The Kennedy Men

by Laurence Leamer

  295 “Oh, there’s Kennedy!”: LL interview with Mark Dalton.

  295 “The father wanted me …”: ibid.

  295 “Mark didn’t like …”: interview, John Galvin, BP.

  296 “Mark Dalton was…”: oral history, Robert F. Kennedy, ASP.

  296 “before the revolution …”: John Droney, KLOH.

  296 He got right to it: interview, Anthony Gallucio, BP.

  296 “like he burned my bridges”: LL interview with Sam Adams.

  296 “How many people …”: interview, Joe Gargan, HP.

  15. The Golden Fleece

  298 “He was all…”: interview, Congressman John McCormack, BP.

  298 Jack read the extraordinary: Congressional Quarterly News Feature, October 3, 1952, pp. 964-65, JFKPP. 298 “His theme was to …”: Edward C. Berube, KLOH, 298 Lodge had started: interview, Henry Cabot Lodge, BP.

  299 In August he was sick: Vernon S. Dick to Dr. William P. Herbst Jr., March 20, 1953, JFKPP, and Dr. T. A. Morrissey to John F. Kennedy, December 21, 1954, RWC.

  299 From then on: SJFK, p. 239.

  299 Indeed, when Lodge: interview, Henry Cabot Lodge, BP.

  299 card-carrying Communists: There is a debate over the number of Communists McCarthy named. This is the smallest figure mentioned.

  300 Michael S. Sherry, In the Shadow of War: The United States Since the 1930s (1995), p. 170.

  300 February 1947 instituted: Truman’s loyalty program provided a rude approximation of the problem of Communists in government. Of the 4,722,278 names checked, the FBI found information serious enough to refuse government positions to only 575 individuals. Most of them were considered “security risks,” perhaps having had contacts with a questionable person, and only a few were named “loyalty risks,” a far more serious accusation. Another 3,634 government employees quit before the government finished their dossiers.

  300 Cincinnati Reds renamed: Sherry, p. 171.

  301 “The theme of today …”: John F. Kennedy, speech to 1952 Newton College of the Sacred Heart graduation, JFKPP.

  301 “knew Joe pretty well… “: John P. Mallan, “Massachusetts: Liberal and Corrupt,” The New Republic, October 13, 1952, BP.

  301 750,000 Irish Catholics: SJFK, p. 245.

  302 “the Rashomon drama … “: quoted in James Thomas Gay, “1948: The Alger Hiss Spy Case,” thehistorynet.com.

  302 “How dare you …”: SJFK, p. 245.

  302 “Oh, Bob, come …”: LL interview with Sam Adams.

  303 “I told you before …”: interview, Phil David Fine, BP.

  304 “Rabbi John”: SJFK, p. 248.

  304 The campaign: Jackson Holtz, KLOH.

  304 Joe had offered: Joseph P. Kennedy to Arthur Krock, June 24, 1936, HTF, p. 186.

  304 enough to ensure: interview, Henry Cabot Lodge, BP.

  304 Lodge told the good news: interview, Joseph Timilty, BP.

  305 “I don’t remember …”: RKIHOW, p. 444.

  305 “You know, we …”: SJFK, p. 511.

  305 he reported: Ralph Coghlan to John F. Kennedy, July 15, 1952, BP.

  305 “I will work out…”: TFB, p. 127.

  305 “At last the Fitzgeralds …”: Collier and Horowitz, p. 189.

  305 Jack sang “Sweet Adeline”: John Droney, KLOH.

  306 Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, insisted years: Congressman Thomas O’Neill, interview with Jerry Williams on WBZ-TV, JFKPP, and interview, Thomas O’Neill, BP.

  306 “Paul is not going …”:TFB, p. 246.

  306 During the campaign: Anthony Gallucio’s name has been spelled various

  ways in previous books. This is the spelling used at the JFKPL. 306 “I’m going to run …”: interview, Anthony Gallucio, BP. 306 “very quickly and …”: interview, Jean Kennedy Smith, ASP.

  306 “What are you …”: Jean Stein and George Plimpton, eds., American Journey: The Times of Robert Kennedy (1970), p. 45.

  307 “aiming for the post…”: Cape Cod Times, December 24, 1952.

  307 “I’ll talk to [Senator John] McClellan …”: LL interview with Maurice Rosenblatt.

  307 “political, not ideological”: TKL, p. 41.

  307 “I walk in …”: LL interview with Maurice Rosenblatt.

  309 “Teddy had not been …”: L. B. Nichols to Clyde Tolson, May 11, 1954, “subject: Edward M. Kennedy,” FBIFOI.

  309 “apparently some of…”: ibid.

