The Kennedy Men

by Laurence Leamer

  426 “There’s another candidate …”: JFKMM, p. 344. 426-27 “I don’t have any …”: quoted in Whalen, p. 452.

  427 “And the Star …”: John F. Kennedy, n.d., FMC.

  427 “There was a lot…”: discussion between Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. and Arthur Schlesinger Jr., February 12, 1975, ASP.

  428 ‘“simply because he …”: memo to files, AKP.

  428 “whatever one’s…”: Fletcher Knebel, “A Catholic in 1960,” Look, March 3, 1959.

  428 “the crash of…”: February 24, 1959, religious issues file, JFKPP. 428 “Wherever I go …”: Cardinal Cushing to Joseph P. Kennedy, May 20, 1960, PC.

  428 “This letter really …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Richard Cardinal Cushing, March 23, 1959, PC.

  429 “I hope that…”: ibid., May 20, 1959, PC.

  429 “the religious issue …”: Cardinal Cushing to Joseph P. Kennedy, May 22, 1959.

  429 “Nobody asked me …”: Chafin and Topper, pp. 123-24.

  429 And pity poor Humphrey: MP 1960, p. 119.

  430 “A sin against God …”: ibid., p. 117.

  430 “I suppose if I…”: John F. Kennedy, n.d., FMC.

  431 a soft-core porn item….: Benjamin C. Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy (1975), p. 27.

  431 Jackie stood alone: ibid., p. 28.

  431 trying to gauge: Hugh Sidey, Time file, 1960.

  20. A Patriot’s Song

  433 “Yes, this candidate …”: Norman Mailer, The Presidential Papers (1963), p. 39.

  433 The Los Angeles police guarding: LL interview with former LA Police Detective Dan Stewart. 433 “These things happened …”: O’Neill, p. 92.

  433 In the Maryland primary: Torbert Macdonald, KLOH.

  434 “I remember …”: quoted in TEEK, pp. 122-23.

  434 With the help of New York City’s: MP 1960, pp. 153-54. 434 He helped to add Illinois: ibid., p. 195.

  434 “Senator Kennedy, who appears …”: “Should Health of Presidential Candidates Be a Campaign Issue?,” Medical World News, February 9, 1976.

  435 “outstanding possibility”: Myer Feldman, KLOH.

  435 “We need Texas”: interview, Joseph Timilty, BP.

  435 “I knew he hated Jack”: Jeff Shesol, Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud that Defined a Decade (1997), p. 59.

  436 “Well, you know …”: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  436 “In your first move after…”: The author draws heavily on the best account of this convoluted process in Jeff Shesol’s Mutual Contempt.

  436 “Jack, I don’t want you …”: LL interview with Charles Bartlett.

  437 originally written by Sorensen: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  438 “an example of…”: interview, Chuck Spalding, BP.

  438 “Time Inc. realizes …”: interview, Henry Luce, RWP.

  438-39 “I see Otto …”: Pierre Salinger, P.S.: A Memoir (1995), p. 76.

  439 “a remarkable political demonstration”: Myer Feldman, KLOH.

  439 “Our next president…”: quoted in Matthews, p. 136.

  439-40 “anxiety and discomfort”: Time, November 7, 1960.

  440 “I think that in the …”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  441 “didn’t like publicity”: Dr. Janet Travell, KLOH.

  441 “With respect…”: Dr. Janet Travell and Dr. Eugene J. Cohen to John F. Kennedy, June 11, 1960, RWC.

  441 the two doctors traveled: Janet G. Travell, M.D., to John F. Kennedy, June 24, 1960, RWC.

  441 “about the security …”: Dr. Janet Travell to Dr. Elmer C. Bartels, June 24, 1960, RWC.

  441 “Senator Kennedy does not…”: Janet Travell, M.D., to Robert F. Kennedy, July 11, 1960, DHP.

  441 “You do not have …”: Eugene J. Cohen, M.D., and Janet Travell, M.D., to John F. Kennedy, July 29, 1960, DHP.

  441 “I tracked down …”: Dr. Janet Travell, KLOH.

  442 “No, Lyndon …”: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  442 “lift its bloody hand …”: quoted in K, p. 194.

  442 “In every Catholic-dominated …”: brochure of Baptist Sunday School Committee of the American Baptist Association, DHP.

  442-43 “American freedom grew…”: Carol V. R. George, God’s Salesman: Norman Vincent Peale and the Power of Positive Thinking (1993), p. 198.

  443 “Post Protestant Pluralism”: ibid, p. 196.

  443 “Recently I spent…”: ibid., p. 200.

