Kennedy and Reagan
Page 49
Schultz, George, 228, 253, 270
Schwarz, Fred, 163
Shaw, George Bernard, 40, 42
Shepherd, Alan, 207
Shriver, Sargent, 150, 152, 215–17
Sidey, Hugh, 159, 232, 242, 244
Sinatra, Frank, 21, 138, 196, 198
Sinclair, Upton, 120
Smathers, George, 23, 135–36, 139, 143–44, 187
Smith, Al, 169, 296, 299
Somoza, Anastasio, 269
Sondergaard, Gale, 132
Sorensen, Ted
book about JFK, 234
and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 248
on inflation, 278
on JFK’s religious beliefs, 295, 299
and Profiles in Courage, 158, 161
speechwriter for JFK, 4, 40, 147, 160
Soviet Union
Cuban Missile Crisis, 243–48
invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, 180, 249
and it’s collapse, 213, 237, 257, 333
Korean Air Lines Flight 007, 252–54
launching of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin, 176, 205, 207
Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, 213–14
Speakes, Larry, 27
Spellman, Cardinal Francis, 302
Stern, Sheldon M., 245
Stevenson, Adlai, 150, 151, 159, 162–63, 173, 174–75, 297
Stewart, Jimmy, 197
Stockman, David, 290
Storm, Tempest, 138
Strategic Defence Initiative, 107
Sundquist, James L., 328
Sutton, Billy, 77
Swanson, Gloria, 52–53
Szasz, Ferenc, 304, 311
Taft, Robert, 150, 157
Taft-Hartley Act, 127
Taylor, George, 321
television and politics, 151–52, 167, 178–79, 181, 225–26
Tesdell, Jeanne, 141
Texas Book Depository, Dallas, TX, 18
That Printer of Udell’s: A Story of the Middle West (Wright), 69–70, 96
Thatcher, Prime Minister Margaret, 38, 223, 257
This Almost Chosen People (Nye), 202
Thomas, George, 84, 313
Thomas, Justice Clarence, 330–31
Thompson, Hunter S., 19
Tierney, Gene, 138
Tobin, James, 283–84
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 33–34
Todd, Richard, 109
Tracey, Spencer, 142, 186
Troy, Gil, 14, 184, 288
Trujillo, Rafael, 267
Truman, President Harry, 7, 12, 190, 222, 228, 278–79, 319
Tunney, Gene, 28
Turner, Reed, 19
Turnure, Pamela, 139
Udall, Mo, 32
Ugly American, The (Burdick and Lederer), 261–62
United Auto Workers, 129
Valenti, Jack, 184
Vereen, Ben, 198
Viguerie, Richard, 254, 336
Vital Center, The (Schlesinger), 335
Volcker, Paul, 228, 293
Walesa, Lech, 255, 257
Walker, Edwin, 18, 117
Wallace, George, 171, 326
Wallop, Malcolm, 212
War on Terror today, 335
Ward, Barbara, 301
Warner, Jack, 108–9, 187
Warren, Chief Justice Earl, 301
Washington, President George, 7, 9, 10, 11
Watkins, James D., 251–52
Watts riot in Los Angeles in 1965, 328
Weber, Max, 218–19, 221–22. 233
Weinberger, Casper, 223, 253, 271, 272–73
White, Lee, 327
White, Theodore, 22, 30, 55, 64, 65, 302, 303
Wicker, Tom, 16
Wiesner, Jerome, 207
Wilde, Oscar, 40, 42
Wills, Garry
on Kennedy, 101, 103, 137, 144, 247
on Reagan, 32, 57, 60, 62, 69, 80, 110, 122, 198, 224, 233
Wilson, Bert, 86, 87
Wilson, James A., 310
Wilson, President Woodrow, 7, 140, 144, 303
Winthrop, John, 203–4
Wirthlin, Richard, 30
Wofford, Harris, 322, 323
Wright, Harold Bell, 69–70, 309
Wright, Jim, 30
Yeltsin, Boris, 257
Young American for Freedom, 19
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Farris, author of Almost President (Lyons Press), is a former bureau chief for United Press International and a political columnist who has interviewed most of the men and women who have sought the presidency over the past thirty years. He has worked as a senior advisor to a U.S. senator, the governors of Wyoming and California, and the mayor of Portland, Oregon. A congressional candidate himself in 1998, Scott has also managed several political campaigns. Scott appeared on the 2011 C-SPAN television series The Contenders as well as MSNBC’s Morning Joe and Melissa Harris-Perry. His work has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
A happy Kennedy clan circa 1930. The Depression affected them not at all. While oldest boy Joe is the favored child, Jack is clearly the one who captures the camera’s eye. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
So skinny that classmates nicknamed him “Rat Face,” Kennedy dreamed of glory on the gridiron, but he was sickly and undersized, though coaches said he was a scrapper. Here he is at about eleven years old, suiting up for the Dexter Academy.
