“Jack’s Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy,”
by Doreen Rappaport, illustrated by Matt Tavares.
Hyperion Books, New York, 2010, 32 pages, Grades 2-4.
Fifty years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. This event shocked and stunned the nation and the entire world. Kennedy embodied hope and faith in the future of mankind. His eloquent speeches and appealing family seemed to speak to the best parts of the country’s heritage. The tragic events in Dallas stole the life of this promising president and shattered the innocence of the nation. Doreen Rappaport traces the life of John F. Kennedy in this fine biography. Readers will better understand the Kennedy family, the issues that motivated John Kennedy to succeed, and the physical challenges Kennedy endured to become president.
John Kennedy was born into a wealthy Irish/American family in 1917. Growing up in Boston, Jack, as he was called within the family lived a privileged life that included beautiful homes in the city and on the seashore. With three brothers and five sisters, the Kennedy’s were a vivacious family. The father, Joseph Kennedy, is determined to have his family be exceptionally successful. The oldest brother, Joseph Jr., seems preordained to become a successful politician. He and Jack vie with each other in studies and sports, with Joseph usually besting his younger brother. Jack turns to reading and study as well as sports to develop himself. Unfortunately, Jack injures his back in sports and begins to suffer lifelong pain from the event. Jack takes his senior thesis in college and rewrites it. Assisted by a newspaper reporter, Jack produces the highly acclaimed book, Why England Slept. With the outbreak of World War Two, both Joe and Jack Kennedy enlist in the military. Joe is a bomber pilot and Jack is a PT attack boat commander. In August 1943 Joe is killed in a plane explosion, and Jack’s PT boat is rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer. Kennedy’s back is further injured in this attack on the PT boat. Demonstrating heroic courage, Kennedy saves the lives of a crewman by literally holding the man’s life belt line in his teeth and swimming some four miles to a nearby island. Luckily the island had not been occupied by the Japanese and Kennedy manages to keep his crew focused on being rescued. After a number of days, the PT crew is rescued and Jack Kennedy is awarded three medals for his valor.
When the war ends in 1945, Jack returns to Boston and enters politics. He is quickly elected to the House of Representatives and later the United States Senate. His painful back injuries continue to plague Kennedy throughout his time in Congress. Once when recuperating from back pain, he writes the highly acclaimed book, “Profiles in Courage.” While receiving some editorial assistance from his speech writer, Ted Sorensen, the book is Kennedy’s creation. The book won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. Interestingly enough, Sorensen is from Lincoln, Nebraska. Rappaport concludes this well written biography with an account of Kennedy’s presidency and a sympathetic treatment of the assassination.
Most people over 60 years old have a snapshot memory of where they were when they heard news of John Kennedy’s assassination. I was in the seventh grade class of Sister Borgia at St. Patrick’s Grade School. We were shocked and stunned beyond words. It was like part of our lives had been torn away as well. Rappaport tells this story of John Kennedy with insight and compassion. The illustrations are realistic and illuminating. I hope you get a chance to read this fine biography with your family. It will be well worth your time and provide a needed historical bridge for the young people in your family. May you rest in peace President Kennedy.
