An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963

by Robert Dallek

p. 171: “He is very popular”: Quoted in Whalen, “Evening the Score,” 262-63.

  p. 171: On campaign finance, see Martin and Plaut, 182-83; Parmet, Jack, 255; and Whalen, “Evening the Score,” who quotes the commentator and Eisenhower, 307-11. Lodge’s complaint is recalled in Vincent J. Celeste OH.

  pp. 171-72: The fullest discussion of the Post episode is in Whalen, “Evening the Score,” 243-55, 285.

  p. 172: “I’ve never doubted”: Quoted in Doris Goodwin, 764-65.

  p. 172: “Listen that was”: Laura B. Knebel OH, and Sheldon Stern to author, Mar. 25, 2002.

  p. 172: On JPK and Dalton, see Dalton OH; O’Donnell and Powers, 82-83; and Doris Goodwin, 760-61.

  pp. 172-73: For RFK’s role, see Robert Kennedy interview in Martin Papers; O’Donnell and Powers, 84-89; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 94-95.

  p. 173: “organization, organization”: Martin and Plaut, 164. Also see the campaign organization chart set up under RFK in Box 103, PPP.

  p. 173: “In each community”: Quoted in “1952 Campaign,” Political Notes, 1952-1958 Folder, Box 25, David Powers Papers, JFKL. Also see Dave Powers to Mark Dalton, April 9, 1952, Pre-Administration Political Files, Box 1, RFK Papers.

  p. 173: “Black Book”: Quoted in Collier and Horowitz, 227-28. See Boxes 98-105, PPP, for the many file folders publicizing the policy questions JFK tried to use against Lodge in the campaign. For just two examples, see the comparative charts on “Economy in Government,” Box 98, and “Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs,” Box 100.

  p. 174: For Lodge’s loss of conservative support, see Whalen, “Evening the Score,” 303-5.

  p. 174: “voters in that election”: O’Donnell and Powers, 91-92.

  p. 174: “There’s something about Jack”: Quoted in Martin and Plaut, 178.

  p. 174: For the vote, see Whalen, “Evening the Score,” 292-307.

  p. 174: “I felt rather like”: Quoted in ibid., 295.

  p. 175: On ethnic voting, see “Town Influence Up in Massachusetts Voter Shift”; and John P. McGrail to RFK, Nov. 5, 1952, Pre-Admin. Political Files, Box 1, RFK Papers.

  p. 175: “I think that”: Torbert H. Macdonald OH. Also see Boxes 108-111, PPP. The list of those endorsing JFK is in Box 104, PPP. Also see Parmet, Jack, 246-49, on the campaign’s efforts to attract Jewish voters; and Whalen, “Evening the Score,” 299, and Table One, Appendix A, on winning the women’s vote, as well as Box 112, PPP.

  p. 175: For the voting statistics, see Whalen, “Evening the Score,” 299-303.

  Chapter 6: The Senator

  p. 177: “you will wonder”: Quoted in McCullough, 214.

  p. 177: “I’ve often thought”: Quoted in Parmet, Jack, 260.

  p. 177: “‘What’s it like’”: John A. Carver Jr. OH.

  p. 178: “Do you pray”: Quoted in Van Wyck Brooks, 418. Also see John F. Kennedy, Profiles, 2.

  p. 178: “I’d be very happy”: Paul Healy, “The Senate’s Gay Young Bachelor,” Saturday Evening Post, June 13, 1953.

  p. 178: “the fine art” and “realizes that once”: JFK, Profiles, 5, 10.

  p. 179: “A pleasant brunet”: Chicago Tribune, Jan. 6, 1962.

  p. 179: “If I had said”: Quoted in Sorensen, 62.

  p. 179: For Sorensen’s background, see Martin and Plaut, 251-53; Sorensen, 12; Parmet, Jack, 262-64.

  p. 180: “Jack Kennedy wouldn’t hire”: Sorensen, 11.

  p. 180: Jack needed a liberal voice: Martin and Plaut, 251.

  p. 180: “intellectual than emotional persuasion”: Lasky, 165.

  p. 180: “You couldn’t write speeches”: Sorensen, 33.

  p. 180: “impressed by his ‘ordinary’ demeanor”: Ibid., 11-12.

  p. 180: “were going to throw in with him”: Quoted in Martin and Plaut, 253.

  pp. 180-81: “You’ve got to remember”: Quoted in Collier and Horowitz, 243.

