contributors to 1980 campaign of, 71
defense program of, 147–49, 176
Democratic Congress and, 202
Democratic voters for, 117
first Administration of, 92–96, 176
as GE Theater host, 213
“Great Communicator” role of, 210–16
Iranian arms deal of, 80, 96, 164–65, 206, 219
loyal conservativism of, 79–80
as “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” 200
Nicaraguan aid policy of, 150–52, 219
1964 Goldwater campaign supported by, 79
1966 election of California Governor won by, 212
1976 campaign of, 79, 94–95, 204
1980 campaign of, 79, 93, 200, 201–2, 204
1980 nomination acceptance speech of, 221
1982 “budget summit” of, 194–95, 220
1984 debates between Mondale and, 156–58
1984 reelection of, 84, 104
O’Neill and, 38–39, 44, 121, 200
opponents coopted by, 106, 148–52
opponents lowballed by, 200
political positioning mastered by, 217–20
presidency redefined by, 217–18
press conferences of, 211, 214–215
on radio, 79, 219
Regan as chief of staff for, 165, 183–85, 204, 217
as right-wing political commentator, 204
second Administration of, 96
Social Security changes proposed by, 196, 204
South African policy of, 183–84
State of the Union addresses of, 38, 210–11
Stockman as Budget Director for, 176–79
tax policies of, 150, 152, 176, 177, 210
teamwork in Administration of, 93
in televised speeches before Congress, 215–16
on television, 26, 51, 93, 183, 211, 213
Washington political society and, 36–37
Watt as Interior Secretary for, 219
recessions, economic, 83–84
red-baiting, see anti-Communism
Regan, Donald T., 165, 183–85, 204, 217
reporters, 182–84
ground rules for relations with, 184–91
“investigative journalism” of, 189
“off the record” conversations with, 185–89, 191
partisan role of, 190
White House press corps of, 194–95, 205, 206, 211, 214, 215
Republican national conventions:
of 1968, 220
of 1976, 186
Republican presidential nominations:
of 1952, 172
of 1968, 220–21
of 1976, 94–95
of 1980, 204, 221
of 1988, 76
retail and wholesale politics compared, 32, 33, 49, 53
Reuss, Henry S., 86–87
Ribicoff, Abraham A., 110, 112, 163
Rich, Spencer, 195–96
ridicule, as method of counterattack, 127–28
Riley, Jack, 45
Rockefeller, John D. “Jay,” 161–62
Rogers, Henry, 187
Rogers, William P., 173
Rolling Stone, 186
Romney, Mitt, 193–94
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 17, 19
“Fala speech” of, 127–28
fourth term campaign of, 127–28
Joseph Kennedy and, 54–55
radio broadcasts of, 26
Straus’s support of, 87
Wendell Willkie and, 96–97
White House card games with, 73, 144
Roosevelt, James, 55, 58, 59
Rostenkowski, Dan, 53–54, 109–11
Russell, Richard B., 28–29
Russert, Timothy, 126–27
Rutherford, J. T. “Slick,” 29–30
Sadat, Anwar, 40
Safire, William, 189, 221
sandbagging, 201–2
San Francisco Examiner, 45, 181
Santa Fe Trail, The, 93
Saratoga, Battle of, 91–92
Sasso, John, 119
Saudi Arabia, 40
Schieffer, Bob, 113
Schiffer, Robert, 44
Schweiker, Richard S., 94
Scowcroft, Brent, 149
Scowcroft Commission on Strategic Forces, 149, 206
Screen Actors’ Guild, 93
Selling of the President, The (McGinness), 46
Senate, U.S.:
Armed Services Committee of, 28
Budget Committee of, 44, 137–39, 163
Democratic Conference secretary of, 56
Democratic party cloakroom of, 27
“Inner Club” of, 28
Lyndon Johnson’s leadership of, 26–27, 30
office buildings of, 41
party whip position in, 56
patronage system in, 41–42
senior citizens, 121
Sequoia, 35–36
Seward, William H., 97
Shevardnadze, Eduard, 39
Shogen, Robert, 199
Silberman, James, 45
Sirhan Sirhan, 127
60 Minutes, 182
slanders, counterattacks against, 125–27
