JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President

by Thurston Clarke

  “That’s not acceptable”: Richard Goodwin, p. 4.

  “Oh, I see, the back of the bus for Catholics”: Recollecting JFK Forum, October 22, 2003, JFKL.

  “What the hell. That’s a decent thing to do”: Branch, p. 362.

  “I’m not going to just play at this business”: Thompson, p. 52.

  “an offering of a cactus bouquet”: NYT, May 11, 1963.

  King criticized him for vacillating: Bergquist and Tretick, p. 26.

  spoke of “two Kennedys”: King, JFKLOH.

  had made him “sick”: Schlesinger (Journals), p. 189.

  “Lincoln had real agonizing moments”: King, JFKLOH.

  “We are confronted primarily”: text of civil rights speech on JFKL Web site.

  “Sometimes you look at what”: Newsweek, July 8, 1963.

  the “morality of integration” . . . “the most eloquent, passionate, and unequivocal plea”: King, JFKLOH.

  Kennedy invited his widow and children: Martin (Hero), pp. 254–55.

  “I don’t understand the South”: Schlesinger (Thousand Days), p. 966.

  “to look into your hearts”: JFK statement to Congress on submission of his civil rights bill, JFKL Web site.

  “a complete blueprint for a totalitarian state”: Gentile, p. 34.

  “the destruction of the United States”: Ibid.

  “Well, if we’re going down”: Manchester (Remembering), p. 241.

  “considerable anxiety over the President’s civil rights speech”: Schlesinger (Journals), p. 199.

  “widespread and intense panic in the suburbs”: Ibid.

  A survey of non-Southern whites: Stewart Alsop and Oliver Quayle, “What Northerners Really Think of Negroes,” Saturday Evening Post, September 7, 1963.

  As soon as Kennedy learned: Wilkins, JFKLOH.

  Speaking first, Wilkins said: Rosenberg and Karabell, pp. 131–40; Presidential Recordings, Tape 108/A43, JFKL.

  his doodles showed: JFKPP, Box 12, JFKL.

  THURSDAY, AUGUST 29–SATURDAY, AUGUST 31

  “When we move to eliminate a government”: Presidential Recordings, Tape 107/ A42, JFKL.

  “You’re not worth firing”: Rust, p. 119.

  “what they feel their prospects are for success”: Presidential Recordings, Tape 107/A42, JFKL.

  “Ah, do we cut our losses in such a way”: Ibid.

  On Wednesday, the CIA station chief: FRUS 1961–1963, Volume III, Vietnam, January–August 1963, Document 299.

  “As of now there are no signs”: Ibid., Document 297.

  “our knowledge of composition of coup group”: Ibid., Document 306.

  “Situation here has reached point of no return”: Ibid., Document 307.

  “I don’t think we ought to take the view”: Presidential Recordings, Tape 107/A42, JFKL.

  Harriman yelled, “Shut up!”: Weintel and Bartlett, p. 87.

  “This shit has got to stop!”: Bird, p. 254; Reeves, p. 567.

  “My God! My government’s coming apart”: Guthman and Shulman, p. 397.

  “We are launched on a course”: FRUS 1961–1963, Volume IV, Vietnam, August–December 1963, Document 12.

  He told Lodge, “We will do”: Ibid., Document 18.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised”: WP, August 31, 1963.

  Lincoln had left a message on his bed: JFKPP, Box 12, JFKL.

  He gave in, calling Roosevelt: Sally Bedell Smith, p. 397.

  “I don’t want to read anything in the papers”: Fay, p. 211.

  He diagnosed a muscle sprain: JFKPP, Box 46, JFKL.

  Kraus arrived on August 31: Schwartz, p. 198.

  “I have just learned that you cut your vacation”: Ibid.

  “the enclosed envelope should be opened”: FRUS 1961–1963, Volume IV, Vietnam, August–December 1963, Document 18, footnote 1.

  Lodge’s reply was curt: Ibid., footnote 2.

  SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

  cruised to Martha’s Vineyard to collect Styron: Styron wrote two accounts of his cruise with JFK that differ primarily in the dates he ascribes to it. I have relied on the Esquire article because it was published thirteen years closer to the event described. The articles are: (1) “The Short Classy Voyage of JFK,” Esquire, December 1983; (2) “Havanas in Camelot,” Vanity Fair, July 1996.

  “the sex appeal of a movie hero”: “The President and Other Intellectuals,” The American Scholar, October 1961.

  “slick, cool, and empty”: Schlesinger (Thousand), p. 744.

