He was bright, well briefed and “pointing the country in the right direction” but he caved in too quickly, was prone to indecision and lacked presidential dignity.

He dismissed her critics as envious of her achievements, noting that his mother had brought him up to believe it a “fool’s errand to be jealous of other people’s successes. You should cheer them and then make your own.”[18]

The B-movie actor had won by a landslide on the back of discontent fueled by high inflation, energy prices and interest rates; a backlash against galloping social change on race and sex; and frustration that Washington looked weak abroad.

“Jimmy Carter was one of those outsider presidents,” Kay Graham judged, “who found it difficult to find the right modus operandi for Washington.”[16]

They were “unabashed chauvinists,” according to Kay Graham,

Pamela noted how Kennedy men showed more consideration to their children than their wives—or women generally.

Pamela’s strategic sex life is now recognized by scholars of diplomacy and war as “politically significant.”[46] She is considered a master of the game, one that muted the distinctions between loyalty to Washington and to London, creating a supreme and (relatively) integrated war machine.

His greatest critic, Winston Churchill, was widely ridiculed when he declared, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.” Churchill’s views on Hitler polarized the country but the

His greatest critic, Winston Churchill, was widely ridiculed when he declared, “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour and you will have war.” Churchill’s views on Hitler polarized the country but the