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America's Reluctant Prince

Page 59

by Steven M. Gillon


  “how wide his curiosities were”: Sasha Issenberg, interview by author, October 26, 2018.

  “thirty-eight-year-old white guy”: Martel, interview.

  “You will be contacted later today”: For a full account of the trip, see Inigo Thomas, “JFK Jr, Castro and Me” (LRB blog), London Review of Books, November 22, 2013, www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2013/november/jfk-jr-castro-and-me.

  “you are a Kennedy”: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 189.

  “Giáp was senile and infirm”: Robert Curran, interview by author, December 14, 2018.

  “stability in Southeast Asia”: “Vietnam’s Legendary Giap Wants to be ‘General of Peace,’” Agence France-Presse, October 21, 1998; Curran, interview.

  “famously libidinous president”: Blow, American Son, 178–79.

  a private matter: Ibid., 190.

  “fools as kings”: John to “Mr. T” (Mike Tyson), July 9, 1997, private.

  Tyson deserved a second chance: Manuel Perez-Rivas and Martin Well, “JFK Jr. Sees Tyson in Jailhouse Visit,” The Washington Post, March 12, 1999.

  “a three-year-old”: Martel, interview; Peter Madaus to Roger Berg et al., February 13, 1998, John F. Kennedy Jr. Files, box 13, WJCPL.

  “It’s making people really reflect”: Blow, American Son, 178–80, 188–91.

  “it’s worth understanding”: Mitchell, interview.

  1,931 minutes: Michael Gartner, “How the Monica Story Played in Mid-America,” Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 1999, 34.

  Washington press corps: David Friend, “Before Trump Was President, Online Sex Videos, Bill Clinton and the Naughty ’90s Changed America,” Newsweek, September 15, 2017.

  “The digital age does not respect contemplation”: John Merline and Claude Marx, “So What Is ‘Journalism’ Today?,” Investor’s Business Daily, January 29, 1998.

  CHAPTER 11: “THE ONLY PLACE THAT I WANT TO BE IS WITH ANTHONY”

  “a fiery phone call”: Keith J. Kelly, “John Jr. Searching for New No. 2,” New York Post, January 6, 1999; Swanson, “George Magazine Loses a ‘Yes’ Woman as Hachette Steps In.”

  did not bode well for the future: Keith J. Kelly, “JFK Jr. Talking About Taking Title to TV,” New York Post, April 28, 1999.

  “There’s not a chance”: Mitchell, interview. The discussion that follows is from the same interview.

  Anthony was going to die: Radziwill, What Remains, 225.

  “He was having difficulty dealing with it”: Carole Radziwill, interview.

  “these big trips”: Ibid.

  “No, I don’t”: Carole Radziwill, interview; Radziwill, What Remains, 226.

  “determined to live”: Carole Radziwill, interview.

  “I just hurt my leg”: Sasha Chermayeff, interview; Phineas Chermayeff, interview by author, September 20, 2018.

  “two rocking chairs”: Sasha Chermayeff, interview.

  “ominous foreshadowing”: Carole Radziwill, interview; Radziwill, What Remains, 221–22.

  “denial and stoicism”: Carole Radziwill, interview.

  became her next target: Ibid.

  John could not be humored: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 192.

  relying on cocaine: Radziwill, What Remains, 218.

  “What do you think?”: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 204–6.

  “Like her life is so hard”: Terenzio, interview.

  occasional weekend refuge: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 206–8.

  “he is going to be fine”: Sasha Chermayeff, interview.

  “drove each other crazy”: Carole Radziwill, interview.

  “laughs and good food”: Ibid.

  “I suppose it was resignation”: Ibid.

  “The window was open”: Keith Stein, interview by author, November 16, 2018.

  “noticeably grayer”: Littell, Men We Became, 8–9.

  “I will not go . . . a success”: Blow, American Son, 254–55; Terenzio, interview.

  Martha’s Vineyard on July 16: Voss, interview; Cheryl Stieffel and Peter Leifer, interview by author, November 15, 2018.

  “a lot of our problems”: Blow, American Son, 230.

