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The Bystander John F Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality Nick Bryant 9780465008261 Books

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The Bystander John F Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality Nick Bryant 9780465008261 Books

Book was in great condition. Will be a valuable piece to my growing collection. Thanks


Tags : The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality [Nick Bryant] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV>In the summer of 1963, in the wake of the Birmingham riots and hundreds of other protests across the country,Nick Bryant,The Bystander: John F. Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality,Basic Books,0465008267,Civil Rights,Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General,United States - 20th Century,USA,African Americans;Civil rights;History;20th century.,Civil rights movements;United States;History;20th century.,United States;Politics and government;1961-1963.,(John Fitzgerald),,1917-1963,20th century,African American,African Americans,American history: from c 1900 -,Black studies,Civil rights & citizenship,Civil rights movements,Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor,GENERAL,General Adult,HISTORY United States 20th Century,History,History - U.S.,Kennedy, John F.,Multicultural studies,Non-Fiction,POLITICAL SCIENCE Civil Rights,Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights,RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS,SOCIAL SCIENCE Ethnic Studies African American Studies,Social Science,Sociology,U.S. HISTORY - 20TH CENTURY (GENERAL),USA,United States,United States - 20th Century,United States - 20th Century60s,United States;Politics and government;1961-1963.,Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor,HISTORY United States 20th Century,POLITICAL SCIENCE Civil Rights,Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights,SOCIAL SCIENCE Ethnic Studies African American Studies,United States - 20th Century60s,History - U.S.,(John Fitzgerald),,1917-1963,20th century,African Americans,Civil rights movements,History,Kennedy, John F.,United States,Race And Ethnic Relations,U.S. History - 20th Century (General),Social Science,Sociology,American history: from c 1900 -,Black studies,Civil rights & citizenship,Multicultural studies

The Bystander John F Kennedy and the Struggle for Black Equality Nick Bryant 9780465008261 Books Reviews

This book is one of the more objective books about President Kennedy. It explores his seemingly lackadaisical attitude in re civil rights. He is described as being charismatic, yet lacking in personal depth. He was excellent at taking written material, courtesy of his speech/script writers and giving an outstanding performance.

This is not to discredit the man's obvious intelligence and ability to respond to the issues and questions of the day. His alliances with people who were known segregationists don't exactly point him in the direction of civil rights activists. His brother, then attorney general Robert Kennedy was the fire, the drive, the passion and commitment to civil rights.

While the civil rights/racial equality issue is the main focus of this book, other issues during the New Frontier are also explored. This is a well written book that will certainly maintain the interest of readers.
Growing up with a deep interest in American history, I have always wondered how is it that Americans generally view JFK has having done more for civil rights than his two primary rivals during the 1960's, Richard Nixon and LBJ. Nixon put his name and powers into the fight for civil rights from the beginning of his political career, while LBJ's crowning achievements are the civil rights legislation he pushed through Congress. This book answered this question for me. Born into a wealthy and powerful and very public family, JFK grew up understanding image and its importance. Therefore, his civil rights politicking revolved around images, whether it be images of him with black celebrities at gala events, images of him helping comforting Coretta Scott King during her husband's imprisonment, etc... So much was the emphasis on imagery that substance was often sacrificed. The great irony of this, as shown by this book, is that those blacks who benefited the most from this imagery , black celebrities and leaders, were those most disappointed with JFK's policies, while those who were shorted, the black commoners, sided with JFK the strongest.

This book is well researched and well argued. Citing documents, interviews, press quotes and other sources, the author puts together a great examination of the US civil rights movement from a unique perspective, the Kennedy brothers. The author does a great job plotting out the evolution in mentality of both JFK and his brother, and how this evolution sometimes lined up with events, but often lagged behind what the nation needed to solve its problem. Overall, a very engaging and thought provoking history book.
At first perusal this book seemed like so many other books by news correspondents, the main goal of which is to boost the bank balance of their authors. Starting to read it, it didn't seem to tell anything essentially new about JFK's disinterest in civil rights. Nor was it especially well written a lot of the first two chapters had the tone and tempo of a TV news correspondent's report, all about impacting the reader's mind rather than educating it. But this book rewards perseverance. What readers get from the first few chapters is the sheer calculated cynicism of JFK's 'swing' toward the civil rights issue in the 1950s - a policy conceived to outdo Humphrey and Symington, then later smoke out Johnson, during the 1960 Democrat presidential nomination race. Bryant's background research on the black voting bloc is illuminating. Incidentally, it also defies any suggestion that a Johnson nomination could possibly win a 1960 presidential election against a candidate with Nixon's respectable record on civil rights.
Bryant does not spare JFK cabinet and staff members either in this book. How they gave window-dressing posts in the JFK administration to genuine civil rights advocates (both white and black) but then impeded or ignored their suggestions. In this regard the political staffers like O'Brien, Salinger and O'Donnell were the worst, with RFK being the chief dragger at cabinet level.
Rising black frustration with the Kennedy administration's largely symbolic efforts on civil rights eventually caused the public demonstrations of 1962 and 1963. These in turn gave the federal government the political necessity and public support to make its first forceful actions on desegregation within southern states.
Bryant does not equivocate in his final - and most readable - summing up chapter of the book. He considers it likely that a surviving Kennedy would have got his civil rights bill through congress in 1964 and maybe improve on this by adding Title 3 enforcements in his second term. This assertion surprised me since, like some others, I cannot see Kennedy assuming the determination to break a southern filibuster before his second term. Beyond '64, Bryant suggests that Kennedy's innate tendency to avoid confrontation and his undeniable laziness towards domestic matters would most likely see him in turmoil as the ghetto riots of the 1960s engulfed him.
Of course Kennedy had other things to do during his 3 years at the helm but Bryant only mentions the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis and, towards the end, the Vietnam situation. This book would be improved, I feel, by adding a little more context to the various decision points along the way.
The writing style could also be improved quite a bit and made more readable without losing its historical coherency.
But anyone who sees Kennedy as a Lincolnian figure in relation to civil rights should read this book and see how little - if any - real leadership he gave to this most essentially moral component of US politics in the 1960s.
I came to this book from the standpoint of an observer with a general interest in American politics and history rather than from a purely academic standpoint.

I have enjoyed it immensely having found it both detailed and informative reflecting exhaustive research. Nick Bryant gives a real insight into how civil rights fitted into the wider political ambitions of the Kennedy machine. Would Kennedy once in office be as true to the civil rights cause as his pre-election manoeuvrings suggested and if so, when, and what would be the catalyst? It is this question that made the book a real page-turner.
An interesting look at the junior JFK and how he shaped his view of the Black community and his understanding of how to move up in politics.
Great service
Book was in great condition. Will be a valuable piece to my growing collection. Thanks