by Thomas Maier
Further details and context were provided by “Dogged by Fate,” Nation, June 17, 1968; Marshall Frady,”The Transformation of Bobby Kennedy,” New York Review of Books, October 12, 1978; “Notes and Comment,” New Yorker, August 3, 1968; Peter Lisagor, “Portrait of a Man Emerging from Shadows,” New York Times Magazine, July 19, 1964;Anthony Lewis,“What Drives Bobby Kennedy,” New York Times Magazine, April 7, 1963; Garry Wills,“The Kennedys in the King Years,” New York Review of Books,November 10, 1988; Michael Barone,“We’ve Been Here Before,” AEI Lecture Series, October 4, 1999; Alan Wolfe,“Liberalism and Catholicism,” American Prospect, January 31, 2000; James Carroll,“The Catholic Side of Camelot,” Boston Globe, December 30, 1997; Ronald Steel,“The Kennedy Fantasy,” New York Review of Books,November 19, 1970;Martin Merzer,“Remembering RFK,” Orange County Register, June 6, 1993;“Senator Kennedy Crosses the Color Line,” Commonweal, July 22, 1966; Murray Kempton,“Remembering RFK,” Newsday, March 11, 1993;“Mortalized,” New Yorker, February 13, 1971.
Chapter Thirty-Six: The Ghosts of Camelot
Don DeLillo’s comment appeared in Vince Passaro,“Dangerous Don DeLillo,” New York Times, May 19, 1991. Judith Campbell Exner’s comments were in Seymour Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot.“The Exner account was a sort of triple whammy” was from Tom Wicker,“Kennedy Without End,Amen,” Esquire, June 1977.Theodore White said Jackie Kennedy “regarded me as one of Kennedy’s ‘scholar’ friends rather than an ‘Irish’ or ‘swinging’ friend” in Theodore H.White, In Search of History.“He was a story-book President” described in James Reston,“What Was Killed Was Not only the President,” New York Times Magazine, November 15, 1964.The public’s identification with JFK image was analyzed in Henry Fairlie,“Camelot Revisited,” Harper’s, January 1973. Tom Wicker’s discussion of the press’s relationship with JFK, as well as his own conversation with Richard Scammon about the significance of the 1960 election, was mentioned in Tom Wicker, “Kennedy Without End,Amen,” Esquire, June 1977.Wicker’s admission that “Bobby Kennedy was an easy man to fall in love with... if you were a reporter, and too many people did” was cited in “Mortalized,” New Yorker, February 13, 1971. Sander Vanocur of NBC was sent a January 31, 1961, letter from Joe Kennedy suggesting the loss of an “exclusive” interview with Jackie Kennedy if favorable coverage wasn’t provided, contained in the JPK papers of the Kennedy presidential library. Schlesinger’s criticism of ethnocentricity was in Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society.The ritual-like telling of the Kennedy Camelot story as a “passion play” was observed in Gore Vidal,“The Holy Family,” Esquire,April 1967.The Ralph Ginsburg case was discussed in C. David Heymann, RFK:A Candid Biography. RFK’s comment about “one Senator from the South who had a Negro mistress” could be found on page 311 of his oral history for the JFK Presidential Library. Jackie Kennedy’s marriage to Onassis and the church’s reaction was detailed in John Henry Cutler, Cardinal Cushing of Boston; Laurence Leamer, The Kennedy Women;David E.Koskoff, Joseph P. Kennedy:A Life and Times; and Christopher P.Andersen, Jackie after Jack. Cushing’s views on birth control and John Rock were desribed in John Henry Cutler, Cardinal Cushing of Boston. JFK’s opposition to government policy of encouraging birth control was attributed to the church and Catholic power in “Church and State,” New Republic, January 25, 1960. A presidential commission on the status of women, started by Kennedy, would call in 1968 for repeal of restrictive abortion laws, described in Karen O’Connor, No Neutral Ground? Abortion Politics in an Age of Absolutes.The Kennedys’ varying views on abortion were discussed in Laurence Leamer, The Kennedy Women; and in the author’s interviews with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. RFK’s 1967 encounter with Father Joe DiMaggio at Skidmore College was recounted in Jack Newfield, Robert Kennedy:A Memoir. JFK giving Catholics a sense of “arrival” was recalled in Richard John Neuhaus, The Catholic Moment. RFK’s statement after Ted’s plane goes down “there are more of us than there is trouble” came from Marshall Frady, “The Transformation of Bobby Kennedy,” New York Review of Books, October 12, 1978.The so-called “Kennedy curse” was refuted in Theodore C. Sorensen,“RFK:A Personal Memoir,” Saturday Review, June 22, 1968.Ted Kennedy’s televised Chappaquiddick speech raising and denying the spectre of “whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys . . .” was quoted in “The Ghost of Charisma Past,” Esquire, February 1972. Further discussion about tragic fate and the Kennedys was found in Andrew Greeley,“Leave John Kennedy in Peace,” Christian Century, November 21, 1973, and Robert F. Drinan, “Grieving We Find Comfort...” National Catholic Reporter, July 30, 1999.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Last Hurrahs
