TO MOVE A NATION: The Politics of Foreign Policy-Making in the Administration of John F. Kennedy

by Roger Hilsman ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 1967

As the foreign policies of the Johnson administration become more embattled with both the Left and the Right of American politics, supporters of the President, as well as the President himself, more and more attempt to connect the present with the recent past by claiming that the contemporary posture arises out of positions taken by Mr. Kennedy. Thus the Dominican intervention is merely au extension of the Bay of Pigs--Cuban quarantine thinking--and Johnson's 400,000 American combat troops in Vietnam are but an amplification of Kennedy's 15,000 military advisors. Taking exception to this interpretation is Roger Hilsman, who was a member of the Kennedy administration, first as head of intelligence in the State Department and then as Assistant Secretary of State for the Far East. Mr. Hilsman analyzes such situational involvements as the Congo, the Cuba quarantine, China, and in particular, President Kennedy's ambiguous relationship with the C.I.A. Although his book is not in the first wave of Kennedyana, of all those yet extant, this will be the one most worked by scholars of the era concerned with the qualitative differences between the Kennedy and Johnson manner of formulating goals and approaches. Not a hero-worshipping book--Hilsman condemns Kennedy's approval of the Bay of Pigs--the author leaves little doubt oer his abhorrence of the Johnson-Rusk ""putting up more 'blue chips'"" style of poker statecraft, and his admiration for the educability and coolness of his and his nation's lost leader.

Pub Date: June 9, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION