by Ted Widmer
Congo, 252
Connor, Theophilus “Bull,” 111, 112, 122, 123
Conversations with Kennedy (Bradlee), 27
Cooper, Gordon, 226
call to, 226
Cooper, John, 38
Cousins, Norman, 206
meeting with, 206–7
Cuba, 4, 214, 254, 260
Bay of Pigs, xv–xvi, 3, 51, 156, 240
Soviet ship Poltava en route to, 136
Cuban Missile Crisis, 4, 5, 9–10, 18, 55, 100, 137–38, 201, 210, 213, 251, 252, 254, 260
aerial photograph of Soviet missile installations, 143
aerial photograph of Soviet missile launch site, 187
calls to Eisenhower, 158, 188–94
call to Gilpatrick, 166–67
call to Hoover, 197
call to Macmillan, 176–81
call to Truman, 195–96
conversation with McNamara, 186–87
conversation with Robert Kennedy, 174–75
eavesdropping on the Joint Chiefs, 156–57
Kennedy’s address to nation on, 161, 162
letter from Khrushchev, 190, 191
meeting in cabinet room, 182–83
meeting with Joint Chiefs, 147–55
meeting with military advisors, 139–44
meeting with senators, 159–65
private dictation, 145–46
proclamation authorizing naval quarantine, 169, 170
Curley, James M., 46
Cushing, Freddy, 26
D
Daley, Richard, 94
call to, 94–95
Darden, C. R., 98
Day, James Edward, 184
defense budget, 201, 214
meetings about, 203, 254–55
de Gaulle, Charles, 51, 180–81, 250
de Lattre de Tassigny, Jean, 239
de Zulueta, Philip, 181
Diem, Ngo Dinh, 5, 233–34, 237, 239, 240–42, 245–46
Dillon, Clarence Douglas, 124, 184
meeting with, 281
dinner party conversation, 27–42, 43, 65
Dirksen, Everett, 71, 163, 213
DiSalle, Mike, 41
Doar, John, 102
Dulles, John Foster, 235, 256
Dunphey, Chris, 26
E
economic advisors, meeting with, 281
Education and Freedom (Rickover), 60
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 2, 6, 10, 13, 17, 34, 34n, 35, 49, 51, 55, 56, 65, 84n, 90–93, 152n, 159, 201, 202, 214, 265, 281
calls to, during Cuban Missile Crisis, 158, 188–94
meeting with, 55–57
Vietnam and, 233, 236
Evans, Rowland, 71
Evers, Charles, 100
Evers, Danyi, 100
Evers, Medgar, 98, 100, 130–31
Evers, Mrs. Medgar, 100
Evers, Reena, 100
F
Faulkner, William, 50
Finletter, Thomas, 182
Fitzgerald, John F., 28, 30, 34n, 38, 44n, 46
Fleeson, Doris, 73
Ford, Gerald, 6n, 27, 72n
Forrestal, James, 245n
Forrestal, Michael, 245, 265
Foster, John, 210n
“Friendship 7” Mercury capsule, 218
Fullbright, J. William, 38, 164
furniture purchase, calls about, 273–76
G
Gagarin, Yuri, 219
Germany, 17, 55–57, 214
Autobahn in, 248
Berlin, see Berlin
Gilpatric, Roswell, 145
call to, 166–67
Glenn, John, 218
Goldwater, Barry, 90
Goulart, João, 285
Grant, Ulysses S., 5, 100
Graybeal, Sidney, 141–44
Gromyko, Andrei, 145, 148, 261
meeting with, 260–62
Guantánamo, 165, 189
Guns of August, The (Tuchman), 17–18, 51
Guthman, Edwin O., 73, 76, 79
H
Hackett, David, 271–72
Hamilton, Edith, 47n
Hammarskjöld, Dag, 178
Harkins, Paul D., 245
Harriman, Averell, 12, 37, 208, 245
Harris, Lou, 90
call to, 90–93
Harvard University, 19, 20, 47
Hearst, William Randolph, 54
Helms, Richard, 256–57
Herter, Christian, 84
Hickenlooper, Bourke B., 248n
Hickenlooper Amendment, 248
Hickey, Charles, 44n
Hilsman, Roger, 245, 265
Hiss, Alger, 235
history, 17–18
Hitler, Adolf, 17, 137, 147
HMS Resolute desk, xvii, 284
Ho Chi Minh, 235n
hockey team, U.S., call about, 271–72
Hodge, W. J., 98
Hoover, Herbert, 10, 188, 197
call to, 197
Houphouet-Boigny, Felix, 253
Humphrey, Hubert, 33, 38, 39
I
India, meeting on, 259
Indonesia, 265
Ireland, 16
Isham, John, 26
J
Jackson, Henry “Scoop,” 213
meeting with, 213–16
