by Thomas Fensch (Editor), John F. Kennedy (Author)
120 personal letters between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, kept secret until almost the year 2000, have been published for the first time. Begun by Nikita Khrushchev as a vehicle for easier negotiation outside normal dpilomatic channels, these letters show Khrushchev and Kennedy at ease with each other; some are almost "pen-pal" letters. They share congratulations about space achievements, mention vacations and share personal feelings and anecdotes. These letters show them attempting to come to grips with events in Laos and Vietnam, the idea of Berlin as a free city, and most particularly, attempting to solve the Cuban Missile Crisis and finalize the Nuclear test Ban Treaty. These 120 letters are fascinating and instructive and offer extremely valuable insights of these two superpower leaders from 1960-1963. They show not only the personalities of Kennedy and Khrushchev, but their leadership styles, the cultures in which they lived and the cultural and international differences which they attempted to bridge.