  443 “moral character of…”: ibid., p. 210.

  443 “the old, strong, narrow …”: ibid., p. 197.

  443 “People have often …”: William Geoghegan, KLOH.

  445 “the right and duty …”: New York Times, May 17, 1960.

  445 twice as many Protestants: Charles R. Morris, American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America’s Most Powerful Church (1997), p. 281.

  445 Jack’s speech that morning: LL interview with Bill Wilson.

  445 he could never be …: George, p. 202.

  446 “Protestant America …”: ibid., p. 208.

  446 “Henry, if you …”: Henry Brandon, KLOH.

  446 “anxiety about…”: Adelaide King Eisenmann to John Seigenthaler and Mike Feldman, Democratic National Committee interoffice memorandum, October 3, 1960, PA/PF Corr 59-60 JFKPL.

  446 “Americans are wondering …”: U.S. News & World Report, August 22, 1960.

  447 “You know I came …”: LL interview with Bonnie Williams.

  447 the candidate pushed: Gormley, p. 130.

  447 “I was just aghast…”: LL interview with Archibald Cox.

  447 wrote a futile letter: Gormley, p. 130.

  448 called Feldman: Myer Feldman, KLOH, and LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  449 Jack told his two aides: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  449 Jack believed that this area: ibid.

  449 at home started injecting: LL interview with Betty Coxe Spalding.

  449 Truman Capote might be: New York Times, December 4, 1972.

  450 “The demands of his…”: Dr. Max Jacobson, unpublished memoir, courtesy Mrs. Max Jacobson.

  450 hitting his fist: Matthews, p. 146.

  450 “No, Senator …”: K, p. 198.

  451 “Kick him in the balls”: LL interview with Bill Wilson.

  451 hit his kneecap: MP1960, p. 298.

  452 87 percent: Mary Watson, The Expanding Vision: American Television in the Kennedy Years (1990), p. 8.

  452 “#x2018;Party,’ not ‘pawty’ “: Myer Feldman, KLOH.

  452 Reinsch hurried: Watson, p. 13.

  453 “we must attempt…”: quoted in Matthews, p. 166.

  454 “Senator Kennedy made …”:

  454 the action would have taken: The original CIA memo for “A Program of Covert Action Against the Castro Regime,” dated March 16, 1960, stated that “it will not reach its culmination earlier than 6 to 8 months from now.” Foreign Relations 6 (1958-1960), pp. 850-51.

  454 “in the full hearing …”: Washington Post, August 8, 2000. See also Gus Russo, Live by the Sword: The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK(1998), p. 365.

  454 “we wish to give …”: Russo, p. 365.

  455 Manuel Artime, the political leader: ibid., pp. 169-70.

  456 “I want you to …”: Gerald S. and Deborah H. Strober, Let Us Begin Anew: An Oral History of the Kennedy Presidency (1993), pp. 325-26.

  456 “I think Kennedy …”: ibid, p. 325.

  456 “She … absolutely curled …”: Lord Harlech, KLOH.

  456 “that it [the pregnancy] was planned …”: Washington Star, September 2, 1960.

  457 “I’m sure I spend less…”: AP, September 15, 1960.

  457 “oddly humorous …”: quoted in Merry, pp. 353-54.

  457 60 percent had voted: Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963 (1988), p. 374.

  458 “And I know those …”: ibid., p. 342.

  458 $300,000 cash to get out the: i
bid., p. 343.

  458 King had been looking: Harris Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings (1980), p. 12.

  459 “super idealistic”: LL interview with Harris Wofford.

  459 “Look, our real…”: ibid.

  460 “Governor, is there …”: Jack Bass, Taming the Storm (1993), p. 170.

  460 “The trouble with”: Wofford, p. 18.

  460 “You bomb-throwers…”: Branch, p. 364.

  461 “Do you know”: Wofford, p. 19.

  461 “screwing up my brother’s …”: Branch, p. 367.

  461 “we would lose …”: Bass, p. 171.

  461 “Did you see”: Wofford, p. 28. 461 two million copies: Bass, p. 171.

  461 “deeply indebted …”: Branch, p. 369,

  462 Later in Honolulu: LL interview with Dick Livingston.

  462 In that final week: Don Shannon papers, JFKPL.

  463 The next to the last day: MP 1960, p. 371.

  463 “If the younger …”: quoted in JFKMM, p. 433.

  463 “Man, I’m tired …”: RKHT, p. 219.

  463 “How much is that?”: John Richard Reilly, KLOH.

  464 Joe shut: Arthur Krock, KLOH.

  464 “You know, there …”: LL interview with Joe Dolan.