Jefferson, Thomas, 5, 99
John XXIII, Pope, 206
Johnson, Alexis, 145
Johnson, Lyndon B., 6n, 38n, 78n, 240, 270
in meeting with civil rights leaders, 128, 130–31, 131
memo from Kennedy about space program, 222
Johnston Island, 212
Joint Chiefs of Staff, 3
Cuban Missile Crisis meeting, 147–55
eavesdropping on, 156–57
Jones, Howard, 265
K
Kaplan, Kivie, 98
Kefauver, Estes, 35
Kelleher, Mike, 46
Kennedy, Caroline, xvii, 24, 26, 139, 139, 247, 262, 288
Kennedy, Edward M. “Ted,” 8, 53n, 84, 85
call to, 84–85
Kennedy, Jacqueline, 29, 253, 262n
at dinner party, 27–42
hospital bedroom built for, 273–76, 274
letter to, 24–26
Kennedy, John F:
appointment book of, v
assassination of, 270
doodles of, 148, 149, 241
health problems of, 39–40, 270
political career of, 27–42, 43–50, 45, 64, 65, 269–70
presidential candidacy of, 5, 27–42
private dictations of, 145–46, 245–48, 285–86
Kennedy, John F., Jr., 25, 246, 247, 262
Kennedy, Joseph P., 1, 19, 27, 32, 39, 44, 51
Kennedy, Joseph P., Jr., 27, 44
Kennedy, Patricia, 277n
Kennedy, P. J., 44n
Kennedy, Robert F., 1, 3, 74n, 78n, 113n, 137, 184, 247, 282n
call from, 80–83
calls to, 70–72, 73–79
Cuban Missile Crisis and, 137, 174–75, 182
in meeting about Vietnam, 240–42
in meetings about Birmingham, 114–21, 122–27
Kennedy, Rose Fitzgerald, 44, 232
Khrushchev, Nikita, 55, 100, 148, 153, 154, 157, 158, 159–63, 165, 176, 182, 188, 189, 196, 201–2, 206–7, 214, 261, 262n
letter from, 190, 191
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 11, 114, 115, 117, 118n, 120–21, 122–26, 131, 132
“I Have a Dream” speech, 100, 128
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” 122n
meeting with, 133–34
as target of bombings, 114, 125
Knight, Goodwin, 68
Krulak, Victor, 243–44
Kuchel, Thomas, 68
L
Laos, 156, 214, 215, 233, 254
Lawford, Peter, 277
Lebanon, 152
LeMay, Curtis, 4, 137, 147, 150–52, 155, 156–57
Lemnitzer, Lyman, 180
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (K
ing), 122n
Lewis, John, 131
Libonati, Roland, 94, 95
Lincoln, Abraham, 4, 5, 18, 50
Lincoln, Evelyn, v, 1, 2, 3, 4, 9
Lodge, Henry Cabot, 34n
Lodge, Henry Cabot, Jr., 21, 33–34, 44, 47, 233, 245
cable to, 237
Loomis, Dan, 88
Lovett, Robert, 145
Luce, Henry R., 19, 80–81
Lumumba, Patrice, 252
Lundahl, Arthur, 140–41, 144
Luper, Calvin, 98
M
MacArthur, Douglas, 51
meeting with, 51–54, 52
Macmillan, Harold, 137, 175n, 176, 177, 202
call to, on Cuban Missile Crisis, 176–81
Macy, John, 127
Mansfield, Mike, 38, 213
March on Washington, 100, 122n, 128–29, 133
Marshall, Burke, 117–21, 123, 124, 125, 127
Martin, Ed, 145
McCarthy, Joseph, 235n
McClellan, John, 78
McCone, John A., 73, 76–77, 78, 79, 159, 240, 245, 256
McDermott, Edward, 167
McHugh, Godfrey, 275–76
McKissick, Floyd, 131
McNamara, Robert S., xviii, 4, 8, 137, 144, 145, 156, 164, 165, 184, 240, 242, 245–46
conversation with, 186–87
in meeting about defense budget, 254–55
in meeting about India and China, 259
Mendenhall, Joseph, 243–44
Mercury spacecraft, 218
Meredith, James, 99, 102, 107–10
Metropolitan Club, 113
Mills, Wilbur, 281n
Mortimer, Stanley, 24
Muskie, Edmund, 33
N
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 219
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 98, 123
Nevenson, Henry W., 46n–47n
Newsweek, 3, 80, 81, 90
New York Post Sunday Magazine, 122n
New York Times, 53, 111–12, 111
Nhu, Ngo Dinh, 233–34, 237, 243, 245–46
Nixon, Richard M., 6, 34n, 38, 48, 67, 90, 91, 206, 207, 213