Given his poor health, Kennedy’s father had to pull strings to get him into the Navy and then into combat, where he commanded the PT-109. His heroism during the war was “involuntary,” Kennedy said, because the Japanese sank his boat. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
Jack and Jackie Kennedy were one of the most glamorous couples to ever occupy the White House, not only because of their physical beauty but also because of their patronage of the arts. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
Kennedy’s performances during his televised news conferences captivated the nation. Here in 1961 he discusses his first foreign policy challenge involving Laos. At that time, Vietnam was an afterthought at best. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev held only one summit, which Kennedy felt was a disaster. Fortunately for humanity, both men were determined to avoid nuclear war. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
Kennedy watches a manned weapons firepower demonstration at the Air Proving Ground Center, Eglin Air Force Base, in May 1962. Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General Curtis E. LeMay sits at his left. The senior brass drove Kennedy nuts with what he perceived to be their eagerness to use nuclear weapons. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
Kennedy peers into the Mercury capsule that Alan Shepard used to become the first American in space. Shepard’s successful flight gave Kennedy confidence to pledge that the United States would land a man on the moon before 1970. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
Kennedy was an avid sailor his entire life. He received his first sailboat, the twenty-six-foot-foot Victura, as a gift from his parents when he was fifteen years old. Here he pilots the Manitou, a sixty-two-footer he found at the Coast Guard Academy and which he claimed for use while president. Courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Library
Kennedy was president barely one thousand days, but in that short period the world came to the brink of nuclear war, Americans began manned expeditions in space, and African Americans asserted and finally won their civil rights. © Superstock
Reagan’s father thought his second son looked like “a fat little Dutchman,” and remarkably, Reagan preferred using his nickname “Dutch” until W
arner Brothers said he could not use it professionally as a movie actor. Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library
Reagan began lifeguarding at fifteen and continued for seven summers, during which time he reportedly saved more than seventy people from drowning in the Rock River. Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library
Reagan became one of the most popular sportscasters in the Midwest, despite never actually seeing a Chicago Cubs or White Sox game. Using bits of information sent over the telegraph, Reagan imagined the games for his listeners.
Reagan, shown in a publicity still, was once voted by students at a Los Angeles art school as the most nearly perfect male physique.
Reagan said football was a matter of “life and death,” but, like Kennedy, he never achieved glory on the field. But his photographic memory of every game played by Eureka College led to a career in sportscasting.
Because of his poor eyesight, Reagan spent World War II stateside making training and morale films in Hollywood. Friends who served in combat said Reagan always seemed embarrassed he had not gone overseas. Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library
Perhaps the most important job of Reagan’s pre-political career was when he hosted General Electric Theater on television and became a corporate spokesperson. It shaped his political views and made him a household name. Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library
Nancy Reagan was actually a more accomplished actor than her husband and did not know she would become a political wife, though she enjoyed the role. The Reagans are pictured here in 1964, the year Reagan campaigned for Barry Goldwater and launched his own political career. Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library
Reagan enjoyed being president, especially the role of commander in chief. When Jimmy Carter warned him of the job’s terrible burdens, Reagan thought something was wrong with Carter, not the job. Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library
The partnership that changed history. Because Reagan and Gorbachev were able to establish a rapport, the die-hard American anti-Communist and the Soviet reformer were able to agree to the first nuclear arms reduction treaty in history.
Reagan joined the Army Reserves so he could ride horses and desperately wanted to be a star of Technicolor Westerns, which was not to be. He said often that “the best thing for the inside of a man is the backside of a horse.” Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library
Reagan had a simple agenda as president: Build up the American military and cut taxes. He did both, but that also increased the national debt. Courtesy of the Ronald Reagan Library