Letters to Kennedy

By John Kenneth Galbraith

Book Overview

A unique document in the history of the Kennedy years, these letters give us a firsthand look at the working relationship between a president and one of his close advisers, John Kenneth Galbraith. In an early letter, Galbraith mentions his "ambition to be the most reticent adviser in modern political history." But as a respected intellectual and author of the celebrated The Affluent Society, he was not to be positioned so lightly, and his letters are replete with valuable advice about economics, public policy, and the federal bureaucracy. As the United States' ambassador to India from 1961 to 1963, Galbraith made use of his position to counsel the President on foreign policy, especially as it bore on the Asian subcontinent and, ultimately, Vietnam.

Written with verve and wit, his letters were relished by a president who had little patience for foolish ideas or bad prose. They stand out today as a vibrant chronicle of some of the most subtle and critical moments in the days of the Kennedy administration--and a fascinating record of the counsel that Galbraith offered President Kennedy. Ranging from a pithy commentary on Kennedy's speech accepting the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination (and inaugurating the "New Frontier") to reflections on critical matters of state such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the threat of Communism in Indochina, Letters to Kennedypresents a rare, intimate picture of the lives and minds of a political intellectual and an intellectual politician during a particularly bright moment in American history.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674528379
• ISBN13: 9780674528376
• Release Date: May 1998
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

For the record -an interesting glimpse at the life of giants

This is a compilation that in and of itself is quite mundane. The letters are not the most eloquent nor powerful prose that you are likely to have read. However, this is the correspondence of two of the biggest figures of their age.The letters regarding the Vietnam war are the most interesting and provide some recognition of the clarity & forsight of Galbraith's mind.Buy this book if you are interested in these men and the age of Camelot.

A nice collection of historical documents.

JFK, a magical name in history. This book provides a way to investigate this man's life from other people's letters. You may want to read it.