America's Reluctant Prince
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“successful publishing venture”: Easton, “Is John Kennedy Jr.’s ‘George’ Making American Politics Sexy?”; Gross, “Citizen Kennedy.”
childhood idols: Thomas and Brant, “Coming of Age”; Suris, “This Audience Was in the Market for the Salesman, Not the Pitch”; Gross, “Citizen Kennedy.”
“Go get married”: Elinore Carmody, interview by author, December 11, 2018.
“closely with consultants”: Ibid.
female-driven fashion: Ibid.
“It legitimized the adventure”: Ibid.
“I know this sounds crazy”: Ibid.
“Down the road”: Lisa Lockwood, “George: Fashion’s New Camelot?,” Women’s Wear Daily, September 8, 1995.
“twirling around”: Michael Berman, interview.
Without missing a beat: Browner, interview.
CHAPTER 8: “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MEET GEORGE!”
the work environment: Elizabeth “Biz” Mitchell, private notes.
the New York Observer in 1994: Elizabeth “Biz” Mitchell, interview by author, August 12, 2018.
“less than powerful”: Richard Blow, American Son: A Portrait of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), 9–10.
relatively vague concept: Matt Berman, interview by author, September 27, 2018.
sign the agreement: Michael Berman, interview; Ginsberg, interview.
meticulous note taking: Ginsberg, interview.
“people who don’t know much about politics”: Hugo Lindgren, interview by author, September 25, 2017.
forty uninterrupted days: Mitchell, interview.
Rice ’n’ Beans: Matt Berman, interview.
“his other commitments”: Mitchell, interview.
popped up unannounced: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 67; Matt Berman, interview; Mitchell, interview.
the cost-conscious Hachette: Terenzio, interview.
“intoxicated white male”: Declassified FBI Files, John F. Kennedy Jr., 7-HQ-19719, May 14, 1985, Gillon, No. 17-cv-02529-APM.
informed John of the threat: San Francisco to Director FBI, New York, Miami, Jacksonville (priority), 7A-SF-114974, July 12, 1995; Jacksonville to FBI Director, July 13 and July 20, 1995; Jacksonville to New York, 7A-NY-254901, September 7, 1995; Jacksonville to New York, 7A-NY-254901, May 14, 1996, Gillon, No. 17-cv-02529-APM.
“tore up the magazine”: Lindgren, interview.
left on the cutting-room floor: Ned Martel, interview by author, May 8, 2018.
how gerrymandering shaped elections: Ibid.
“going to open doors”: Lindgren, interview.
come out of the closet: John to “M” (Madonna), n.d., private collection.
“nodding in agreement”: Matt Berman, interview; Blow, American Son, 37; “Poster Boy for Poster-Boy Behavior,” Spy, March 1998, 30–38. Although the article appeared in Spy, Biz Mitchell described it as “remarkably accurate” and sat down with me to go through the story line by line, identifying the parts that were true and those that were not.
“sassy street attitude”: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 61.
“they got the message”: Ibid., 58–59.
debilitating symptoms: Blow, American Son, 41.
“darken my door”: Martel, interview.
“back-hall closet”: Blow, American Son, 44–45, 76–77.
trendy SoHo neighborhood: Martel, interview.
broad and eclectic interests: Mitchell, interview.
“That settled the issue”: Matt Berman, JFK, Jr., George, & Me, 71–72; Matt Berman, interview.
superimposing a political icon: Matt Berman, interview.
John killed the piece: Blow, American Son, 33–34.
confront Wallace back in 1963: Ginsberg, interview.
powerful painkillers: Ibid.
signing pictures of his father: Gary Ginsberg, “Remembering the Essence of John F. Kennedy Jr.,” CNN online, last modified July 16, 2014; Ginsberg, interview.
John nixed it: Blow, American Son, 36–37.
“love hard”: Liz McNeil, “John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette: The Way They Were,” People, August 6, 2014.
a rocky relationship: Carole Radziwill, What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship and Love (New York: Scribner, 2005), 128–30.
“Home Depot, the warehouse”: Ibid., 140; Carole Radziwill, interview.
“I will be judged”: Terenzio, interview.
a more normal life: Radziwill, What Remains, 141; Terenzio, interview.
the engagement news: Michael Berman interview, January 31, 2018; Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 97–98.
