Kennedy and Roosevelt: The Uneasy Alliance

In this book, Michael Beshcloss offered an interesting study of Joseph Kennedy's relationship with Franklin Roosevelt. He finds some parallels in their careers but finds more differences. It's a readable book as Beschloss shows how Kennedy was an important, if not critical, figure in electing FDR in 1932 and 1936 and one of the leading businessmen backing the New Deal. Beshcloss offers a flowing narrative of the crucial years when Kennedy was in London and his take on the start of World War Two. While this is a solid effort, Beschloss wrote this book early in his career and, frankly, it shows since the fingerprints of his James MacGregor Burns are all over the work. Burns wrote the introduction, praising FDR as having fundamentally changed American politics--a real irony since the book was published in 1980, the same year that Reagan was elected. Beschloss even calls JPK a "hedgehog" and FDR a "fox"--an obvious repetition of Burns' book on FDR which was subtitled "Lion and Fox." While the years when Kennedy was FDR's ambassador to England get the attention they deserve and he does offer a fascinating account of how Kennedy and FDR handled the menace of Father Coughlin, Beschloss glosses over a bit too much-their relationship during World War One and the first years of the New Deal. If you're looking to understand Kennedy's public life, this is a good introduction. Critics will contend that Beschloss glossed over Kennedy's bootlegging, Hollywood years, affairs, family and even his religion--but this is not a biography. It's a study of Joseph Kennedy's role in FDR's presidential administration and, even with its flaws, shows why Beschloss has become one of the premier presidential historians of his generation.