Author Talk - Kennedy’s Only Hero

Author & Historian Joel Nelson: Kennedy’s Only Hero
December 5, 2026 | 2:00 PM

Join us at the World War II American Experience for a special presentation by author and historian Joel Nelson on his book, Kennedy’s Only Hero: How JFK’s Obsession with Winston Churchill Defined His Presidency.

About the Presentation

Winston Churchill is one of the most scrutinised figures of the modern age. And yet the extraordinary hold he had over John F. Kennedy — beginning in his teenage years and lasting to his final day — is little known. Drawing on previously unpublished archival material, Kennedy’s Only Hero tells the story of how Churchill’s career, writings, policies, and even daily habits profoundly shaped the future President. Under Churchill’s influence, Kennedy shed his early isolationism and developed the worldview that would propel him to the White House — his conviction in peace through strength, his faith in summits, his understanding of rhetoric, his commitment to service and global engagement.

Although they met only once, the encounter between these two figures altered the course of the twentieth century.

About the Author

Joel Nelson is a British writer and historian. He has worked as an advisor to Rory Stewart, an editor at Foreign Affairs, and a Director of European Policy at an AI think-tank in Washington, D.C. He has a first-class honours degree in History from the University of Oxford, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and he was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard. Kennedy’s Only Hero is his first book.

Sponsored by the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society

We are grateful to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society for sponsoring this presentation.