An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963

by Robert Dallek

  p. 254: “Kennedy’s shock”: White, Making, 1960, 106.

  p. 254: “By the pitiful”: Sorensen, 158.

  p. 254: “I assure you”: “Memo from Lou Harris on the Last Week’s Campaigning,” n.d., Box 27, Powers Papers. “A Ten Point Program for West Virginia,” April 25, 1960, Box 535, PPP.

  p. 255: “Much more can”: JFK to Fellow Democrats, April 18, 1960, Box 997, PPP.

  p. 255: “And now it is time”: Press Release, April 12, 1960, Box 989, PPP.

  p. 255: FDR Jr.: O’Donnell and Powers, 165.

  p. 255: “God’s son”: Charles Peters OH.

  p. 255: “stop-Kennedy”: “Memo from Lou Harris,” n.d., Box 27, Powers Papers; Press Releases, April 30, May 1 and May 2, 1960, Box 968, PPP; O’Donnell and Powers, 161-62, 168-69.

  p. 256: JFK discussion with LBJ: As recorded by Arthur Krock; quoted in Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 566-67.

  p. 256: “millionaire ‘money’ candidates”: “West Virginia Attacks,” Box 994, PPP; Sorensen, 159-60.

  p. 256: “personal abuse”: Clipping, “Kennedy Asks Humphrey to End ‘Personal Abuse’” n.d., Box 27, Powers Papers.

  p. 256: “Poor little Jack”: “West Virginia Attacks,” Box 994, PPP.

  p. 256: “I would suggest”: Ibid.; also Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 201.

  p. 256: “They believed me”: Humphrey, 475.

  pp. 256-57: “Any discussion”: New York Times, May 7, 1960.

  p. 257: “As I told you last time”: ? to Frank, April 12, 1960, Box 27, Powers Papers.

  p. 257: “Politics in West Virginia”: White, Making, 1960, 99.

  p. 257: Slates: Ibid., 99-100.

  p. 257: “We would pay it”: Told to me by Joe Galzer, who worked in Humphrey’s campaign.

  p. 257: Expenditures: White, Making, 1960, 110.

  p. 257: O’Brien expenditures: O’Brien, 68.

  p. 257: “Our highest possible contribution”: Humphrey, 216-17.

  p. 257: “the earthy and realistic people”: O’Donnell and Powers, 169.

  p. 257: The vote: “Results of Presidential Primaries in 1960,” and “Results of the 16 Presidential Primaries in 1960,” Box 26, Powers Papers.

  pp. 257-58: Investigations and the Gazette quote: O’Donnell and Powers, 169; Sorensen, 165.

  p. 258: “I have no complaints”: HHH to Editor, May 26, 1960, Box 542, PPP.

  p. 258: Beat Wayne Morse: “Results of Presidential Primaries in 1960, May 20—Oregon,” Box 26, Powers Papers.

  p. 258: “the devil”: Joseph Rauh OH.

  p. 258: “She did not want”: Humphrey, 221.

  p. 259: “it would be most helpful”: Undated memo attached to Schlesinger to AES, May 16, 1960, Box 33, POF.

  p. 259: “which would nail down”: Ribicoff OH.

  p. 259: For the JFK-AES conversation and the quotes, “I guess there’s nothing,” and “Guess who”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 25-26. See Blair OH, which quotes JFK: “God, why won’t he.” Also see Schlesinger to AES, May 16, 1960, Box 33, POF; AES to Schlesinger, May 21, 1960, Box P23, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Papers, JFKL.

  p. 259: Anger toward AES: Lawrence Fuchs OH. Also see Collier and Horowitz, 289-90.

  p. 259: JFK-Fritchey anecdote told to me by Marianne Means, who was recounting what Kay Graham had said at a memorial service for Fritchey.

  pp. 259-60: LBJ on JFK, including conversations with Pearson, Krock, and Stevenson: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 567-68.

  p. 260: “I am not prepared”: Ibid., 569.

  p. 260: HST’s comment and JFK’s reply: New York Times, July 3 and 5, 1960.

  p. 260: RFK vote count: RFK to Steve Smith, May 25, 1960, Box 535, PPP.