“You’re the only one I fucking trust”: Michael Berman, interview; Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 99–100.
“comment on John’s personal life”: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 101.
“But everything I know tells me not to”: Michael Berman, interview; Blow, American Son, 60.
“Please leave the dog at home”: Haberman, interview; Michael Berman, interview, September 27, 2018.
“central operative fact”: Ginsberg, interview.
“electricity of the magazine itself”: Ibid.
“they tend to get overshadowed”: Haberman, interview; Michael Berman, interview.
“single most important piece of advice”: Rita Ciolli, “By George, He’s Got It: JFK Jr. Unveils New Political Magazine,” Newsday, September 8, 1995; Haberman, interview.
“a strobe light”: Ciolli, “By George, He’s Got It.”
write about his modesty: Blow, American Son, 61.
“She would be very proud”: Ciolli, “By George, He’s Got It”; Blow, American Son, 61–62.
“Today was a three”: Michael Berman, interview.
“a persuasive case”: Ciolli, “By George, He’s Got It”; George Rush and Joanna Molloy, “It’s the New George,” New York Daily News, September 8, 1995; Deirdre Carmody, “George Didn’t Look Like This in 1789,” The New York Times, September 8, 1995.
“you’re not going to get one of those back”: Michael Berman, interview.
“instrument of public relations”: Easton, “Is John Kennedy Jr.’s ‘George’ Making American Politics Sexy?”; Carmody, “George Didn’t Look Like This in 1789”; “John-John’s Journal,” U.S. News & World Report, September 15, 1995; Maureen Dowd, “Liberties: Giant Puppet Show,” The New York Times, September 10, 1995.
“pay full newsstand price”: Michael Berman, interview.
“but I’m not sure I really do”: John F. Kennedy Jr., interview by Larry King, Larry King Live, November 24, 1995, CNN, transcript.
the O. J. Simpson murder trial: Haberman, interview.
appear on Larry King: Pecker, interview.
“passionate about pursuing for the rest of my life”: John F. Kennedy Jr., interview by Dan Rather, November 25, 1995, CBS, transcript. On July 18, 1999, the network re-aired an interview originally conducted in 1995 following the George launch.
in response to the threat: Boston to Director, FBI (priority), “John F. Kennedy, Jr—Victim; Extortion Matter,” September 21, 1995, Gillon, No. 17-cv-02529-APM.
the Buffalo Club: Michael Berman, interview.
“dinner is over”: Ibid.
“a ho-hum one”: Blow, American Son, 67.
Berman faked a photo: Matt Berman, interview.
handed over the reins to Biz: Mitchell, interview.
at the end of January 1996: Frederick M. Winship, “Success Propels John Kennedy’s Magazine,” UPI, January 30, 1996.
stimulated or provoked them?: Keith Kelly, “The Best Magazines,” Advertising Age, March 11, 1996; Ann Marie Kerwin, “Numbers Don’t Tell Whole Tale of ‘George,’ ” Advertising Age, February 9, 1998.
CHAPTER 9: “SHE’S ACTING CRAZY”
“I had neve
r seen in business before”: Blow, American Son, 72; Carmody, interview.
being sidelined: Michael Berman, interview.
an alternative direction: Ibid.
“I don’t need more”: Blow, American Son, 73.
“I blame him for that”: Ibid.
John knew that Rosie: Terenzio, interview.
“put into a box”: Ibid.
mimeographed photo: Michael Berman, interview.
“‘He doesn’t know what he’s talking about’”: Ibid.
But his grievances again went unaddressed: Ibid.
“other voices weighing in”: Ibid.
scandalous eight-photo spread: “Sunday in the Park with the George Editor,” New York Daily News, March 3, 1996; Helen Kennedy, “Big Newsstand Play for JFK Jr.’s Brawl Pix,” New York Daily News, March 4, 1996.
leaked into public view: Sasha Chermayeff, interview.
John remained unconcerned: Terenzio, interview; Michael Berman, interview, October 4, 2018.
very-much-in-love couple: Terenzio, interview; Michael Berman, interview; Haberman, interview.
fewer than three hundred thousand: Blow, American Son, 79.
“George was going to be judged differently”: Michael Berman, interview; Carmody, interview.
“perspective on fashion and culture”: Michael Berman, interview.
Pecker decided to raise the issue again: Pecker, interview.
