An outstanding copy of the 1940 First US Edition of John Kennedy's "Why England Slept." It was the first published version of the thesis written by Kennedy in his senior year at Harvard. This is the first U.S. Printing from Wilfred Funk, New York. The book was published with the help of Kennedy's influential father Joseph P. Kennedy and his friends. It sold 80,000 copies in the United Kingdom and the United States, generating $40,000 in Royalties for Kennedy. He donated royalties from the British sales to Plymouth; a British city that had recently been bombed by the Luftwaffe. Condition: 8vo. 252 pages - In near fine condition and rebound for the discriminating collector in the full red cawburn goat leather binding, and hand marbled Italian endpapers from J. Hewit & Sons, Edinburgh, Scotland. A bit of age toning to the paper, and a few small creases to several pages.