  p. 260: “If we can get”: Quoted in Goodwin, 800.

  p. 260: “Well, that’s it”: Quoted in Collier and Horowitz, 299.

  p. 260: “those wanting”: Quoted in Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 571.

  p. 261: LBJ’s attack on JFK: Ibid., 569-73. Conversation with Dr. Gerald Labiner, October 31, 2002.

  p. 261: Regarded Kennedy “as a mediocrity”: Earl Mazo OH, Columbia University.

  p. 261: “I knew he”: Lisagor OH.

  pp. 261-62: “You’ve got”: Baker, 118.

  p. 262: “despicable”: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 572.

  p. 262: Report on JFK’s health: Drs. Eugene J. Cohen and Janet Travell to JFK, June 11, 1960, Box 991, PPP.

  p. 262: “the opportunity to carry out”: Dr. Seymour Reichlin to author, Nov. 23, 2002.

  p. 262: William Walton on the medical support: Parmet, JFK, 18.

  p. 262: “There’s a medical bag”: Ribicoff OH.

  p. 262: “far too fluid”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 33.

  p. 263: Meet the Press, July 10, 1960, Box 920A, PPP.

  p. 263: “We wanted to just try”: Robert Kennedy OH.

  p. 263: For the problems with Minnesota, see Sorensen to JFK, May 31, 1960, Box 547, PPP; New Jersey, Frank Thompson OH; and Pennsylvania, Lawrence OH.

  p. 263: “never”: Sorensen, 175.

  p. 263: JPK’s bet: Doris Goodwin, 800-801.

  p. 263: “found thousands of supporters”: Wofford, 50.

  p. 263: “This was more”: White, Making, 1960, 163.

  pp. 263-64: “We’ve got to have”: Robert Kennedy OH. Cohen and Taylor, 257-59.

  p. 264: Fact sheet: “The Foreign Policy Experience of Senators Johnson and Kennedy,” Box 740, PPP.

  p. 264: “moods, questions”: Sorensen, 174.

  p. 264: “‘I don’t want’” and “Look, nobody asked you”: Quoted in Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 205-6.

  p. 264: JFK’s every move: Democratic National Convention (From Saturday July 9-Friday July 15, 1960), Box 27, Powers Papers.

  p. 264: “precise, taut, disciplined”: White, Making, 1960, 157.

  p. 265: For JFK’s activities on July 10-12, see ibid.

  p. 265: California, Kansas, and Iowa: Ibid., 163.

  p. 265: “I wasn’t any Chamberlain”: Quoted in Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 573-74.

  pp. 265-66: Stevenson demonstration: White, Making, 1960, 165-66.

  p. 266: “Don’t worry, Dad”: Quoted in O’Donnell and Powers, 186-87.

  p. 266: “Your man must be”: Blair OH.

  p. 266: “We can’t miss a trick”: Quoted in Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 206.

  p. 266: JFK and RFK together: Hugh Sidey OH.

  p. 266: “Not you nor anybody else”: Quoted in Cohen and Taylor, 260.

  Chapter 8: Election

  pp. 267-68: VP candidates: Sorensen to JFK and RFK, June 29, 1960, Box 21, Theodore Sorensen Papers, JFKL. Sorensen, 184.

  p. 268: Past problems with liberals: O’Donnell and Powers, 189.

  p. 268: “No, absolutely not”: Edward Morgan OH.

  p. 268: “There was no respect”: Quoted in Collier and Horowitz, 304.

  p. 268: Civil rights plank: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 34.

  p. 268: King and NAACP: G. Mennen Williams to JFK, June 25, 1960, Box 536; JFK speech to NAACP, July 10, 1960, Box 1027, PPP.

  p. 269: Symington: Clark Clifford OH; John Seigenthaler OH; Sorensen, 186; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 206-7; Cohen and Taylor, 260. Sorensen to JFK and RFK, June 29, 1960, Box 21, Sorensen Papers.

  p. 269: RFK and LBJ: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 490, 559.

  p. 269: “the Democratic party owes”: Quoted in ibid., 540-41.

  p. 270: “immediately agreed”: Quoted in White, Making, 1964, 407-9.

  p. 270: “he supposed the same”: Quoted in Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 574.

