PT 109

October 12, 2015
Doyle (American Gun, with Chris Kyle) uses archival research and access to J.F.K.'s own unpublished account of the 1943 sinking of the naval vessel he commanded in the South Pacific to offer new details about the story that made Kennedy a wartime hero. The facts are dramatic. In the dark of night, a Japanese destroyer split the patrol torpedo boat in half. Of the 13 men aboard, two were killed and their bodies were never recovered. The survivors, led by the 25-year-old J.F.K., endured a harrowing week. Crewmember Patrick McMahon was badly burned, and Kennedy swam for four hours, dragging McMahon by his life jacket. The first island they reached was devoid of drinking water or food, and Kennedy swam out to a nearby passage to try to flag down a passing American boat. Eventually, with the aid of some Solomon Islanders, all 11 were rescued. While there are those who believe the disaster could have been averted in the first place, Kennedy's heroic efforts afterwards are not in dispute. Doyle, who admits to being a Kennedy partisan, nonetheless offers a balanced account, and explains how this incident paid a major role in propelling J.F.K. into the White House. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor.

October 15, 2015

Doyle (coauthor, Navy SEALs) presents a gripping account of John F. Kennedy's monumental test of leadership and survival during World War II, and how his actions set him on the path to political greatness. During the summer of 1943, Kennedy commanded PT 109, a modest Navy torpedo warship. In the hostile waters off the Solomon Islands he skippered missions mainly aimed at sinking Japanese supply vessels. On August 2, virtually without warning, a Japanese destroyer struck and severely damaged PT 109--thus beginning an intense struggle by Kennedy and his crew for survival. The young officer guided his men as they swam through shark-infested seas to an uninhabited island. From the island, although plagued with severe back pain, Kennedy swam solo into enemy territory to signal for recovery. Numerous retellings of this wartime calamity have been generated including John Domagalski's Into the Dark Water, which focuses on the history of the vessel. VERDICT Using new material, such as firsthand interviews with surviving key players, Doyle traces Kennedy's bravery and recklessness, both of which ultimately resulted in his crew reaching safety. Military buffs and Kennedy followers will find the president's wartime heroics compelling. [See Prepub Alert, 11/17/14.]--Mary Jennings, Camano Island Lib., WA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2015
The making of war hero John F. Kennedy. On Aug. 2, 1943, during the fighting in the South Pacific, a Japanese destroyer rammed PT-109, splitting the radarless torpedo boat in half, killing two sailors, and leaving 11 survivors in a fiery inferno, including its young skipper, JFK. The ensuing seven-day survival ordeal "forever transformed" Kennedy and paved the way for his elections to Congress (1947) and the presidency (1961). In this fast-paced narrative, veteran nonfiction writer Doyle (co-author: Navy SEALs: Their Untold Story, 2014, etc.) tells the familiar story of the charismatic JFK's inspiring wartime leadership, offering no revelations but plenty of context. Just the year before, Joe Kennedy, master manipulator, patriarch of the superwealthy family, and former U.S. ambassador to England, had summoned an earlier PT boat hero, John Bulkeley, who had famously helped Gen. Douglas MacArthur escape from the Philippines, to a private meeting in Manhattan's Plaza hotel, where he prevailed upon Bulkeley to help get young JFK into the PT boat service-for the publicity and to get the veteran's vote after the war. As fate would have it, JFK's survival in the Solomon Islands "transfigured [him] almost overnight into a war hero." He then became a national "pop culture icon" when writer John Hersey's lengthy account of the episode appeared in the New Yorker and, in condensed form, in Reader's Digest-all with help from Joe Kennedy. The PT-109 story became a mainstay of JFK's political campaigns, during which he saluted the heroics of his surviving crew members. A PT-109 float carried his shipmates in his presidential inaugural parade. "Without PT 109," said a longtime aid, "there never would have been a President John F. Kennedy." Dramatic and revealing. Readers unfamiliar with the Joe Kennedy back story will be startled to learn of his puppet master-like role in orchestrating JFK's rise to the presidency.

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