Kennedy bought a Buick convertible with the income from the book's North American sales. Income from the British sales were donated to Plymouth, a British city that had recently been bombed by the Luftwaffe. Kennedy broke with his father's support for appeasement, and was moved when he witnessed firsthand the Luftwaffe's bombings of Britain.Īfter it was published in 1940, the book sold 80,000 copies in the United Kingdom and the United States and collected $40,000 in royalties for Kennedy. His stance furthering appeasement would eventually cause Kennedy Sr.'s removal as English ambassador, and prove disastrous for his future political aspirations.

supported British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement during the late 1930s.

As United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kennedy, Sr. The historian Garry Wills claimed that the assistance amounted to rewriting and retitling the manuscript and finding an agent for its publication. He then enlisted the highly influential publishing magnate Henry Luce to write the foreword, and his friend Arthur Krock, former bureau chief of The New York Times, to assist in redrafting the thesis, which had originally been titled 'Appeasement At Munich.' Kennedy, Sr., keen to elevate his son's reputation, encouraged Kennedy to convert the thesis into book form and publish it. Yeomans and cum laude plus by Professor Carl J. It was rated magna cum laude by Professor Henry A. The book was originally intended to be no more than a college thesis.

Influential publishing magnate Henry Luce wrote the foreword

Kennedy courage book