  p. 181: The office: Burns, 119-20, 213-16.

  p. 181: “devoted, loyal, and dedicated”: Lincoln, 18.

  p. 181: Meet the Press, Nov. 9, 1952, Box 920A, PPP.

  p. 181: Developed forty proposals: Sorensen, 64-65; Burns, 120-22; Parmet, Jack, 265-69.

  p. 181: “The Economic Problems of New England—A Program for Congressional Action,” May 18, 25, June 1, 1953, Compilation of JFK Speeches, JFKL. Also see “Legislative Record of Senator John F. Kennedy in 83rd Congress, 1953-54, Box 781, PPP.

  p. 182: “no great fireworks”: T. J. Reardon to William L. Batt Jr., April 27, 1954, Box 509, PPP.

  p. 182: 30,000 copies: ”Memorandum of Progress of New England Program,” Dec. 15, 1953, Box 552, PPP.

  p. 182: The articles: Parmet, Jack, 269-70.

  p. 182: “made some slurring”: T. J. Reardon to Francis Morrissey, Mar. 18, 1954, Box 509, PPP.

  pp. 182-83: For JFK’s ruminations about the Seaway, see St. Lawrence Seaway File, Jan. 25, 1953-Jan. 8, 1954, Box 654, PPP. The speech, Jan. 14, 1954, is in Compilation of Speeches.

  p. 183: For the Boston Post and two congressional supporters, see Parmet, Jack, 272.

  p. 183: At least one Massachusetts newspaper: New Bedford Standard Times; see JFK to JPK, Jan. 29, 1954, Box 504, PPP.

  p. 183: Meet the Press: Feb. 14, 1954, Box 920A, PPP.

  p. 183: Worrisome issues to people: Gallup, 1113, 1118, 1125, 1142, 1162, 1194, 1225-26, 1230, 1241, 1255, 1277.

  p. 184: “eager boyish”: Charles Bartlett to JFK, n.d., Box 490, PPP.

  p. 184: “on the weapons of subversion”: JFK, Address, Wilmington, Del., May 14, 1953, Compilation of Speeches.

  p. 184: “not see how”: JFK Speech to American Legion, Oct. 16, 1953, ibid.

  pp. 184-85: On defense spending, see Amendments of June 30, 1953 and July 1, 1953 to Mutual Security Act, 1951, Compilation of Speeches; and JFK to L. A. Weicker, Oct. 26, 1953, Box 479, PPP.

  p. 185: For Johnson’s report, see L. P. Marvin Jr. to Priscilla Johnson, April 17, 1953, Box 481; Johnson to JFK, April 22, 1953, Box 484, PPP.

  p. 185: “the native populations”: JFK to John F. Dulles, May 7, 1953, Box 481, PPP.

  p. 185: State Department response: Thruston B. Morton to JFK, May 13, June 12, 1953, Box 481, PPP.

  pp. 185-86: Case before Congress: JFK, Amendment to Mutual Security Act of 1951, June 30, 1953.

  p. 186: “be administered in such a way”: JFK, Amendment to Mutual Security Act of 1951, July 1, 1953, JFK, Compilation of Speeches.

  p. 186: “how the new Dulles policy”: JFK, Cathedral Club, Brooklyn, N.Y., Jan. 21, 1954, JFK, Compilation of Speeches.

  p. 186: Meet the Press, Feb. 14, 1954, Box 920A, PPP.

  pp. 186-87: “No amount of American military”: “The War in Indochina,” April 6, 14, 1954, JFK, Compilation of Speeches.

  p. 187: Indochina “is lost”: CBS, Man of the Week, May 9, 1954, Box 524, PPP.

  p. 187: Attention and praise: See Holmes Alexander column “Capitol Comment,” July 18, 1953, Box 481; George McT. Kahin to JFK, April 8, 1954, Box 488, PPP; and Parmet, Jack, 284-86.

  p. 188: For polls about McCarthy, see Gallup, 1003, 1150, 1164, 1189, 1194, 1201, 1203, 1213, 1225, 1231-32, 1234-35, 1237, 1241-42, 1253, 1263.

  pp. 188-89: On LBJ and McCarthy, see Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 451-57.

  p. 189: “Not very much”: Quoted in Burns, 141-42.

  p. 189: “Oh, hell”: Quoted in Collier and Horowitz, 248. Also see Meet the Press, Dec. 2, 1951, Feb. 14, 1954, Box 920A, PPP.

