Person

John F. Kennedy

Related Excerpts

Children in the Kennedy family labeled with their named.

Hijacking the Kennedys

Only one cousin is in a position of power — and his family can only watch helplessly as he destroys much that they stood for.
A teacher holds a students feet while the student does situps as part of a fitness test.

Can President Trump Run a Mile?

By reviving the Presidential Fitness Test, Trump is joining his predecessors in setting forth a competition that he would likely fail at.
Donald Trump, flanked by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others, shows executive order restarting the Presidential Fitness Test

What’s Behind Trump’s New (Old) Physical-Fitness Test?

He misrepresented the history of the gym-class test. I know because I served on the council that helped modernize it.
Joseph Pilates and Romana Kryzanowska illustration of them doing pilates.

Bodies by Joe

With his strange machines and an uncanny, intuitive understanding of muscles, Joseph Pilates created a new technique for improving strength and movement.
John F. Kennedy meeting with Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, 1961.

The Way We Understand the Cold War Is Wrong

People tend to assume they know exactly what the Cold War was and when it ended. Anders Stephanson argues that this standard chronology doesn’t fit the facts.
Donald Trump; Alexander Hamilton.

Trump Is Hamiltonian, Not Jacksonian

He believes in Federalist 70’s “Energy in the Executive.”
Collage of Richard Nixon and vintage images of mushroom clouds.

The President’s Weapon

Why does the power to launch nuclear weapons rest with a single American?
Israeli nuclear power plant.

How Israel Deceived the United States About Its Nuclear Weapons Program

Israel is attacking Iran’s nuclear sites, but Tehran’s secret path was blazed by the Israelis.
An eraser erasing a drawing of man.

R.F.K., Jr., Anthony Fauci, and the Revolt Against Expertise

It used to be progressives who distrusted the experts. What happened?
American soldiers in Vietnam.

If You’ve Watched Ken Burns’ Vietnam Documentary, Do You Need Netflix’s?

I, a historian of the Vietnam War, have watched the Turning Point treatment. I have some notes.
John F. Kennedy and George McGovern discuss Food for Peace.
partner

How Foreign Aid Can Benefit Both the U.S. and the World

Food for Peace exemplifies the value of internationalism and humanitarian endeavors in American foreign policy.
Declassified and redacted White House top secret documents.

JFK Files: Revelations from the Covert Operations High Command

Special Group and PFIAB meeting minutes provide dramatic view of CIA operations.
Man working on a farm.

RFK Jr.’s 18th-Century Idea About Mental Health

The health secretary’s clearest plans for psychiatric treatment are a retreat to the past.
A crowd of Black children walking into school.

How Delayed Desegregation Deprived Black Children of Their Right to Education

On the ongoing battle to desegregate schools across America throughout the 1960s.
Volunteers at a camp for internally displaced people in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, carry wheat flour donated by USAID in 2021.

USAID’s History Shows Decades of Good Work on Behalf of America’s Global Interests

USAID started in the 1960s as a way to offset the spread of communism. Since then, it has had various other soft-power benefits for the US.
Document stamped "classified."

Trump Breaks Washington’s Secrecy Addiction

The president is right to release the Kennedy files.
<p>Earth rising over the Moon, captured by Lunar Orbiter 1, 1966. Courtesy NASA/<a href="https://www.planetary.org/articles/1238" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Planetary Society</a></p>

How the Scientists of the 1960s Turned the Moon into a Place

For most of history, the Moon was regarded as a mysterious and powerful object. Then scientists made it into a destination.
A worker removes the U.S. Agency for International Development sign from its headquarters on February 7.

Seeds of Mistrust

Musk and Trump are capitalizing on decades of confusion and broken promises to lay waste to a crucial agency.
Sign along empty road reading "Private Road No Entry" in Hebrew and English.

How Israel Deceived the U.S. and Built the Bomb

Newly declassified documents reveal how Israel operated under the noses of U.S. inspectors.
Perle Mesta laughing at a dinner party.

Washington’s Hostess with the Mostes’

Dinner parties in the capital have long been a path to power, but Perle Mesta had her eye on a different prize.