  “operations of the company”: Dan Samson, email to author, September 13, 2018.

  “game plan”: Ibid.

  “They really loved each other”: Ibid.

  “add a spouse”: Sasha Chermayeff, interview; Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 203.

  wooden golf clubs: John J. Goldman, “Final Take for Jackie O. Auction Tops $34 Million,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1996.

  writing a check, not cashing one: Littell, Men We Became, 167.

  the project was canceled: Ibid.

  “It was going to be tough enough”: Patti Solis Doyle, interview by author, February 12, 2019.

  passion for campaigning: Sachs, interview; Rivera, interview.

  ambitions on hold: Sachs, interview.

  “we’ll have fun”: Andersen, The Day John Died, 10–11.

  similar fights with Carolyn: Terenzio, interview.

  “John’s birthday celebrations”: Julie Baker, interview by author, March 3, 2019.

  “best choices possible”: Ibid.

  “first big issue”: Jack Kliger, interview by author, April 24, 2017. The discussion that follows is from this interview.

  “cut the cord”: Terenzio, interview; Ginsberg, interview.

  “a graceful way out”: Ginsberg, interview.

  the important call: Terenzio, interview.

  “It’s never about me”: Ibid.

  Reluctantly, Carolyn agreed: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 197–98; Terenzio, interview.

  hot, muggy nights: Manocchia, interview; Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 199–200.

  “magazine could survive”: Manocchia, interview.

  “‘Don’t go up’”: Much of the account of John’s final hours is from the following sources: Dale Russakoff and Lynne Duke, “JFK Jr.’s Joyful, Fateful Final Hours,” The Washington Post, July 21, 1999; Jeffrey Kluger and Mark Thompson, “The Last Day,” Time, August 1, 1999; Douglas A. Lonnstrom, “10 Mistakes JFK Jr. Made,” Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association online, last modified July 5, 2010, www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2010/july/pilot/10-mistakes-jfk-jr-made; Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Instructor Offered to Fly with JFK Jr., Report Says,” Los Angeles Times, July 7, 2000. For the final NTSB report, see: NTSB Identification: NYC99MA178, National Transportation Safety Board online, accessed August 10, 2018.

  dinner on Saturday: Radziwill, What Remains, 9.

  no evidence to suggest: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Records Management Division, Gillon, No. 17-cv-02529-APM.

  “Everything’s fine”: Carole Radziwill, What Remains, 234–35.

  “Oh God!”: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 200–201.

  EPILOGUE: “YEP, YOU REALLY WERE SPECIAL”

  “The words almost wrote themselves”: Robert Shrum, interview by author, July 10, 2018.

  “infused with compassion”: Issenberg, interview.

  50 percent share: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 223.

  owned the magazine outright: Ann Marie Kerwin, “Lalli Steps up to Helm of Troubled ‘George,’” AdAge, December 6, 1999.

  Franken’s humor: Kliger, interview.

  “on the third try”: Alona Wartofsky and Hannah Allam, “In New York, the Improvisations of Grief,” The Washington Post, July 19, 1999.

  over the age of sixty: Donna Petrozzello, “Ratings: Newsmags Do Well in Week of Kennedy Coverage,” New York Daily News, July 28, 1999; Richard Huff, “JFK Jr. Coverage Nearly Par to Di’s,” New York Daily News, August 4, 1999.

  “Kennedy curse”: Frank Manciewicz, “‘There Are No Curses,’” The Guardian, July 19, 1999.

  “fairy tales”: “Summary of
International Media Coverage,” July 18–22, 1999, FOIA 2017-0713-f, box 5, WJCPL.

  an astonishing $1.2 million: White House aide Sean Maloney pointed out that the White House flag was not lowered when John’s mom died. Nor was it lowered for Senator William Fulbright, Dean Rusk, or Mother Teresa. “It’s a difficult decision, but it would be out of proportion to previous episodes of this kind for the president to order the lowering of all US flags.” He suggested that the president could “consider lowering the flag over the White House residence (as opposed to all U.S. Flags) for a period of 24 hours once the fate of Mr. Kennedy and his party is known with more certainty.” Maloney to John Podesta, July 19, 1999, FOIA 2017-0713-f, box 1, WJCPL; “Kennedy Salvage Costs,” July 21, 2017-0713-FCL, box 1, WJCPL.

