In his inaugural address President John F. Kennedy stressed that leadership had been passed to a new generation. Not only was Kennedy twenty-seven years younger than his predecessor, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, but the new administration's top appointees were on average two decades younger than Eisenhower's. Moreover, Kennedy drew more from universities and think tanks than Eisenhower — appointing three times as many academics and far fewer businessmen. Educated at the best universities, Kennedy's appointees had a self-confidence derived from early service in positions of great responsibility during and immediately after World War II. Some, like Kennedy and his brother Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, saw military service during World War II. Secretary of State Dean Rusk served in military intelligence: during the war and had then been an Asian-affairs expert in the U.S. State Department before becoming president of...