  p. 270: “I wouldn’t want to trade” and “Stop kidding”: Quoted in ibid., 574-75.

  p. 271: LBJ’s interest in becoming VP: ibid., 574-78.

  p. 271: “LBJ now means”: Quoted in Wofford, 54.

  pp. 271-72: “If you are sure,” “This is the worst mistake,” and “so upset”: Quoted in O’Donnell and Powers, 190-92.

  p. 272: “was very distressed”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 208-
9.

  pp. 272-74: Jack and Bobby and other details of Johnson’s nomination: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 579-82.

  p. 274: “I turned on television”: Earl Mazo OH, Columbia University.

  p. 274: “bland, vapid”: Quoted in Leuchtenburg, A Troubled Feast, 111.

  p. 274: The Podhoretz and Macdonald quotes are in Alan Ehrenhalt, “Are We as Happy as We Think?” New York Times, May 7, 2000.

  p. 274: “With the supermarket”: Quoted in Leuchtenburg, A Troubled Feast, 113.

  pp. 274-76: JFK Acceptance Speech, July 15, 1960, Box 1027, PPP. And see Sorensen, 187-89.

  p. 276: Initial polls: Political Analysis Assocs., Princeton, N.J., July 16-17, 1960, Box 27, POF.

  pp. 276-77: “shining summer Saturday”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 62.

  p. 277: “Had never seen”: Ibid., 63.

  p. 277: Meetings: Sorensen, 192-93.

  p. 277: “run and fight”: Quoted in Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 211-13.

  p. 277: “Gentlemen,” “absolutely strong,” “Little Brother”: Ibid.

  p. 277: “Black Prince”: Quoted in Parmet, JFK, 34.

  p. 277: “Little Boy Blue” and “that little shit”: Mazo OH.

  p. 277: “I’m not running”: Quoted in Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 213.

  pp. 277-78: “This was a politician”: Memo, June 13, 1960, Box 17, Henry Brandon Papers, LC.

  p. 278: Meeting with Stevenson: Parmet, JFK, 34-35; Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 64.

  p. 278: Meeting with HST: O’Donnell and Powers, 202. Also see JFK to Clark Clifford, July 29, 1960, Box 29, POF.

  p. 278: “I never liked”: Abraham Ribicoff OH, Columbia University.

  p. 278: JFK and Eleanor Roosevelt (ER): ER to JFK, Aug. 16, 1960, “the distinct feeling”: ER to Mary Lasker, Aug. 15, 1960, Box 32, POF.

  p. 279: “interest and concentration”: Quoted in Parmet, JFK, 35.

  p. 279: “Organization has an important”: Arthur Schlesinger to JFK, Aug. 26, 1960, Box 32, POF.

  p. 279: “who hardly qualifies”: AS to JFK, Aug. 30, 1960, ibid.

  p. 279: “I don’t mind”: JFK to Schlesinger, Sept. 2, 1960, ibid.

  p. 279: Speech to the Liberal party: JFK, Sept. 14, 1960, Box 911, PPP.

  pp. 279-80: On the Republican convention, see White, Making, 1960, chap. 7. The polls: Gallup, 1680-82.

  p. 280: Nixon’s advantage and “‘What are you doing?’”: White, Making, 1960, 249-51.

  p. 280: “Counterattack Sourcebook:” Milton Gwertzman to Mike Feldman and Sorensen, Aug. 10, 1960, Box 991, PPP.

  p. 280: “Senator Kennedy is”: “Counterattack Sourcebook.”

  p. 281: “religion in the rural corn belt”: John K. Galbraith to JFK, Aug. 25, 1960, Box 993, PPP.

  p. 281: “the Catholic position”: “Counterattack Sourcebook.”

  p. 281: FBI memos: DeLoach to Tolson, June 1, 1959; SAC, New Orleans, to Director, Mar. 23, 1960; and Memorandum, May 27, 1960, MF, Folder 13, Reel 1, O&C File, J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Papers.

  p. 281: “to sit down with”: Adlai Stevenson to Henry Van Dusen, Sept. 13, 1960, Box P 23, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Papers, JFKL.

