Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy

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Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy Page 23

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.

 

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