Goduti’s passion for studying John F. Kennedy was originally sparked decades ago, as a college student taking history classes in Tator Hall.  

Kennedy was a complicated, yet extraordinary figure within history, he said. Although most people’s interest in Kennedy is drawn from his assassination or social life, Goduti describes his initial interest through Kennedy’s war record and how that experience may have shaped his perceptions of the world. 

When writing the book, Goduti said he wanted to focus on the side of Kennedy that no one knew — his life leading up to his presidency.  

“He only served for three years as president, but he lived a rich life that was shaped by the historical events that he was experiencing,” Goduti said.  

He dives into a lesser-known perspective. 

“His incredible resilience and persistence developed through relationships with his family, battles with serious illnesses and his time in war,” he said. 

Upon researching Kennedy’s early years, Goduti found it hard to determine his emotions because, as he said, “emotions history is a very new field of study.”  

Goduti was able to examine Kennedy’s personal diaries and family letters, dating from his early college years to his time in the U.S. Senate.  

“The dynamics of the family and how that may have impacted Kennedy’s thinking throughout his life reshaped my approach,” he said.  

Goduti said he felt “enormous responsibility” to be able to deliver his story accurately, forever etching a new perspective of Kennedy’s life into history.

Through his extensive research, he learned about the Irish Catholic ancestry within the Kennedy family.

As someone who felt connected to his ancestor’s heritage, Goduti found himself writing his book in parts of Italy.  

“The connection to my forebears is something that I believe I share with JFK,” Goduti said. 

Goduti is the grandson of immigrants and believed most of his values were passed down through generations.  

“Kennedy drew a great deal of strength from the people who came before him, and I feel the same way about my own ancestors,” said Goduti. 

In his diary, Kennedy discusses his feelings of horror becoming most apparent when seeing the aftermath of ruins in Europe, rather than when he was deployed to the Pacific.  

“Prior to writing this book, I was unaware of how much death and destruction Kennedy had witnessed in his life,” Goduti said. “Those experiences stayed with him for the rest of his life and clearly played a role in his thinking when he was faced with the prospect of war with the Soviet Union.” 

In fact, Kennedy has been the only president to be awarded the Purple Heart. 

History isn’t about the memorization of facts, dates, and events, it’s the story of where we have been, where we are and where we’re headed, Goduti said. 

“He stressed that history was complicated and that only an examination of various points of view could we ever fully ascertain the relevance of those past events and how they continue to shape our own thinking of the present,” Goduti said. 

Being at the forefront of history, Goduti felt that Kennedy understood the importance of acknowledging the past to aid in creating our future. 

“We see a person who was present at major moments in history and contributed to our own understanding of who we are,” Goduti said. “His vision of what we were capable of continues to drive leaders — his words and actions say something about the past and we can take those episodes in history and use them to empower and guide us as we move forward.” 

That is precisely what Goduti believes his book accomplishes: telling a story grounded in an examination of Kennedy’s life experiences and how they were significant enough to shape his decisions.