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America's Reluctant Prince

Page 55

by Steven M. Gillon


  Jeffrey Sachs

  Dan Samson

  Lawrence Schwartzwald

  Michael Sheehan

  Robert Shrum

  Brian Steel

  Keith Stein

  Cheryl Stieffel

  Sam Stoia

  RoseMarie Terenzio

  Barbara Vaughn

  Michael Voss

  Thomas Wells

  Richard Wiese

  Don Wilmeth

  ORAL HISTORIES

  John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

  Lawrence Arata

  Laura Bergquist

  Preston Bruce

  Christine Camp

  William F. Connors

  Joseph J. Karitas

  Katherine “Kay” Murphy Halle

  Maud Shaw

  Stanley Tretick

  Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library

  Cecil Stoughton

  NOTES

  CHAPTER 1: “I WAS PROUD OF THE LITTLE GUY”

  “as a precautionary measure”: Clint Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me (New York: Gallery, 2012), 20–21.

  had Seiler not intervened: Dean R. Owen, November 22, 1963: Reflections on the Life, Assassination, and Legacy of John F. Kennedy (New York: Skyhorse, 2013), 339–41.

  gives up and stops breathing: The description of the ailment comes from “Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome (Hyaline Membrane Disease),” Boston Children’s Hospital online, accessed September 10, 2018, www.childrenshospital.org.

  “was in doubt”: “Nancy Tuckerman Called with the Following Information from Mrs. Onassis,” Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Personal Papers, series 3, box 55, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library (cited hereafter as JFKPL), Boston.

  “a new administration and a new baby”: Sally Bedell Smith, Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House (New York: Random House, 2004), 5.

  crippling back condition: Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963 (New York: Little, Brown, 2003), 193.

  Caroline in November 1957: Ibid., 193–94.

  “natural language of politics”: Mary Ann Watson, The Expanding Vista: American Television in the Kennedy Years (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), 8.

  separate press plane: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 19–20; “Nancy Tuckerman Called,” Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Personal Papers, series 3, box 55, JFKPL. Rose was writing her memoir and asked Jackie about John’s birth. Tuckerman relayed her response to Rose.

  Walsh arrived five minutes later: W. H. Lawrence, “Kennedy Alters Schedule to Stay Close to New Son,” The New York Times, November 26, 1960.

  Salinger’s reply is not recorded: “Powers interview,” David F. Powers Personal Papers, series 3, box 9, JFKPL; “Delighted Father,” Powers Papers, n.d., series 5, box 17, JFKPL; W. L. Beale Jr. to Pierre Salinger, November 29, 1960, JFKCAMP1960-1047-015, JFKPL.

  “Why, it’s John F. Kennedy Jr.”: Merriman Smith, “President-Elect Proud of Son to Be Named John F. Kennedy Jr.,” UPI, November 25, 1960.

  “because she was so jealous of John”: Maud Shaw, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, April 27, 1965, JFKPL.

  gave him an autograph: Lawrence, “Kennedy Alters Schedule to Stay Close to New Son.”

  removed John from the incubator: “John Kennedy Jr. Pays First Visit to Mother,” The New York Times, December 4, 1960.

  “People were fascinated by her”: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 29–30.

  “I think John suffered a great handicap”: Maud Shaw, White House Nannie: My Years with Caroline and John Kennedy, Jr. (New York: New American Library, 1965), 97–98.

  “I didn’t come to meals”: Laurence Leamer, The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family (Villard: New York, 1994), 515.

  Jackie desperately needed rest: Richard Reeves, President Kennedy: Profile of Power (New York: Touchstone, 1994), 146–47; Susan Sheehan, “The Happy Jackie, the Sad Jackie, the Bad Jackie, the Good Jackie,” The New York Times, May 31, 1970; Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 16; Leamer, The Kennedy Women, 515.

  from the Georgetown home: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 82–83; “Description of Children’s Rooms,” February 3, 1961, Jacqueline Kennedy Papers, series 1.1.2, Pamela Turnure Files, box 25, JFKPL; Shaw, White House Nannie, 82–83.

  smearing some peanut butter: J. B. West, with Mary Lynn Kotz, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Open Road, 2016), 201–2; Traphes L. Bryant, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, May 13, 1964, 2–3, 9–10, JFKPL.

  growing up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Shaw, White House Nannie, 40–46.