  464 “I believe in this man …”: Hersh, p. 138.

  465 A different story: ibid., pp. 135-36. 465 Another story has Joe: SB, p. 44.

  465 In yet another scenario: Anthony Summers, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (1993), p. 269.

  465 In June of that election: The author has in his possession a letter from a private collection addressed to Joseph P. Kennedy at Cal-Neva Lodge and dated June 14, 1960, PC.

  465 “many gangsters with …”: Mahoney, p. 165, and J. Edgar Hoover, personal memo to the attorney general, August 16, 1962, FBIFOI.

  466 Sinatra had boasted: The FBI taps of the Armory Lounge in Chicago show Giancana’s displeasure. In 1975 the FBI noted: “When Kennedy was successfully elected and when Sinatra’s representations as passed on by Giancana did not materialize when the Kennedy administration, especially the Department of Justice under Robert Kennedy which intensified the investigation of organized crime, Giancana lost considerable face because of the reliance of the leadership of organized crime on Sinatra’s representations and Giancana never forgave Sinatra for this situation.” CG 137-349, p. 11, Chicago, HSCA records, NA.

  466 ninety minutes to move: New York Times, November 8, 1960.

  467 “You know …”: LL interview with Bob Healy.

  467 “The campaign is now …”: New York Times, November 8, 1960.

  468 Jack was no more: K, p. 212.

  468 “If I were he …”: Salinger, p. 49, and LL interview with Pierre Salinger. 468 bill of about $ 10,000: MP 1960, p. 377.

  468 even without: Jack W. Germond and Jules Witcover, “‘Dark Side of Cam-elot’ Takes Liberties with the Truth,” Baltimore Sun, November 19, 1997.

  468 “Mr. President”: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  468 his hands were trembling: MP 1960, p. 380.

  21. The Torch Has Been Passed

  471 stranding ten thousand: Time, January 27, 1961, p. 9.

  471 One million other Americans: Washington Post, January 21, 1961.

  472 did not even applaud: ibid.

  473 Sorensen had added: LL interview with Harris Wofford, and Wofford, p. 99.

  473 four million Americans: New York Times, January 21, 1961.

  473 black ministers in the South: Branch, p. 384.

  473 peoples of Europe: A Gallup poll showed that 72 percent of Germans had a favorable feeling toward Kennedy, as did 60 percent of the French, and 59 percent of the British. Washington Post, January 31, 1961.

  473 “begin anew”: New York Times, January 21, 1961.

  473 “radical improvement”: ibid.

  474 inundated with telegrams: David Powers, handwritten note, DPP.

  474 “Jack doesn’t belong …”: Life, December 19, 1960.

  475 “I assure you …”: Newsweek, September 12, 1960. 475 “I can’t”: Life, December 19, 1960.

  475 “Goddamn it…”: LL interview with George Smathers.

  476 “That’s it, general”: LL interview with John Seigenthaler.

  476 known as the Irish Mafia: Stewart Alsop, “The White House Insiders,” Saturday Evening Post, June 10, 1961.

  477 arrived by bicycle: Kai Bird, The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms (1998), p. 185.

  477 Kennedy could not run: William Attwood, CUOH. 477 “I want to help …”: Steve Smith to Arthur Schlesinger Jr., March 5, 1976, ASP.

  477 visited the White House only once: TR, p. 393.

  477 “We had this confidence …”: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  478 “Kennedy put the knife …”: LL interview with Marcus Raskin.

  478 “i AM SURE …”: Claude Hooton Jr. to Robert F. Kennedy, December 16, 1960, DHP.

  478 “There is some talk…”: Robert F. Kennedy to Claude Hooten Jr., December 22, 1960, DHP.

  478 “Why can’t a …”: LL interview with Sam Adams.

  478 “decotative butterflies…”: Kay Halle, CBS interview, NHP.

  479 they worked all night: See David Bell on Sorensen’s efforts. David Bell, KLOH.

  479 the same salary: WK, p. 63.

  479 He wanted no staff meetings: ibid., p. 74.

  479 “Listen, you sons of bitches…”: quoted in Ralph Martin, A Hero for Our Time (1984), p. 223.

  479 “I never knew …”: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  479 “was capable because of…”: Walter Rostow, KLOH.

  480 “By ‘toughness’ I meant…”: Adam Yarmolinsky, “Camelot Revisited,” Virginia Quarterly, Autumn 1996.

  480 He began shortly: Myer Feldman KLOH, and LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  480 “People, even if…”: Lord Harlech, KLOH.