“a tremendous amount of influence”: Matt Berman, JFK Jr., George, & Me, 69; Pecker, interview.
“starts listening to her”: Terenzio, interview.
an uncomfortable laugh: Michael Berman, interview.
“the perfect solution”: Mitchell, interview; Berman, JFK Jr., George, & Me, 69–70; Matt Berman, interview.
“freaks and sycophants”: Matt Berman, interview.
“you’re John F. Kennedy Jr.”: Klein, “Secrets and Lies.”
“It made absolutely no sense”: Michael Berman, interview. The account that follows is from Berman’s recollection of events.
“not getting married here”: Terenzio, interview.
National Park Service: Kevin Sack, “The Island That Kept a Wedding a Secret,” The New York Times, September 26, 1996.
accommodated at Greyfield: Judith Gaines, “‘Most Eligible’ No Longer,” The Boston Globe, September 23, 1996.
Indian Head nickel: Terenzio, interview; Carole Radziwill, interview.
an old fishing boat: Littell, Men We Became, 182.
“Think of me when you wear them”: Littell, Men We Became, 184–85.
cross made of sticks and twine: Sack, “The Island That Kept a Wedding a Secret”; Carole Radziwill, interview.
“big heart of gold”: Littell, Men We Became, 156.
“Just stand there”: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 159.
“It was very demoralizing”: Lawrence Schwartzwald, interview, May 10, 2018; Terenzio, interview; Carole Radziwill, interview.
“that seemed ill-advised”: Michael Berman, interview, January 31, 2018.
the public yearned: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 157–58.
matter-of-factly: Victor Malafronte, interview, May 12, 2018.
if a daughter, Jacqueline: “Yes, Carolyn Is Pregnant,” New York Post, October 20, 1996; “Jet Set Hails King John II,” New York Post, November 6, 1996.
$600-a-month: “Carolyn Accused in Sublet Scam,” New York Post, October 22, 1964.
“I was furious”: Berman, JFK Jr., George, & Me, 90–91; Terenzio, interview; Michael Berman, interview.
negotiating book deals: The author has copies of handwritten notes of John’s presentation to advertisers. There are no dates; Michael Berman, interview.
“He would not be asked to promote it”: Michael Berman, interview.
“It’s not what I want to do”: Terenzio, interview , January 31, 2018.
“Get her the hell out”: There have been numerous accounts of this fight, but it’s the first time that Berman has spoken about it.
“ripped my shirt”: Michael Berman, interview; Matt Berman, interview; Terenzio, interview.
small and petty: Blow, American Son, 125–26.
Michael’s 25 percent share: Carmody, interview.
dazzle people with his presence: Ibid.; Klein, “Secrets and Lies”; Blow, American Son, 134.
Michael never spoke with John again: Haberman, interview; Michael Berman, interview, October 4, 2018.
“a powerful legacy”: Michael Berman, email to author, December 8, 2018.
“center of American politics”: Dmcdew/WHMOOEOB to James A. Hawkins, “JFK, Jr’s Request to Photograph AF-1,” May 4, 1995, box 2, William J. Clinton Presidential Library (cited hereafter as WJCPL), Little Rock, AR; John to President Bill Clinton, July 14, 1995, box 1, WJCPL.
“American Spectacle”: John to Michael McCurry, November 3, 1995, box 1, WJCPL.
“No way”: John to George Stephanopoulos, May 15, 1996, box 1, WJCPL.
“why should it bother anyone else?”: Terenzio, Fairy Tale Interrupted, 135–36.
doubled their newsstand sales: Blow, American Son, 105–6; Nancy Haberman, email to author, December 20, 2018; Mitchell, interview.
“Get over it”: Berman, JFK Jr., George, & Me, 35; Mitchell, interview.
talk-show runner-ups: Richard Huff, “JFK Appearance Gives ‘Oprah’ a Hunk of Hot Nielsen Ratings,” New York Daily News, September 5, 1996.
finding some resolution: Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, “JFK Jr.’s Advice to Israel,” The New York Jewish Week, July 30, 1999.
group of religious zealots: Richard Sisk, “Rabin’s Wife Blasts JFK Jr.,” New York Daily News, April 2, 1997.
“South Philly’s only Anglophile”: George, April/May 1997.
guide the magazine: Blow, American Son, 134.
