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Berlin 1961 (2011)

by Frederick Kempe(Favorite Author)

3.99 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0399157298 (ISBN13: 9780399157295)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Putnam Adult

review 1: Slow and overwrought. And the fixation on dinging/damaging Kennedy is weird and forced. I understand the need to have a "thesis" for something like this, but once Kempe drops his--which is basically that Kennedy was a disaster and could have ended the Soviet Union in 1961 without firing a shot--it becomes hard to trust his reporting or sense of scope on other matters. Mr. Kempe makes a big stink about a suggestion, made after the fact, that the U.S. could have bowled the wall over with tanks when construction began. This would have caused, in Mr. Kempe's mind, the Soviets to just back down, and eventually agree to reunification. Given Khrushchev's obsession with Berlin, that seems like a stretch. Obviously there's no saying what ripple effect a more direct confrontation... more in Berlin would have had, but Mr. Kempe's fantasy that the Soviets would have wet themselves and backed off seems pretty unlikely. And the alternative, just as likely if not more, was pretty damned devastating. Both the U.S. and USSR were convinced that the time might come, any day, for a preemptive nuclear strike. Kennedy was presented plans for either (a) a massive strike on Russia, killing 100 million, and STILL leaving some potential for the USSR to wipe out Paris; or (b) a lesser strike, killing 1 million or so, with far higher odds of a full on nuclear war. Mr. Kempe wants us to think that Berlin was THE turning point, that it emboldened Khrushchev to put missiles in Cuba, and allowed the communist bloc to stay afloat by ending the refugee problem with the GDR. But his reporting undermines that. If anything, Berlin seems more like a necessary cog in the process--Khrushchev treated Berlin as the whole ballgame, was hellbent on fixing the refugee problem, and all of his allies/political pressure points were pushing him towards MORE provocation; Kennedy wasn't sure Berlin was worth starting a world war, most of his allies agreed, and those that didn't expected the U.S. to bear the entire brunt of any action. Given that wild imbalance of incentives, it is not hard to see why things played out the way they did (and why Kennedy did show sufficient "backbone" when the incentive on his end was upped significantly a year later in Cuba).
review 2: "Berlin 1961" is a fascinating read that has you feeling the zeitgeist. It also reaffirms my belief that Kennedy was the most over-hyped and under-performing president in history (this hyperbole is consistent with that of his administration - where everyone was a "genius" and the issues were the most complicated and serious ever). What is clear is that Kennedy was not up to the job during the first year of his presidency. He deserves a position with George Bush the Younger, among presidents of the last 50 years, as the worst president. Each left the country and world in much worse condition than it was when they assumed power. The book also restores my conviction that Ronald Reagan will be remembered as one of the great presidents in history. He helped America and Europe get out of the mess Kennedy helped create.I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the cold war years. It is well researched and thorough. It keeps its focus on a small part of world events, but covers them well and is very entertaining. less

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