Tempting All the Gods: Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to Great Britain, 1938-1940
Tempting All the Gods is a detailed study of Joseph P. Kennedy’s diplomatic career in London. It examines Kennedy’s role as ambassador to the Court of St. James’s from 1938-1940, a crucial time in world history. It describes his attitudes toward American foreign policy before the outbreak of war and after the war began, explains why he held those views, and assesses their impact on Anglo-American relations. It also looks at the diplomatic background against which he worked, at the political philosophies and personalities of the statesmen with whom he dealt, and at his relations with them, particularly President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill. Here the reader will find a meticulously researched account of Kennedy’s career based on the latest evidence available, providing a current and balanced historical reassessment. Scholars will be able to study Kennedy’s diplomatic career within the broader context of international relations and also to gain a fuller understanding of his view of his own motives and policies, including an understanding of why the ambassadorship was the greatest achievement—with the poorest outcome—in the varied life of an intensely ambitious man who was dedicated foremost to family, friends, and fortune. This book will prove significant to students of Anglo-American relations and of World War II, and to the general public, with its enduring fascination with the Kennedy family.
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Tempting All the Gods: Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to Great Britain, 1938-1940
Tempting All the Gods is a detailed study of Joseph P. Kennedy’s diplomatic career in London. It examines Kennedy’s role as ambassador to the Court of St. James’s from 1938-1940, a crucial time in world history. It describes his attitudes toward American foreign policy before the outbreak of war and after the war began, explains why he held those views, and assesses their impact on Anglo-American relations. It also looks at the diplomatic background against which he worked, at the political philosophies and personalities of the statesmen with whom he dealt, and at his relations with them, particularly President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill. Here the reader will find a meticulously researched account of Kennedy’s career based on the latest evidence available, providing a current and balanced historical reassessment. Scholars will be able to study Kennedy’s diplomatic career within the broader context of international relations and also to gain a fuller understanding of his view of his own motives and policies, including an understanding of why the ambassadorship was the greatest achievement—with the poorest outcome—in the varied life of an intensely ambitious man who was dedicated foremost to family, friends, and fortune. This book will prove significant to students of Anglo-American relations and of World War II, and to the general public, with its enduring fascination with the Kennedy family.
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Tempting All the Gods: Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to Great Britain, 1938-1940

Tempting All the Gods: Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to Great Britain, 1938-1940

by Jane Karoline Vieth
Tempting All the Gods: Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to Great Britain, 1938-1940

Tempting All the Gods: Joseph P. Kennedy, Ambassador to Great Britain, 1938-1940

by Jane Karoline Vieth

Hardcover(1)

$59.95 
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Overview

Tempting All the Gods is a detailed study of Joseph P. Kennedy’s diplomatic career in London. It examines Kennedy’s role as ambassador to the Court of St. James’s from 1938-1940, a crucial time in world history. It describes his attitudes toward American foreign policy before the outbreak of war and after the war began, explains why he held those views, and assesses their impact on Anglo-American relations. It also looks at the diplomatic background against which he worked, at the political philosophies and personalities of the statesmen with whom he dealt, and at his relations with them, particularly President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill. Here the reader will find a meticulously researched account of Kennedy’s career based on the latest evidence available, providing a current and balanced historical reassessment. Scholars will be able to study Kennedy’s diplomatic career within the broader context of international relations and also to gain a fuller understanding of his view of his own motives and policies, including an understanding of why the ambassadorship was the greatest achievement—with the poorest outcome—in the varied life of an intensely ambitious man who was dedicated foremost to family, friends, and fortune. This book will prove significant to students of Anglo-American relations and of World War II, and to the general public, with its enduring fascination with the Kennedy family.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781611863901
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Publication date: 09/01/2021
Edition description: 1
Pages: 588
Product dimensions: 7.20(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Jane Karoline Vieth is professor emerita of history at Michigan State University, where she taught courses in British history and World War II. She has presented many papers on the ambassadorship of Joseph P. Kennedy and published articles and book chapters on him and on American foreign policy.

Table of Contents

Foreword William R. Rock vii

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xv

Chapter 1 The Irish Prince 1

Chapter 2 The Lion's Mouth 39

Chapter 3 Shirt-Sleeve Diplomacy: Trade, Treaties, Troubles 81

Chapter 4 Peace for Our Time 115

Chapter 5 Into an Abyss 143

Chapter 6 Peace at Any Price 173

Chapter 7 It's the End of the World… The End of Everything… 211

Chapter 8 This Is Not Our Fight 243

Chapter 9 England at Bay 267

Chapter 10 Very Well, Alone 297

Chapter 11 To Be and Not to Be 347

Conclusion 391

Notes 403

Bibliography 536

Index 548

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