“I’ll do”: Guthman and Shulman, eds., Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words, pp. 211–12; Katzenbach interview. Counting: For example, Manatos to O’Brien, Feb. 27; April 13, Office Files of Mike Manatos, JFKL.
“You have this great opportunity now”: Humphrey, quoted in Miller, Lyndon, p. 368. “I would have been”: Humphrey, The Education of a Public Man, p. 274. Russell “knew all”: Humphrey, Education, p. 274. “Sized me”: Humphrey OH III, LBJL. Now, however (he learned the rules): “Cracking the Whip for Civil Rights,” Newsweek, April 13, 1964; Mann, Walls of Jericho, pp. 396–98.
A series of Russell maneuvers: Territo to Jenkins, Feb. 26, 1964, LE HU 2, Nov. 22, 1963–June 18, 1964, Box 65, “EX LEHU,” LBJL. Quorum calls had always: Caro, Master, passim; Watson, Lion in the Lobby, p. 608; Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 397. Only once: Humphrey, Education, p. 279. “a veritable”: Humphrey, Education, pp. 275, 279. “Now you know”: Humphrey OH III. “He had a sense”: Humphrey, Education, p. 276. “He is a man”: Humphrey on Meet the Press, March 8, 1964, quoted in Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 395; Humphrey OH III.
“Of the greatest importance”: Humphrey, Education, p. 273.
Protection: Calvin Trillin, “Letter from Jackson,” The New Yorker, Aug. 29, 1964. A Cleveland rabbi: Friedman, ed., The Civil Rights Reader, p. 203. “The officers forced me”: Bessie Turner, quoted in Friedman, ed., Civil Rights Reader, p. 200. “A mob might form”: Trillin, “Letter from Jackson.”
“You couldn’t”; “This was”; “Just wait”; “I hope”: All from Mann, Walls of Jericho, pp. 412–13. He went in: Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 417. O’Brien had reported to the President that Humphrey felt Katzenbach and Humphrey, among others, have been negotiating over the language of amendments that Dirksen has proposed, and that “Dirksen feels that that [his meeting with Johnson] would present him an opportunity to discuss this directly with you” (Transcript, “5:50 P.M. to Larry O’Brien,” April 28, 1964, TPR, Vol. VI, pp. 281–82). But Johnson, shortly before Dirksen arrives, tells Mansfield, “I’m going to tell him [Dirksen] that I support a strong civil rights bill.… I’m going to say, ’Now, these details can’t be decided down here in the White House …” (Transcript, “11:32 A.M. to Mike Mansfield,” April 29, 1964, TPR, Vol. VI, pp. 325–26). “You say”; Dirksen going in: NYHT, April 29, 30, 1964. Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 417. To reporters’ questions: Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 417. As the Whalens put it (The Longest Debate, p. 173), “Having learned … that the President was not going to make any deals, Dirksen decided it was time to talk with Humphrey and company.” “He made it clear to everybody that … he wouldn’t substitute anything for it; that if they filibustered, they could filibuster, but he didn’t want any other bill” (Rauh, quoted in Miller, Lyndon, p. 369). The NYT reported that Johnson and Dirksen did discuss the civil rights bill. “All I know”: Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, p. 169. In reality: Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 431. “Battlefield briefings”: Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, p. 170.
Johnson took: Explaining that passing a civil rights bill in the Senate required, as Watson puts it, “a force the Senate would respect,” NAACP Lobbyist Clarence Mitchell said, “The President supplied that force” (Watson, Lion in the Lobby, p. 596). “Humphrey was Mitchell’s liaison with the President,” Watson writes. “But Johnson still maintained regular contact with Mitchell by calling him at his home … to … issue marching orders” (Watson, Lion in the Lobby, p. 600). Watson reports that Russell was to say that Johnson “put so much pressure on everybody there wasn’t any doubt about this bill getting through” (Watson, Lion in the Lobby, p. 626).
“I couldn’t argue”; Exceptions began: Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, pp. 178, 202. Johnson and Hayden: Udall to Johnson, May 7, 1964, “LE/HU 2—Interior,” LBJL. And see all “LE/NR 7–1, Central Arizona Project.” “The Historic Vote: 71 to 29,” Newsweek, June 22, 1964; Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 427.
“Mike, these people”: Transcript, “1:50 P.M. to Mike Mansfield,” April 1, 1964, TPR, Vol. V, pp. 623–24. Gruening and Bartlett: NYT, WP, March 31, April 7, Aug. 21, 1964. “I am prepared”: NYT, May 14, 1964.
