Joel Nelson, Author of Kennedy’s Only Hero

Joel Nelson, Author and Former Editor at Foreign Affairs

 Moderator: Maj. Gen. Walter Givhan, (Ret.), ALWAC President.

231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL.

Reception at 5:30 pm CT, briefing at 6:15 pm, and question time till 7:30 pm.

Webinar via Zoom: login and social time, from 5:45 pm CT. 

In this talk, author Joel Nelson will present his book Kennedy’s Only Hero (PublicAffairs), which details John F. Kennedy’s lifelong obsession with Winston Churchill. Nelson explains how Kennedy first became interested in Churchill in 1932, how Churchill's books persuaded Kennedy to abandon appeasement in 1939, and how Kennedy took his political positions from Churchill from that point forward. The presentation addresses core issues in 20th-century foreign policy and the Anglo-American relationship, examining how the United States engaged with the world across the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as seen through the actions of Churchill and Kennedy.

About the Speaker
Joel Nelson is a former editor at Foreign Affairs and the author of Kennedy’s Only Hero. He studied history at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Harvard University. His work on post-World War II international relations and grand strategy has earned advance praise from Pulitzer Prize winner Fredrik Logevall, Churchill: Walking with Destiny author Andrew Roberts, Daughters of Yalta author Catherine Katz, and Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations Max Boot.