Why England Slept by Kennedy, John F - 1961

New York: Wilfred Funk, Inc, 1961. Reprint Edition. Presumed first printing thus. Hardcover. Good/Good. xxviii, [4], 252 pages. Appendix. Bibliography, DJ soiled, DJ edges worn and small tears/chips. The original edition was published in 1940; this edition contains a new foreword by Henry R. Luce. John F. Kennedy originally wrote this book as his senior thesis at Harvard. He explores the short-term weaknesses of a democratic and capitalistic system, facing a totalitarian power, under the requirements of modern warfare. This copy bears the bookplate of Richard Harwood, believed to be the Richard Harwood who was a reporter, editor and ombudsman at The Washington Post who played important roles in the newspaper for more than 30 years. Mr. Harwood was a gruff, plain-spoken, broad-shouldered former Marine, a veteran of Iwo Jima. Mr. Harwood began his newspaper career in Nashville and established his journalistic reputation on the Louisville Times. When just in his thirties, he was a formidable figure in Kentucky political circles, known as "Black Death Harwood." Colleagues said the nickname grew out of a combination of fear and respect among the politicians he covered. The Times and its sister paper, the morning Courier-Journal, sent him to Washington in 1962 as a correspondent. Mr. Harwood joined The Post in 1966 as a reporter on the national staff. After two years as a highly successful writer, he was named the paper's national editor, and spent the rest of his career as one of The Post's top editors, and as the paper's internal critic, or ombudsman. Why England Slept is the published version of a thesis written by John F. Kennedy while in his senior year at Harvard College. Its title is an allusion to Winston Churchill's 1938 book While England Slept, which also examined the buildup of German power. Published in 1940, Kennedy's book examines the failures of the British government to take steps to prevent World War II, and its initial lack of response to Adolf Hitler's threats of war. It is notable for its uncommon stance of suggesting instead that an earlier confrontation between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany could well have been more disastrous in the long run, rather than castigating the appeasement policy which the British government pursued at the time. The book was originally intended to be no more than a college thesis. It was rated magna cum laude by Professor Henry A. Yeomans and cum laude plus by Professor Carl J. Friedrich. However, Kennedy's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., keen to elevate his son's reputation, encouraged Kennedy to convert the thesis into book form and publish it. He then enlisted Henry Luce to write the foreword, and his friend Arthur Krock, former bureau chief of The New York Times, to assist in redrafting the thesis, which had originally been titled "Appeasement At Munich". As US ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kennedy, Sr. supported Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy during the late 1930s. John F. Kennedy lived with his father in the United Kingdom at that time and as such witnessed the Luftwaffe's bombings of the UK first-hand. After publication in 1940, the book sold 80,000 copies in the United Kingdom and the United States, collecting US $40,000 in royalties for Kennedy. Those from the British sales were donated to Plymouth, a British city recently bombed by the Luftwaffe.