Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Book Reports A Thousand Days In so many words A Thousand Days In so many words Any writer presented with the daunting task of chronicling such an emotional figure as John F. Kennedy, while being personally and professionally involved in his administration is bound to either fail miserably or succeed brilliantly. Schlesinger seems to have done both. While setting out to impart the happenings, demeanors, exchanges, and truths regarding the period Kennedy was in office, Schlesinger alternates between objective analysis and outright apology (Document, 55). This lends the book’s attempt to report and editorialize the events of Kennedy’s administration through personal observations to become overly sympathetic and occasionally lends a sense of personal catharsis to the work. In fact, Schlesinger himself notes as such in the opening pages “This work is not a comprehensive history of the Kennedy presidency. It is a memoir by one who served in the White House during the Kennedy year” (ix). However, in the opinion of Graber this was seen as one of the best analyses of the Kennedy White House of the 90 or so which came out after the assassination in Dallas (1). This fact that the author was an integral piece of the events he is recording allows for much direct quotation of the subject and those around him. Likewise he depends upon memory, interviews, or conjecture to complete some dialogue or moments where he was not present. While not unusual in the research of a chronicle, several critics found that this inability of Schlesinger to remove himself from his subject leads to a tendency to “…magnify his own role in the shaping of policies and the making of decisions” (Graber, 55). However, this is not to say that the author does not use primary examples of the president’s statements to support his account. In dealing with the Berlin imbalance Kruschev was causing the administration, Kennedy is quoted as saying, “I think we need to smile less and be tougher” lending credibility to the remainder of the account and Kennedy’s role in it (406). This use of direct quotes lends an air of presence to the text that might otherwise be lacking as well as allowing a more solid character reference to be built in the mind of the reader, and for that the book gains strength. Hanson presents states that “Schlesinger excels at providing the illuminating stray quote or odd fact that firmly fixes a character in the reader’s mind” (109). Thus if a fleshed-out and true rendering of the zeitgeist of the time was one of Schlesinger’s goals, as it seems to have been, it seems to have brilliantly hit the mark. In one of the more moving and engaging sections of the book, Kennedy is dealing with the fallout of the Civil Rights movement and the specter of integration that many of his fellow democrats from the south were vehemently against. His concern for the black’s plight is demonstrated when is quoted, “What seems terribly important is to get, and keep, as many Negro children as possible in schools… It is too late to get equality for their parents but we can still get it for the children…” when only a few moments earlier stating that he felt Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s march in Birmingham mistimed (971). This juxtaposition of attitude shows a three-dimensional figure throughout the book and allows the reader to see the flaws or cracks in the veneer of Kennedy’s Camelot. Roche likens this approach of reporting events, mixing direct facts with perspective, to the art of monastic chronicling. He describes this format a being “…a composite of perceived truth based on firsthand observation, hearsay from trusted friends, and a variety of rumor…” (117). This keeps the reader engaged and feeling as if he or she is walking through a characterized and fictionalized version of the past while remaining the integrity of the events and their timbre. This approach of so-called monastic chronicling makes for fascinating and powerful reading that leaves little doubt in the reader’s mind as to its credentials. Through the trials of the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the space race with the Russians, and racial tensions, one feels as though they are walking in the shoes of one in the center of it all and as a fly on the wall of the most sanctified meetings. The book, being self-conscious as it is to its own biases from the beginning, very early allows the reader to dismiss him or herself of any guilt in being persuaded by a self-interested party. The feeling seems to be that one can read this chronicle and receive enough of the bona fide truth in the details to forgive any misgivings of subjective reporting. Many critics took issue with some of the more fatuous and bloated self-perceptions the author makes but it seems critical to remember that because the author is not the central figure of the book this does not excessively debilitate the author’s purpose or ability to impart the subject. It would seem then that the author wholly achieves his goal defining the Kennedy administrations and its actions through an internal operative, but may have unnecessarily brought harm to his own reputation. This reverence for the subject of Kennedy’s White House does much to lend to the legend but little to discredit it. A solidly written and substantial work cannot be sundered by minor idiosyncrasies of the writer when the topic is grand above him and the process so fluid. Schlesinger possesses the gift of literary style lacking from many historical texts and it should be applauded that the two have meshed so well here. Bibliography: Graber, John J. “The Combative Chronicler.” Time 17 Dec. 1965:1, 55-60. Hanson, Richard. “Balanced Ledger.” Time 3 Dec. 1965: 106-109. Roche, John P. “A Chronicle of Camelot.” Harper’s Magazine Dec. 1965: 117-118. Word Count: 978
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