Why England Slept
Wilfred Funk | |
Publication date | 1940 |
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Followed by | Profiles in Courage |
Why England Slept (1940) is the published version of a
Rather than castigating the popular appeasement policy that the British government then pursued, it is notable for taking the uncommon stance that if Great Britain had confronted Nazi Germany earlier it would have been far more disastrous for her than the delay caused by the appeasement policies of Chamberlain and other British leaders.
Publication
The book was originally intended to be no more than a college thesis. It was rated
The historian Garry Wills claimed that the assistance amounted to rewriting and retitling the manuscript and finding an agent for its publication.[5] As United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kennedy Sr. supported British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement during the late 1930s. His stance furthering appeasement would eventually cause Kennedy Sr.'s removal as English ambassador, and prove disastrous for his future political aspirations. By contrast, John F. Kennedy broke with his father's support for appeasement, and was moved when he witnessed firsthand the Luftwaffe's bombings of Britain.
Reception
After it was published in 1940, the book sold 80,000 copies in the United Kingdom and the United States and collected $40,000 in royalties for Kennedy. Income from the British sales were donated to Plymouth, a British city that had recently been bombed by the Luftwaffe. Kennedy bought a Buick convertible with the income from the book's North American sales.[3]
Analysis
The book addressed Kennedy's belief in the need for objective and detached calculation in foreign policy decisions. Kennedy historian and foreign relations professor
References
- ^ "Typescript". Jfklibrary.org. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-312-28129-8.
- ^ Alterman, Eric (February 14, 2013). "The journalist and the politician". Columbia Journalism Review.
- ISBN 9780618134434.
- ^ Kennedy believed objectivism should always be used in foreign policy, in Logevall, Fredrik, JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 (2020) New York, Random House, pg. 254.
External links
- Why England Slept New York: W. Funk, 1940