Jack Kennedys book then perhaps you are allowing. Before we go to questions i dont want to end on that minor disagreement. I want our audience to know the we havent talked about the way the book ends but it is a marvelous account of a convention that hasnt gone down in history as one of the great conventions, the 56 democratic convention, you have seen jack kennedy at his best because he is maneuvering, showing he knows how to play the game but also detached enough to recognize he can take a loss now and it wont be the end of him and it might actually help him when the big turn comes. I will say to folks i have this in one of the ends. You can go on youtube which is where we are now and you can see the concession speech that he gives at that convention and it is done without notes. I think it is a remarkable moment captured, we can all see it on youtube, an amazing glimpse for those interested in this and he has come so close, just minutes before to getting this finished. s father think that a disaster to seek an election. He comes this close. Ted sorensen, the tide has turned, lets go, they go to the podium, gives this it is an amazing moment. And a great ending and makes you eager to get to volume 2 and finish volume 2. Lets get 2 or 3 questions. Some are questions i want to ask. This comes from someone in colombia. How would you define his leadership style and how does it apply to todays world challenge . What more do you have to say about that . It is a leadership file characterized by an absolute insistence on his part that he himself and his aides need to be well informed on the issues. He had very little patience for advisors and others who didnt know their stuff down to the details. It is a leadership style that acting accordingly. This is something i find admirable. He doesnt want yes men and yes women around. He wants people with different views. What have to take and also there is more to be said about this but the final piece of this is he needs to make a decision even though he is openly cautious of issues like civil rights which we can discuss, legislative record of all this fairly meager by the time he is killed, the cuban missile crisis when virtually all of his advisers are counseling a military response. They are aggressive almost to a person. Kennedy is seeking a political solution, shows capacity to look at things from that perspective that is really important, that is an element of his leadership style too. Host this question, why did you end in 56 . Will we get all the late 50s and his entire presidency into volume 2 . I will remember that question. Whoever posed it, i am committed, 7 years of his life in so much happening in 7 years, theres a lot, and extraordinarily varied life that he leaves and so much in the early volume. He is himself a huge figure and several others. The subtext, ive got to deal with the amazing campaigns which begin in 67, the secret of Jack Kennedys success is he starts earlier than the competition and works harder than the competition. Flying around the country, with sorensen speaking before tiny audiences on airport tarmacs for a people and 12 people, ultimately it culminates in 60 and a race against nixon and hasnt gotten to the presidency. I am helped by the fact that this all ends suddenly in 1963 and i dont think my present plan is not to get into the conspiracies, i have to give my theory my view of what happened in dallas but i save some space by keeping that pretty limited. Host you have the same fear for robert caro except hes older than you and in some ways, between 64, and 68, Lyndon Johnsons presidency went to the stars and then crashed back to earth. Guest we all do. Host a viewer asks, to you unwind or append, could you prove wrong and what is hidden deep in the archives, teaching something about younger jfk . Guest part of it is what we have discussed, but i do think this is young jfk. Jackie talked about this after that, interest in the world and was made people tick. The young jfk is more serious and engaged individual. I will also say, abandon this that the illnesses which were real, some of the mill diagnosed, they were acutely debilitating. Let me put it this way. From a very young age, extraordinarily active. He served in the war, runs this bruising campaign, artworks everybody, only sleeps 3 or 4 or 5 hours a night. At deaths door all the time, so ill that he can barely function, shouldnt exaggerate the scope of those illnesses. Thats not where the question was going. He seemed to know europe and pacific from personal experience. In riverdale and harvard and palm beach. And in the vast nation in the united states, is it possible to know his views on our diverse city, the American People in all their diversity at this stage of his life . Great question and pretty limited, maybe his interest to some extent. He did not travel much in the south, even the center, nevermind what is in the house. I write about small number of africanamericans they interacted with. I dont believe he was personally purchased. He wasnt really animated by the experience of africanamericans. That comes later, this is in volume 2, when he runs for president in 1960, he goes to places like West Virginia and other parts of the country he hadnt seen before, the degree to which there are deep income disparities in this country, that he didnt think about before. Lots of evidence contemporaneous evidence that West Virginia in particular made a huge impression. To talk about them, i dont think it was so evident before. Travel around the country for the first time but lots of parts of the city. Dance michael harrington. That is how he was not a populist, you could compare him to fdr, they both suffered debilitating illnesses that made them better people and may be better politicians but somehow maybe because his career coincided with a period of prosperity rather than the Great Depression that wasnt what animated jfk. Glad you raised that because we havent talked about the two of them. That suggests he was never he was never engaged by the fdr phenomenon, never connected with him in ways that a lot of other people did. It extraordinary the way the kennedys were insulated from the Great Depression, rose kennedy said later in life that one of the best tools in her life was the early 1930s, gives you a sense how they didnt experience it. You are quite right that jfk came to a political age after this as a result of the war and afterword. He doesnt see the same things the same way. When the need for Public Service and commitment to democracy and courage feel so great, what leaves you hopeful that todays the emerging generation can rise to make an impact . Guest i am hopeful. It would be helpful the younger generation, my young kids are example about this and others can do this, we need desperately for americans to reengage with civic life. The jack kennedy or even a Young Jack Kennedy helps us to do this. I hope this comes out in those chapters of the book. Im struck by the degree, 3738 undergraduate. The survival of democracy is democracy