  481 left by the golf shoes: Myer Feldman, KLOH, and LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  481 The president had to: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  482 The mysterious coverings: Joseph Alsop, KLOH.

  482 “I’d like to make this…”: Kay Halle, CBS interview, n.d., NHP, confirmed by John Kenneth Galbraith in letter to the author, September 2000.

  482 One of the few calls: White House, telephone memorandum, January 26, 1961, JFKPL.

  482 Mrs. Oswald had come: Atlanta Constitution, December 7, 1963.

  482 “Jack feels that…”: Arthur Schlesinger Jr., memo dictated February 22, 1961, ASP.

  483 Jackie’s stepbrother: The New York Times, a stickler on such matters, writes that “Jackie Kennedy was Vidal’s mother’s second husband’s third wife’s daughter.” New York Times, October 15, 1995.

  483 “I can’t remember …”: LL interview with Harris Wofford. 483 Dulles told the men: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  483 an accomplished man who had come: TOB, p. 427.

  483-84 “for practical purposes…”: McGeorge Bundy, memorandum of discussion on Cuba, January 28, 1961, in Mark J. White, The Kennedys and Cuba: The Declassified Documentary History (1999), p. 15. Wherever possible, more readily accessible sources than the files at the JFKPL will be cited. When otherwise not noted, the FRUS documents are from the Kennedy administration Cuban documents found on the State Department’s estimable web site at www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/frusX/index.html.

  484 from the original $4.4 million: “Inspector General’s Survey of the Cuban Operation October 1961,” in Bay of Pigs Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba, edited by Peter Kornbluh (1998), p. 58.

  484 Kennedy had met: Clark Clifford, memorandum, January 24, 1961, Department of State, Rusk files: Lot 72 D 192, White House correspondence, 1/61-11/63, FRUS.

  484 “continuing civil war”: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum, Washington, D.C., January 26, 1961, CIA, DDO/DDP files, job 78-01450R, box 5, area activity—Cuba (top secret), drafted by Bissell for a presidenti
al briefing, FRUS.

  484-85 “My belief from …”: LL interview with Colonel Jack Hawkins.

  485 “the way [would] then …”: Colonel J. Hawkins, “memorandum for: Chief, WH/4, “Subject: Policy Decisions Required for Conduct of Strike Operations Against Government of Cuba,” January 4, 1961, enclosure in Colonel J. Hawkins, “Clandestine Services History: Record of Paramilitary Action Against the Castro Government of Cuba, 17 March 1960-May 1961.” www.geocities.com.

  485 “our presently planned …”: Washington, D.C., January 22, 1961, 10:00 A.M., Department of State, INR/IL historical files, Cuba Program, January 21, 1961, FRUS, author emphasis.

  485 “final planning…”: Central Intelligence Agency, memorandum for the record, Washington, D.C., January 28, 1961, DDO/DDP files, C. T. Barnes Chrono, January-July 1961, author’s emphasis.

  485 “You don’t even know …”: Lord Harlech, KLOH.

  485 “They were a strange …”: Robert Amory, KLOH.

  486 Out of the sixty-nine thousand: Kornbluh, p. 77.

  486 These errors were: In his “Record of Paramilitary Action Against the Castro Government of Cuba, 17 March 1960-May 1961,” Colonel Hawkins writes: “These operations were not successful. Of 27 missions attempted only 4 achieved desired results. The Cuban pilots demonstrated early that they did not have the required capabilities for this kind of operation.”

  486 “not more than …”: Colonel J. Hawkins, “Anti-Castro Resistance in Cuba: Actual and Potential, March 16, 1961,” www.geocities.com/Capitol Hill.

  486 “at least ten times …”: ibid., enclosure.

  486 “nearly 7,000 insurgents”: CIA, “Cuban Operation, Document, April 12, 1961,” reprinted in Kornbluh, p. 131.

  486 CIA Director Allen Dulles: TOB, p. 431, and LL interviews with Burton Hersh and Samuel Halpern.

  486 “I was never …”: Robert Amory, KLOH.

  486 done for security reasons: Richard N. Goodwin, Remembering America (1988), p. 176.

  487 Nor did the one hundred thousand: Juan Carlos Rodriguez, The Bay of Pigs and the CIA (1999), p. 18.

  487 When the CIA’s operatives: These CIA figures are for the period from October 1960 to April 15, 1961. Hawkins, “Anti-Castro Resistance …,” p. 9.

  487 “prompt free elections…”: NSC action memorandum 31, Washington, D.C., March 11, 1961, reprinted in Politics of Illusion: The Bay of Pigs Invasion Reexamined, edited by James G. Blight and Peter Kornbluh (1998), p. 226.