“The daily sessions”; “Having learned”: Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, pp. 157, 171. “We are carving”; after all; “he wasn’t”: Mann, Walls of Jericho, pp. 409–10.
“Going to be against”: Transcript, “12:11 P.M. to Hubert Humphrey,” April 30, 1964, TPR, Vol. VI, p. 360. When Johnson telephoned Dirksen: Transcript, “4:30 P.M. to Everett Dirksen,” May 13, 1964, TPR, Vol. VI, pp. 661, 662.
“An idea”: Mann, Walls of Jericho, p. 442; Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, p. 185. He still didn’t: Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, p. 189. Russell suddenly began pressing for amendments: Newsweek, June 22, 1964; Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, pp. 166–67. “We need more time”: Whalen and Whalen, Longest Debate, p. 190. The cloture motion passed, 71–29: “The Historic Vote: 71 to 29,” Newsweek, June 22, 1964. 73–27: “The Congress: The Final Vote,” Time, June 26, 1964.
Overriding the judge: LAT, NYHT, NYT, WP, NYT, WP, July 1, 2, 3, 1964.
Voting Rights Act: Caro, Means of Ascent, pp. xiii–xxi; Master, pp. 715–16.
24: Defeating Despair
“Defeats Despair”: NYT, Jan. 9, 1964.
“Controlled”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 611. “Painful”: Guthman, We Band of Brothers, p. 244. “As if”: Seigenthaler interview. “It was”: Guthman, We Band, p. 246. “At Hobe Sound”: Salinger, quoted in Shesol, Mutual Contempt, p. 140. “In the middle”: vanden Heuvel and Gwirtzman, On His Own, p. 2. Agents … would see: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, p. 315. “He was wearing”: Seigenthaler interview. “I don’t”: vanden Heuvel inteview. “So complete”: vanden Heuvel and Gwirtzman, On His Own, p. 3. “Smiling, relaxed”; “as energetic”: “Bobby’s Back,” Newsweek, Jan. 20, 1964; NYT, Jan. 12, 1964; WS, Jan. 12, 1964. “He looks tanned, healthy and more relaxed,” the WS said (Jan. 9, 1964). “Through the election”; “staying on”: WS, Jan. 9, 1964.
“The suffering”: vanden Heuvel and Gwirtzman, On His Own, p. 24. “I didn’t have”: Seigenthaler interview, OH. “A little too large”: Murray Kempton, “Pure Irish,” The New Republic, Feb. 15, 1964. “How do?” “You’re young”: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, pp. 314–15. “When did he”: Jean Kennedy Smith interview.
“Now he is alone”; “What is different”: Kempton, “Pure Irish.” “It was almost as if a part of him had died”: Newfield interview.
“Sensed”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 283. “Understandable”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 283. “in a way”: Shesol, Mutual Contempt, p. 130; Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 277. “Began”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 283. “Perhaps”: Schlesinger, Journals, p. 214. “Obviously”: Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy, p. 131. “So do I”: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, p. 317. “Worried”; “restless”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, pp. 283–84. “Quieted”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 284. “Never really wanted”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 614. “Wondered how long he could continue”: Schlesinger, Journals, p. 616. “I cannot say what his essential feeling”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 616.
“He changed”: For example, Newfield, vanden Heuvel interviews. Of course, as Seigenthaler says, “I don’t think you could go through what he went through and not change” (Seigenthaler interview). Anthony Lewis says, “Most people acquire certainties as they grow older; he lost his. He changed—he grew—more than anyone I have known” (Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 593).
“It’s an impressive”: Penn Kimball, “Robert Kennedy,” Life magazine, 1966. Cuban fishing boats: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 636. “There was”: vanden Heuvel interview.
Orphanage party: Maas, quoted in Stein and Plimpton, American Journey, pp. 146–47; Maas interview; WS, Jan. 12, 1964. “The child’s innocent cry knifed to the hearts of all who heard it,” the WS said. Home for the aged: Bradlee, A Good Life, p. 295; Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 293.
“I hav
e”: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, p. 321. “There’s nothing”; “Unhappy”; “He didn’t like”: Novello, Kempton, Hundley, all quoted in Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 637. “How’s Jimmy doing?”: Seigenthaler interview. “otherwise”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 637. “I saw him”: Morgenthau, quoted in Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 283. “to go where”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 284.
“I’m tired”: Thimmesch and Johnson, Robert Kennedy at Forty, p. 146.
“What’s important”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 631. And see Goodwin, Remembering America, p. 246. “I had”: Bradlee, A Good Life, p. 295. “Anybody”: Kimball, Life magazine, 1966. Bobby Kennedy was always “a work in progress”: Newfield interview; Newfield, quoted in Goldfarb, Perfect Villains, p. 312. “Before that”: vanden Heuvel interview. “Knew how to hate”: Kempton, “Pure Irish,” The New Republic, Feb. 15, 1964.