suited responding by the authoritarian threats. Are there leaders who will graph the metal and accomplish this . That is as an undergraduate, the thesis, that is the heart of the thesis or the bridge under baldwin and chamberlain, seemingly unable to prepare but ultimately a hopeful message that comes back to the question that he decides democracy requires able leadership. More than that it requires citizens who are informed, take an interest in policy issues, hold their leaders accountable and for people themselves to be engaged. It seems the most powerful part of the legacy. From a 20yearold University Student interested in a career, what do you learn from young jfk and his activities and attitudes to self learning and ambition. Two interesting terms apply to kennedy. That is perfect because he commits himself to that. Hard to say exactly when he does, when he comes back after this excursion in 1939, he is in some ways different. That senior year of college, we see that self motivation to succeed and ambition has to be part of this. I do think about to respond to the questions from our 20yearold friends. It is about taking an interest in policy which sounds like you have in Public Service seeing how we make things, hes a junior when he writes this, for democracy to survive, requires these. Should have checked before we came on. That you and others your age should think about it. Democracy is under threat. Worried about the current state of it and it will require all of us, especially your generation to commit yourself to the hard work of all interests, it has worked for this and other countries. And not necessarily centrism, it is an argument for remembering to treat political opponents as adversaries and not enemies, that is something kennedy submitted himself to. The arguments on the other side. That is crucial. We need in the political world where you are rewarded for the instant victory for wiping out your opponent and humiliating them on twitter, what is the point, what does anyone gain from that, going out and talking to people whose experience is different from yours and his views are different from yours and to try to understand them, you dont have to like it or be friends or approve of their views but you need to make that effort to understand what obama said, the most kennedyesque president weve had since kennedy, tried to walk around in somebody elses shoes, then you are better Public Servant and better that is exactly right. Joe biden, at least talked in similar terms, for this suggestion, that ultimately we have to reach out, totally fascinating conversation, in 55 from jfk and his good friend, englishman named david ormsby gore, the kennedy administration, becomes britains ambassador to the united states, friends to the end. Jfk says in this conversation, i dont know if im cut out to be a politician, too often to be uncertain about that on both sides. In our day and age we dont talk in these terms. My analogy for biden is much more lbj because he is a creature of the senate, he is a centrist and if he makes it when history makes a really consequential presence, the moment we are in right now. To talk about his superb sense of humor we havent talked about but it really runs all through this book, to Say Something about that. We have conan obrien, a marvelous essay about jfks sense of humor but obrien says we had two funny president s, Abraham Lincoln and john f. Kennedy and he is right about that. Not to say other president s havent had a sense of humor but it is not been as well developed as we see with these two. It is a kind of selfdeprecating sense of humor which he used to great effect, especially in the white house. He honed this particular skill. You see it to some extent earlier, there was an absurdist quality may be in part this is inborn, people can explain it. These maladies that he had, poking fun at them and not taking himself too seriously made sense, was a winning strategy, people liked it. I cant fully explain where it came from but there is no question it is there and key to understanding. We didnt talk about bobby, the two questionnaires are interested in when did jack sue bobbys political talent, what did jack think of bobbys work for the Mccarthy Committee alongside work own . He certainly saw bobbys words as a political strategist, a Campaign Manager running a campaign, he saw in 52, the campaign was floundering against heavy henry cabot large, not well position and this 26yearold comes on, bobby, like the old man, just gets the thing right on track and it is hard to overstate how important bobby is as a manager, a shrewd and ruthless operative. When he sees bobbys potential was a politician, dont have a good answer for this. He saw, being very devoted the age gap, the trip in 51, is much closer. He deeply admired his brother and father that this guy at some point should run himself for office. Bobbys devolution to mccarthy, his service on mccarthys committee, early tomorrow, very much inclined to let bobby to what he felt he should do, a good career move, his father wanted bobby to have that position, started really more outrageous things and became a problem. By then bobby is no longer in mccarthys employ, very close to joe mccarthy, that is a problem project politically. This is a closeknit family. This is not a family that screams and yells at each other. You dont see any particular anger on that continued loyalty on bobbys part. Lets talk about this enigmatic question, the majority of jfks thoughts are never vocalized or discussed by him. A lot of his thinking remained and revealed, a lot about jfk, his thoughts and ideas ari mystery, and at the start, access to the inner life of a real person, who died 60 years ago. It is a very perceptive question. He keeps a part of himself secret. I think we all do but he does it a little more than some. His mothers son, because very prolific in her letter writing, excellent biographies, some may disagree with me. Even with her letter writing, luminous correspondence, kind of hard to do in this regard. I still believe when we started this is a good place to end. We can get to know jackie kennedy. At various points in this story, volume 1, is quite open and what he says including about himself, letters to his friends and others, the communication between the two of them reveals a lot. It is interesting in volume 2. He would be more guarded. I think he will be more guarded. I already know in letters, plain old letters written by him to others become more scarce. That will be a challenge. The degree to which we felt we could get at the young jfk. When he was alive, who can tell you their firsthand experience, or is that generation pretty much disappeared . It is pretty much gone. There are a few. I have spoken to some of them. Some of the ones i have spoken with, they are no longer with us. I do think the magnificent jfk Library Oral History collection is used with caution. It is a great resource and some of those interviews were conducted soon after the assassination which was a good thing bu