  p. 189: On the confirmations, see Martin and Plaut, 207.

  p. 190: “I don’t think”: Kenneth Birkhead OH.

  p. 190: “is of such importance”: Speech Prepared for Delivery on the Senate Floor, July 31, 1954, Box 12, Theodore Sorensen Papers, JFKL.

  p. 190: McCarthy repudiated: Gallup, 1289.

  p. 190: Schlesinger view: Martin and Plaut, 203.

  p. 190: “certainly futile”: Quoted in Parmet, Jack, 302.

  p. 190: “Joe McCarthy is the only man”: O’Donnell and Powers, 96.

  p. 190:
“What was I supposed to do”: Martin and Plaut, 204. Also see Speech Prepared for Delivery, July 31, 1954, Box 12, Sorensen Papers.

  p. 191: “I never said”: JFK Interview, Martin Papers.

  p. 191: “He liked McCarthy”: Ibid.

  p. 191: “I had never known”: Quoted in Martin and Plaut, 204.

  p. 191: For JFK’s legalistic defense, see JFK appearance on Martin Agronsky’s Look Here, NBC, Nov. 23, 1957, Box 12, Sorensen Papers; and Burns, 151-52.

  p. 191: “I went into the hospital”: JFK Interview, Martin Papers.

  p. 192: Paul Healy, “The Senate’s Gay Young Bachelor,” Saturday Evening Post, June 1953.

  p. 192: “Senate’s Confirmed Bachelor”: Parmet, Jack, 258.

  p. 192: One close Kennedy friend: Burns, 127.

  p. 193: “He saw her as a kindred”: Quoted in Collier and Horowitz, 233.

  p. 193: “They were so much alike”: Quoted in ibid., 241.

  p. 193: “Jack appreciated her”: Quoted in ibid., 241-42.

  p. 193: “I am a bit concerned”: Smith, 662.

  p. 193: “spasmodic courtship”: Quoted in Burns, 127.

  p. 194: “she wasn’t sexually attracted”: Collier and Horowitz, 236-37.

  p. 194: For the wedding, see Burns, 128, and Parmet, Jack, 261-62.

  p. 194: “At last I know”: Smith, 663.

  p. 194: “as well be in Alaska”: Quoted in Burns, 131.

  p. 194: “I was alone”: Quoted in Doris Goodwin, 772.

  p. 194: Jackie’s spending and “like a transient”: Collier and Horowitz, 240-41.

  p. 194: Jack “insists”: Rose Kennedy to Pat, June 2, 1954, JPK Papers, JFKL.

  p. 194: “prepared for the humiliation”: Quoted in Doris Goodwin, 774.

  pp. 194-95: “I don’t think” and “after the first year”: Quoted in Collier and Horowitz, 242.

  p. 195: “a bacchanal”: Quoted in ibid., 258.

  p. 195: “that being married”: Clymer, 24.

  p. 195: For JFK’s health problems, see Dr. Walter B. Hoover to JFK, July 5, 1951, and JFK to Francis Morrissey, Sept. 27, 1951, both in Box 6, PP; and Dr. Sara M. Jordan, RX, n.d., Box 73, PPP. Interviews with Dr. Elmer C. Bartels and Dr. Timothy Lamphier, NHP.

  p. 195: “Senator Kennedy has been”: Dr. Vernon S. Dick to Dr. William P. Herbst Jr., Mar. 20, 1953, Box 6, PP.

  pp. 195-96: JFK’s back problems: See X rays for Jan. 9, Jan. 22, Oct. 13, 1954, Dr. Janet Travell medical records, JFKL; Lincoln, 53-54; Parmet, Jack, 307-9; Goodwin, 774.

  p. 196: “Jack was determined”: Quoted in Goodwin, 774. The surgery is described in James A. Nichols, M.D., et al., “Management of Adrenocortical Insufficiency During Surgery,” Archives of Surgery, Nov. 1955, 737-40.

  p. 196: Postoperative problems: Nichols, “Management of Adrenocortical Insufficiency”; Parmet, Jack, 309-15. Arthur Krock OH.

  p. 196: “His entire body shook”: Quoted in Doris Goodwin, 775.

  p. 197: Removal of the plate: X rays, Nov. 12, Dec. 16, 1954, Jan. 5, April 27, 1955, Travell medical records.

  p. 197: “You know, when I get downstairs”: Charles Spalding OH. Also see JFK’s response to questions about McCarthy in JFK Interview, Martin Papers.