  “moat with crocodiles”: Leamer, The Kennedy Women, 512–13; Letitia Baldrige, A Lady, First: My Life in the Kennedy White House and the American Embassies of Paris and Rome (New York: Viking, 2001), 177; Barbara Leaming, Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years (New York: Free Press, 2001), 20–21; Dallek, An Unfinished Life, 473–74; West with Kotz, Upstairs at the White House, 205.

  “rented Glen Ora or built Wexford”: West with Kotz, Upstairs at the White House, 212–13, 265–66.

  a stinging memo: Pierre Salinger, With Kennedy (New York: Doubleday, 1966), 84.

  avid reader of gossip magazines: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 206.

  “rapidly expanding”: Memo, February 3, 1961; “Pam’s Briefings, JFK, Jr.,” May 1, 1961; “John F. Kennedy, Jr.,” August 25, 1961, October 17, 1961, November 21, 1961, November 15, 1962, Jacqueline Kennedy Papers, series 1.1.2, Pamela Turnure Files, box 25, JFKPL.

  “the White House’s most popular attraction”: “The Latest on J.F.K.,” New York Herald Tribune, October 20, 1961; Don Shannon, “Caroline Captures ‘Top Billing,’” Los Angeles Times, April 15, 1961.

  protect Caroline’s privacy: Thomas J. Walsh to Mrs. John F. Kennedy, October 23, 1962; “Dear Tom,” October 26, 1962, Jacqueline Kennedy Papers, series 1.1.2, Pamela Turnure Files, box 25, JFKPL.

  better-educated reader: Kate Anderson Brower, First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies (New York: HarperCollins, 2016), 108.

  “in no uncertain terms”: Baldrige, A Lady, First, 179–80.

  “charm and charisma of President Kennedy”: Amanda Hopkinson, “Cecil Stoughton” obituary, The Guardian, November 19, 2008.

  “to be called Camelot”: Margalit Fox, “Cecil Stoughton Dies at 88; Documented White House,” The New York Times, November 6, 2008; Cecil Stoughton, Oral History Interview, Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library (cited hereafter as LBJPL), Austin, TX; Cecil Stoughton and Chester V. Clifton, The Memories: JFK 1961–63 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1973), 135–37, 153.

  “an absolute rule of divine right”: Christine Camp, Oral History Interview, JFK #2, January 14, 1966, 78, JFKPL.

  The bushes stayed: Shannon, “Caroline Captures ‘Top Billing.’” The president was not the only one who complained. The Secret Service was also upset. “How the hell do you expect us to guard this place if we can’t see who’s climbing over the fence?” an agent complained. In response, the police stationed another man at the gate and electrified the fence. But that did not work because the alarm went off every time a bird flew over. Eventually they installed ground lights among the bushes. West with Kotz, Upstairs at the White House, 205.

  “an order from the president”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 131–32.

  Kennedy’s hotel room: Dirck Halstead, “A Tribute to Stanley Tretick,” The Digital Journalist, 1999.

  plum Washington assignment: Ibid.

  “The president loves those pictures”: Stanley Tretick, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, September 15, 1964, 21–28, 32–34, JFKPL.

  “near my children again”: Jackie Kennedy, “Memo for Pierre Salinger,” August 6, 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy Papers, series 1.1.4, Nancy Tuckerman File SF93, JFKPL.

  “
I didn’t say that, but it might be a good idea”: Tretick, Oral History, 37–42, 44–45.

  “kind of sticky”: Ibid., 45.

  “‘can you, Stan?’”: Ibid., 47.

  “wets his pants”: Evelyn Lincoln, My Twelve Years with John F. Kennedy (New York: David McKay, 1965), 357; Benjamin C. Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy (New York: W. W. Norton, 1975), 159–61, 168–69.

  under the furniture: Kay (Katherine Murphy) Halle, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, February 7, 1967, 19, JFKPL; Stoughton and Clifton, Memories, 137.

  traveled to Dallas: Laura Bergquist Knebel, Oral History Interview, JFK #2, August 1, and 11, 1977, JFKPL.

  “a trio of uncles”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 109–10; Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 113.

  enjoy such a luxury: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 33–34.

  see the Secret Service as more intrusive: Clint Hill, interview by author, December 9, 2017.

  “follow on foot”: James Jeffries to Chief U. E. Baughman, “Protective Procedures Being Used and Recommended for Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy and Children,” February 16, 1961, Gillon v. Department of Homeland Security, Civil Action No. 17-cv-02529-APM. All references to Secret Service material, unless indicated otherwise, came from files Homeland Security provided in response to my lawsuit.

  “have a special agent, of the service, in a bathing suit”: Lynn Meredith to Chief U. E. Baughman, “Swimming Pool Incident Concerning Caroline Kennedy,” July 6, 1962.

