"HIS LIFE… COULD HARDLY HAVE BEEN IMPROVED UPON": JOHN F. KENNEDY'S TRIBUTE TO HIS BROTHER, AS WE REMEMBER JOE, 1945, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY BOBBY KENNEDY TO GENERAL MAXWELL TAYLOR

KENNEDY, John F. As We Remember Joe. Cambridge, MA: Privately printed at the University Press, 1945. Octavo, original maroon cloth. $7500.

First edition, second issue (of only 250 copies), of this warm tribute to the eldest of the Kennedy brothers, edited by John F. Kennedy, privately printed for family and friends, signed and inscribed by Bobby Kennedy on the front free endpaper to Maxwell Taylor, one of the most important figures in the Vietnam War: “For General Taylor / Bobby Kennedy / Christmas 1965.”

JFK, who edited this striking volume, also wrote the foreword and lead essay, "My Brother Joe," in memory of his eldest brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., who won the Naval Cross and was killed in action in 1944. Also included are works by Edward Kennedy, Kathleen Kennedy and numerous tributes by close friends and colleagues. Privately printed for family and friends. There were 390 copies printed in the first issue with winged device on title page printed in red, and 250 in this, the second issue, with winged device on title page printed in black. With numerous photographic illustrations; without fragile original glassine. “General Taylor” is Maxwell Taylor, Army Chief of Staff under Eisenhower and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Kennedy. At the time of the inscription, he had just resigned as U. S. Ambassador in Vietnam, having come to regret his earlier advice to Presidents Johnson and Kennedy to expand American involvement in the war. Taylor was a close friend of Robert Kennedy, having worked with him on a variety of issues, including both the Vietnam war and the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs fiasco: Kennedy even named his youngest son Maxwell Taylor Kennedy.

A fine and most desirable inscribed copy with an important association.