The Kennedy Half Century
The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy
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Narrated by:
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Chris Kayser
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By:
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Larry J. Sabato
About this listen
An original and illuminating narrative revealing John F. Kennedy's lasting influence on America, by the acclaimed political analyst Larry J. Sabato.
John F. Kennedy died half a century ago - yet because of his extraordinary promise and untimely death, his star still resonates strongly. On the anniversary of his assassination, celebrated political scientist and analyst Larry J. Sabato - himself a teenager in the early 1960s and inspired by JFK and his presidency - explores the fascinating and powerful influence he has had over five decades on the media, the general public, and especially on each of his nine presidential successors.
A recent Gallup poll gave JFK the highest job approval rating of any of those successors, and millions remain captivated by his thousand days in the White House. For all of them, and for those who feel he would not be judged so highly if he hadn't died tragically in office, The Kennedy Half-Century will be particularly revealing. Sabato reexamines JFK's assassination using heretofore unseen information to which he has had unique access, then documents the extraordinary effect the assassination has had on Americans of every modern generation through the most extensive survey ever undertaken on the public's view of a historical figure. The full and fascinating results, gathered by the accomplished pollsters Peter Hart and Geoff Garin, paint a compelling portrait of the country a half-century after the epochal killing. Just as significantly, Sabato shows how JFK's presidency has strongly influenced the policies and decisions - often in surprising ways - of every president since.
Among the hundreds of books devoted to JFK, The Kennedy Half-Century stands apart for its rich insight and original perspective. Anyone who reads it will appreciate in new ways the profound impact JFK's short presidency has had on our national psyche.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2013 Larry J. Sabato (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The Presidents Club was born at Eisenhower’s inauguration when Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover first conceived the idea. Over the years that followed - and to this day - the presidents relied on, misunderstood, sabotaged, and formed alliances with one another that changed history. The world’s most exclusive fraternity is a complicated place: its members are bound forever because they sat in the Oval Office and know its secrets, yet they are immortal rivals for history’s favor.
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Engaging subject, but fact-checking needed
- By loix on 04-25-12
By: Nancy Gibbs, and others
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Bobby Kennedy
- The Making of a Liberal Icon
- By: Larry Tye
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 19 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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History remembers Robert F. Kennedy as a racial healer, a tribune for the poor, and the last progressive knight of a bygone era of American politics. But Kennedy's enshrinement in the liberal pantheon was actually the final stage of a journey that had its beginnings in the conservative 1950s. In Bobby Kennedy, Larry Tye peels away layers of myth and misconception to paint a complete portrait of this singularly fascinating figure.
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Absorbing
- By Jean on 01-18-17
By: Larry Tye
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LBJ's 1968
- Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America's Year of Upheaval
- By: Kyle Longley
- Narrated by: Paul Brion
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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1968 was an unprecedented year in terms of upheaval on numerous scales: political, military, economic, social, cultural. In the United States, perhaps no one was more undone by the events of 1968 than President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Kyle Longley leads his listeners on a behind-the-scenes tour of what Johnson characterized as the 'year of a continuous nightmare'. Longley explores how LBJ perceived the most significant events of 1968, including the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and the violent Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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Worst year in my lifetime - LBJ tragedy of his own making - but not according to this Author.
- By charles wartelle on 05-17-19
By: Kyle Longley
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How to Get Rid of a President
- History's Guide to Removing Unpopular, Unable, or Unfit Chief Executives
- By: David Priess
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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How to Get Rid of a President showcases the political dark arts in action: a stew of election dramas, national tragedies, and presidential departures mixed with party intrigue, personal betrayal, and backroom shenanigans. This briskly paced, darkly humorous voyage proves that while the pomp and circumstance of presidential elections might draw more attention, the way that presidents are removed teaches us much more about our political order.
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Extraordinary!
- By D. Rasmussen on 11-26-18
By: David Priess
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The Greatest Comeback
- How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority
- By: Patrick J. Buchanan
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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After suffering stinging defeats in the 1960 presidential election against John F. Kennedy, and in the 1962 California gubernatorial election, Nixon's career was declared dead by Washington press and politicians alike. Yet on January 20, 1969, just six years after he had said his political life was over, Nixon would stand taking the oath of office as 37th President of the United States. How did Richard Nixon resurrect a ruined career and reunite a shattered and fractured Republican Party to capture the White House?