  “protect her children from kidnapping”: James Jeffries to Chief U. E. Baughman, “Protection of Mrs. Kennedy’s Children, While at the Beach or in a Swimming Pool,” July 11, 1961.

  agents did not clear a path: Lynn Meredith to Gerald A. Behn, n.d.

  rational heads prevailed: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 193.

  “an often confusing world”: Jim Mathis to Pamela Turnure, May 7, 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy Papers, series 1.1.2, Pamela Turnure Files, box 25, JFKPL.

  “children’s hour”: West with Kotz, Upstairs at the White House, 204.

  lifelong habit of bowing: Baldrige, A Lady, First, 179–81.

  “children tumbling around him”: Jacqueline Kennedy, Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (New York: Hyperion, 2011), 157, 333–34.

  rabbits and guinea pigs: Shaw, White House Nannie, 89–91; Shaw, Oral History, 8, JFKPL; West with Kotz, Upstairs at the White House, 202.

  “Canon! Canon!”: Preston Bruce, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, June 16, 1964, JFKPL; Joseph J. Karitas, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, June 23, 1964, 7–10, 98–99, JFKPL; Lawrence J. Arata, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, 1964, 1–3, JFKPL.

  “He will grow another one”: Thomas Wells, interview by author, December 9, 2017.

  “all with gusto”: Memo on Children’s Activities, Jacqueline Kennedy Papers, series 1.1.2, Pamela Turnure Files, box 25, JFKPL.

  children tucked into bed: Shaw, White House Nannie, 103–4; Bruce, Oral History, JFKPL; Karitas, Oral History, JFKPL; Arata, Oral History, JFKPL; Wells, interview.

  unlimited Coke: Shaw, White House Nannie, 135–37, 140.

  “I’m John F. Kennedy Jr.”: Ibid., 112.

  bought the ducks: Brower, First Women, 101, 105–6.

  a cookie and ginger ale: Shaw, White House Nannie, 149–50.

  the meaning of death: Ibid., 158.

  “an even greater preoccupation”: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 248–49; Hill, interview; Edward M. Kennedy, True Compass: A Memoir (New York: Twelve, 2009), 199–200.

  “the nurse’s technique”: Walter Heller, “Confidential Notes on Breakfast Briefing Session with the President,” Wednesday, October 9, 1963, Walter W. Heller Personal Papers, series 3, box 6, JFKPL.

  John’s concoction: Heller, “Notes on a Quick Meeting with the President and Other Leading Members of the Kennedy Family,” November 19, 1963, Heller Papers, series 3, box 6, JFKPL.

  “always very proud of him”: Shaw, Oral History, 7–8, JFKPL.

  It just so happened that his father was in the way: Wells, interview.

  “a torrent of tears”: Shaw, Oral History, 7, JFKPL.

  “could barely sit still”: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 155.

  “Daddy’s hebrecop”: Ibid.; Stoughton and Clifton, Memories.

  mimicking the sound of the helicopter: Shaw, White House Nannie, 145–46.

  “he is going to be a pilot”: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 251–52; Hill, interview.

  “What are all those flags?”: Baldrige, A Lady, First, 181–82; Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 190–91.

  “use his left hand”: Hill, interview.

  “right-hand salute”: William F. Connors, Oral History Interview, JFK #1, April 15, 1964, JFKPL.

  “proud of the little guy”: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 267–68.

  CHAPTER 2: “PLEASE, MAY I HAVE ONE FOR DADDY?”

  occupied with toy planes: William Manchester, The Death of a President (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), 56–58.

  bill banning segregation: The account of the assassination draws on my book The Kennedy Assassination (New York: Basic Books, 2009).

  Air Force One lifted into the clouds: Manchester, Death of a President, 63–64; Gerald Blaine, The Kennedy Detail (New York: Gallery, 2010), 158.

  “Just in time for your birthday”: Blaine, Kennedy Detail, 210–11.

  usually Jackie’s mother: Manchester, Death of a President, 90.

  six, on Wednesday: Shaw, White House Nannie, 8–9.

  “she looks better than we do when she does it”: Tom Wicker, “Kennedy Is Killed by Sniper as He Rides in Car in Dallas; Johnson Sworn in on Plane,” The New York Times, November 23, 1963.

  matching pillbox hat: David Powers notes, William Manchester Papers, Wesleyan University Special Collections and Archives (WM-WU), Middletown, CT.

