Battling Wall Street; The Kennedy Presidency

New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1994. First Printing [Stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. ix, [1], 195, [5] pages. Footnotes. Bibliography. Endnotes. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Donald Gibson was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. He served as a communications analyst in the United States Air Force during the 1960s. Don is a Professor of Sociology at the Greensburg campus of the University of Pittsburgh. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware and taught on that campus as well as at Middlebury and Oberlin Colleges. Professor Gibson's research on social power and on U.S. economic problems led him to writing on the administration of John F. Kennedy and related topics around the struggle between economic democracy and elitist oligarchy. Was JFK the tool of the Eastern Establishment, or was he its bitterest enemy? Don Gibson challenges the conventional wisdom and asserts, with powerful support from Kennedy's own words and actions-and those of his enemies-that Kennedy was always on the side of economic, political and social progress. To achieve his goals of government for the people, JFK crossed swords courageously and vigorously with the real centers of power. They punished him with the ultimate sacrifice - his own life, and fifty years of crushing defeats of our American ideals. In this intriguing and penetrating analysis, Gibson looks at what JFK himself said, wrote, and did, contrasting that with the words and actions of his enemies-the Wall Street Journal, Fortune magazine, and the corporate and banking magnates themselves, who, as this book shows, truly despised the President. Conventional wisdom depicts Kennedy as a cautious president committed to the status quo and to the Establishment. This book makes a compelling case to the contrary, showing that President Kennedy was always willing to do battle for his progressive policies, even in the face of vicious attacks. With its clear and lively style, this book is a revelation to the general reader and to the specialist, opening the way to a new understanding of the meaning of Kennedy's legacy. More than thirty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the meaning and the legacy of his presidency are as much the subject of controversy as are the facts of his murder. Was JFK a tool of the Eastern Establishment - of the corporate and banking elites - or was he their bitterest enemy? Did his policies - domestic and international, implemented and unfulfilled serve to continue the domination of the powers-that-be, or did he attempt, and in many cases effect, a break with America's aristocracy? In this intriguing and penetrating analysis, Don Gibson does not simply replay the standard commentaries on the Kennedy presidency, many of which are ill-informed, even if well-meaning. Gibson looks at what JFK himself said, wrote, and did, contrasting that with the words and actions of his enemies-the Wall Street Journal, Fortune magazine, and the corporate and banking magnates themselves, who, as this book shows, truly despised the President. The current conventional wisdom depicts Kennedy as a cautious, even a conservative president, a Tory Democrat committed to the status quo and to the Establishment. But this book makes a compelling case to the contrary, suggesting that President Kennedy was always willing to do battle for his policies, even in the face of vicious attacks. With its clear and lively style, this book is a revelation to the general reader and to the specialist. It also contains strikingly original insights into environmental elitism. It adds a new and important dimension to the ongoing debate over the Kennedy presidency.