William Doyle: PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy

The story of PT-109 is intricately intertwined with the presidency of John F. Kennedy. David Powers, a White House official during the Kennedy administration stated “Without PT-109, there never would have been a President Kennedy.” While discussing the story of the sinking of PT-109 and the rescue of Kennedy and the boat’s surviving crew, author William Doyle explores how Kennedy’s World War II experiences shaped his development as a public figure and political trajectory that culminated in his election as president. The influence of PT-109 on Kennedy’s journey to and life in the White House will be the central component of the author’s talk, which is based on his most recent book, PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy (William Morrow, 2015).

William Doyle is the New York Times best-selling author and co-author of 10 non-fiction books, including Navy SEALS: Their Untold Story, A Soldier’s Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq, An American Insurrection: James Meredith and the Battle of Oxford, Mississippi, 1962, and Inside the Oval Office: The White House Tapes from FDR to Clinton. 

Doyle is a 2015-2016 Fulbright Scholar and a 2017 Rockefeller Foundation Resident Fellow. He served as director of original programming and executive producer at HBO for seven years, co-produced the 2014 PBS documentary special Navy SEALS: Their Untold Story, and was executive producer of the documentary special Transition of Power: the Presidency, which aired on The History Channel in January 2017.

He is winner of the Writers Guild of America Award for Best TV Documentary, the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award for Best Book on the American Legal System, the American Library Association Alex Award for Best Book for Young Readers, and is a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Finalist.