  p. 282: “a pioneer of”: Harold Evans, “Press Baron’s Progress,” review of The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst by David Nasaw (Boston, 2000) in New York Times Book Review, July 2, 2000.

  p. 282: Nixon’s womanizing: Richard Bolling OH, Columbia University. Larry O’Brien unconvincingly claims that JFK had no womanizing problem; he says he was “totally unaware” of any “personal indiscretions” on JFK’s part: Lawrence O’Brien OH, Columbia University.

  p. 282: National Conference of Citizens for Religious Freedom: New York Times, Sept. 8, 1960. Also see Sorensen, 212-14.

  p. 283: Community Relations division: James Wine OH; and Box 1015, PPP. Also see Sorensen, 198-99; Parmet, JFK, 40-41.

  p. 283: Opposition to speaking and the quotes “They’re mostly” and “I’m getting tired”: O’Donnell and Powers, 205-8.

  p. 283: Cogley: John Cogley OH.

  p. 283: Kennedy went before the audience: Sept. 12, 1960; Box 1061, PPP.

  p. 284: The response to him and “By God”: O’Donnell and Powers, 209-10.

  p. 284: Agreement to debate: Ambrose, Nixon, 558-59.

  p. 285: JFK’s preparation: White, Making, 1960, 283-85.

  p. 285: Transcript of the first debate: Box 912, PPP.

  p. 285: “That son of a bitch”: Quoted in Matthews, 155.

  p. 285: “calm and nerveless”: White, Making, 1960, 288-90.

  p. 286: “My God!”: quoted in Summers, 208.

  p. 286: Bored or amused: O’Donnell and Powers, 212-13.

  p. 286: “put a stern expression”: Ibid., 213.

  p. 286: Polls: Gallup, 1685-87.

  p. 286: Enthusiasm for JFK: Sorensen, 227-28; O’Donnell and Powers, 213-14.

  p. 286 n.: Attempts to steal records: Dr. Janet Travell OH; Parmet, JFK, 120-21, which expands on the information in Travell’s OH. According to Safire: William Safire, “Kennedy Agonistes,” New York Times, Nov. 18, 2002. Refutations of the allegation: John Gizzi, “Historian Dallek Maligned Nixon’s 1960 Campaign,” Human Events, Jan. 6, 2003; John Taylor, “Dallek: Historian or Gumshoe?” Jan. 7, 2003, History News Network. “Dirty tricks”: Ehrlichman, 30.

  p. 287: “No matter how many”: JBM, “Memo on Nixon,” Sept. 30, 1960, John Bartlow Martin Papers, LC.

  p. 287: “the large body”: “Campaign Reflections,” n.d., Box 535, PPP.

  p. 287: “a nearly exhaustive”: Nixon quotes and inconsistencies, n.d., Box 1024, PPP.

  p. 287: “Dick Nixon stands”: Quoted in O’Donnell and Powers, 217.

  p. 287: “reigned rather than ruled,” and “If you give me a week”: Stephen Ambrose, “How Clinton Is Like Ike,” New York Times, June 19, 2000. Ambrose believes Ike’s remarks may have cost Nixon the election.

  p. 287: “acting like”: Quoted in Ambrose, Nixon, 564.

  p. 287: no well-developed economic program: Walter W. Heller, Memo, Oct. 4, 1960, Box 4, Walter W. Heller Papers, JFKL; Walter Heller and Paul Samuelson, Council of Economic Advisers OH. “The Issues in 1960,” Oct. 31, 1960, Box 992, PPP; and memos on the economy in Box 75, John B. Martin Papers.

  p. 288: “I . . . think it would become”: Quoted in Sorensen, 209.

  p. 288: “Foreign policy for the first time”: JFK to Dean Acheson, Aug. 1, 1960, Box 27, POF.

  p. 288: 1958 Foreign Affairs article: Foreign Affairs, Oct. 1958.

  p. 288: “the overwhelming majority”: Gallup, 1676.