  310 “was angling his columns…” J. J. Kelly to J. Edgar Hoover, August 28, 1953, FBIFOI.

  310 “the most vocal…”: H. G. Foster to J. Edgar Hoover, July 2, 1954, FBIFOI.

  310 “Knowing him from …”: interview, David Powers, BP.

  311 “Dad says don’t…”: interview, Charles Bartlett, BP.

  311 “I’ve got no …”: interview, Anthony Gallucio, BP.

  311 “Well, I can’t pay …”: Mary Davis, KLOH.

  311 “Mary, you wouldn’t…”: interview, Thomas P. O’Neill, BP.

  312 When Sorensen was: SJFK, p. 262.

  312 “far more interested …”: interview, Robert F. Kennedy, ASP.

  313 After this first: James M. Landis, to Joseph P. Kennedy, January 21, 1953, Landis papers, LC.

  313 nearly empty Senate: interview, John F. Kennedy, BP.

  313 “The Atlantic Monthly …”: Theodore C. Sorensen to James M. Landis, November 1, 1953, James M. Landis papers, LC.

  314 “chattel…”: interview, James Reed, BP.

  314 “I remember …”: interview, Ben Smith, BP.

  314 “You know, they’re going …”: interview, Charles Bartlett, BP.

  315 “Excuse me, officer …”: Hugh D. Auchincloss, “Growing Up with Jackie, My Memories 1941-1953,” JFKPL.

  315 decked out her stepbrother: ibid.

  315 When she went to see: ibid.

  315 “If I could be a …”: quoted in AWRH, pp. 53-54.

  316 “If you’re so much …”: Janet Lee Auchincloss, KLOH.

  316 The prospective groom: John F. Kennedy to Paul Fay, PFP.

  316 “Flo Pritchett’s birthday! SEND DIAMONDS”: Blair and Blair, p. 553.

  316 “Florence Pritchett was a serious…”: interview, Paul Fay, BP.

  316 “I was very stuck …”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  317 “too young and too old”: John F. Kennedy to Paul Fay, n.d., PFP.

  317 “I am hoping…”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Torbert Macdonald, July 22, 1953, HTF, p. 662.

  317 “Jack! What are…”: This section on the relationship between John F. Kennedy and Gunilla Von Post is based on LL interviews with Von Post and on her book, Love, Jack (1997).

  319 “Their wealth is from.…”: original manuscript of Fay, The Pleasure of His Company, PFP.

  320 “Oh Mummy, you …”: TFB, p. 232.

  320 “When he turned …”: ibid.

  320 “I was seated next…”: John Droney, KLOH.

  320 “I was seated next…”: LL interview with Paul Fay, CBS interview, HP, and Fay, p. 145.

  321 “Wish you were here. Jack”: AWRH, p. 80.

  321 on to Pebble Beach: LL interview with Paul Fay.

  322 “the kind of honeymoon …”: Fay, p. 141.

  322 He even may: LL interview with Jewel Reed.

  322 “He would find love…”: quoted in AWRH, p. 85.

  16. Aristocratic Instincts

  323 “I don’t know why!”: Lord Harlech, KLOH.

  323 Jackie worked on a private: AWRH, p. 87.

  323-24 a drawing of a: interview, Langdon Marvin Jr., HP.

  324 “a sad look …”: interview, Charles Bartlett, BP.

  324 sell many of her wedding gifts: LL interview with Carey Fisher.

  324 “Jack went crazy …”: Collier and Horowitz, p. 196.

  324 “Miss New Zealand isn’t…”: J. V. Bouvier III to Senator John F. Kennedy, June 13, 1956, JFKPP.

  324 “Harvard’s outstanding [1941] graduate”: Edward B. Lockett, “Life’s Reports: Progress of a Harvard Man,” Lif
e, February 7, 1944.

  325 “Do you remember …”: John F. Kennedy to Gunilla Von Post, March 2, 1954, courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  325 “I thought I might get…”: ibid., June 28, 1954, courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  325 had to cable her: interview, Gunilla Von Post, and Von Post, pp. 39-49.

  325 “We plopped him …”: interview, Langdon Marvin Jr., HP.

  325 “Renaissance ideal…”: YM, p. 8.

  325 Down in Palm Beach: There have been some suggestions that Kennedy was reading Young Melbourne. Cecil’s second volume had just been published, and it is far more likely that he was reading volume 2.

  326 “all salt and sunshine …”: LM, p. 13.

  326 “more interesting because …”: handwritten notes by JFK while sitting by the pool late in 1955, JFKPP.

  326 “Jack did have aristocratic …”: LL interview with Charles Bartlett.

