Mark K. Updegrove

Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency, by Mark K Updegrove, is a balanced deep dive specifically into Kennedy's presidency.

Like many people of my age one of my earliest memories beyond family is JFK's assassination and funeral. While my mother had left Catholicism my grandmother still had every book, serious and coffee table, and growing up I read them all on vacation. As an adult I've kept up with the periods of adoration and accusation thrown his way, much of both justified, much not. This book offers a nice look that, while ultimately praising his willingness to learn and adapt, doesn't shy away from his blemishes either.

The strength of this book, if you're interested specifically in Kennedy, is that enough detail is given to illustrate his decision making and his thinking but doesn't get into the details that would be included in a book about the actual events. In other words, the book is about Kennedy and how he evolved during his short time in office, not about the crises or policies themselves and the way they played out in detail. There are plenty of such books, and they are great reads for the most part, but they are about those events, not Kennedy's Presidency.

I make that distinction because if you've read books about the various events, the Bay of Pigs for instance, you will know more detail about it than is in this book. That is not a weakness, those other books, while discussing what Kennedy did, were not focused on Kennedy but on the incident. So fewer details here is not a weakness of this book any more than fewer details about Kennedy's growth in those other books are weaknesses of those.

I liked this book primarily because it was focused, both on a short period of time and a very specific purpose. Putting the information, much of it already familiar to me, in this type of narrative allowed me to think more specifically about him rather than each incident or policy.

I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in the Kennedy's. Because the focus of the book is narrow you will see facts you already knew in a different light.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (plus d'informations)

I learned about politics when I was nine years old and a friend asked me who my parents were voting for. If we weren’t for Kennedy, it meant we were Protestants and going to hell. I had no idea what she was talking about. I was clueless about politics and religion. I had to go home and ask my mom. She was voting for Kennedy, but we were going to hell anyways.

I was ten when the adults were riveted to the television, fearful of nuclear war. Now I know that was the Cuban Missile Crisis. We had a drill at school where we filed into the school basement and sat along the walls. And when I was eleven, I walked home from school in tears, and a few days later we gathered around the television to watch Kennedy’s funeral.

These moments were my earliest knowledge of the world beyond my family and school friends.

As an adult, I have struggled with the image and the reality of President John F. Kennedy. He was wildly popular and deified after his death, and yet he has been revealed as a very flawed man. Exactly what is his legacy? Was he a good leader, or a failure? What is his legacy?

Incomparable Grace by Mark K. Updegrove is an insightful, concise consideration of JFK’s presidency, his strengths and his weaknesses. This very readable and enjoyable history is a great introduction.

JFK come into the presidency with a number of challenges in place, civil and economic and international. The generals were more hawkish toward the Soviets. The economy was stalling. As a democrat, he needed to keep the Southern vote while reacting to the Civil Rights movement. America needed to respond to the Soviet’s advancements in space. Few thought that he had the experience to met the challenges.

JFK’s mishandling of the Bay of Pigs, Updegrove shows, led to Khrushchev to send missiles to Cuba. JFK’s equanimity successfully brought resolution. He was slow in responding to Civil Rights and Vietnam, perhaps waiting until reelection to take more controversial steps. He stood up to US Steel president Roger Blough when he proposed to raise steel prices, forcing him to capitulate. (Blough was a college friend of my grandfather!) The move was seen as anti-business, causing markets to plummet.

Updegrove reminded me of why JFK was so well liked and inspirational. He was young and good-looking. His wife was glamorous and intelligent and a trendsetter. Photographs showed them as a happy family. His speeches and vision were inspirational. He represented a new America, a younger America, a more hopeful America. He had a moral vision for America.

So let us begin anew–remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never feat to negotiate.
President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address quoted in Incomparable Grace by Mark J. Updegrove

Even when he failed, he took responsibility, making him even more likeable.

Patriarch Joe Kennedy set the standard for being a Kennedy, which included womanizing, JFK’s great moral failing; he became involved with a teenaged White House college intern. Reliance on family loyalty was a Kennedy creed; JFK’s brother Bobby became his Attorney General and nearly a co-president. In life-long continual pain, JFK never complained, tapping into the Kennedy pride of strength.

Who was this man, and why has he consistently be rated as one of the best presidents? Updegrove quotes JFK’s statement, “All I want people to say about me is what they said about John Adams–He kept the peace.” It’s a good legacy.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.… (plus d'informations)

"​The Last Republicans​" provides an intimate look at President George H.W. Bush (#41) and his son, George W. Bush (#43). This is not an expose` in any way, and many of the more controversial events and actions of the Bush Presidents are glossed over.

Many people think of the senior Bush as growing up with a silver spoon in his mouth, privileged and pampered, and of the junior Bush as bumbling businessman who would have never succeeded without the family connections and influence. That may not be too far fetched, but Mark Updegrove gives a fuller description of their backgrounds and upbringing, and gives the reader a different and more favorable perspective.

Updegrove did an especially good job of changing the widely-held perspective of the younger Bush President. Few Presidents, perhaps other than Richard Nixon who resigned in disgrace, left office with a lower approval rating than Bush #43. Despite the low approval rating at the end of his Presidency, Updegrove presents "W" as a sincere and likeable man, more nuanced and brighter than how he was perceived in December, 2008.

​Less surprisingly, George H. W.​ B​ush is shown to truly be a man of principle, dedicated to serving his Nation, and a strong family leader. ​The book highlights the closeness of the extended Bush family, and shows how supportive the family has always been.

​Left unsaid, but implied in the book's title, is that these men may be the last of their kind. Many now feel that the current direction of the Republican Party has tilted from the Bush principled conservatism and the family lifelong desire to serve their Nation for the good of all, toward a less inclusive, more divisive path, with the faces of the Party now represented by leaders such as Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, ​Roy Moore, ​Ted Cruz​, etc. Those who prefer the G.O.P. of the past few decades should enjoy this ​generous and positive ​look back at the Bush family.… (plus d'informations)

4245 Second Acts Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House, by Mark K. Updegrove (read 15 Dec 2006) This is a well-done account of the post-presidential years of Truman, Eisenhower, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush 41, and Clinton, and it was a joy to read. The author does a very good job telling of the events of the time after each was president. He is generally favorable to each, though he tells of the bad as well as the good. But in general one feels kindly toward each man after reading the account of his time after he was president. Just good reading and a very enjoyable book.… (plus d'informations)