Hugh Sidey Discusses Book at Kennedy School

Young John F. Kennedy '40 traveled through Europe in the summer of 1945, recording his perceptions of the end of World War II in a private diary.

American presidential historian and journalist Hugh Sidey presented this diary, published in the book Prelude to Leadership, for the first time ever in a speech at the Kennedy School yesterday.

Addressing an audience of about 60, Sidey introduced the book and went on to describe his own relations with Kennedy.

The diary, according to Sidey, covers "a period in Kennedy's life that is relatively unknown." The diary reveals a perceptiveness, about both politics and people, that would later characterize Kennedy's presidency.

"I saw a man who was intensely curious about this country," Sidey said.

But the journalist spent most of his speech relating anecdotes of his encounters with Kennedy.

Sidey, who has covered the last nine presidents and served as Washington Bureau Chief of Time magazine, first met Kennedy as a young journalist in 1958 and got to know him well as a senator, and later, a president.

Above all, Sidey emphasized Kennedy's charisma.

"Anybody who gets to that level is extraordinary in some way," he said.

Describing the glamour that surrounded Kennedy, Sidey discussed the central role that fashion and appearance played in his presidency.

"Theater was very important to him--how he looked and how he talked," Sidey said.

He described an incident when Gentleman's Quarterly nominated the president and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy '48, as the best-dressed men in the country. President Kennedy joked that he qualified, but his brother did not.

Sidey said the closeness that he achieved with the president is a virtually impossible feat for journalists today.

"I violated every journalistic rule raised in recent years or that are taught in class," Sidey said. "My job was to learn as much as possible about what went on inside."