John F. Kennedy: portrait of a president. Hugh Sidey. 1964.

Hugh Sidey first met John Kennedy in 1958. After that, as White House correspondent for Time Magazine, he followed Kennedy across three continents and had the closest uninterrupted view of the President in action of any journalist. From this experience he has distilled a fascinating account of Kennedy’s development as a bearer of the greatest responsibility any man could carry.

The crises Kennedy had to face from the moment of his election in November 1960 were many and grave. Almost at once there was the confrontation with Krushchev in Vienna, which put paid to a Summit meeting. Laos, Berlin and Cuba followed, and the rapid worsening of racial tension within the United States. Above all there was the decision to face Armageddon over Cuba.