A 2010 Gallup poll asking Americans to assess the last nine presidents gave John F. Kennedy the highest ranking and highest approval rating at 85 percent.
Historian Robert Dallek- who the New York Times called Kennedy’s leading biographer, whose JFK biography An Unfinished Life was a number 1 New York Times best seller- was somewhat amused by this appraisal. For while he admired Kennedy tenured, Dallek’s own in depth study of the man and his presidency offered him a new assessment of his achievements and flaws.
The poll rekindled his interest in Kennedy’s leadership and he decided to revisit the subject in his new book Camelot’s Court: Inside the Kennedy White House.