An update on my Kennedy collection

It had been nine days since I last posted a blog entry. Where I live it is 63 degrees outside and cloudy. A weather forecast for the weekend suggests that a small percentage of rain may occur. It’s a nice evening for a walk and I thought about doing so, but I didn’t want to get unexpectedly rained upon so I have instead decided to remained indoors and type another blog entry to pass the time. I had thought about waiting another month to update my blog, but instead I chose to do it now since I honestly have nothing better to do.

I was originally going to share my origins of my interest in the Kennedys, namely the 35^th President of the United States - John Fitzgerald Kennedy. However, upon rereading this blog entry which is basically an inventory of items I have ordered and desire to have, I have instead chosen to just leave this blog as an update regarding my growing Kennedy collection and tell my story another time. Besides, if I were to attempt to share my story along with the updates of my collection as a prelude, I feel that it would be too much for the reader so this blog entry may only be of interest to bibliophiles and/or collectors of items relating to The Kennedys and/or even the American Presidency.

In my previous blog entry, I was really hoping to acquire a vintage JFK Head Sculpture Robert Berks Replica. A few hours after that blog entry had been posted, the sculpture was sold to someone else who bought it before I could.

Admittedly, I was angry because in my mind, I thought I deserved to own that sculpture. “After all,” I thought, “I’m a bigger admirer of John F. Kennedy than whoever bought it since I’ve met with people who worked with, knew, and were related to President Kennedy. I’m even a member of the JFK Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. I could cite paragraphs of his speeches. The sculpture’s new owner doesn’t know or cares as much as I do. That sculpture should be mine.” Now after having thought about it, I think it may have been a blessing in disguise. Even though the price was reduced to $95.00 with $8.00 in shipping, I think it’s best for me to save my money and I should live within my means. So today I ordered vintage WA Smith busts of President Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy together for $12.00 with $8.00 in shipping which resulted in having saved $80.00.

Granted the busts are not my first choice, but I think I made the right decision, mostly because I saved money. When the busts arrive, I intend to use them to serve as “bookends” only for my collection of PBS DVD documentaries on The Kennedys (no exceptions will be made for films, miniseries, or even other documentaries from other studios even if they are on said family) and to crown my bookshelf which I dedicated to solely for displaying books on John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy Family.
 
Speaking of which, since my last entry, more books that I ordered relating to The Kennedys have arrived with in this past week, which are:

• “The Fitzgerald and The Kennedys” by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• “The Kennedys: America’s Emerald Kings” by Thomas Maier
• “The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy” by David Nasaw
• “Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis” by Robert F. Kennedy
• “The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960–1963” by Michael Beschloss
• “JFK: Reckless Youth” by Nigel Hamilton
• “Jack Kennedy: The Education of a Statesman” by Barbara Leaming
• “PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy” by William Doyle 
• “The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs” by Jim Rasenberger
• “American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race” by Douglas Brinkley
• “America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis” by Sarah Bradford
• “The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family” by Laurence Leamer
• “The Kennedy Men: 1901-​1963” also by Laurence Leamer.
• “Sons & Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy” by Richard D. Mahoney
• “They Were My Friends - Jack, Bob and Ted: My Life In and Out of Politics” by Gerard F. Doherty
• “A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House” by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
• “Let Every Nation Know: John F. Kennedy in His Own Words” by Robert Dallek and Terry Golway (not pictured. Forgot to add it when I took the photo).

That amounts to seventeen books, which in addition to the twenty-two books that I already own, totals the collection to thirty-nine books (all in hardcover with dust jackets). I have five more arriving which are “Prelude to Leadership: The European Diary of John F. Kennedy: Summer 1945,” “Dinner in Camelot: The Night America's Greatest Scientists, Writers, and Scholars Partied at the Kennedy White House” by Joseph A. Esposito, “Why England Slept” by John F. Kennedy, along with “Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch” and “Edward M. Kennedy: An Oral History (Oxford Oral History Series),” which are both by Barbara A. Perry. I should also mention that all the books I ordered where purchased at reduced prices since almost all of them were pre-owned.
 
My regret is that I can’t order more books, not merely because I want to save money (which is a good thing), but because I won’t have any more room to add books like “The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis” Edited by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow, “Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis” by Dino A.​ Brugioni, “Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier by Barbara A. Perry,” “American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family” by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and others. I also want to leave room for Frederik Logevall’s second volume of his two-part biography of John F. Kennedy when it gets published. I could get another bookshelf, but for me that would cost time, money, lots of planning, and costly efforts to acquire one so I will have to settle for what I have… for now.

In other news, my Portrait of John F. Kennedy by Norman Rockwell replica also arrived in the mail today.

I was initially disappointed because I thought it would be larger, but I’ll find a use for it. I might use it to crown my “Kennedy Library” behind my new busts of President and Mrs. Kennedy. I’m going to wait until the busts arrive and then see what arrangements I can make for the setup of my new library. I hope it doesn’t look tacky. I hope that when everything comes together that it will look dignified and that it will give honor and respect to The Kennedys.
 
I have to say that I enjoy this summer project of collecting these books and Kennedy related items. I find it stimulating as I am also learning history at the same time. It strangely helps me to relax and it brings my focus away from negativity and toxic topics which everyone else seems to be fixed upon. I would rather ignore it all and focus on my interests, while learning something new about the past in the hopes of one day sharing what I have learned with people who have similar interests.
 
That seems to be all I have to say in regards to my own updates. I have thought of adding a quote to conclude this blog entry as I have with others. I’m not sure that something I would consider to be inventory and a wish-list would be worthy of one. After some consideration and some searching, I found one I thought would be appropriate to conclude this entry. The words are from former First Lady of the Unites States - Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (although I can’t find the direct source as of yet): “You have to be doing something you enjoy. That is a definition of happiness: Complete use of one's faculties along lines leading to excellence in a life affording them scope. It applies to women as well as to men. We can't all reach it, but we can try to reach it to some degree.”