Description
Book SynopsisThis assessment of the statesmanship, principles, and policies of Robert F. Kennedy places him in the stream of history, to assess what came before his time in political life, what happened during that time, and what happened to his legacy after his assassination. Terrence Edward Paupp evaluates the themes and issues RFK confronted, responded to, and for which he provided visionary solutions.
Paupp first chronicles the influence of Franklin D. Roosevelt''s legacy as a prologue to the New Frontier and Great Society. During Robert F. Kennedy''s time in powerboth in his brother''s administration and on his own in the US Senatehe struggled with striking a balance between power and purpose. In the years after John F. Kennedy''s assassination, RFK emphasized the need to unite power and purpose, national and international concerns, ideals and practice. Much of this has been ignored, Paupp argues, by what C. Wright Mills called the power elite.
In assessing RFK''s statesmanship,
Trade Review
"[A] useful guidebook on the ideas RFK articulated about the direction the nation (and the world) should take and how these ideas dovetail with the policy debates that have followed in the decades since his untimely murder... In our current era of market fundamentalism, pay-to-play politics, and the relentless push by powerful elements of our society to privatize everything from prisons to schools, Paupp's reexamination of Robert Kennedy's legacy in light of our contemporary problems is a welcome study that not only adds to our understanding but perhaps even points the way forward." -Joseph A. Palermo, The Historian "Robert F. Kennedy in the Stream of History isn't just a biography, but blends in history and analysis to provide college-level readers, especially those in political science, with an overall reviews of the thought and work of Robert Kennedy. From what could have happened if the Kennedys had lived beyond the 1960s to how leadership is developed and how Bobby Kennedy pursued social goals beyond his times, this provides a wider-ranging survey than simple biography alone could have achieved; yet is firmly grounded in Kennedy's life as well as his times. Biography and political readers alike will want this!" -Internet Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Foreword by Richard Falk
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 A Transformative Era
2 The Past Is Prologue
3 "No More Vietnams"
4 Seeking Social Justice at Home and Abroad
5 Seeking to Do What Is "Right and Relevant" for the People
6 Confronting Poverty with a New Conception of Democratic Order
7 "Power to the People"
8 Advances and Retreats (1960–2000)
9 Redefining Human Security in an Age of Insecurity
10 The Crisis of "Social Exclusion"
11 "Tribune of the Underclass" and "Global Statesman"
12 The Legacy of FDR and his "Second Bill of Rights"
13 From a "Second Bill of Rights" to a "Second Reconstruction" and a "Global New Deal"
14 An "Alliance for Progress" with the Third World
15 Robert Kennedy's Enduring Legacy
16 Robert Kennedy's Agenda to Empower American Democracy
17 Robert Kennedy's Approach to Modernization and Development
Bibliography
Index