Sen. Edward Kennedy’s part in Boston’s busing debate during the 1970s was detailed in Thomas H. O’Connor, The Boston Irish: A Political History; Adam Clymer, Edward M.Kennedy:A Biography; James MacGregor Burns, Edward Kennedy and the Camelot Legacy; and particularly Ronald P. Formisano, Boston Against Busing: Race, Class, and Ethnicity in the 1960s and 1970s.Ted’s comment “Let them say what they want about our people—and we have many faults—they cannot say we are not loyal to our chieftain” was quoted in Clymer’s book. Joe Kennedy scolding Morrissey for presuming a judgeship would be “marked” for him was contained in a June 3, 1960, letter in the JPK papers at the JFK Presidential Library. Ted’s comment on the Morrissey judge-ship—“ It’s the only thing my father ever asked of me”—was reported in “Is Loyalty Enough?” Newsweek, October 18, 1965. Other coverage included “LBJ and Edward Kennedy: Their Nominee Under Fire,” U.S. News and World Report, October 11, 1965;Arthur Krock’s column in New York Times, October 1, 1965; and “One for Old Joe,” Newsweek, October 11, 1965.Ted singing the Irish songs at Ken O’Donnell’s wedding was described in Theodore H.White, In Search of History.Tubridy’s comments were from her oral history and reflected in the author’s interview in Dublin. “Ulster is becoming England’s Vietnam” came from “Northern Ireland: Off the Deep End,” Time,November 1, 1971.Ted Kennedy’s encouraging telegram to John Hume, leader of the protesting Catholics, that they were not alone was recalled in Paul Routledge, John Hume:A Biography. Further details and context were provided by Charles Carlton, Bigotry and Blood: Documents on the Ulster Troubles; Edward M. Kennedy,“Ulster Is an International Issue,” Foreign Policy, September 1973; John Hume, A New Ireland: Politics, Peace and Reconciliation; and J. Bowyer Bell, The Irish Troubles:A Generation of Violence, 1967–1992.The Four Horsemen are described in Clymer’s biography and “The IRA’s Angels,” Newsweek, May 18, 1981.“The smart thing for Ted Kennedy to do is to get out of politics and take care of the kids” was from John Henry Cutler, Cardinal Cushing of Boston.“We all know he might be assassinated,” Rose says in Lenore Hershey, “Mrs. Kennedy,” Ladies Home Journal,May 1972.“Because of, uh, what, uh, happened to my brothers, nobody close to you will advise you” came from Ann Taylor Fleming, “The Kennedy Mystique,” New York Times Magazine, June 17, 1979.The optimistic appeal of a Kennedy campaign was mentioned in Richard Reeves, “The Inevitability of Teddy,” Esquire, February 13, 1979. Nostalgia as a campaign issue was cited in Joe Klein,“Camelot Collapsing,” New Yorker, December 24, 1979; and Michael Kramer,“Brooklyn to Teddy: No Irish Need Apply,” New Yorker; January 28, 1980. Rostenkowski and other Illinois Democrats expressed their views in Edward Walsh, “Chicago Catholics: No Longer a Reliable Voting Bloc,”Washington Post, February 2, 1980.Ted Kennedy’s speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention was desribed in Pete Hamill,“A Brief, Shining Moment,” New Yorker, August 25, 1980.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: A Matter of Faith
Rose Kennedy’s quote about religious faith came from Lenore Hershey, “Mrs. Kennedy,” Ladies Home Journal,May 1972. Cushing’s talk about tragedy and faith with Rose Kennedy (“If I collaped, the morale of the family would be lowered”) was in John Henry Cutler, Cardinal Cushing of Boston. Monsignor Jeremiah O’Mahoney’s description of Rose Kennedy’s faith recalled in Randy Schultz,“Mat