memorandum on conversation with, about Vietnam, 235–36
Nixson, S. Y., 98
Norstad, Lauris, 57, 180
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 180–81, 182, 255
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, 138, 176, 201–2, 208, 210, 211, 213
meeting with Henry “Scoop” Jackson, 213–16
meeting with scientists, 210–12
signing of, 211
nuclear weapons, 201, 254, 259
call to Truman, 208–9
Cuban Missile Crisis, see Cuban Missile Crisis
meeting about defense budget, 203
meeting with Norman Cousins, 206–7
Polaris missiles, 200, 201, 203, 205
O
Obama, Barack, 251n
O’Brien, Lawrence, 281n, 282n
O’Connor, Edwin, 46n
O’Donnell, Kenneth, 282n
Ormsby-Gore, David, 175
Oval Office, 268
P
Palfrey, John, 210n
Palmer, Bud, 26
Pastore, John, 85
Peace Corps, 256–58
Pearson, Drew, 88
Pittmann, Steuart, 167
Polaris missiles, 200, 201, 203, 205
political advisors, meeting with, 282–83
Politics USA: A Practical Guide to the Winning of Public Office (Cannon), 27, 43
Poltava, 136
Potsdam Conference, 46
Prinz, Joachim, 131
Profiles in Courage (Kennedy), 5, 17, 233
PT-109, 277, 278, 279
PT-109 (film), 277–80
Pushinka, 262
R
radio interview, Rochester, Minn., 19–20
Radziwill, Lee, 26
Radziwill, Stanislas “Stas,” 26
Randolph, A. Philip, 11, 99, 100, 128–30, 131
Reagan, Ronald, 6, 212n
Resolute desk, xvii, 284
Reston, James “Scotty,” 235
Reuther, Walter, 128–29, 131
Ribicoff, Abraham, 82
Rickover, Hyman, 60
meeting with, 60–62, 61
Roberts, Dennis, 24
Robertson, Cliff, 277
Rockefeller, Nelson, 72, 90, 167
Romney, George, 53–54, 90
Romney, Mitt, 53n
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 2, 6, 11, 39, 40, 50, 57, 99, 129n, 131, 282, 283
Roosevelt, Theodore, 5, 17
Rusk, Dean, 12, 164–65, 240
Russell, Richard, 159, 165
Russell, Sarah, 24
Ryan, Ginny, 26
S
Salinger, Pierre, 273
Saturn rocket, 229
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr., 8, 13, 70, 251
Schlesinger, Arthur M., Sr., 13
schools, 60–62
desegregation of, 124
on military bases, 80, 81–82
scientists, meeting with, 210–12
Seaborg, Glenn, 184, 210n
Seamans, Robert, meeting with, 220–25
senators, meeting with, 159–65
Shaw, Leverett, 24
Shaw, Maude, 24, 26
Shoup, David, 154–55, 156–57
Shriver, R. Sargent, 257
call from, 256–58
Siegenthaler, John, 116
Sitton, Claude, 114
Smathers, George, 86
call to, 86–89
Smith, Stephen E., 282
Smith, Walter Bedell, 57
Sorensen, Theodore C., 8, 82, 83, 145, 184, 281n, 282n
Soviet Union, 100, 137, 248, 251
Cold War, 17, 55, 202, 213, 219, 233, 252, 263n, 265, 271
Cuban Missile Crisis, see Cuban Missile Crisis
meeting with Andrei Gromyko, 260–62
nuclear weapons, see nuclear weapons
Poltava en route to Cuba, 136
space program, 219, 224–25
space program, 219
call to Gordon Cooper, 226
“Friendship 7” Mercury capsule, 218
meeting with James Webb, 228–29
meeting with James Webb, Jerome Wiesner, and Robert Seamans, 220–25
memo to Johnson, 222
moon landing as priority of, 220–24, 228–29
rocket models at Cape Canaveral, 227
Saturn rocket launch pad, 229
Spottswood, Stephen G., 98
Stalin, Joseph, 57
Stevenson, Adlai, 30, 33, 34, 35, 99, 132, 176, 179, 180
Sukarno, 265
Supreme Court, 112
Sylvester, Arthur, 273–75
Symington, Stuart, 38
T
Taft-Hartley Act, 48
Tanner, Jack E., 98
Taylor, Maxwell, xviii, 144, 145, 150, 152, 156, 240, 245–46
in meeting about defense budget, 254–55
in meeting about India and China, 259
Teller, Edward, 212
TFX, 77
Thant, U, 176, 178–81, 182, 186