  327 He knew—and this rankled: LL interview with Paul B. Fay.

  327 “tend[s] to lack…”: John F. Kennedy essay or speech, box 39, JFKPP.

  327 “Life is real…”: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life” (1839).

  327 “Let us have wine …”: Lord Byron, Don Juan, canto II.

  327 “rather pompous”: handwritten notes by JFK while sitting by the pool late in 1955, JFKPP.

  328 “gratuitous insult”: Chalmers M. Roberts, KLOH.

  328 “I am frankly…”: speech, U.S. Senate, April 6, 1954, www.geocities.com.

  328 “a kind of disease …”: quoted in Gaddis, p. 184.

  329 “Vietnam represents…”: quoted in Thomas C. Reeves, A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy (1991), p. 254.

  329 “Fighting thousands of miles …”: notes for speech, JFKPP.

  329 embarrassed to be seen: Crosby, p. 35.

  330 “I want to give you …”: Sidney Zion, The Autobiography of Roy Cohn (1988), quoted in C. David Heymann, RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy (1998) p. 83.

  330 “whenever I said …”: ibid., p. 84.

  330 “As you were on …”: memorandum for Senator Henry M. Jackson, June 2, 1954, RFK Papers JFKPL.

  331 “I want you to tell…”: New York Daily News, June 12, 1954.

  331 Both the children and the dogs: LL interview with David Hackett.

  332 “Bobby… could play …”: Clymer, p. 20.

  332 Not only was Holcombe: ibid.

  332 “I think academic …”: Lester David, Ted Kennedy: Triumphs and Tragedies (1972), p. 70.

  333 “seems a little technical…”: Robert F. Kennedy to Edward M. Kennedy, December 14, 1953, ASP.

  333 During freshman year: LL interview with Claude Hooton Jr. 333 Teddy and Hackett: TEEK, p. 85.

  333 He and Hooton went off: LL interview with Claude Hooton Jr.

  334 “I talked to Dad …”: Robert F. Kennedy to Edward M. Kennedy, January 11, 1955, RFK papers, JFKPL.

  334 “Teddy had the …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  334 “So I ended up …”: Adam Clymer, interview with Edward Kennedy.

  335 “I think … [Jack’s] most…”: interview, Edward Kennedy, RCP.

  336 shouted too loud: Clymer, p. 21.

  336 “My brothers and I were…”: Adam Clymer, interview with Edward Kennedy.

  336 “Janet”: LL interview with Janet Des Rosiers Fontaine.

  337 “He’d say, ‘Well, you know …’”: ibid.

  338 “One night I wasn’t home …”: ibid.

  338 “Have a long, happy …”: Rose Kennedy to Janet Des Rosiers, m.d., courtesy Janet Des Rosiers Fontaine.

  339 The Kennedys had been members: interview with Lamar Harmon, resident manager of Everglades Club, conducted by FBI, Joseph P. Kennedy, special inquiry, White House, February 17, 1956, FBIFOI. In February 2001, an Everglades member, Dick Prentice, confirmed the Kennedys’ membership with the club’s current secretary.

  339 “You know, I would like …”: LL interview with Janet Des Rosiers Fontaine.

  340 “I don’t know if…”: interview, Dr. Elmer C. Bartels, BP.

  340 “deemed dangerous…”: James A. Nicholas, J.D, Charles L. Burstein, M.D., Charles J. Umberger, Ph.D., and Philip D. Wilson, M.D., “Management of Adrenocortical Insufficiency During Surgery,” Archives of Surgery, November 1955.

  340 Jackie was sitting beside: James MacGregor Burns, John Kennedy: A Political Profile (1960), p. 156.

  341 “So I was just…”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  341 “acute attack of…”: Dr. Thomas A. Morrissey to John F. Kennedy, December 21, 1954, RWC.

  341 “Tell them you’re …”: LL interview with Priscilla Johnson.

  341 “We stay in session …”: John F. Kennedy to Gunilla Von Post, December 18, 1954, courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  341-42 “You could see …”: Janet Lee Auchincloss, KLOH.

  342 “I think your …”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  342 believed that the Kennedy: LL interview with Mark Dalton.

  342 “it would be…”: David M. Oshinsky, A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy (1983), p. 489.

  343 “So I was rather in ill grace …”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  343 Jack was wrapped: New York Daily News, December 22, 1954.

  344 “How is it now?”: LL interview with Chuck Spalding.

  344 “anybody we did a favor …”: John F. Kennedy, memorandum, February 16, 1955, RWC.

  344 “I don’t know …”: ibid., March 7, 1955.

  345 “he needed someone …”: LL interview with Gunilla Von Post.

