The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm

Book excerpt: Ambassador Kennedy’s tenure during the approach of WWII is explored in “an admirably balanced assessment of an enormously complicated man” (Kirkus, starred review). In The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm, historian and psychologist Dr. Will Swift presents a fresh, empathetic interpretation of Joseph Kennedy’s ambassadorship. With extensive research and penetrating psychological insight, he explores the intricate, often shifting relationships among Kennedy, Chamberlain, Churchill, and, of course, Roosevelt. Arriving in London in early 1938, the Irish-Catholic Kennedys were welcomed by politicians, aristocrats, and intellectuals, all eager to court America. They finally appeared to have overcome their lifelong status as outsiders. From 1938 to 1940, the Kennedys crystallized their identity as protagonists on the world stage, undergoing a near-mythic rise to power. The older children—Joe Jr., Jack, and Kathleen—took part in England’s glittering society, their every move chronicled by the British and American media. As Joe, Sr.’s, political fortunes dimmed, Jack published a best-selling book that launched him toward stardom and, ultimately, the White House. Drawing on recently released Kennedy family archives, Joseph P. Kennedy’s private papers, and using rare photographs of English society and the photogenic Kennedy clan, Dr. Swift brings to life this fascinating family during a dramatic thousand-day period.