Never called him “The President”: Newfield interview; Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 291. “What does he know?”; “All those”: Goodwin, Remembering America, pp. 244, 250.
“There were”; “An awful”; “Said to Jackie”; “He was against”: Guthman and Shulman, eds., Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words, pp. 405–11. “I just”: Guthman and Shulman, eds., In His Own Words, p. 344. “They’re all scared”; “Ralph Dungan was”; “Our President”: Guthman and Shulman, eds., In His Own Words, pp. 411–12, 417.
“The thing I feared”: Johnson interview with Doris Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, pp. 199, 344. “Royal family”: Reedy interview. “If”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 647.
Appoints Mann: NYT, WP, Dec. 15, 1963. “a colonialist”: Goodwin, Remembering America, p. 245. “Our power”; “Johnson has”; “Staff people”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, pp. 630–33. Proposal was leaked: Guthman, We Band, p. 247; Shesol, Mutual Contempt, p. 151. The article is in WP, Jan. 13, 1964. “Where did the Post get its story on Bobby?” he demanded of Bundy. (Transcript, “1:05 P.M. to McGeorge Bundy,” Jan. 13, 1964, TPR, p. 462.) “I’m going to send”: Transcript, “1:25 P.M. to Richard Russell,” TPR, pp. 400–04. During the conversation with Russell, the subject of the 1960 convention—and of Bobby’s failure to force Johnson off the ticket—came up, with the two men sneering at the failure. When Johnson tells Russell that he’s sending Bobby to Indonesia, Russell says, “Tell him to be tough, too … like he was in Los Angeles,” and laughs.
Waseda speech; “Tears”; “to remain”; “less than private”; “Never discussed”; “bitter”: Guthman, We Band, pp. 248–53; NYHT, NYT, Jan. 18, 19, 1964. “We are of”: NYT, Jan. 29, 1964. The photograph of Kennedy not looking at Johnson as they shook hands is in the NYT, Jan. 29, 1964. “Used”: White, The Making of the President 1964, p. 261.
“A gutsy”: Guthman, We Band, p. 254. Summoning Kennedy: Johnson’s version of the confrontation is in Transcript, “5:21 P.M. to Cliff Carter; followed by Richard ‘Dick’ Maguire and Ken O’Donnell,” Feb. 11, 1964, TPR, Vol. IV, pp. 472–76. Kennedy’s version is in Guthman and Shulman, eds., His Own Words, pp. 406–07. Kennedy talked to Seigenthaler and Goodwin about the confrontation at the time. Seigenthaler OH, JFKL. Hadn’t even known: Guthman and Shulman, eds., In His Own Words, p. 406. “If he’s such”: O’Donnell OH. “I know”: Seigenthaler OH.
“I suggested”: Guthman and Shulman, eds., In His Own Words, pp. 406, 407. “Do it”: Goodwin, Remembering America, p. 248. Johnson … recalling it”: Transcript, “5:21 P.M. to Cliff Carter, followed by Richard ‘Dick’ Maguire and Ken O’Donnell,” Feb. 11, 1964, TPR, Vol. IV, p. 475. “A bitter, mean”: Guthman and Shulman, eds., In His Own Words, p. 406. “I did you a favor”: Goodwin, Remembering America, p. 248. “I told him”; “tears got”: Transcript, “5:21 P.M.,” pp. 474–75. “So savage”: Bartlett OH, JFKL.
“I’m just like a fox”: Caro, Master, p. xxi, quoting Dickerson, Among Those Present, pp. 154–55. “Divine retribution” for his “participation”: Guthman and Shulman, eds., In His Own Words, pp. 326–27. Neither of the two: For example, Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 392. “We had a hand”: Shesol, Mutual Contempt, p. 131. “Whether”: Transcript, “1:40 P.M., from J. Edgar Hoover,” Nov. 29, 1963, TPR, Vol. I, p. 275. “President Kennedy”: Califano, The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, p. 295. “Murder, Inc.”: Leo Janos, “The Last Days of the President,” Atlantic Monthly, July 1973. “Cruelly”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, p. 292. “The worst”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 649. “Does not”: Prettyman, Barrett, quoted in Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 687. “He saw”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 687.
