Campbell Craig Boeken

This volume spans the first thirty-nine years of JFK's life -- from birth through to his decision to run for president -- to reveal his early relationships, his formative and heroic experiences during World War II, his ideas, his bestselling writings, his political aspirations and the role of this father, wartime ambassador to Britain. In examining these pre-White House years, Logevall shows us a more serious, independently minded Kennedy than we've previously known.

In the early days of the Cold War, thermonuclear conflict was everywhere an imminent threat. With the realization that mutual destruction was the likely result of a nuclear war, US policy makers were forced to articulate a coherent stance on what they would do if the United States went to war with the USSR. The paradox of defeat or mutual annihilation was one that plagued American policy makers and scholars, whatever their stated position.