“less than the sum of its parts”: Lindgren, interview.
“knew what the ramifications were”: Mitchell, interview; Carmody, interview.
“politics as a subject matter”: Carmody, interview; Browner, interview.
“never quite fit into any one”: Ginsberg, interview.
“we created something truly new”: Blow describes the meeting in American Son, 122–23.
“You’re mediocre”: Lindgren, interview.
CHAPTER 10: “SHE’S REALLY SPOOKED NOW”
“the brother they each did not have”: Kieran Crowely, “Kennedy Cousin Mourned: Caroline Gives Eulogy for JFK Jr.’s ‘Brother,’” New York Post, August 14, 1999.
“toothpaste cap”: Radziwill, What Remains, 90–91.
“children and old people?”: Ibid., 91.
In November 1994: Ibid., 117–18.
“give up and die”: Michael Shelden, “‘Their Deaths Brought Me to My Knees,’” The Daily Telegraph (UK), October 25, 2005.
“It broke my heart”: This account is from Radziwill, What Remains, 148–51.
“keep your tie clean”: Ibid., 165–66.
“military potential of space”: Gillon to John, February 16, 1998.
While John enjoyed: “Hillary Honors JFK Jr.,” Associated Press, July 19, 1999.
grit and courage: Radziwill, What Remains, 196–209; Carole Radziwill, interview.
“They don’t care”: Littell, Men We Became, 200.
coping mechanisms: Ibid., 212–13.
“a bat phone”: Martel, interview.
“She’s really spooked now”: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 200.
“Relax”: McKeon, Jackie’s Girl, 294–95.
photo essay: Mitchell, interview.
“They treated her horribly”: Sasha Chermayeff, interview.
“They are fucking with me”: Ibid.
“why he’s wearing a hat”: Terenzio, interview.
empt
y apartment: Ibid.
Carolyn rose to her feet and entered the car: Littell, Men We Became, 211.
“That pissed everyone off”: Littell, Men We Became, 200; Terenzio, interview.
“‘You will ruin my relationship’”: Terenzio, interview.
“he pried it out of me”: Ibid.
nipped the tension: Matt Berman, interview; Terenzio, interview.
“what my bill is going to be”: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 193.
“running behind me”: Littell, Men We Became, 214.
sexiest men alive: Sasha Chermayeff, interview.
“I just do”: Bergin, The Other Man, 208–9.
She wanted out of her marriage: Ibid., 212–13, 218.
“three little kids”: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 157.
swing wildly from month to month: Keith J. Kelly, “George of the Ad Jungle,” New York Daily News, August 25, 1997.
“readers of The New Yorker”: Michael Voss, interview by author, December 21, 2018.
onetime full-page advertisement: Daniel Jeffreys, “JFK’s Trouble with George,” The Independent (UK), March 24, 1997; Carl Swanson, “George Magazine Loses a ‘Yes’ Woman as Hachette Steps In,” Observer.com, January 18, 1999, accessed June 10, 2018.
“name their price”: Jeffreys, “JFK’s Trouble with George.”
But that never happened: Armstrong, interview.
“People are very surprised that he was successful”: Ibid.
“it will be amazing”: “JFK Jr. Delivers Pitch as Advertised,” The Orange County (CA) Register, February 13, 1998.
“something highbrow”: Robin Pogrebin, “George Wins Readers, but Little Respect,” The New York Times, February 10, 1997.
“one of the most beautiful women”: Ibid., Jeffreys, “JFK’s Trouble with George.”
“bunch of young people”: Martel, interview.
two full-page ads for Scientology: Mitchell, interview.
“who needs them?”: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 141.
Only 18 percent: CBS This Morning, CBS, transcript, August 12, 1997; Dateline, NBC Transcripts, August 15, 1997; “Joe Kennedy Shrugs Off JFK Jr.’s Moral Musings,” The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA), August 12, 1997.
“Kennedys acting like Kennedys”: Noonan with Huber, Forever Young, 19.
a great president: I learned later that John asked a similar question of a family friend, the esteemed historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., who noted in his journal on December 27, 1997, that John had called, perplexed by the popularity of Hersh’s book. “Is there a real backlash against Daddy?” he asked. “Or is it just a perennial interest in anything about the Kennedys?” Schlesinger did not record his response. Schlesinger Jr., Journals, 826.