Remarkable hand-corrected typed manuscript with a lengthy handwritten passage at the conclusion, unsigned, nine pages, 7.75 x 11, no date. The long handwritten portion, penned on both sides of the final page, in part (spelling and grammar retained): “Democ can’t change its ideas overnight unless severely shocked—not shocked as Germany did not do anything that England did not regard as something that while unfortunate in name was allright in principle. The persecution of the Jews aroused more animosity than the march at the Rhineland…Frequent articles showing Ger[many] could not win any war etc & victory in World War gave feeling of confidence. Took time to change—Abyssinia same—not ready till Munich.
Up to 1936—good but have & reassured. Now they were converted but only to the need for it. Not willing to make sacrifices until 1938. This 1/2 attitude spelt disaster as…would take 3 years. What’s the solution—acknowledge I dictator in changing P.O. & also in putting his energies and effort to work. How can you have democ complete. Looks as though you cant. They have not had our natural resources made them willing to accept it. Maybe in the future we will have England too rich & well off to accept the hardships in 1936.” In addition to this handwritten passage, Kennedy makes numerous pencil corrections and revisions throughout the manuscript. In overall fine condition, with some toning and small edge tears.
This is undoubtedly some type of draft related to John F. Kennedy’s 1940 Harvard thesis, Why England Slept, which was then published as a book with the encouragement of his father. The book examines the years leading up to World War II and the measures taken—or not taken—by England to extinguish the German threat before it developed into world war. Unlike most, he did not criticize Great Britain’s policy of appeasement toward Germany; the first example of German aggression came in March 1936 with their “march at the Rhineland,” an act that violated the Treaty of Versailles. Kennedy also alludes to the Abyssinia Crisis and Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935–36, and the Munich Agreement in 1938 by which England permitted the German annexation of the Sudetenland. Pre-certified PSA/DNA.
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