Join the Georgia Center for the Book for an evening with Joel Nelson to discuss his new book Kennedy’s Only Hero: How JFK’s Obsession with Winston Churchill Defined His Presidency. He will be in conversation with Joe Crespino.

This event will be in the Auditorium of Decatur Library, on the Ground Floor. Due to our security protocols, guests must enter the building through the upper level, rear doors, and then take the elevator to "G." Elevators open at 6:30. Please arrive early to ensure extra time for security.

About the Book: 

The surprising story of how John F. Kennedy’s obsession with Winston Churchill defined his life, transformed his politics, and helped elevate him to the nation’s highest office.

“A fascinating and discerning exploration of how one iconic twentieth-century leader helped shape the rhetoric and political persona of another.” -Fredrik Logevall, author of JFK

Winston Churchill remains one of the modern age’s most revered leaders. His life has been the subject of decades of mythmaking and scrutiny, and yet few know the powerful sway he had over another twentieth-century political icon—John F. Kennedy. Drawing on deep wells of unpublished archival material, Kennedy’s Only Hero uncovers Kennedy’s obsession with Churchill, whose career, policies, writings, and even daily habits profoundly shaped the future president. Kennedy discovered Churchill’s books as a teenager and by his early twenties had become an unswerving believer in his brilliance. Under Churchill’s influence, Kennedy rejected his own youthful isolationism and adopted the approach to national and international politics that propelled him to the presidency. Although they would not meet until late in their lives, Churchill’s influence on Kennedy’s campaign tactics, speeches, and worldview was overwhelming. Kennedy’s conviction in the power of peace through strength, his faith in summits, his understanding of the importance of rhetoric, and his deep commitment to service and global engagement—all came from Churchill. Kennedy’s Only Hero is an enlightening and deeply human story of an admiration and aspiration that changed the course of history. 

About the Author:

Joel Nelson is a British writer and historian. A former Kennedy Scholar and assistant editor at Foreign Affairs, he lives in London.

About the Conversation Partner:

Joseph Crespino is the Interim Dean of Emory College of Arts and Sciences and the Jimmy Carter Professor of History at Emory University. He is an expert in the political and cultural history of the twentieth century United States, and of the history of the American South since Reconstruction. His research has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Academy of Education. In 2014, he served as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Studies at the University of Tubingen, and he has been named a Distinguished Lecturer by the Organization of American Historians. Crespino has published three books, has co-edited a collection of essays, and has written for academic journals as well as for popular forums such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Politico, and the Wall Street Journal. His most recent book, Atticus Finch: The Biography—Harper Lee, Her Father, and the Making of an American Icon, was published in 2018 by Basic Books. Among his current book projects, Crespino is writing the chapters covering United States history in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries for the textbook America: A Narrative History, co-written with David Emory Shi, Daina Ramey Berry, and Amy Murrell Taylor, published by W.W. Norton.