Smathers, George A., 122–23, 124
Smith, Joseph F., 77
Snyder, Mitch, 38–39
Social Security, 60–61, 86, 108, 114, 121, 156
as Democratic party issue, 194, 195–96
Republican proposal for voluntary system of, 196, 204
Social Security Commission, 206
Somoza Debayle, Anastasio, 150, 151
Sorensen, Theodore, 31, 42, 66, 68, 103, 113, 165
South Africa, 105, 183–84
Soviet Union, nuclear missiles of, 142, 147–49
Sparkman, John J., 175
Speakes, Larry, 188, 195, 206
“spin,” definition of, 169
Stassen, Harold, 172
Statue of Liberty, 93
Stephanopoulos, George, 116, 120
Stevenson, Adlai E., 174, 175, 199
Stockman, David A., 176–79
Straus, Jesse I., 87
Strauss, Robert, 65, 72–73, 159
Stueck, Henry, 212
Sullivan, Francis Patrick, 106–9
Super Tuesday, in 1984 elections, 169–70, 171, 198
Swaziland, 14, 75, 145–46
tax cut of 1981, 94, 150, 176, 177, 210
tax reform bill of 1986, 53–54
tax system, indexing of, 86
Teague, Olin E. “Tiger,” 111
Teamsters’ Union, 127
Teeley, Peter, 40
television:
charismatic political figures on, 80
House Speaker’s press conferences on, 135
Johnson’s inability to communicate on, 25, 33–34
Nixon’s 1952 “Checkers speech” broadcast on, 173–76
Reagan’s effective use of, 26, 51, 183
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 197
Thatcher, Margaret, 39
This Morning, 45
Thomas, Helen, 184
Thomason, Harry, 166–67
Thomason, Linda Bloodworth, 166–67
Thornburgh, Richard, 60
Time, 121
tobacco farmers, 99
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 140
Today show, 73, 171
Tonight Show, The, 19, 80, 167
Tower Commission, 206
Trewitt, Henry, 158
Trudeau, Garry, 184
Truman, Harry S., 49, 84, 97, 193, 205
1948 presidential campaign of, 111, 206–7
Tsongas, Paul, 168
Tumulty, Karen, 184
Tylenol, 164
Ullman, Al, 50
unemployment issue, 210
United Mine Workers (UMW), 162
United Press International (UPI), 57, 184, 196
United States, SS, 23–24
University of North Carolina, 99, 102
Unruh, Jesse “Big D
addy,” 67
Vietnam War, 50, 136, 197, 217, 218
candidate campaigning as “veteran” of, 126–27
Carter’s 1976 campaign after, 34, 35, 63
protesters against, 109–10, 125
Virginia, busing issue in, 129–30
Volcker, Paul A., 84
volunteers, potential contributions of, 71–72
von Hoffman, Nicholas, 38, 190–91
“Wabashing,” 192–93
Wall Street Journal, The, 157, 188
Warner, Charles Dudley, 15
Warner Brothers, 93
Warren, Earl, 58–59
Washington political world:
deal making in, 78
getting to know people in, 45
Reagan’s relations with, 36
Washington Post, The, 98, 137, 150, 163, 188, 189, 195, 196
Katharine Graham as publisher of, 36
Washington Press Foundation, 161–62
Washington Times, 79
Watergate, 107, 186, 218
Carter’s 1976 campaign after, 34, 35, 63
press coverage of, 187, 189
Watkins, John, 129
Watson, Jack, 102
Watt, James G., 219
Ways and Means Committee, House, 50, 53, 109
Weinberger, Caspar W., 39
welfare dependents, 60–61
West Virginia, 56, 161, 162
White, Theodore, 26
Will, George F., 14, 36
Willkie, Wendell, 55, 96–97
Wisconsin Democratic Party, 70
Wofford, Harris, 60
Woodward, Bob, 187, 189
World War II, 121, 122, 141–42, 200–1, 202
bombs dropped in, 147
U.S. election of 1940 and, 54–55
Xhumalo, Simon, 145–46
Free Press
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
Copyright © 1988 by Christopher J. Matthews
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
First Free Press trade paperback edition 2004
FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Elina Nudelman
Cover photograph by Kelly Campbell
The Library of Congress has catalogued the Touchstone edition as follows:
Matthews, Christopher, 1945–.
