History of the Soviet Union (1953–64)
Khrushchev anxiously awaited the results of the 1960 United States presidential election, preferring Kennedy to Richard Nixon, whom he took as a hardline anti-communist cold warrior, and openly celebrated the former's victory on November 8. In truth however, Khrushchev's opinion of Kennedy was mixed. He knew that the new president was from a wealthy background and Harvard-educated. On the other, Kennedy was the youngest elected US president at 43 and gave off the impression of inexperience and "a boy wearing his father's pants" that Khrushchev assumed he could pounce on and dominate. If however Kennedy was that weak, there stood the possibility that he could merely be a puppet of "reactionary" forces and the US military-industrial complex. Almost immediately after the polls closed on Election Day, Khrushchev attempted to barrage the president-elect with proposals and the hope of improved US-Soviet relations, specifically turning the clock back to the accommodating diplomatic atmosphere of President Roosevelt's time. However, Khrushchev was informed that he was acting too quickly and it would not be possible to have a formal summit with Kennedy until he took office in January, and even then, arranging such a meeting would still take time.
Killing Kennedy
Critical response to "Killing Kennedy" was mixed, with "The New York Times "writing that the book was at times disappointing but that it "picks up strength as it heads for its date with destiny". The book has been criticized for a "lack of citation and occasional 'literary liberties'". For example, in the prologue, the authors write, "Kennedy is the youngest president ever elected. Eisenhower is the oldest." While Kennedy was the youngest president ever elected at the time of his inauguration and remains so today, Dwight D. Eisenhower was not the oldest ever elected even in 1961 at the time of Kennedy's inauguration. William Henry Harrison was the oldest president ever elected as of 1961. However, in 1961 at the end of his term Eisenhower was the oldest president to date, as Harrison died one month into his term at the age of 68 years 54 days. Eisenhower was 70 years 98 days old on the day of Kennedy's inauguration.