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Why England Slept (1940) is the published version of a thesis written by John F. Kennedy in his senior year at Harvard College. Its title alludes to Winston Churchill 's 1938 book Arms and the Covenant, published in the United States as While England Slept, which also examined the buildup of German power. [1]
- John F. Kennedy
- 1940
America was still at peace when John F. Kennedy was a senior at Harvard writing WHY ENGLAND SLEPT. Within its pages, JFK outlined the varying factors that led to England's ill-preparedness in the years that led up to the Second World War.
- (270)
- Hardcover
Both works explored why so many in Great Britain ignored the rising threat posed by German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, as they attacked and occupied one European country after...
This folder consists of materials maintained by President John F. Kennedy’s personal secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, prior to and during his presidency. Materials include reviews and correspondence for the book," Why England Slept," by John F. Kennedy.
The thesis, later published as Why England Slept, was a study of the failure of British political leaders in the 1930s to oppose popular resistance to rearming, leaving the country ill-prepared for World War II.
Father Flanagan’s personally signed copy of President John F. Kennedy’s Harvard thesis “Why England Slept” now holds a prominent place in Boys Town’s Hall of History. Watch the video below to learn the amazing story of how it ended up there.
Reviewed by Robert Gale Woolbert. The son of the recently resigned American Ambassador to England seeks to show that the responsibility for the policies which have led Britain to its present parlous state -- appeasement, pacifism, undue optimism and general muddleheadedness -- rests on the British people as a whole, not on any one class or group.
