John F. Kennedy 'Appeasement at Munich' 10-Page

John F. Kennedy's original working manuscript forward for his Harvard University Senior Thesis, Harvard Class Album 1940, and John F. Kennedy 1945 TLS to his Harvard Class of 1940:
"Appeasement at Munich: The Inevitable Result Of The Slowness Of The British Democracy To A Rearmament Policy," 11 total pages including hand emendations in pencil and two lengthy handwritten pages in ink. This senior thesis became the foundation for JFK's first published book, "Why England Slept" in 1940 which examined the years leading up to World War II and the measures taken—or not taken—by England to thwart the German threat before it developed into World War II.
This Harvard Senior Thesis forward or synopsis is a historically significant John F. Kennedy artifact.
Excerpts:
"Important to notice that attitude taken by Londonderry and others in 1935 on Air Parity etc., in May after Hitler’s speech conciliatory, not until later they began to speak of arms aggressively. In my Thesis I must show how the attitude changed."
"It has been interesting to me both because of its temporary effect at Munich which was the climax of this thesis and because of the light it threw on the all important subject it through on democracy in competition with dictatorship."
"England’s security depended on arms, and in retrospect they should have supported the government, but as a minority they wanted to go on record as opposed for the record. As they had no responsibility just like Churchill"

"If anything, the Government was too democratic in that it obeyed the people too long in their desire for pacifism and social betterment"

"Democ can’t change its ideas overnight unless severely shocked"

"The persecution of the Jews aroused more animosity than the march at the Rhineland"

"I am trying to show that men should be judged and held responsible for their judgement as regards their policies etc., only in the light of the facts and events that they have possession of"
"The reason I am bringing this out is not because I want to criticize Churchill who was undoubtedly correct in certain phases."
“Mosca in his theory of the "Ruling Class" analized [sic] the fact that in every society be it democratic or autocratic there has been an elite - a ruling class - also who determined policy”
"Rearmament, however, is vice versa tide up to foreign policy. We must realize that the strong appeasement feeling in the country that was pro-German - the city, the Church, Press, etc., were therefore naturally and financially against the Government."
“Labour got powerful slogan here, 'The League, Democracy, and Peace,' as it incorporates men's desires which is usually more strong than reason.”
Harvard Class Album for JFK's 1940 Class with photographs of JFK, showing him as a member of the Senior Class, Class Officers, and Yacht Club. In 1938 John F. Kennedy and P.L. Reed won 8 races, sailing Harvard to win the MacMillan Bowl, emblem of the intercollegiate championships.
1945 John F. Kennedy TLS signed "Jack"—clever letter to his 1940 classmates: ""To The Members Of This Class:
Our Class Has To It's Credit About $1300 Invested In War Bonds, Which Our Canny. Treasurer, Donald Macdonald Dickinson Thurber, Thinks Is The Best Thing Since Ponzi."

Format: Harvard Archive