This is the story of the many-layered relationship between two iconic leaders of the mid-twentieth century, Britain’s prime minister Harold Macmillan and America’s president John F. Kennedy.

Based on previously unquoted papers and private letters between the leaders themselves and their families, more than half of which only recently have been made available for the first time, critically acclaimed biographer Christopher Sandford reveals a host of new insights into the inventive ways these two very different men managed to create order out of chaos in a precarious age of nuclear brinkmanship.

With a wealth of new information in an engaging narrative, this book offers a vivid historical account of two key twentieth-century historical figures whose decisions and legacies helped shape their world and ours.

In this engaging commentary, Sandford traces the emotional undercurrents that linked and sometimes estranged the two statesmen.

Defying a substantial generational gap and obvious personality differences, the two leaders complemented each other, giving them a unique understanding and allowing them to strategize concerted solutions to some of the most pressing and critical foreign-policy issues of the time.

The author’s personalized narrative delves into intriguing behind-the-scenes maneuverings as major political events unfolded: dealing with the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, responding to the provocative Soviet act of building the Berlin Wall, the tense back-and-forth consultations during the Cuban missile crisis, and the serious disagreement between the two allies over the Skybolt nuclear deterrent, which almost caused a major rift in US-British relations.

Through the tumultuous 1960s and despite their disagreements, Macmillan and Kennedy’s friendship remained. Even after JFK’s assassination and his own wife’s death, Macmillan maintained a close friendship and exchanged letters with Jackie Kennedy. Letters such as these, as well as personal papers excerpted in the text, paint vivid portraits of the two First Ladies and reveal the more private side of these very public figures. 

‘Provides a glimpse behind the sheen of diplomacy…Interesting personal [stories], and the difficulties that figures such as de Gaulle created for Macmillan, enliven [the] narrative. Those with an interest in Cold War history will find this perspective intriguing.’ – Publishers Weekly

Christopher Sandford is the critically acclaimed author of nineteen biographies. Although British-born, he grew up in Washington, DC, at the time of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, where his father served as a senior British military liaison. Sandford earned a master’s degree in modern history from Cambridge University. He has written on postwar affairs for a range of publications including the Times, the Daily Telegraphy, the Daily Mail and the Transactions of the Historical Society, and on Harold Macmillan and his administration in the American Conservative. His various other articles have appeared in, among others, the Seattle Times, Rolling Stone, the Spectator, and the Observer. He has written biographies of rock, film, and sports stars including Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger, Kurt Cobain, Keith Richards, Steve McQueen, and Roman Polanski. Sandford’s joint study of Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle was published in November.

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