  “We wined him and dined him”: Ibid.

  “wistful need for more confident learning”: Kazin, p. 253.

  In 1961, he had become so exercised: Schlesinger (Thousand), p. 718.

  After some one-sided articles: Sorensen Papers, Box 37, JFKL.

  He and Ben Bradlee had been friends: Bradlee (Conversations), p. 114.

  “at some future date”: January 9, 1960, speech to the Massachusetts State Legislature, JFKL Web site.

  “Those bastards, they’re always there”: Bradlee (Conversations), p. 128.

  “the breath-taking talents”: John F. Kennedy (Profiles), p. 221.

  “his precise and persistent concern with the figure”: Schlesinger (Journals), p. 107.

  her famous post-Dallas “Camelot interview”: Theodore White Papers, JFKL.

  his goal was “greatness”: Collier and Horowitz, p. 263.

  “go for the top”: Sidey introduction to Kennedy’s diaries (Prelude), p. xvi.

  “the romantic conviction that he was astride”: Ibid., p. xxii.

  sensed an “unknown quality”: Bohlen, JFKLOH.

  During a White House dinner: Berlin, JFKLOH.

  When he discovered that Bradlee: Bradlee (Conversations), p. 153.

  “I thought you might find this”: Bundy Papers, Box 34, JFKL.

  “Look at that damn interview”: Manuscript for Paul Fay’s book, The Pleasure of His Company, Fay Papers, JFKL. Fay cut this conversation from his final manuscript, probably to avoid distressing Schlesinger.

  kept the current issue of History Today: Gallagher, p. 115.

  When he heard that the Princeton: Hersh, p. 255; Rostow, JFKLOH; Collier and Horowitz, p. 289.

  “This is a man determined”: Hersh, p. 255. (Account is based on Hersh’s 1996 interview with Donald.)

  He asked Sorensen to study the Gettysburg Address: Sorensen (Kennedy), p. 240.

  “There has never been a more formidable”: Sidey (John F. Kennedy), p. 218.

  “Courage is rightly esteemed”: Reeves. p. 668n.

  “This is a book about”: John F. Kennedy (Profiles), p. 1.

  Kay Halle never forgot: Halle, JFKLOH.

  “Just listen to this”: Dalton, JFKLOH.

  While he was in Florida: Fay, p. 149.

  “who is willing and able to summon his national constituency”: JFK speech to National Press Club, January 14, 1960.

  “dictators ride to and fro”: From Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons following the 1938 Munich pact.

  engage in some historical stage-managing: Clarke, pp. 99–101.

  When Bradlee and Cannon asked: tape at JFKL.

  “That’s the trouble, Arthur”: Rowe, JFKLOH.

  the Sunday New York Times Magazine: “Our Presidents: A Rating by 75 Historians,” NYT, July 29, 1962.

  “At first I thought it was too bad”: Schlesinger (Journals), p. 162.

  “For years Eisenhower has gone along”: Ibid., p. 178.

  “These were the great years”: The Speeches of John F. Kennedy: Presidential Campaign of 1960—Final Report of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, p. 193.

  Before ordering a ban: Brinkley, p. 151.

  “Of all the world’s leaders”: “The Short Classy Voyage of JFK,
” Esquire, December 1963; “Havanas in Camelot,” Vanity Fair, July 1996.

  “bright and persistent interrogation”: Ibid.

  “My God! They’d have my hide”: Ibid.

  MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

  “to plant a statement”: Description of the Cronkite-Salinger conversations preceding the interview, Cronkite, pp. 246–47.

  Cronkite was still smarting: Cronkite, pp. 185–88; Cronkite, JFKLOH.

  He began by asking: JFKPOF (speech files), Box 46, JFKL.

  “He both threatened and reassured Diem”: NYT, September 4, 1963.

  “effectively pulled the rug out from under Diem”: Cronkite, p. 247.

  His last appointment was a conference: Fay, pp. 1–5; Fay, JFKLOH.

  Like most White House aides: Smathers, JFKLOH.

  “a very insecure, sensitive man”: Dallek (Flawed Giant), p. 10.

  “That man can’t run this committee”: Guthman and Shulman, p. 153.

  “We’re all going to forget”: Duke, JFKLOH.

  He had invited Johnson to opening day: Rowe, LBJLOH.

  “worse than drafting a state document”: Thomas (Dateline), p. 22.

  “That will never be a sport”: Beschloss (Crisis), p. 666.

  “The three most overrated things”: Woods, p. 376.

  “It’s not very noble to watch”: Bradlee (Conversations), p. 194.

