The Kennedy Persuasion: The Politics of Style since JFK

by Paul R. Henggeler

Overview

"The Texas School Book Depository, once a warehouse for books, today houses our imagination," Paul Henggeler writes. Today many Americans share a nostalgia for the Kennedy years and their imagined hope and promise; in polls they reaffirm a yearning for the optimism and confidence associated with JFK’s brief presidency. American political leaders, keenly aware of the "mystique" and its effects on the electorate, have energetically laid claim to the Kennedy mantle. Mr. Henggeler traces this phenomenon in an engaging and original piece of history. Using fresh archival sources, he describes how Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, have invoked the Kennedy mythology, adopted the Kennedy strategy, even tried to summon up the Kennedy appearance in order to influence Congress, the media, and the American public. As a consequence, John Kennedy is now larger and more influential in American politics than he ever was in the flesh. Used and abused, the Kennedy legend has inspired an entire generation of American politicians, from Lyndon Johnson through Bill Clinton—but our political life may be poorer for it. The Kennedy Persuasion is a convincing, often surprising case study of the great historical image of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566630788
Publisher:	Dee, Ivan R. Publisher
Publication date:	03/28/1995
Pages:	335
Product dimensions:	6.42(w) x 9.42(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

Paul R. Henggeler taught American history at the University of Texas, Pan American. His first book, In His Steps: Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy Mystique, won high praise from historians and critics.

Editorial Reviews

Astute...meticulously researched...offers important insights on the power of myth in presidential politics.
— Amos Kiewe

Presidential Studies Quarterly

Astute...meticulously researched...offers important insights on the power of myth in presidential politics.

Presidential Studies Quarterly - Amos Kiewe

This well-rendered treatise draws history onto important ground-tracking the influence of a single, powerful symbol in an age when political power came to reside increasingly in media spectacle.

Kirkus Reviews

Since John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, U.S. presidents and presidential candidates have laid claim to his mantle by emulating his youthful, telegenic image and style, asserts Henggeler, assistant professor of history at the Univ. of Texas. Lyndon Johnson, an old-style wheeler-dealer overshadowed by the Camelot myth, invoked JFK's legacy to promote major domestic reforms and to justify America's commitment to fighting communism overseas. Nixon, resentful of Kennedy for defeating him in 1960, tried to copy his vigor, warmth and intellectual abilities while attempting as president to destroy Kennedy's reputation. Ford, Carter and Reagan also played upon the public's memories of Kennedy. Clinton, who identifies with his hero, JFK, openly articulates the imagined viewpoints of the martyred Kennedy brothers. Henggeler has drawn on presidential papers and his interviews with Gerald Ford, George McGovern, Eugene McCarthy, Gary Hart, Michael Dukakis and Geraldine Ferraro to produce a witty and trenchant deconstruction of the Kennedy mystique and its appropriation by politicians who counterproductively tie contemporary debate to a mythic past.

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

Since John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, U.S. presidents and presidential candidates have laid claim to his mantle by emulating his youthful, telegenic image and style, asserts Henggeler, assistant professor of history at the Univ. of Texas. Lyndon Johnson, an old-style wheeler-dealer overshadowed by the Camelot myth, invoked JFK's legacy to promote major domestic reforms and to justify America's commitment to fighting communism overseas. Nixon, resentful of Kennedy for defeating him in 1960, tried to copy his vigor, warmth and intellectual abilities while attempting as president to destroy Kennedy's reputation. Ford, Carter and Reagan also played upon the public's memories of Kennedy. Clinton, who identifies with his hero, JFK, openly articulates the imagined viewpoints of the martyred Kennedy brothers. Henggeler has drawn on presidential papers and his interviews with Gerald Ford, George McGovern, Eugene McCarthy, Gary Hart, Michael Dukakis and Geraldine Ferraro to produce a witty and trenchant deconstruction of the Kennedy mystique and its appropriation by politicians who counterproductively tie contemporary debate to a mythic past. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Using meticulous research in presidential libraries and interviews with the likes of Michael Dukakis, George McGovern, and Eugene McCarthy, Henggeler (In His Steps: Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy Mystique, Ivan R. Dee, 1991) demonstrates how what he calls "the Kennedy mystique" affected presidential candidates as they sought grudgingly to show how they were either like John Fitzgerald Kennedy or preferable to him. He reveals an LBJ who wanted to show that he could be president in his own right and could choose a successor, Hubert Humphrey, despite Robert Kennedy's attempt to get the nomination. He describes Richard Nixon's obsession with the Kennedy name and image after being edged out by JFK in 1960, coloring his eight years in the White House. Henggeler characterizes Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford as seeking public images as anti-Watergate idealists in the Camelot model in contrast to Nixon's cynical politics. Even Bill Clinton, with his Americorp community service program, was affected, wanting to be remembered like JFK for his idealism and youthful energy. Enjoyable and well-documented reading; for academic and larger public library collections.-Frank Kessler, Missouri Western State Coll., St. Joseph

Library Journal

Henggeler analyzes the way Democrats and Republicans have invoked the Kennedy mythology, adopted the Kennedy strategy, even tried to summon up the Kennedy appearance to accommodate persistent longing for the return to Camelot on the part of Congress, the media, and the American public. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

In this expanded version of his "In His Steps: Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy Mystique" (1991), Henggeler discourses on the impact of the JFK image on all presidential candidates since 1964. Aside from Nixon, the politicians influenced were Democrats, and they dominate the story. Perhaps Bill Clinton's campaign use of his teenage handshake with Kennedy will prove to be the last overt exploitation of the martyred president, for the chance is remote that any future candidate will have personally known John Kennedy, and so taking this ripe opportunity to treat the image as historical artifact, this researcher reveals the political power--potent or perilous--of imitating or invoking the memory of JFK. Up to 1980, the national concern was whether Kennedy's brothers, Robert or Edward, would pick up the mantle. Since then the question has been symbolic: who could deliver a Kennedyesque speech? (Biden tried.) Kennedyesque good looks? (Hart tried.) Kennedyesque programs? (Clinton's trying.) The image of the telegenic John Kennedy has loomed over every Oval Office aspirant, and Henggeler offers a cogent, scholarly narrative of the oft-noted but seldom analyzed use of his symbolic image.

Gilbert Taylor