Alistair Cooke's Copy
KENNEDY, John F.; Allan NEVINS (editor). The Strategy of Peace. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1960.
8vo. Original black cloth boards with title lettering in red and orange to spine, in dust-wrapper; pp. [xviii], 233, [7]; wrapper with 2 closed marginal tears (repaired from the inside) and minor wear to upper outer corner of the fold, few nicks and short closed tears to edges, small chip to foot of spine; light toning to endpapers, otherwise near fine; Alistair Cooke’s ownership inscription “Alistair Cooke NYC ‘60” to front free endpaper, and his bookplate to front pastedown; with a John F. Kennedy’s U.S. Senate visiting cards signed in ink “Jack Kennedy” stapled to the verso of front free endpaper.
First edition, broadcaster Alistair Cooke’s own copy, with a signed visiting card of JFK.
The Strategy of Peace was published in the year of an historically tight presidential election campaign that ran against the backdrop of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. It highlights both domestic and foreign policies and is an important document of the ideological underpinnings of Kennedy’s victorious campaign.
The title of the book became a core Kennedy mantra. It was re-used for a lecture given in 1963 at the American University in Washington D.C. considered by many to be one of the most important speeches Kennedy delivered. It contains his exhortation to the Soviet Union to resist nuclear arms, an extraordinary plea for peace at very height of the Cold War.
Provenance: From the library of Alistair Cooke (1908-2004), North America correspondent for the BBC. His Letters from America radio programme remains the longest-running speech broadcast hosted by an individual (1946-2004).
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