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Robert Dallek : Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House . (New York : HarperCollins , 2013. Pp. xii, 492.)
Larry J. Sabato : The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy . (New York : Bloomsbury , 2013. Pp. xiii, 603.)
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr .: Journals, 1952-2000 . (New York : Penguin , 2007. Pp. xvi, 894.)
The Letters of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Edited by Andrew Schlesinger and Stephen Schlesinger . (New York : Random House , 2013. Pp. xxxi, 631.)
Ted Sorensen : Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History . (New York : HarperCollins , 2008. Pp. xvi, 556.)
Review Essay
The fiftieth anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in November 2013 was commemorated by countless television documentaries recalling the shock and horror of the news from Dealey Plaza. The anniversary also led to the publication of scores of additional books on John F. Kennedy's life and death, to add to the already existing list of over 1,400 titles.
The jolt of the Kennedy assassination for those Americans who were alive in 1963 is rivalled only by the events of September 11, 2001. The poignant images of the thirty-four-year-old first lady kissing the president's casket and his three-year-old son saluting the same were almost too much to bear. When the news broke from Dallas, the nation's three television networks suspended their normal broadcasting schedule for the first time in their short history to focus nonstop on the funeral of the president, followed shortly by the murder of his assassin.
The fleeting Kennedy presidency, the first television presidency, was from the beginning to its tragic end a media event. JFK was made for television, and his bronzed appearance in four televised debates had helped him defeat a sweaty, shifty-eyed, and ghostly Richard Nixon. Kennedy was the first president to hold press conferences on live television, and his quick wit and apparent mastery of detail impressed his fellow Americans. Jack and Jackie served as the inspiration for Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Caroline and "John-John" were the subject of affecting photo essays in Life magazine (a media-savvy president would arrange for the...