To Move The World: JFK's Quest for Peace

Description

An inspiring look at the historic foreign policy triumph of John F. Kennedy's presidency- the crusade for world peace that consumed his final year in office The inspiring story of JFK, the Cold War, and the power of oratory to change the course of history. John F. Kennedy's last great campaign was not the battle for re-election that he did not live to wage, but the struggle for a sustainable peace with the Soviet Union. To Move the World recalls the extraordinary days from October 1962 to September 1963, when JFK marshaled the power of oratory and his astonishing political skills towards that end. Jeffrey Sachs shows how Kennedy emerged from the Cuban Missile Crisis with the determination and capabilities to forge a new direction for the world. Together, he and the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, both deeply affected by this near-death experience, would pull the world away from the nuclear precipice and chart a path for future peacemakers. During his final year in office Kennedy gave a series of speeches in which he sought to argue, against widespread pessimism, that peace with the Soviets was possible. He used his great gifts of persuasion on multiple fronts - with fractious allies, hawkish Republican congressmen, and dubious members of his own administration - to persuade America, the Soviet Union, and the world that cooperation between the superpowers was both realistic and necessary. To Move the World gives us a startlingly fresh perspective on Kennedy's presidency and an inspiring model for strong leadership and problem solving in our time.

Jeffrey Sachs is an economist and the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became renowned his work throughout the developing world and on the challenges of economic development, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation and globalization. He has twice been named one of Time magazine's '100 Most Influential People in the World'. He has authored numerous books, including The End of Poverty and Common Wealth, both New York Times bestsellers. Jeffrey D. Sachs is Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and the global best-selling author of The End of Poverty. He is also the BBC's Reith Lecturer for 2007 and is internationally renowned for his work as an economic advisor to governments around the world.

"This book is more than merely an exegesis of the major speeches of the last year of the Kennedy presidency. Rather, it presents Kennedy's approach to achieving peace as a model for leaders of today. . . . The book is rife with lessons for the current administration, given its virtual deadlock with Congress on issues including, but not limited to, gun legislation, the United Nations Treaty on Disabilities, immigration reform. . . . We cannot know how many more steps might have been taken under Kennedy's leadership, but "To Move the World" urges us to continue on the journey."--"Chicago Tribune""In this careful study, Sachs zeroes in on four key speeches Kennedy delivered in the months prior to his assassination. . . . JFK, together with gifted speechwriter Ted Sorensen--his 'intellectual alter ego'--set out a strategy for nations to live in 'mutual tolerance, ' with ramifications that extend into the twenty-first century. . . . While sound bites of the Kennedy-Sorensen collaboration echo in modern classrooms--'Ask not what your country can do for you'--the messages in these four speeches seem all too pertinent today."--"Publishers Weekly""After years trying to work out how underperforming economies can reach their full potential, [Jeffrey D. Sachs] has taken time out to offer an act of homage to his childhood hero--John F. Kennedy. And he has singled out one of JFK's speeches for particular praise. . . . The true masterpiece, he believes, was a speech delivered to the American University in Washington DC in June 1963 and generally referred to as the Peace Speech. Sachs has come up with an argument making the case that the Peace Speech deserves wider recognition. . . . Why then does Sachs see the Peace Speech as so important? As he convincingly argues, it is all about context. Before the speech, he says, both sides had unrelentingly used Cold War rhetoric. In the last year of his life, emboldened by his success in defusing the Cuban missile cris