Distinguished journalist Benjamin C. Bradlee’s intimate biography of President John F. Kennedy and his Camelot years. Conversations with Kennedy is legendary reporter and executive Benjamin C. Bradlee’s account of his intimate dialogues with JFK—a man he counted as a confidante and friend. Beginning in 1958, when Kennedy was a US senator running for president, and continuing until 1963, the year that Kennedy died, Bradlee shared a close professional and personal relationship with the charismatic politician. Both men were war veterans, idealists, and up-and-coming American leaders, and they shared values that drove their friendship. Kennedy was a politician equally at home with the bruising intellects he appointed to government posts and his working-class constituents. He respected his complicated father, understood his brothers, admired women, and had few illusions about human nature. Bradlee’s eye for detail reveals JFK’s views on everything from Communism to conservatism to freedom of the press. From parties at the White House to weekends at Palm Beach to JFK’s enduring influence on Bradlee’s own life, this is an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the man behind a myth, written by a giant of American journalism.

To mark John F. Kennedy's centennial, celebrate the life and legacy of the 35th President of the United States. In 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy recorded seven historic interviews about her life with John F. Kennedy. Now, for the first time, they can be read in this deluxe, illustrated eBook. Shortly after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, with a nation deep in mourning and the world looking on in stunned disbelief, Jacqueline Kennedy found the strength to set aside her own personal grief for the sake of posterity and begin the task of documenting and preserving her husband's legacy. In January of 1964, she and Robert F. Kennedy approved a planned oral-history project that would capture their first-hand accounts of the late President as well as the recollections of those closest to him throughout his extraordinary political career. For the rest of her life, the famously private Jacqueline Kennedy steadfastly refused to discuss her memories of those years, but beginning that March, she fulfilled her obligation to future generations of Americans by sitting down with historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and recording an astonishingly detailed and unvarnished account of her experiences and impressions as the wife and confidante of John F. Kennedy. The tapes of those sessions were then sealed and later deposited in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum upon its completion, in accordance with Mrs. Kennedy's wishes. The resulting eight and a half hours of material comprises a unique and compelling record of a tumultuous era, providing fresh insights on the many significant people and events that shaped JFK's presidency but also shedding new light on the man behind the momentous decisions. Here are JFK's unscripted opinions on a host of revealing subjects, including his thoughts and feelings about his brothers Robert and Ted, and his take on world leaders past and present, giving us perhaps the most informed, genuine, and immediate portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy we shall ever have. Mrs. Kennedy's urbane perspective, her candor, and her flashes of wit also give us our clearest glimpse into the active mind of a remarkable First Lady. In conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of President Kennedy's Inauguration, Caroline Kennedy and the Kennedy family are now releasing these beautifully restored recordings on CDs with accompanying transcripts. Introduced and annotated by renowned presidential historian Michael Beschloss, these interviews will add an exciting new dimension to our understanding and appreciation of President Kennedy and his time and make the past come alive through the words and voice of an eloquent eyewitness to history.

Author's record of his intimate conversations with President Kennedy revealing the president's humor and conflicting elements of his personality.

During the spring of 1966, the vision of the late John F. Kennedy, the martyred President of the United States, appeared to me on three separate occasions, in three different places, and engaged me in lengthy disquisitions about the condition of man, the dangers apparent in his present estate, and what must be done to avert them. I made it clear during these conversations that I was very dubious about the value of anything that I might be able to do, but John F. Kennedy assured me that for a number of reasons, which he explained, I was the likeliest person to proceed with this assignment. I have lost none of the doubts which assailed me during these conversations. If anything, they have increased. First of all, I can offer no evidence to a mechanist or materialist society that the conversations took place. They must start or fall according to the information which they contain. There are no signed documents; there is no blurred photograph of an evanescent mist which I could claim to be the spirit of John F. Kennedy returning to his present mode of being. I cannot even say that I actually SAW John F. Kennedy during these conversations. The physical, or rather, non-physical, circumstances of these encounters were quite simple. On each occasion, I was engulfed by a strange radiance in which the physical world disappeared, and I was serenely aware that I was in the Presence of John F. Kennedy. There was absolute peace, and I was under the impression that nothing ever had or ever could disturb us in these surroundings. It was as though one had attained a state of ultimate beauty, and had left behind forever all the cares of earth.

In this witty, candid memoir, Ben Bradlee, the most important, glamorous, and famous newspaperman of modern times, traces his path from Harvard to the battles of the Pacific war to the pinnacle of success as the editor of The Washington Post--during the Watergate scandal and every other important event of the last three decades. of photos.

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 Library and historian Ted Widmer have carefully selected the most compelling and important of these remarkable recordings for release, fully restored and re-mastered 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 arms race, and offers fascinating glimpses into the intellectual methodology of a circumspect president and his brilliant, eclectic brain trust. Just as the unique vision of President John F. Kennedy continues to resonate half a century after his stirring speeches and bold policy decisions, the documentary candor of Listening In imparts a vivid, breathtaking immediacy that will significantly expand our understanding of his time in office.