Report to JFK: The Skybolt Crisis in Perspective (review)

Report to JFK: The Skybolt Crisis in Perspective. By Richard E. Neustadt. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1999; pp. 177. $25.00.

"If you want to know what my life is like, read this," President John F. Kennedy said to his wife after giving her a copy of the report just five days before his tragic trip to Dallas. These words are also printed on the inside flyleaf of the book, thereby setting its tone.

Skybolt is a well-known case, often used in the study of presidential politics and diplomatic maneuvering, but rarely has there appeared so insightful and detailed a work as recently made available by the declassification of documents on both sides of the Atlantic. American files were declassified in 1992, their British counterparts more recently. Not only does the book contain Neustadt's original report, but it amplifies what he knew at the time with insights provided by the recently declassified British documents. His original investigation was limited to interviews with key British officials, some granted reluctantly by Prime Minister MacMillan only as a favor to President Kennedy. In agreeing to the interviews, however, MacMillan precluded Neustadt any access to written documents. What was missing in the original investigation, then, has only recently come to light.

Neustadt's original charge came from Kennedy himself in early 1963, after the former sought access to Skybolt-related files for use in a case study on alliance relations. Kennedy's formal assignment came by memo in March of that year (17), and was followed by a brief meeting one month later. The original report, "Skybolt and Nassau: American Policy-Making and Anglo-American Relations," was dated November 15, 1963, and makes up the entire chapter two of the book. The reader will soon find, however, that this is no typical government report. According to Neustadt, "The President wished to learn lessons, but a report in managerial style . . . would not . . . be competitive. Instead, I decided I must tell the story . . . letting the lessons emerge naturally . . ." (5). He did just that, and so the report presents an exceptionally detailed look not only at the implementation of foreign policy between allies, but also at the near firsthand interaction among the senior officials of both governments.

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. Not only does Neustadt explain the acronyms that were familiar to Kennedy and others involved in the case, but he also presents the extensive list of players in the drama, explaining who each was. Most will be familiar with the names of George Ball, Robert McNamara, and Dean Rusk; but as all who know Washington will attest, the "real" work is done by deputies, by key staff members, and by various advisors. Neustadt lets the reader know who these people were and the parts they played in a way that makes us feel as if we were there. Indeed, as he said he would, he tells the story, thoroughly and dispassionately.

Information of perhaps greater interest to scholars of presidential politics, though, comes later in the work, when Neustadt devotes the entire chapter three to "lessons learned" from his examination of the recently declassified British files. His candid reflections on how his report might have differed or been enhanced had he been given access to these documents demonstrates the depth of understanding and analysis that all have come to respect in the author.

The book also contains a reprint of the paper, White House and Whitehall, that the author originally drafted in 1964 and later revised for presentation to the American Political Science Association a year later. Neustadt's observations were as relevant then as they are now for anyone seeking to understand the differences between presidential and cabinet governments...