Report to JFK

In March 1963, President Kennedy asked Richard E. Neustadt to investigate a troubling episode in U.S.-British relations. His confidential report—intended for a single reader, JFK himself, and classified for thirty years—is reproduced in its entirety...

Richard E. Neustadt is Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Emeritus, at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He served as a White House assistant to President Truman and as a consultant on government operations to presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He also is the author of numerous works on presidential power and decision-making.

Report to JFK is a unique and brilliant study of decision-making in Washington and London. Now available more than a third of a century after it was written, it deserves to become a classic.

Philip Zelikow:

Now declassified, Report to JFK offers a marvelous introduction to the personalities and the arcane issues involved, supplemented by Neustadt's new research in the now-opened British archives. His report is both a microstudy of the details that animate real issues in government and a masterpiece of writing.... It also offers a very timely lesson.

Jay Avella, Capella University:

Neustadt's scholarship is well known, and this book will only enhance his already exceptional reputation among serious students of the presidency. But this work goes beyond and takes pains to clarify characters and events for the more casual student of history and international politics.

Myron A. Greenberg:

Neustadt's report will remain a vital primary source for students of the Anglo-American 'special relationship' in nuclear weapons and a superb case study of decision making from top to bottom.... Students of statecraft will forever remain in Professor Neustadt's debt.

Neustadt has written a fascinating book for students of the presidency, national security, and bureaucratic politics.

Alan P. Dobson, University of Dundee:

For anyone interested in Anglo-American relations in the early 1960s, this is a gem. Detailed and well-nuanced narrative combined with a penetrating analysis make for essential and absorbing reading. Once begun, it will not easily be put down.

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.:

Neustadt on Skybolt is a model of applied political science—a brilliant analysis filled with insight, illumination, wisdom, and irony.

An excellent account of a critical issue in U.S.-U.K. relations since World War II.