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612-822-4611
John F. Kennedy's Hidden Diary, Europe 1937: The Travel Journals of JFK and Kirk Lemoyne Billings

John F. Kennedy's Hidden Diary, Europe 1937: The Travel Journals of JFK and Kirk Lemoyne Billings

Paperback

Presidents & Heads of State20th Century United States HistoryGeneral World History

ISBN10: 180539228X
ISBN13: 9781805392286
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Published: Nov 1 2023
Pages: 184
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.50 Width: 5.30 Depth: 8.40
Language: English

Presenting the 1937 diaries of John F. Kennedy's tour of Europe, this volume offers insights into his early experiences on a continent under the shadow of Nazism.

In 1937, while still a student, John F. Kennedy undertook a grand tour of Europe with his close friend and traveling companion, Lem Billings. On this journey he began to keep a diary, which is reproduced here in full and provides an unadulterated account of his thoughts and feelings. Superficially, it presents a picture of two young men enjoying their summer, sightseeing, going to the movies, bars and night clubs; but behind this we find, in Kennedy's political observations and encounters, the looming shadow of Nazism. In retrospect there are blind spots and misjudgments, but also insights of great topicality, for example on populism, and propaganda and its potent effects. On this trip and during his later travels in Germany, Kennedy engaged with the crucial questions of his later presidency: How does a dictatorship work? How is an alternative concept of society to be countered? And how can an impending war be averted? Kennedy's European and Russian policies and also his famous Berlin speech of 1963 (Ich bin ein Berliner) are to be understood against this background.

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General World History