riarch of an American Dynasty,” Palm Beach Post, January 23, 1995. Rose Kennedy’s rebuttal to Times columnist James Reston, who wrote that JFK did not believe in his Roman Catholic religion, was detailed in Liz Smith,“What Ever Happened to the Kennedys?” Ladies Home Journal, January 1977.Ted defined “the family” as the engine of power for the Kennedys in Ann Taylor Fleming,“The Kennedy Mystique,” New York Times Magazine, June 17, 1979. Rose was as “zealous” in bringing up the grandchildren as she was with her own children’s well-being, described in Edward Kennedy,“My Mother, Rose Kennedy,” Ladies Home Journal, December 1975. Joseph P. Kennedy II’s “desolation” after his father’s death was recalled in “Excerpt from the Eulogy,” Cape Cod Times, January 4, 1998. JFK Jr. criticism of “poster boys for bad behavior”was first cited in his George magazine and later recalled in Peter Collier,“A Kennedy Apart,” National Review, August 9, 1999.“His marriage vow to be faithful had not been honestly made”came from Adam Clymer, Edward M. Kennedy:A Biography. Sheila Rauch’s dispute over annulment was detailed in Laurence Leamer, The Kennedy Women.Ted Kennedy’s views on abortion were discussed in Peter Steinfels,“Beliefs,” New York Times, March 4, 2000; and Clymer’s biography. The rise of conservative power after Vatican II was discussed in Alan Wolfe,“Liberalism and Catholicism,” American Prospect, January 31, 2000.Kennedy’s support for Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 was detailed in Eric O. Hanson, The Catholic Church in World Politics.Kennedy’s meeting with Jerry Falwell was recounted in David Espo,“Kennedy Preaches to Fundamentalist’s Flock,”Associated Press, October 4, 1983. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s comments were from her interview with the author; Laurence Leamer, The Kennedy Women; and from a speech at the Kennedy Presidential Library in 2000. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s comments were in the introduction to Michael Padden, May the Road Rise to Meet You.Ted Kennedy’s comments about no priests in the family was mentioned in Robert F. Drinan,“Grieving We Find Comfort,” National Catholic Reporter, July 30, 1999.
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Looking Backward and Forward
“When the Irish came to America . . .” Kathleen Kennedy Townsend’s comments from author’s interview. RFK’s delight that “the Irish legacy has percolated down through my bloodlines” came from Michael Padden, May the Road Rise to Meet You. Rep. Patrick Kennedy’s speech in Dublin about racism and Irish history came from “Patrick Kennedy Warns on Evils of Racism,” Irish Times,April 16, 1998. Bridget Dirrane was mentioned in Michael Finlan, “100 Years on, Islander Is Still Praying for Peace,” Irish Times, November 16, 1994.The story of Paul Hill and his involvement with the Kennedy family was recounted in Tim Pat Coogan, The Troubles: Ireland’s Ordeal 1966–1996 and the Search for Peace; and Robert Kee, Trial and Error: The Maguires, the Guildford Pub Bombings and British Justice. Further coverage that yielded details and further context came from Adam Cohen,“Bobby and Ethel’s Brood:The Weight of Legacy,” Time, January 12, 1998; George Howe Colt,“The Kennedys Third Generation,” Life, Summer 1997; Andrew Pierce, “Well-Connected Priest Who Knows the Power of the Press,” Times of London, September 13, 1995;“Paul Hill,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, July 3, 1994; Larry King,“Fifteen Years for a Crime He Didn’t Commit,” Larry King Live, June 14, 1994, Nick Pryer,“Scum,As Kennedy Clan Fly In to Aid Terror Man,” Evening Standard, February 23, 1994;“Blair Apologises to Guildford Four,” BBC Online, June 6, 2000; J.D. Podolsky,“In the Name of the Son,” People, February 14, 1994; Geordie Grieg,“How One of the Guildford Four Met and Fell in Love with a Kennedy,” Evening Standard, January 19, 1993;“’Family Ties’ Paul Hill,Kennedy Kin Fight Murder Rap,” Day One/ABC News, February 28, 1994; John Edwards,“In the Name of the Family,” London Daily Mail, February 24, 1994; Ben Macintyre,“The Meddling Kennedys,” Times of London,March 1, 1994; Kevin Cullen, “You Only Live Twice,” Independent (London), January 30, 1994.Vitriolic coverage of the Kennedys in the British press was typified by Martin Walker,“Downhill with Ted,” Manchester Guardian (Weekly), December 1, 1991. Jean Kennedy Smith’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to Ireland was recalled in the author’s interviews with Jean Kennedy Smith, Elizabeth Shannon and by Sen. Edward Kennedy in written response to the author’s questions.“It sort of developed as a wisp of a thought”was quoted in Lawrence Leamer, The Kennedy Women. Further details and context about Smith’s arrival was derived from Conor O’Clery, Daring Diplomacy: Clinton’s Secret Search for Peace in Ireland; Adam Clymer, Edward M. Kennedy:A Biography; and Laura Blumenfeld,“The Envoy’s Bloodlines,”Washington Post, August 31, 1995. Jean Kennedy Smith’s visit to Dunganstown was recalled in author’s interviews with Mary Ann Ryan and Patrick Grennan.