Thirteen Days (Kennedy), 1
Thompson, Llewellyn, 261
Tibet, 194
Time, 80, 81
Tito, Josip Broz, call to, 263–64
Tracy, Spencer, 20
Trilling, Steve, 277
Truman, Harry, 2, 6, 10, 22, 145n, 188, 195, 282, 283
calls to, 195–96, 208–9
Tuchman, Barbara, 17–18, 51
Turkey, 182–83, 188, 196, 197
Turner, Edward, 98
U
Unitas, Johnny, 42
United Nations, 17, 46n, 86, 138, 178
University of Mississippi, 99, 100, 101, 107n, 109
V
Vietnam War, 11, 13, 206, 213, 214, 233–34, 241, 251, 254, 259, 270
cable to Henry Cabot Lodge calling f
or Diem to remove Nhu, 237
Dien Bien Phu, 235
Kennedy at the Boston Chamber of Commerce following a speech about his tour of Asia, 232
meetings with advisors on, 239, 240–42, 243–44
memorandum on conversation with Nixon, 235–36
press conference, 244
private dictation, 245–48
W
Warner, Jack L., 277
Washington, George, 4
Watergate hearings, 6
Watkins, Thomas, 101, 104, 105–6
Weaver, Robert, 184
Webb, James, 13, 184, 219, 221
meetings with, 220–25, 228–29
Wharton, Edith, 24
Wheeler, Earle, 120, 153, 157
Why England Slept (Kennedy), 19, 20
Wiesner, Jerome, 184, 254n
meeting with, 220–25
Wilkins, Roy, 83, 128, 131
Williams, G. Mennen, 252
Wilson, Woodrow, 5, 17, 282, 283
Wirtz, William Willard, 131, 184
World War I, 17, 51
World War II, 17, 18, 263n
Y
Yale University, 1, 14, 20
Young, Whitney M., Jr., 131
Yugoslavia, 263n
CAROLINE KENNEDY WITH HER FATHER IN THE OVAL OFFICE, OCTOBER 10, 1962
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not have been possible without the help of the extraordinarily talented and devoted team at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, who work tirelessly to preserve history and make my father’s legacy accessible to new generations of Americans.
I am especially grateful to Tom Putnam, the Library’s outstanding director, who gave this project his full support; Chief Archivist Karen Adler Abramson, who made her exceptional staff available to assist with the research and compilation of materials; Maura Porter, who has been overseeing the declassification of the White House recordings since 2001, and whose encyclopedic knowledge of their content was invaluable; Maryrose Grossman, Laurie Austin, and Bill Bjelf of the Audiovisual Archives, who helped find, compile, and duplicate the key recordings and photographs; Audiovisual interns Hannah Weddle and Sara Ludovissy for their help with the sound recordings and scanning of images; and to Stephen Plotkin and Stacey Chandler of the Research Room, who went out of their way to find the best documents and memoranda to give historical context to the recordings.
I am also grateful to Tom McNaught, executive director of the Kennedy Library Foundation, who oversaw every aspect of this project with his customary commitment to excellence, and to Karen Mullen for her help and assistance.
I am particularly indebted to Cliff Sloan for his judgment and legal expertise, and to Rachel Day Flor and Debra Deshong Reed for their expert assistance in promoting and publicizing these historical records.
I always give thanks for Lauren Lipani, whose keen intelligence, good humor, and skillful organization is indispensable in keeping everything on track.
Listening In is the third book that the Library has done in partnership with Hyperion, and I am grateful to all those who have made these projects successful—most of all to Gretchen Young, who has been a dedicated champion, gifted editor, and wonderful friend.