  345 “I am anxious …”: John F. Kennedy to Gunilla Von Post, n.d., courtesy Gunilla Von Post. 345 his crutch collapsed: Boston Globe, May 22, 1955.

  345 He looked: Dr. Janet Travell, KLOH.

  346 “I don’t want her…”: AP, November 20, 1968, and Washington Star hits, Martin Luther King Library.

  346 she diagnosed that one leg: One of Kennedy’s legs may have been shorter than the other, but it is curious that a few years later Dr. Travell, who was White House physician, also told the presidential aide Mike Feldman that one of his legs was shorter than the other. LL interview with Myer Feldman.

  346 “She began to really…”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  346 “The use of novocaine …”: Dr. Alexander Preston, M.D., to James Mac-Gregor Burns, July 29, 1959, JMBP.

  347 “Tender? Oh, he was tender”: LL interview with Gunilla Von Post.

  348 “I just got word …”: John F. Kennedy to Gunilla Von Post, August 22, 1955, courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  348 “I wish you …”: John F. Kennedy to Gunilla Von Post, September 1955, courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  348 “Jack has called me …”: Lem Billings to Gunilla Von Post, n.d., courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  349 “I had a wonderful…”: John F. Kennedy to Gunilla Von Post, date uncertain, courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  349 “I am looking forward …”: John F. Kennedy to Gunilla Von Post, 1966, courtesy Gunilla Von Post.

  349 scholarly tone of the first draft: draft dated February 8, 1955, RWC.

  349 “When I’d finished …”: Boston Globe, May 22, 1955.

  349 “opening and closing …”: SJFK, p. 327.

  349 “lying on a board …”: Arthur Krock, KLOH.

  350 “the public’s appreciation …”: PC, p. 4.

  350 “Our political life …”: ibid., p. 19.

  350 “And only the very courageous …”: ibid., p. 20.

  351 “The stories of past…”: ibid., p. 258.

  351 Jack used: “Kennedy’s Magic Formula,” Saturday Evening Post, August 13, 1960.

  351 “One of his slogans…”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

  352 the members may well have been: SJFK, p. 397.

  17. The Pursuit of Power

  353 more than one hundred million: Sig Mickelson, “Two National Political Conventions Have Proved Television’s News Role,” Quill, December 1956.


  353 “I am Senator…”: Senator John Kennedy, final text of narration for Democratic keynote film, RWC.

  353 sounded overwrought: “Look and Listen with Donald Kirkley,” Baltimore Sun, August 15, 1956.

  354 “Not much”: Berkshire Eagle, undated clipping, 1956.

  354 “his intelligence, farsightedness…”: AWRH, p. 98.

  355 “spending] the whole …”: John F. Kennedy to James Finnegan, May 2, 1956, KP.

  355 “if someone who is as…”: John F. Kennedy to Walter T. Burke, Esq., May 11, 1956, RWC.

  355 “that for the first…”: Stan Karson, interoffice memo, May 22, 1956, KP.

  355 “Should be married …”: Burns, p. 182.

  356 “As long as you …”: Jerry Williams, interview with Congressman Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., WBZ-TV, Boston, and O’Neill papers, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

  356 One citizen: RFK, p. 98.

  356 “She had seen me …”: interview, John F. Kennedy, JMBP.

  356 “My point was that…”: ibid.

  357 “too much time”: TEEK, p. 100. 357 “So many people …”: RFK, p. 99.

  357 “a forlorn figure”: AWRH, p. 100.

  358 “one of the ablest…”: Clearwater Sun, August 24, 1956.

  358 two-week visit: AP, August 18, 1956.

  358 “I do not wish …”: John F. Kennedy to H. W. Richardson, April 10, 1956, RWC.

  358 Jack arranged: W. F. B. Morse and William Thompson, memorandum of agreement May 2, 1956, RWC.

  358 Those who disliked: For descriptions of Thompson, see Edward Klein, All Too Human (1996), pp. 195-97, and Seymour M. Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot (1997), pp. 388-90.

  359 “Unique among them …”: quoted in Collier and Horowitz, p. 209.

  359 “exhaustion and nervous…”: UPI, undated clipping, JFKPL.

  360 “I told him, ‘You …”: LL interview with George Smathers.

  360 Bobby attempted to ingratiate: A. Rosen to L. N. Conroy, February 9, 1955, FBIFOI.

  360 visited the FBI chief again the next year: M. A. Jones to Mr. Nichols, July 1, 1955, FBIFOI.

  360 “Kennedy was completely uncooperative…”: J. Edgar Hoover to Mr. Nichols, July 20, 1955, FBIFOI.

  360 Bobby grasped the Bible: William O. Douglas, The Court Years, 1939-1975(1980), p. 306.