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by John F. Kennedy (Author), Kirk Lemoyne Billings (Author)
Twenty-four years before becoming president of the United States, John F. Kennedy undertook a grand tour of Europe. Together with his friend and traveling companion, Lem Billings, they left a record of their stay in the old continent, which was then falling into a terrifying wave of totalitarian regimes. Until now hidden in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, these student diaries from 1937 form a faithful image of Kennedy's point of view during a trip that was key to formulating his later ideas on democracy and thus leading the Cold War . And although it exposes some erroneous conclusions and judgments about the political panorama of the time, it also raises highly topical reflections on populism, propaganda and their powerful effects on society. With numerous archive photographs, an introduction by the director of the RAE, Santiago Muñ oz Machado, and an epilogue by Professor Oliver Lubrich, here the unadulterated writings of JFK's diary are reproduced in their entirety in his encounter with a Europe tormented by Nazism.
Author Biography
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963), known as John F. Kennedy and later known by his initials "JFK", was a politician of the Democratic Party who served as the thirty-fifth president of the United States from 1961 to 1963. During his tenure, during the height of the Cold War, historic events occurred such as the Bahí a Cochinos invasion, the Cuban crisis, the construction of the Berlin Wall, the beginning of manned space travel, the escalation of the Vietnam War and the African American Civil Rights Movement. Kirk LeMoyne Billings (1916-1981), nicknamed "Lem," was a high school friend of JFK and a close confidant throughout his life. As students, they undertook a long journey together during the summer of 1937 through France, Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and England. Both kept diaries that are published in this volume for the first time. After finishing his studies at Princeton University and Harvard Business School, Lem Billings worked as an entrepreneur in the advertising sector. He helped Kennedy in his electoral campaigns and in different capacities during his presidency
