The Presidency: Decisions of Magnitude

Wherever John Kennedy goes these days, a large, black, looseleaf notebook goes with him. The notebook is the President's "Berlin Book," consisting of 20 position papers on all possible phases of the persistent peace-or-war question that Kennedy must eventually answer. In the White House, and last weekend on another brief vacation in Hyannisport. John Kennedy spent hours over his homework. Never before, said his aides, had the President spent so much time and thought contemplating the implications of a single question. "He's imprisoned by Berlin." said one Cabinet member. "Ever since his Europe trip, Berlin has occupied him totally."

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