  “cool in the tunnel”: Theodore White notes, December 19, 1963, WM-WU.

  “They’ve killed my husband!”: Mimi Swartz, “The Witness,” Texas Monthly, November 2003, 114. The detail about Mrs. Kennedy saying, “I have his brains in my hand,” was omitted from the official Warren Commission report but can be found in earlier drafts. See J. Lee Rankin Papers, box 19, JFK Assassination Records, National Archives, College Park, MD.

  signaled thumbs-down: Paul Landis, November 30, 1963, Warren Commission, vol. 18, exhibit 1024, 755.

  “wanted you and John to be home”: Blaine, Kennedy Detail, 234–36.

  “I’ll call you back as soon as I hear how it is”: Ibid., 210–11.

  “shock that now lay in store for them”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 10–11.

  More than 90 percent: Thomas J. Banta, “The Kennedy Assassination: Early Thoughts and Emotions,” Public Opinion Quarterly 28, no. 2 (Summer 1964): 216–24; Bradley S. Greenberg, “Diffusion of News of the Kennedy Assassination,” Public Opinion Quarterly 28, no. 2 (Summer 1964): 225–32.

  “a ghost town”: Wicker, “Kennedy Is Killed by Sniper.”

  “Here they come!”: Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy, 75–76.

  stayed with their grandparents: Hill, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, 298.

  “I was shattered by the thought”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 11–12.

  It had absolutely no impact: Manchester, Death of a President, 415–16.

  “put them to bed”: Janet Lee Bouvier Auchincloss, Oral History Interview, JFK #2, September 6, 1964, 32, JFKPL.

  “Put your coat on”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 15–17; Manchester, Death of a President, 407.

  second-floor bedrooms: Wicker, “Kennedy Is Killed by Sniper”; Wendy Leigh, Prince Charming: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story (New York: Dutton, 1993), 71.

  buried her face in the pillow: Manchester, Death of a President, 208–9; Shaw, White House Nannie, 18–20.

  “The rest of us followed”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Journals: 1952–2000 (New Yo
rk: Penguin, 2007), 203–6.

  closed-coffin ceremony: Ibid.

  “A man shot him, didn’t he?”: Bouvier Auchincloss, Oral History Interview.

  too big for his coffin: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1978), 611.

  knelt in front of the casket and prayed: Leigh, Prince Charming, 74–75.

  “on the verge of fainting”: Smith, Grace and Power, 444–45; Shaw, White House Nannie, 20–21; Mary Barelli Gallagher, My Life with Jacqueline Kennedy (New York: David McKay, 1969), 332.

  “When is he coming back?”: Manchester, Death of a President, 464–65.

  “His jaw flew open”: Leigh, Prince Charming, 74–75.

  “it will be a great help”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 20–21.

  “I don’t have anyone to play with”: John H. Averill, “Grieving Mrs. Kennedy, Children in Seclusion,” Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1963.

  the flag-draped coffin: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy, 611.

  “Please, may I have one for Daddy?”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 22–23; Manchester, Death of a President, 540–41; Marjorie Hunter, “Mrs. Kennedy Leads Public Mourning,” The New York Times, November 25, 1963.

  grasping his church booklet: Shaw, Oral History, 13, JFKPL; Blaine, Kennedy Detail, 295.

  “the toughest men I knew”: Manchester, Death of a President, 590; Tom Wicker, “A Hero’s Burial,” The New York Times, November 26, 1963.

  “I’m glad they are happy”: Shaw, White House Nannie, 26; Smith, Grace and Power, 455–56; John H. Davis, The Kennedys: Dynasty and Disaster, 1848–1983 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984), 450; Manchester, Death of a President, 617–18.

  “It’s uncomfortable for me”: Michael Berman, interview by author, July 2, 2018.

  “I have a new airplane!”: Steven M. Gillon, The Kennedy Assassination—24 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson’s First Pivotal Day as President (New York: Basic Books, 2009), 217; Gallagher, Life with Jacqueline Kennedy, 336–37.

  three flights of stairs: Shaw, White House Nannie, 164.

  “don’t have time to think”: Thomas Maier, The Kennedys: America’s Emerald Kings (New York: Basic Books, 2003), 468–73; Gallagher, Life with Jacqueline Kennedy, 340; Jackie to Prime Minister, January 31, 1964, Harold Macmillan Papers, General Correspondence, Bodleian Library, Oxford (cited hereafter as HMP-BL); Caryle Murphy, “Jackie Kennedy’s Spiritual Crisis,” The Washington Post, November 13, 2003.

 

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