Robert Dallek

"The struggle to preserve the Republic has never been easy or without perils. The rise of conflicting political parties, which the founders opposed, and President John Adams' Alien and Sedition Acts repressing First Amendment rights made Franklin's observation at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention--"a republic, if you can keep it"--seem prescient. In the twentieth century, America endured numerous struggles: economic depression, World...

Presidential historian Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy's administration--including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam--were indelible. The author delivers a striking portrait of a leader whose wise resistance to pressure and adherence to principle offers a cautionary tale for our own time.

Nationally best-selling author Robert Dallek is one of the most respected historians in America. He has won the American Book Award and the Bancroft Prize for his excellent biographies of U.S. presidents. In An Unfinished Life, Dallek offers the first authoritative, single-volume story of the life of John F. Kennedy. Drawing from an archive of the previously unavailable information, Dallek paints a brilliant portrait of a legendary president who...

The 20th-century American Presidency is something of a mystery. Some Presidents performed exceptionally well in office, displaying strong leadership and winning the respect of the American people as well as the rest of the world. Others fell short of expectations and are remembered at best as marginal chief executives. What was it that allowed some to rise to greatness while others failed? What elusive mix of character traits, circumstance, and determination...

The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century, Harry S. Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson's observation that the presidency is a "splendid misery," but it was during his tenure that the United...

Volume one of a two-volume biography follows Johnson's life from his childhood on the banks of the Pedernales to his election as vice president under Kennedy.