  “bodies of private citizens”: Don and Marlene Dunbar to Senator John Breaux, July 22, 1999. Breaux forwarded the letter to the president. Breaux to Clinton, June 15, 2000, 2017-0713-FCL, box 1, WJCPL; Bernard M. Brady to Congressman Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr., August 1, 1999, 2017-0713-FCL, box 1, WJCPL.

  “a national disgrace”: David H. Hackworth, “U.S. Warships Are Not Royal Yachts at Beck and Call,” South Florida Sun Sentinel, August 5, 1999. The article was circulated among White House aides. White House email, August 5, 1999, 2017-0713-FCL, box 6, WJCPL.

  “Taps” on the bugle: Anne E. Kornblut, “Expansive Naval Aid Tied to Family’s Service to US,” The Boston Globe, July 23, 1999.

  “We owe this to his family and to the country”: President Bill Clinton, interview by John Marks as part of the A&E documentary JFK Jr.: The Final Year, which is based on this book, March 6, 2019.

  World War II navy hero: “Kennedy Aircraft Missing Press Guidance,” July 19, 1999, 2017-0713-FCL, box 1, WJCPL; “Kennedy Burial at Sea,” July 26, 1999, 2017-0713-FCL, box 2, WJCPL.

  “as far as we’re concerned”: “Transcript of conversation,” n.d., 2017-0713-FCL, box 1, WJCPL.

  ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

  INDEX

  The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.

  Abercrombie & Fitch, 247

  Adcraft Club of Detroit, 244–245

  Adler, Lou, 227

  Alfred E. Stearns House, 125

  Ali, Muhammad, 120, 253, 399

  Amanpour, Christiane “Kissy,” 152–153, 211, 366–367

  American Media Company, 385

  Amir, Yigal, 310

  Andersen, Christopher, 83, 156, 235

  Andrews Air Force Base, 40, 43–44

  anti-Catholic sentiment, 14

  antiwar movement, 86

  Arlington National Cemetery, 42, 59, 93

  Armstrong, Joe, 97, 178, 207, 209–210, 218–219, 232, 336

  Auchincloss, Hugh, 12, 55

  Auchincloss, Jamie, 57

  Auchincloss, Janet Jennings, 84

  Auchincloss, Janet Lee, 11–12, 50–51, 55

  automatic pilot function, 391–392

  Awodey, Lou, 139

  Baer, Don, 306

  Baker, Julie, 208, 235–236, 384–385

  Baldrige, Letitia, 19, 21, 22, 34, 37

  “The Ballad of the Green Berets” (song), 76–77

  Bar Cross (ranch), 123–124

  Barkley, Charles, 287–288

  Barlow, John Perry, 123–124, 173, 257, 389

  Barnhill, Jim, 153

  Barrymore, Drew, 307

  Beardsley, Mimi, 28

  Beatles, the, 75–76

  Beatty, Warren, 276–277

  Begala, Paul, 268–269, 338

  Beiser, Edward, 144, 173

  Ben Bella, Ahmed, 41

  Bellamy, Samuel “Black Sam,” 169

  Benetton, Alessandro, 234

  Bentsen, Lloyd, 190

  Bergen, Candice, 272

  Bergin, Michael, 233, 333–334

  Berman, Matt

  Carolyn and, 291–292, 364

  hired as creative director, 250–251

  on night of fateful flight, 394

  on office atmosphere, 258–259

  struggling with front cover of George, 262–263

  Berman, Michael

  on Camelot myth, 62–63

  Carolyn as threat to, 291–293

  early years of, 187–188

  forming Random Ventures corporation, 214–215

  at George magazine (See George magazine)