  “I think I’m the antithesis of”: Cannon and Bradlee interview, JFKL.

  “Nobody cares whether I come”: Fay, p. 3.

  “I cannot stand Johnson’s damn long face”: Woods, p. 382.

  “an insufferable bastard”: Reedy, p. 130.

  He spoke of withdrawing from the ticket: Lincoln (Kennedy and Johnson), p. 196; Woods (LBJ), p. 414.

  He claimed that the Kennedy inner circle had convened a secret meeting: Henggeler, p. 64.

  an “almost spectral” presence: Schlesinger (Robert Kennedy), p. 622.

  His aide Harry C. McPherson, Jr., was appalled: McPherson (Interview I), LBJLOH.

  “obvious depression”: Reedy, p. 127.

  “I think it would be a good idea”: Fay, pp. 3–6; Fay, JFKLOH.

  Although Kennedy had gutted his speech: Bartlett, LBJLOH.

  The Scandinavian trip: Reedy, pp. 25–26.

  TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3–FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6

  The official diary of Kennedy’s engagements: JFKL Web site.

  he filled two pages with doodles: JFKPP, Box 12, JFKL.

  Many of his doodles: Greenburg, pp. 136–57.

  “I don’t understand all this”: Ibid., p. 144.

  “something out of Ian Fleming”: NYT, September 4, 1963.

  Roger Hilsman attended a meeting: FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume IV, Vietnam, August–December 1963, Document 63.

  Kennedy missed most of Friday’s: Ibid., Document 66.

  “a symptom of the state the U.S. government was in”: Mecklin, p. 206.

  Lincoln affixed a memorandum: JFKPP, Box 12, JFKL.

  a recent memorandum from the pollster Louis Harris: JFKPOF, Box 30, JFKL.

  “dismiss him as a second rate figure”: JFKPP, Box 12, JFKL.

  Lincoln noted that he was experiencing “discomfort”: Lincoln Papers, Box 6, JFKL.

  “Dr. McDonald came”: Ibid.

  Kennedy fussed over the trappings of his presidency: Stoughton, pp. 59–60; Day, p. 141.

  pored over the guest lists: Baldrige, JFKLOH.

  no one dared leave a heel print: Powers, JFKLOH.

  He oversaw the placement: Baldrige, JFKLOH.

  Much of what King Zaher: Stoughton, pp. 59–60; NYT, September 29, 1963; see also “Entertaining in the White House” on JFKL Web site—excerpt from Entertaining in the White House by Marie Smith, Acropolis Books, Washington, D.C., 1967.

  “as pleased as a small child”: Bradlee (Conversations), p. 82.

  Kennedy had recently noticed: Stoughton, p. 60.

  SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7–SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

  “I think it would be good for Jackie”: Turkerman and Turnure, JFKLOH.

  he made a humorous show: Sally Bedell Smith, p. 398.

  “she did it”: Ibid.

  “How do you think Lyndon would be”: Bartlett, JFKLOH; Bartlett, LBJLOH.

  Bartlett knew that: Bartlett, JFKLOH.

  “He could have shot you, Charlie”: Manchester (Death), p. 35.

  “Brother, they could have gotten me”: Martin (Hero), p. 474.

  “What do you think of the rule”: Travell, pp. 361–63.

  “My wife will have a pension”: Ibid.

  “I guess that is one of the least desirable”: Fay, pp. 113–14.

  “What would you have done”: O’Donnell and Powers, p. 19.

  During a game of charades in Palm Beach: Merriman Smith, p. 229.

  “Did you ever stop and think”: Martin (Seeds), p. 449.

  “Boy! Aren’t we targets?”: Stein, p. 291.

  “Crowds don’t threaten me”: Louchheim, p. 149.

  “I will not live in fear”: Travell, pp. 364–65.

  “If this plane goes down”: Sorensen (Counselor), p. 248.

  “Well, probably neither you nor I”: Lawrence, JFKLOH.

  “I firmly expect this commitment to be kept”: Richard Lewis, p. 504.

  “Well, if anyone’s going to shoot me”: Jacqueline Kennedy, p. 251.

  “Get it away from here!”: Spalding, JFKLOH.

  His sensitivity to the narrow margins: Rostow, JFKLOH.

  On Saturday evening: Dallas, pp. 228–29.

  “more than any other man except my husband”: Pottker, p. 155; Andersen, p. 116.

  “loyal to the extreme”: Dallas, p. 221.

  “He’s pretty good, Daddy”: Ibid., p. 226.

