Listening in : the secret White House recordings of John F. Kennedy / John F. Kennedy Library Foundation ; selected and introduced by Ted Widmer ; foreword by Caroline Kennedy.

1st ed.

9781401324568
1401324568

New York : Hyperion, c2012.

English

xvii, 300 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. + 2 sound discs (digital ; 4 3/4 in.)

E841 .L57 2012

973.922092

In July 1962, in an effort to preserve an accurate record of presidential decision-making in a highly charged atmosphere of conflicting viewpoints, strategies, and tactics, John F. Kennedy installed hidden recording systems in the Oval Office and in the Cabinet Room. The result is a priceless historical archive comprising some 265 hours of taped material> JFK was elected president when civil rights tensions were near the boiling point, and Americans feared a nuclear war. Confronted with complex dilemmas necessitating swift and unprecedented action, President Kennedy engaged in intense discussion and debate with his cabinet members and other advisors. Now, in conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of the Kennedy presidency, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and historian Ted Widmer have carefully selected the most compelling and important of these remarkable recordings onto two 75-minute CDs for the first time. Listening In represents a uniquely unscripted, insider account of a president and his cabinet grappling with the day-to-day business of the White House and guiding the nation through a hazardous era of uncertainty. Accompanied by extensively annotated transcripts of the recordings and with a foreword by Caroline Kennedy, Listening In delivers the story behind the story in the unguarded words and voices of the decision-makers themselves. Listening In covers watershed events, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the space Race, Vietnam, and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and offers fascinating glimpses into the intellectual methodology of a president and his brilliant, eclectic brain trust..

Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-300) and index.

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