  p. 198: “defying constituent pressures”: Sorensen, 74.

  p. 198: JFK, “What My Illness Taught Me,” The American Weekly, April 29, 1956.

  p. 199: “Jack Kennedy’s involvement”: Parmet, Jack, 323-33. For the tapes, Dictabelt Recordings 25A, 25B, 26, 27, JFKL. For Sorensen’s part in the book, see Profiles in Courage Folders in Box 7, Sorensen Papers. For Jules David’s involvement, see Professor William Gillette, a David student, to author, April 21, 2002. Also see Evan Thomas Sr. OH, Columbia University.

  p. 199: The radio journalist and New York Times editor: Parmet, Jack, 330-31; Tifft and Jones, 388; John B. Oakes OH, Columbia University.

  p. 199: For the Pearson controversy, see the Sorensen Profiles in Courage Folders, Box 7, Sorensen Papers. Abell, 420.

  p. 199: “one of the most far-reaching”: JFK, “Election of President and Vice President: Electoral College Reform,” Mar. 20, 1956, Compilation of Speeches, JFKL.

  p. 200: On the fight with Furcolo, see Burns, 147-48; O’Donnell and Powers, 85-86; Parmet, Jack, 291-95.

  p. 201: “Leave it alone”: Quoted in O’Donnell and Powers, 105.

  p. 201: Speculation on JFK as Stevenson’s VP: Fletcher Knebel, Feb. 23, 1956, Box 8, Sorensen Papers.

  p. 201: Consequently, they urged Jack: Ibid., 103-5.

  p. 201: “There is a great ‘hassle’”: Philip Philbin to JFK, Mar. 3, 1955, Box 503, PPP. JFK to O’Brien and O’Donnell, Mar. 8, 1955, Box 504, PPP.

  p. 201: Jack persuaded and “So we can’t let”: O’Donnell and Powers, 106.

  p. 202: For JFK’s role in the primary, see Adlai Stevenson to Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Mar. 26, 1956, Box P-23, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Papers, JFKL.

  p. 202: For the fight, see “Burke Opposed: Kennedy Fight Gains Support,” Christian Science Monitor, May 9, 1956.

  p. 202: “I do not relish”: Frank Morrissey to JFK, May 9, 1956, Box 31, POF. Also see Parmet, Jack, 346-54.

  p. 202: For JFK’s campaign, see the correspondence between May 2 and May 17, 1956, in Boxes 498, 523, 546, and 549, PPP.

  p. 202: For the choice of Lynch, see O’Donnell and Powers, 110-16.

  p. 203: “caught in a mud-slinging”: Ibid., 110.

  p. 203: The “nation’s first great politicians”: JFK, Vogue, April 1, 1956; and JFK, Harvard Commencement Address, June 14, 1956, Box 895, PPP.

  p. 203: “The men who create power”: PPP: JFK, 1963, 815-18, Oct. 26, 1963.

  pp. 203-4: On LBJ, see Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 489-90.

  p. 204: “unforgivably discourteous”: “The Boston-Texas Axis,” a chap. in Thomas G. Corcoran ms. memoir, Corcoran Papers, LC. Also see Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 490-91, and n. 61, 683.

  p. 204: Start such a campaign: Senator Andrew P. Quigley to JFK, Jan. 25, 1956; JFK to Quigley, Jan. 31, 1956, Box 507, PPP.

  p. 204: Keeping a low profile: See Irv Slomowitz to Ted Reardon, Jan. 26, 1956; Reardon to Slomowitz, Feb. 6, 1956, Box 509, PPP. John W. King to JFK, Feb. 18, 1956; JFK to King, Feb. 21, 1956, Box 549, PPP.

  p. 204: Fletcher Knebel, column, Feb. 23, 1956, Box 8, Sorensen Papers. Sorensen to Knebel, April 6, 1956, Box 810, PPP. Knebel, “Can a Catholic Become Vice President?” Look, June 12, 1956.

  p. 205: For Sorensen’s comparison: “The Democratic Nominee for Vice President in 1956,” n.d.; “Memorandum on Kennedy and the Vice-Presidency”; and Sorensen to Ken Hechler, Aug. 1, 1956, Box 810, PPP.

  p. 205: For the endorsements and the Farley and Rayburn quotes, see Parmet, Jack, 354, 361-62.

  p. 205: JPK’s reluctance: JPK to JFK, May 25, 1956, Box 9, Sorensen Papers.