  “I think it is the Second Most Important Man”: Collier and Horowitz, p. 289.

  “We don’t want any losers”: Rose Kennedy, p. 143.

  “It was all due to my father”: Schlesinger (Journals), p. 150.

  “I’m not going to listen”: Thompson, p. 13.

  “This is my rocker”: Dallas, p. 207.

  Joe Kennedy’s birthday party continued: Ibid., pp. 228–29; Rose Kennedy, pp. 414–15.

  “He did it so well”: Sally Bedell Smith, p. 399.

  “Happy Birthday, Dad”: Dallas, p. 229.

  “too young to write my memoirs”: Bartlett, JFKLOH: MacNeil, p. 153.

  “because it would be good for Jackie”: Ibid.

  “then nobody will want to talk to me”: Ibid.

  “What are you going to do, Jack?”: Ibid.

  He once told Paul Fay: Fay, p. 260; Fay, JFKLOH.

  “I didn’t have the feeling from this conversation”: Bartlett, LBJLOH; Martin (Seeds), p. 473.

  MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

  Kennedy appointed John Gronouski: NYT, September 11, 1963.

  “Kennedy Building for ’64”: ES, September 11, 1963.

  no single issue troubled him: Ira Mehlman, “John F. Kennedy and Immigration Reform,” The Social Contract, Summer 1991; Thomas Maier, “A Legacy of Diversity,” Newsday, November 20, 2003; and Maier, pp. 424–27.

  Typical were his dogged efforts: Gallagher, pp. 10–11, 27–29.

  “The idea of the ‘melting pot’”: Kennedy (Nation), p. 35.

  “strong orientation of an indefensible”: Ibid., p. 45.

  “The famous words of Emma Lazarus”: Ibid.

  “the principle of equality and human dignity to which our nation subscribes”: Ibid., p. ix.

  “I don’t think that would be helpful”: Transcript of JFK interview with Huntley-Brinkley, JFKPOF, Box 46, JFKL.

  “What do you think about cutting taxes”: Ibid.

  “I think they should shoot everyone”: Lin
coln Papers, Box 6, JFKL.

  He met with Mansfield: Presidential Recordings, Tape 108/A44, JFKL.

  “an exercise in political assassination”: NYT, September 8, 1963.

  During their meeting, Senator Jackson: Presidential Recordings, Tape 109/A44, JFKL.

  “The treaty is being so chewed up”: Schlesinger, unpublished journals, September 16, 1963, NYPL.

  “lead to a real turning point”: FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume V, Soviet Union, Document 355 (editorial note).

  “The President wishes Mr. Khrushchev to know”: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence, Lot 77 D 163.

  TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10–THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

  At a National Security Council meeting: Presidential Recordings, Tape 109/A44, JFKL; Hilsman, pp. 502–3; Strober and Strober, p. 433.

  Kennedy attended a luncheon meeting of the Business Committee for Tax Reduction: Remarks at National Conference of the Business Committee for Tax Reduction, JFKL Web site.

  Lincoln noted in her diary: Lincoln Papers, Box 6, JFKL.

  On that occasion he had poured: New Yorker, August 7, 2000.

  He had left this second gift: Lincoln Papers, Box 6, JFKL.

  Kennedy had “fallen in love” with one: Artful Tom: A Memoir, chapter 24, www.artnet.com.

  “the best humored briefing breakfast”: Heller Papers, Kennedy/Johnson files, Box 6, JFKL.

  a declassified summary: “Did the U.S. Military Plan a Nuclear First Strike for 1963,” The American Prospect, number 19, Fall 1994.

  “And we call ourselves the human race”: and Rusk’s comments on the 1961 briefing: Rusk, pp. 246–47.

  In their 1993 article: “Did the U.S. Military Plan a Nuclear First Strike for 1963?” The American Prospect, Number 19, Fall 1994.

  McNamara made a similar observation in 2003: Recollecting JFK Forum, 2003, JFKL.

  A summary that the Pentagon provided: FRUS, 1961–1963, Volume VIII, National Security Policy, Document 141.

  “JFK Press Talk”: Boston Globe, September 13, 1963.

  “more nearly an instrument of Presidential power”: Tom Wicker, “Q’s and A’s About the Press Conference,” NYT Magazine, September 8, 1963.

  Thursday briefing: Transcript, JFKL Web site.

  he offered his own “thank you”: Ibid.; NYT, September 13, 1963.

  “I saw your picture in the paper”: Lincoln Papers, Box 6, JFKL.

  THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12–SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15