A modern icon

IVWWAN MORGAN lauds an insightful and clear-eyed examination of a leader blessed with charisma and quality but also marred by personal flaws

- by Mark White

For anyone questioning whether we need another book on one of the most writtenabout US presidents, Mark White's study provides a resoundingly affirmative response. Its portrayal of JFK's youthful, optimistic and energetic leadership offers a timely contrast to the White House gerontocracy of recent years.

In popular American memory, Kennedy's assassination created the aura of a fallen hero who might otherwise have guided the nation through the turbulent 1960s without it having to endure the shattering effects of the Vietnam War, racial conflict and political violence. As White demonstrates, however, his thousand-day tenure was about more than promise, because it also featured substantive achievements at home and abroad. This important study can be viewed as a post-revisionist riposte both to the early hagiography of Kennedy administration insiders that characterised JFK as a Camelotstyle leader, and the later hatchet-jobs that considered him unfit for office after details of his racy private life became public.