JFK: A Vision for America

Summary

Published in commemoration of the centennial of President John F. Kennedy’s birth, the definitive compendium of JFK’s most important and brilliant speeches, accompanied by commentary and reflections by leading American and international figures—including President Barack Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren, David McCullough, Fareed Zakaria, Kofi Anann, and the Dalai Llama—edited by JFK’s nephew Stephen Kennedy Smith and renowned historian Douglas Brinkley

Poetry and Power brings together in one volume John F. Kennedy’s greatest speeches alongside essays by America’s top historians, analysis from leading political thinkers, and personal insights from preeminent writers and artists. Here is JFK at his best—thought-provoking, inspiring, eloquent, and wise—on a number of wide ranging topics, including civil rights, the race to the moon, the environment, immigration, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and much more. Poetry and Power demonstrates the deep relevance of his words today and his lasting power and influence as an outstanding American leader and orator.

Elegantly designed and enriched by more than a hundred photographs and facsimiles of Kennedy’s marginalia on drafts of speeches, his notes from important meetings, letters, and other fascinating documents, Poetry and Power is major contribution to American history.

The august list of contributors includes: President Barack Obama, President George Bush, Secretary John Kerry, Ambassador Samantha Power, Congressman John Lewis, Senator John McCain, Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Dalai Llama, Robert Redford, Conan O’Brien, David McCullough, Fareed Zakaria, George Packer, Colum McCann, Michael Beschloss, Robert Dallek, David Kennedy, Ted Widmer, Henry Lewis Gates, Drew Faust, Tariq Ramadan, Pastor Rick Warren, Jonathan Alter, E. J. Dionne, Ron Suskind, Paul Krugman, Kofi Anann, Governor Jerry Brown, Paul Farmer, Paul Theroux, Jorge Dominguez, and many others.