Hardball: how politics is played, told by one who knows the game /
Christopher Matthews.—1st Touchstone ed.
p. cm.
A Touchstone Book
Includes index.
1. Politics, Practical—United States. 2. Politicians—United States.
3. United States—Politics and government—1945–1989. 4. United
States—Politics and government—1989– I. Title.
JK1717 M33 1999
324.7’0973—dc21 99-045398
ISBN-13: 978-0-684-84559-3
ISBN-10: 0-684-84559-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-416-56261-0 (eBook)
CONTENTS
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
INTRODUCTION
STUDENTS
CHAPTER 1 World War II Was Their Greatest Campaign Manager
CHAPTER 2 Strangers on a Train
CHAPTER 3 While Kennedy Slept
CHAPTER 4 The Castle or the Outhouse!
CHAPTER 5 Cloth Coats and Lace Curtains
CHAPTER 6 Hall Mates
CHAPTER 7 Profiles in Ambition
CHAPTER 8 Two Men on Third
CHAPTER 9 Kennedy Versus Nixon
CHAPTER 10 The Great Debate
CHAPTER 11 Bearing Any Burden
CHAPTER 12 The Verdict
CHAPTER 13 If
CHAPTER 14 Bay of Pigs
CHAPTER 15 Coup de Grâce
CHAPTER 16 Diem
CHAPTER 17 Dallas
CHAPTER 18 Eternal Flame
CHAPTER 19 The New Nixon
CHAPTER 20 1968
CHAPTER 21 Haunting
CHAPTER 22 Escalation
CHAPTER 23 Interlude
CHAPTER 24 Targeting Teddy
CHAPTER 25 Smoking Gun
CHAPTER 26 Kennedy Versus Nixon—Again
CHAPTER 27 Death of a Presidency
EPILOGUE Twilight Struggle
AFTERWORD The White House Tapes
PHOTOGRAPHS
PICTURE CREDITS
NOTES
INDEX
For Mom and Dad
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The list of those who made this book possible begins and ends with research director Barbara Daniel. It was her persistence, more than any other factor, that brought a great American story onto these pages.
I want to acknowledge, too, the help of those who knew the two antagonists of this saga as friends, bosses, politicians. Billy Sutton joined the first Kennedy campaign just hours after his return from World War II. He retains his wondrous gift for mimicry, his wistful memories of sharing that Georgetown town house that the young congressman made a “Hollywood hotel.” Ted Reardon, who served Kennedy from that first day in Congress to the day he set off for Texas, kept his proud leather-bound collection of “Lodge’s Dodges” high in his apartment closet till the day he died. Ted Sorensen, the brilliant counsel Jack Kennedy called his “intellectual bloodbank,” remains the standard to which all top political lieutenants aspire.
John Kennedy’s pals gave me another glance into the rivalry that marked his stunning emergence into history. Chuck Spalding exudes the genuine humility of a fellow who “just happened to be friends” with the most charismatic figure of the time. Red Fay is grateful, even today, for the fun, high times, and grand occasions he shared with the navy pal who met him in the South Pacific, then kept him aboard for the entire voyage. Charles Bartlett, who introduced Jack to future wife, Jacqueline, recalls his lost pal with tear-filled eyes a full three decades after his passing. Ben Bradlee, another reporter pal, is a storyteller with the same salty language and stylish irreverence as the Washington neighbor who became a president. George Smathers, who remembers Kennedy as the “most charming man he ever met,” evokes his and Jack’s don’t-give-a-damn times better than all the written-down legends together.
Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr., my boss for six years, shared a rich perspective on both of this book’s antagonists through many a languid session in the Speaker’s backroom office.
