As reassessment of Kennedy for the popular audience largely carries on in terms of hagiography or talebearing, some scholars are more quietly at work to fashion a dispassionate appraisal. A good sampling of research is this collection of 23 papers from a 1985 conference at Hofstra University. The topics, varied if not perfectly balanced encompass the missile crisis, fiscal policy, and other standard questions, as well as less traveled ground such Indo-American relations and the influence of William Lederer and Eugene Burdick's The Ugly American on the era. The conclusions are varied too, with Kennedy appearing neither a saint nor a scoundrel. Library Journal
The introduction looks at Kennedy as president and as politician, and establishes the two realms, myth and substance, in which the subsequent examination of Kennedy's life and career will be conducted. His presidency is then divided into the broad categories of foreign policy and domestic policy. Within these categories the suceeding chapters touch on the major controversies and conflicts of the Kennedy years in office, from the question of his religion, which clouded the candidacy, to his final days in the White House. The essays use events of the presidency as a means of reflecting on Kennedy the man, the Senator, and the candidate, as well as the President. Nothing is taken at face value, not Kennedy's liberalism, his support of minorities, nor the wisdom of his economic measure or his foreign policy decisions. All are scrutinized for the reality that often has been obscured by the popular myth. Along with the more widely noted issues, such as the communications flap over the vast wasteland reference, there are chapters on lesser known but nonetheless important issues, such as Kennedy's management of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and his handling of relations with India. A brief concluding section sets the Kennedy presidency within a frame of two others, those of Truman and Reagan, yielding insights into each.
Preface John F. Kennedy: Myth and Substance by Thomas E. Cronin The Presidency: Foreign Policy Kennedy's Foreign Policy: Activism versus Pragmatism by Kenneth W. Thompson Kennedy and the Congress: The Nuclear Test ban Treaty, 1963 by Philip J. Briggs Defense Policy as a Form of Arms Control: Nuclear Force Posture and Strategy under John F. Kennedy by Bernard J. Fireston The First Day of the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 12, 1962 by Lester H. Bruno The Dangerous Legacy: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis by Michael P. Riccards The Promise Fulfilled: John F. Kennedy and the 'New Frontier' in Guam and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 1961-1963 by Timothy P. Maga Kennedy and Nonalignment: An Analysis of Indo-American Relations by Srinivas M. Chary John F. Kennedy and the Munich Myth by Robert F. Cuervo The News Management Issue and John F. Kennedy's Foreign Policy by Ralph B. Levering and Montague Kern 'The Ugly American': A Best-seller Reexamined by Joan Iversen The Presidency: Domestic Policy Continuity and Change: Fiscal Policy in the Kennedy Administration by Ronald F. King Economic Policy and Practice: Perspective Politics of Formulation Legitimation by Philip M. Simpson A Reappraisal of Liberalism in the Kennedy Administration's Economic Policies by M. Mark Amen Senator John F. Kennedy and the Liberal Establishment: Presidential Politics and Civil Rights Legislation by William R. Shaffer The ERA and Kennedy's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women by Blanche Linden-Ward John F. Kennedy's Presidential Commission ont he Status of Women: 'A Dividing Line' by Judith Sealander The New Frontier and the Vast Wasteland by Mary Ann Watson Southern Baptists and the Issue of Catholic Autonomy in the 1960 Presidential Campaign by T. David Lisle The Religion Of and About John F. Kennedy by James S. Wolfe John F. Kennedy and the Presidents Truman and Kennedy: The Old Guard Yields to the New by Monte M. Poen The Once and Future President: John F. Kennedy in the Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan Index Conference Program