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The comeback kid
- By Jean on 07-23-14
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Counselor
- A Life at the Edge of History
- By: Ted Sorensen
- Narrated by: Ted Sorensen
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Abridged
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Ted Sorensen, John F. Kennedy's closest advisor, recounts in full, for the first time, his experience counseling Kennedy through some of the most dramatic moments in American history. Rising from legislative assistant to speechwriter and advisor, the young lawyer from Nebraska worked closely with JFK on his most important speeches, as well as his book Profiles in Courage. Sorensen encouraged the junior senator's political ambitions and was later named special counsel to the president.
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Rare Insight
- By Robert on 05-10-08
By: Ted Sorensen
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Game of Thorns
- The Inside Story of Hillary Clinton's Failed Campaign and Donald Trump's Winning Strategy
- By: Doug Wead
- Narrated by: Doug Wead
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the first insider account of the precipitous fall of Hillary Clinton. How the scandals of a lifetime finally reached critical mass. How, in the last few days of the campaign, some on her staff saw the ghostly shroud of defeat creeping over them but were helpless to act, frozen by the self-denial of the group.
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President Donald Trump stopped that Clinton Machine
- By Paulette on 03-05-17
By: Doug Wead
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Nixonland
- The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America
- By: Rick Perlstein
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 36 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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From one of America's most talented historians and winner of a LA Times Book Prize comes a brilliant new account of Richard Nixon that reveals the riveting backstory to the red state/blue state resentments that divide our nation today. Told with urgency and sharp political insight, Nixonland recaptures America's turbulent 1960s and early 1970s and reveals how Richard Nixon rose from the political grave to seize and hold the presidency.
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A 5-Star Book Injured by the Narrator
- By Frank on 08-12-09
By: Rick Perlstein
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The Road to Camelot
- Inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign
- By: Thomas Oliphant, Curtis Wilkie
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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A behind-the-scenes, revelatory account of John F. Kennedy's wily campaign for the White House, beginning with his bold failed attempt to win the vice presidential nomination in 1956. A young and undistinguished junior plots his way to the presidency and changes the way we nominate and elect presidents. John F. Kennedy and his young warriors invented modern presidential politics.
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Absolutely excellent
- By T-Ward on 08-22-20
By: Thomas Oliphant, and others
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Tip and the Gipper
- When Politics Worked
- By: Chris Matthews
- Narrated by: Chris Matthews
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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They were the political odd couple - the two most powerful men in the country, a pair who "couldn't be more different or more the same." For six years, Matthews was on the inside, watching the evolving relationship between President Reagan and Speaker of the House O’Neill. Drawing not only on his own remarkable knowledge but on extensive interviews with those closest to his subjects, Matthews brings this unlikely friendship to life in his unique voice.
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I didn't want it to end
- By Jim on 10-06-13
By: Chris Matthews
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Days of Fire
- Bush and Cheney in the White House
- By: Peter Baker
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 29 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Theirs was the most captivating American political partnership since Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger: a bold and untested president and his seasoned, relentless vice president. Confronted by one crisis after another, they struggled to protect the country, remake the world, and define their own relationship along the way. In Days of Fire, Peter Baker chronicles the history of the most consequential presidency in modern times through the prism of its two most compelling characters, capturing the elusive and shifting alliance of George Walker Bush and Richard Bruce Cheney as no historian has done before.
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A balanced account of the W and Cheney White House
- By Scott on 11-15-13
By: Peter Baker
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Camelot's End
- Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight That Broke the Democratic Party
- By: Jon Ward
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Ted Kennedy. Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge - what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects - with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.
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Does character count in political office?
- By marwalk on 07-29-19
By: Jon Ward
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The Path to Power
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson
- By: Robert A. Caro
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 40 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country. The Path to Power reveals in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy, and ambition that set LBJ apart. It follows him from the Hill Country to New Deal Washington, from his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut as Congressman, his heartbreaking defeat in his first race for the Senate, and his attainment, nonetheless, at age 31, of the national power for which he hungered.
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The Best of all Biographies
- By David C. Daggett on 12-14-13
By: Robert A. Caro
What listeners say about The Kennedy Half Century
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kathy
- 08-12-14
Job Well Done
It was very intersting how Sabato put this book together. There were many facts that i did not remember and some I knew nothing about that caught my attension. If you are a history buff or not, this is a good listen to learn and review the Kennedy years.
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- Gabriel Canuteson
- 04-19-19
This is not a biography, rather an analysis.
Mr. Sabato answered many questions I had about the Cuban Missile Crisis, but I felt he spent a long time on things such as the assassination conspiracies. However , he does a good job explaining the effect Kennedy had on his successors.