  p. 205: A straw poll: Gallup, 1431.

  p. 205: “while I think”: JFK to JPK, June 29, 1956, Box 9, Sorensen Papers.

  p. 205: “100% behind”: Shriver to JPK, July 18, 1956, Box 810, PPP.

  p. 206: “better known”: Eunice Kennedy to JPK, Aug. 1, 1956, JPK Papers.

  p. 206: Stevenson’s decision: Parmet, Jack, 372-75.

  p. 206: “looked like a thin year”: Krock OH.

  p. 206: “movie star,” and set up a headquarters: New York Times, Aug. 12, 13, and 14, 1956.

  p. 206: For JFK’s belief that the invitation to nominate AES was a compensatory gesture, see JFK Interview, Martin Papers.

  pp. 206-7: For the clash with JPK, see O’Donnell and Powers, 122, and Rose Kennedy, 328.

  p. 207: “a sudden warmth”: Quoted in Doris Goodwin, 783.

  p. 207: a “realistic sense of futility”: Parmet, Jack, 376-80.

  pp. 207-8: “we lost because”: RFK Interview and JFK Interview, Martin Papers. Also see John J. Mitchell to JFK, Aug. 22, 1956, Box 534, PPP; Mitchell shared RFK’s view.

  p. 208: On Eleanor Roosevelt’s response to JFK, see Roosevelt, 164.

 
; p. 208: “probably rates as”: Boston Herald, Aug. 18, 1956.

  p. 208: “out of the convention”: Quoted in Doris Goodwin, 785.

  p. 208: “you clearly emerged”: Arthur Schlesinger Jr. to JFK, Aug. 21, 1956, Box 534, PPP. Also see Rep. Burr P. Harrison to JFK, Aug. 22, 1956, Box 534, PPP: “Your prestige has been enormously enhanced.”

  p. 208: Campaigned for Stevenson: Parmet, Jack, 384-86.

  p. 209: “the most disastrous” and RFK’s assessment: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 133-36.

  p. 209: For JFK’s itinerary, see Compilation of Speeches, JFKL, for September- November, 1956. Also see JFK to Frank L. Dennis, July 9, 1958, Box 3, Sorensen Papers, and “Out of State Appearances of Sen. Kennedy, 1956 Campaign,” Box 25, David Powers Papers, JFKL.

  p. 209: “be prepared”: JFK, Speech, Nov. 8, 1956, Box 896, PPP.

  p. 210: “And, like me”: Rose Kennedy, 329.

  p. 210: The best account of how JFK won the Pulitzer, including Macdonald’s telegram, is in Parmet, Jack, 394-97.

  p. 210: Thomas’s anecdote is in his OH, Columbia University.

  p. 210: The FBI report: L. B. Nichols to Tolson, May 14, 1957, J. Edgar Hoover Official and Confidential File, FBI Microfilm, Folder 13, Reel 1.

  p. 211: “this country is not” and “Well, Dad”: Quoted in Goodwin, 787-88.

  p. 211: “I’m forty-three”: O’Donnell and Powers, 193.

  pp. 211-12: JFK’s hospitalizations were May 26-June 2, 1955, July 3, 1955, July 14-20, 1955, Jan. 11-13, 1956; Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 1957; July 18-19, 1957; Sept. 3-4, 1957; Sept. 13-Oct. 1, 1957; Oct. 28, 1957. The records of these admissions, with diagnoses and treatments, are in the Dr. Janet Travell medical records, JFKL. Also see Travell OH.

  p. 213: The side effects of testosterone: Conversation with Dr. Jeffrey Kelman, April 22, 2002. Dr. Kelman read the records at the JFKL with me and helped me understand them.

  p. 213: “I’ve learned that”: Quoted in O’Donnell and Powers, 125-26. Immediately after the convention, JFK obtained a complete list of delegates with their home addresses as a prelude to courting them for 1960: See Sargent Shriver to Evelyn Lincoln, Sept. 5, 1956, Box 504, PPP.

  p. 215: “all the credit for”: Quoted in Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 517-18.

  p. 215: “shaped primarily by”: Quoted in Parmet, Jack, 409. For JFK and civil rights, also see JFK to Rep. Michael J. Kirwan, Nov. 1, 1956; JFK to Rep. Lenore K. Sullivan, Nov. 1, 1956; JFK to Gov. J. P. Coleman, Nov. 1, 1956, Box 781, PPP.