  Hamptons parties, 193

  handling John’s public image, 189, 191–192, 283

  on John’s failed bar exams, 202

  as John’s informal publicist, 188–189

  meeting John at Office of Business Development, 187–188

  opening up about relationship with John, 7

  post-George, 304–305

  on power of John’s appeal, 196–197

  Berman, Victoria, 193, 241, 293

  Bernstein, Carl, 116

  Bessette, Carolyn Jean

  arriving at airport for fateful flight, 390

  brief romance with John, 233

  at Calvin Klein, 235

  as campus man-eater, 234–235

  Carole Radziwill and, 317–319, 325–328, 331–332, 364

  change in personality, 363–364

  cocaine use, 328, 383

  devising wedding guest list, 297

  early years of, 233–234

  engagement to John, 266–267

  fateful flight, 389–394

  feeling trapped, 328–329

  flashpoints plaguing marriage, 332–333

  generousness of, 331–332

  harassing Michael over the phone, 294–295

  incidents setting off rage in, 295–296

  influence on John, 290–293

  John insensitive to, 329–330

  John living apart from, 383

  John proposing to, 266

  losing passion with John, 333–334

  marriage problems, 328–329

  meeting John, 233

  meeting John’s immediate family, 265

  memorial service for, 400

  Michael Bergin affair, 333–334

  moving into John’s Tribeca penthouse, 266

  paparazzi and, 298–300, 325–326, 328

  paranoia of, 329–331

  planning secret wedding, 295–298

  priorities in raising a family, 332, 365

  public fight in Washington Square Park, 286–287

  pushing John’s friends out of his life, 330

  reluctance to marry John, 266–267

  on Rory’s wedding, 383, 388–389

  self-conscious about her appearance, 328

  as threat to Michael, 291–293

  turning on RoseMarie, 331

  wedding ceremony, 298

  wedding party gifts, 297–298

  Bessette, Lauren, 382, 389, 397

  Bessette, William, 233

  Bethesda Naval Hospital, 51, 53

  Beyer, John, 169

  Billings, Lem, 13, 110

  Bishop, Jim, 72

  Blankley, Tony, 338

  Bloodworth-Thomason, Linda, 224

  Bloomingdale’s (department store), 193

  Blow, Rich, 250–251, 259–260, 265–267, 276, 303–304, 307, 349, 357, 369

  Blumstein, Sheila, 133

  Bono, Sonny, 277

  The Boston Globe, 272

  Boston University, 234

  Bouvier, John, 11–12

  “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital” (Putnam), 226

  Bowman, Patricia, 187
<
br />   Boxer, Barbara, 229

  Bradlee, Ben, 26–27, 50

  Brando, Marlon, 137

  Brazil, media coverage of John’s disappearance, 404

  Breaux, John, 405

  Breimer, Bruce, 95–96, 126, 129

  Brinkley, Douglas, 405

  Brokaw, Tom, 225, 404

  Brown, Jerry, 216

  The Brown Daily Herald, 153

  Brown University

  academic career of John at Brown

  freshman year registration, 139–140

  sophomore year, 152

  junior year, 152–153, 158

  senior year, 158–159

  graduation, 167–169

  academic probation of John, 145

  academic reputation of university, 133

  admissions policy, 134

  application materials, 134–136

  Brown actively recruiting John, 137

  buzz generated by admission of John, 137–138

  Charles Neu’s seminar, 144–145

  curriculum, 131–134

  development strategy, 134

  entertaining “Miss Crazy,” 151–152

  financial problems, 133–134

  four-page essay as part of application to, 135–136

  frat house behavior, 147–153

  Gillon and John, 1–3, 4, 157–159

  graduation, 167–169

  Group Independent Study Project, 132

  history of, 130

  Jackie completing letter of application, 134–135

  John’s interest in, 129, 130

  living off campus, 152–153

  loco parentis rule, 132

  pet pig, 148

  pledging Phi Psi fraternity, 146–147

  record number of applicants at, 137–138

  recruitment practices, 137

  Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), 132

  speeding tickets while attending, 148–149

  Browne, Jackson, 208

  Browner, Michael, 243–244, 245, 248, 313

  Brownridge, Kent, 239

  Bryant, Traphes L., 19

  Buck, Lawrence P., 163

  Bundy, George, 39

 

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