25. Hammer Blows
Telephone call to Clifford: Clifford, Clark, Counsel to the President, pp. 545–46. The fact that Johnson made an “early … morning” call to Clifford—at 5:41 A.M., June 5th—is recorded in the President’s Appointments File [Daily Diary]—June 5th. Historian Jeff Shesol asked Clifford about his conversation with Johnson during an interview, and, Shesol reports, Clifford said, “That was a very delicate situation, and I wondered whether I should even mention it [in the book].” He also said, “I don’t want to go on any further than I did in the book.” The Johnson Library says that no recording of the call exists, and there is no recording of it in the library’s “Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings” file. Whether Johnson continued to press Clifford on whether Robert Kennedy had the right to be buried at Arlington is unknown, but on June 6 Clifford telephoned to tell him the specific authority that gave Robert Kennedy that right. On that date, Johnson aide Jim Jones reported in a memo to Johnson: “Secretary Clifford reports that a three-acre plot was set aside for President Kennedy at Arlington Cemetery. At the time, Secretary McNamara enunciated that this plot would be available for burial of members of the Kennedy family.… Clifford just wanted you to know there is authority for the senator to be buried in the Kennedy plot” (Shesol, Mutual Contempt, p. 553; Jim Jones to Johnson, June 6, 1968, “June 5–6, 1968, Action Memos after Kennedy Assassination Report,” Box 102, President’s Appointment File [Diary Backup]).
“Schlesinger declared”: Dungan OH. “What do you want”: Goldman, The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, p. 134. “I must guard”: Schlesinger, Journals, p. 223. “The new President; “found it”; “almost”: Schlesinger, Journals, pp. 216–19. Johnson had begun: Goldman, pp. 3–34. “Accepted”: Schlesinger, Journals, p. 224. Schlesinger’s opinion: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, p. 626.
“Johnson tried”: Sorensen interview. “He was very very nice” to sons: Sorensen recalled the scene in the White House Mess during one of his interviews with the author. He also recalled that after Johnson had gotten up and left the table, “one of the three [boys] turned to me, and said, ‘He’s not very much like a President.’ ” After he repeated this remark to the author, Sorensen paused for a quite a long time. Then he said, “I think maybe I shared that feeling. Out of the mouths of babes.”
“Rather liked” Galbraith’s draft: Transcript, “10:10 P.M. to Ted Sorensen; preceded by Bill Moyers and Sorensen,” TPR, Vol. I, pp. 164–71. Simply crossed out: Sorensen interview. Sorensen writes in Counselor that “He [Johnson] understandably deleted” that line—one of Sorensen’s characteristic understatements (p. 382). “Ninety percent”: Sorensen, Counselor, p. 383. Katharine Graham call: Transcript, “11:10 A.M. to Katharine Graham,” Dec. 2, 1963, TPR, Vol. II, p. 41. “Are you?”: Sorensen interview; Sorensen, Counselor, p. 385. Sorensen became accustomed: Sorensen, Counselor, pp. 383, 385. “Well, your man”: Sorensen interview. “Had planned”; “You and I”: Sorensen, Counselor, pp. 388–89.
“Hopalong”: For example, Abilene Reporter-News, undated. “Do you think?: WP, Dec. 31, 1963; AP story, Big Spring Herald, Dec. 30, 1963; Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 648; slightly different version in NYT, Dec. 30. “Reporters felt”: Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy, p. 648. “For all”: Amrine, This Awesome Challenge, p. 105. “A terrible”; “There is”: Schlesinger, Journals, p. 225. “Adopted”: James Wechsler, “LBJ & Pierre,” NYP, March 24, 1964.
“So abrupt”: Amrine, Awesome, p. 105. Walking out of the restaurant; encountering: Salinger, With Kennedy, p. 346. “Almost fell out”: Salinger, With Kennedy, p. 346. Went to the White House: “Democrats: Senator Salinger,” Time, March 27, 1964; NYT, WP, March 22. “As quickly”; “Startled”: Salinger, With Kennedy, p. 346.
Johnson’s self-possession; When he saw Salinger: Salinger was to give this account of what happened. “I said, ‘Mr. President, goodbye. I’m leaving.’ He said, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I’m going to California.’ ‘What are you going to do there?’ ‘I’m going to run for senator.’ ” Booknotes, Nov. 12, 1995. Salinger, With Kennedy, p. 346. “The letters”: WES, March 20, 1964. “He must have heard”: Salinger, With Kennedy, p. 347.
“I had given LBJ very little time”: Salinger, With Kennedy, p. 347. “effective immediately”: Newsweek, March 30, 1964. “Surprise” and “startling” resignation: “Surprise” is WES, March 20, 1964. WP, WES, March 22, 1964.
“Not disturbed”: NYT, WES, March 22, 1964.
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