The only major mistake I noticed was a reference to an AR-15 “Assault Rifle”. An AR-15 is NOT an assault rifle, it’s a semi-automatic. AR stands for “Armalite” which is the company that makes the firearm.
The narrator sucks so I recommend listening on 1.25 speed. Apart from that if you want to learn about Kennedy and don’t want a complete biography, this is the book for you.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Holly C
- 05-02-20
Fantastic
I enjoyed every page so much that i even bought the paper book. i love how examples of each president from Kennedy to Obama was very enlightening.
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- D. Allen
- 01-15-18
One-third great
This book is divided into roughly three parts; 1) JFK's early life and presidency; 2) his assassination; 3) the impact JFK and his assassination had on American politics and the presidency after his death. I would rate the first of those three parts as average, not great. Author Larry Sabato profiles JFK's personality perhaps a bit less than would have been ideal, but he provides a solid basis for the rest of the book in describing JFK's early life with family and his rise to the Senate and presidency. The second part is where this book is weakest. The author adds nothing new to the pre-existing mountain of JFK conspiracy literature, and sometimes borders on sensationalism. At times he holds the same drumstick that lesser authors do, repeating inaccurate and misleading statements. For example, he reiterates the unconsidered opinion that the Warren Commission Report was a brief, rushed, incomplete, and dangerously flawed document (in truth, the Warren Commission report was nearly 900 pages long and an additional 26 hearing volumes contained testimonies from 550 witnesses and evidence. No other murder in American history was scrutinized, investigated, researched, and documented than the death of JFK). To his credit the author provides some balance in addressing the question of whether the JFK assassination was the work of one man or a conspiracy, but in tone it generally it panders to the conspiracy theorists. Perhaps the author believed that a discussion of the assassination in depth, including the conspiracy theories, would be expected by anyone purchasing a book on JFK, but I believe this section of the book does little to complement the remainder of the work. The last part of this book is where Sabato shines. I had never before considered the lasting impact that JFK, and his assassination, had on the American presidency. The author does a masterful job of getting into the minds of LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, later presidents who either suffered from or reveled in the legacy of the assassinated president. This book is worth experiencing for this part of the book alone.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Richard S.
- 03-22-22
Amazing Account of History
Great recount of Kennedy and those who followed. A must read for anyone that loves History.
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- amanda
- 02-25-21
Well done!
The most comprehensive summary of JFK presidential events and legacy I’ve read yet. Not a thorough or even glancing summary of pre-presidential era. Very interesting and thorough review of JFK post-assassination politics and legacy issues. Interesting new viewpoints on the invocation of JFK by latter politicians snd the effect on the political scene of the era.
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- Jenny Muehlhausen
- 02-21-23
Great perspective
The perspectives on the effect of JFK on contemporary presidents is very important. Good listening!
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- JJ
- 06-19-16
If You Read One Book On JFK - Pick This One
This is by far the best book on the topic I have listened to. The assassination has been well documented in many other books but this one in particular examines how JFK's legacy has affected politics and American society since 1963.
I would highly recommend this book!
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- Daniel N. Hill
- 04-01-15
Good rehash!
Was a nice return to days past. Story refreshed some aspects that had slipped over time, definitely a professor wrote the story.
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- James Paris
- 06-30-23
A thorough study of a most fascinating Man and President
I, like many Americans, will forever remember where I was and what I was doing at 1:35 PM EST on Friday, November 22, 1963. I was a fledging student in the second grade when the announcement came over the ancient but effective PA system that “President Kennedy has been shot.” Later, over the same PA system came the announcement that the President had died. It had a profound effect that bleak day many years ago. However, at the time, I had a rudimentary knowledge of the President…did’nt know that much about him. But this book, “The Kennedy Half Century” had filled in a lot of gaps and also provided more information about my former (and, I dare say, my favorite) President. I have done a personal extensive study on the assassination of President Kennedy and through the years have learned and retained a lot of information of that fateful event. Larry Sabato’s book had actually expanded as well as enlightened me as to what had happened and the many, many ramifications of the day many years ago that changed so much in America…and the world. You will enjoy hearing not only details about the assassination, but also how JFK had (in a lot of cases) posthumously inspired many political candidates that followed him and how his death had changed and inspired our country. Enjoy this book. If you were a fan of President Kennedy (and even if your were not), you will be intrigued into this fascinating look at a President whose relatively short term had caused a tidal wave of change and wonder in our country.
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