On the Richard Nixon side of the rivalry, I owe much to the late Pat Hillings, who took Richard Nixon’s seat in Congress and shared so many of his crises. From the moment I discovered Pat waiting patiently for me in a Palm Springs hotel lobby, he was a friend and correspondent of great cheer and helpfulness. Bob Haldeman, who died just a month after our long interview, could not have been more generous. His diaries provide the best possible record of this saga’s final chapters. I want to thank John Ehrlichman for shedding light on the darker period of the Kennedy-Nixon story. John asked Richard Nixon at an anguished moment how he could explain the tragedy of Watergate to his children. I’d like to believe that this book performs that service. Thanks to Richard Nixon’s friend and speechwriter Ray Price, I am able to exploit an insider’s narrative of the forces that drove this troubled White House in its final days. Thanks to Alexander Haig, I could plumb the political calculation that guided Richard Nixon until those last steps toward the helicopter.
I would also like to thank those who allowed me to interview them on the events and personalities in this book: Clark Clifford, Charles Colson, Prof. Archibald Cox, Mark Dalton, Fred and Nancy Dutton, Bob Finch, James Flug, President Gerald Ford, Joan Gardner, Leonard Garment, Bill Gavin, Vic Gold, Bob Griffin, Louis Harris, Richard Helms, Stephen Hess, Don Hewitt, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Herb Klein, Tom Korologos, G. Gordon Liddy, Evelyn Lincoln, Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Pete McCloskey, Charles McWhorter, Rod MacLeish, Earl Mazo, Sen.
Frank Moss, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Martin Nolan, Esther Peterson, David Powers, George Reedy, Pierre Salinger, Rex Scouten, John Sears, Sargent Shriver, George Tames, Helen Thomas, Ron Walker, and Speaker Jim Wright.
There are two historians to whom I owe the most: Herbert Parmet’s Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy is the best book I have ever read on this fascinating man. Stephen Ambrose’s three-volume biography of Richard Nixon was the scaffold on which I have worked these past years. Three other books were indispensable: Nixon Agonistes by Garry Wills, JFK Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton, and President Kennedy by Richard Reeves.
I want to thank my researchers Christopher O’Sullivan, Christopher L. Matthews, Joseph Walsh, and Jason Kibbey; Thomas Whalen and Allan Goodrich at the John F. Kennedy Library; and John Taylor and Susan Naulty at the Richard M. Nixon Library and Birthplace. Others who helped in this project include Mark Johnson, Margaret Carlson, Turner and Elizabeth Kibbey, Robert Schiffer, Hendrik Hertzberg, Evan Thomas, Michael Gillette, Sven Holmes, Lois Romano, Gail Thorin, Steven Katze, Nancy Morrissey, and the Honorable Edward Markey.
I want to thank my literary representative, Raphael Sagalyn, who proved his faith and loyalty long ago. I want to thank, more than I can put in words, Michele Slung, for her masterful editorial work on this volume. The hours she dedicated to detonating paragraphs and challenging sentences have transformed a long and turbulent narrative into a coherent and dramatic saga.
I want to especially thank my editor, Dominick Anfuso, who shared my excitement with this historic rivalry from the outset. It was he who recognized the classic tale that lay beneath the history and urged me to tell it.
Finally, as before, I thank my loving wife, Kathleen, and our God-given children for sharing with me a world that any writer would envy.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
KENNEDY
Charles Bartlett, columnist, Chattanooga Times; personal friend of Jack Kennedy’s.
Benjamin Bradlee, Washington bureau chief, Newsweek, 1961–65; executive editor, Washington Post; personal friend of Jack Kennedy’s.
Paul Corbin, Robert Kennedy operative, 1960–68.
Paul “Red” Fay, PT boat friend of Kennedy’s in World War II; U.S. undersecretary of the navy, 1961–64.
James Flug, chief counsel, Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Subcommittee on Administrative Practices.
Lawrence O’Brien, campaign aide, Kennedy for Senate, 1952; field director, Kennedy for President, 1959–60; presidential aide, 1961–63; chairman, Democratic National Committee, 1969–72.
Kenneth O’Donnell, Kennedy political strategist, 1952–63.
Dave Powers, campaign aide, 1952–60; presidential aide, 1946–60.
Chris Matthews Complete Library E-book Box Set: Tip and the Gipper, Jack Kennedy, Hardball, Kennedy & Nixon, Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think, and American Page 110