  p. 288: U.S. prestige: Ibid., 1691. To bolster morale at home and prestige abroad and to discourage a possible Soviet first strike, the U.S. government in 1958-59 considered detonating a nuclear weapon on the moon “as a show of military and technical strength.” The physicist in charge of the project said later that it was “a way to bolster national confidence.” There was no clear scientific or military gain expected from the explosion. “It was a PR device, without question, in the minds of the people from the Air Force,” the physicist said. Believing that “there were other ways to impress the public that we were not about to be overwhelmed by the Russians” than by “ruining the pristine environment of the moon,” the planners scrapped the idea. See “U.S. Planned Nuclear Blast on the Moon, Physicist Says,” New York Times, May 16, 2000.

  p. 288: “our own offensive and defensive”: JFK, “U.S. Military and Diplomatic Policies—Preparing for the Gap,” Aug. 14, 1958, CR, 85th Congress, 2nd Session.

  p. 289: Statements and speeches over the next two years: “Can Democracy Meet the Space Age Challenge?” CBS TV Symposium, Mar. 22, 1959, Box 568, PPP; “A Time for Decision,” June 14, 1960, JFK, Compilation of Speeches, JFKL; JFK at Women’s Democratic Luncheon, Sept. 14, 1960; and “Eight Years of Defense Programs and Budgets,” Sept. 1960, Box 1028, PPP.

  p. 289: “J.F.K. has made the point”: J. K. Galbraith to Louis Harris, Sept. 27, 1960, Box 74, John K. Galbrai
th Papers, JFKL.

  p. 289: Higher marks: Gallup, 1683.

  p. 289: The Gaither report: Ambrose, Eisenhower, 434-35.

  p. 289: DDE knowledge and briefings: Beschloss, Crisis Years, 25-26; DDE to JFK, Aug. 19, 1960, Box 29, POF, and Earle G. Wheeler OH. Also see James P. Warburg to JFK, Sept. 21, 1960; JFK to Warburg, Oct. 18, 1960, James P. Warburg Papers, JFKL; and Solis Horwitz OH, which emphasizes that DDE never refuted the missile gap and that “there was no question in anybody’s mind that there was a missile gap.” For the argument that JFK knew there was no missible gap: Beschloss, Crisis Years, 25-27, and Richard Reeves, 58-59, 671-72.

  p. 289: Kennedy was in possession: “The Gap,” “Notes,” and “Weapons Evaluation,” n.d., Box 771; Stuart Symington to JFK, Sept. 2, 1960, Box 733, PPP. “National Defense,” n.d., Box 75, John B. Martin Papers. Also see Deirdre Henderson to Sorensen, n.d., 1960, Box 1, Deirdre Henderson Papers, JFKL.

  pp. 289-90: JFK-Dulles conversation: Beschloss, Crisis Years, 26.

  p. 290: Democrats warned Kennedy: Walt W. Rostow OH; “Who Is Responsible for the Defense Lag?” n.d., Box 771, PPP. Also Eleanor Roosevelt to JFK, Oct. 24, 1960, Box 32, POF.

  p. 290: “would be a very dangerous”: Quoted in Beschloss, Crisis Years, 24-25.

  p. 290: JFK on Cuba: Press Conference, Sept. 2, 1960, Box 1027, PPP; and “Kennedy Assails Nixon Over Cuba,“ New York Times, Oct. 7, 1960.

  p. 290: “What are the Soviets’”: Memo headed “Khrushchev” and subtitled “Cuba,” n.d., Box 540, PPP.

  p. 290: “stop talking about Cuba”: Dean Acheson OH. The best discussion of the flap over Cuba is in Parmet, JFK, 45-49.

  p. 291: “endorse and support”: A. Willis Robertson to JFK, July 19, 1960, Box 535, PPP.

  p. 291: “I understand”: JFK to Robertson, July 27, 1960, ibid.

  p. 291: “Now in five minutes”: Wofford, 58; and see 58-65 for the campaign’s civil rights activities.

  pp. 291-92: On Adam Clayton Powell, see Thomas, 100. Also see “Appearance by JFK Before National Conventions of Negro Organizations,” n.d., Box 536; Shriver to Sorensen, Aug. 8, 1960, and JFK Memo, Aug. 30, 1960, Box 543; and “Record of JFK on Civil Rights and Race Relations,” n.d., Box 1061, PPP.

  p. 292: “There are no Federal”: Meet the Press, Oct. 16, 1960, Box 780, PPP.