Jack Kennedy
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27 Now at Harvard: JFK placed poorly in Harvard freshman student election, Rose Kennedy, p. 186.
27 But then he chalked up: Chairman of the Smoker, Macdonald OH.
28 “It was a leadership activity at Harvard”: Said Harvard classmate Jimmy Rousmaniere about the Smoker, Parmet, p. 50.
28 During his sophomore: Besting Joe Sr. by being accepted to Spee Club, Hamilton, pp. 205–9.
28 Demonstrating what we might: Joe Sr.’s group of Boston friends as described by Ralph Pope in ibid., p. 207.
28 According to Joe’s tutor: John Kenneth Galbraith said Joe Sr. was “slightly humorless,” ibid., p. 165.
28 And more than that: Observations of JFK’s inquisitive mind at Harvard, Parmet, p. 49.
28 As Jack started to make: Meeting Lem Billings at the Stork Club, Pitts, p. 48.
28 Only in his “Gov”: Initially only serious about government classes, Hamilton, p. 175.
28 Before an injury sidelined him: Macdonald practices throwing passes with JFK, Parmet, p. 45.
29 After spending Jack’s freshman year: Pitts, p. 65.
29 Jack showed himself willing: Ibid., p. 54.
30 “Hi yah, Hitler!”: Dallek, An Unfinished Life, p. 51.
30 His friend even snuck Jack: Description of Macdonald trying to keep JFK in shape for the swim team is detailed in Parmet, p. 47.
34 Jack knew the valor Britain: As late as May of 1963, Jack Kennedy recited verbatim Churchill’s lines about Raymond Asquith, surprising Asquith’s sister, Violet Bonham Carter, Leaming, pp. 431–32.
35 Even in front of them: “decadent,” ibid., p. 57.
36 When the Nazis invaded: Macdonald OH.
36 “I don’t think he really”: Macdonald on JFK, Hamilton, p. 242.
36 “The failure to build up”: Parmet, p. 68.
37 “I do not believe necessarily”: John F. Kennedy, Why England Slept (New York: W. Funk, 1940), p. xxiii.
38 Why England Slept: On donating the British royalties, Michael O’Brien, John F. Kennedy: A Biography (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005), p. 105.
38 “Democracy is finished in England”: Joseph P. Kennedy quote, Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), p. 33.
39 “He loved his youth”: John Buchan, Pilgrim’s Way: An Autobiography (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1984), p. 60.
CHAPTER THREE: SKIPPER
In this chapter I have relied on the accounts of Jack’s navy exploits in Robert Donovan’s PT 109: John F. Kennedy in World War II (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961), p. 39.
42 Look back at Raymond Asquith: On the life and death of Asquith, Buchan, pp. 49–60.
42 Jack and Lem Billings were: Pitts, p. 83.
43 In fact, the navy had turned: For a chronology of JFK’s struggles to enter the military, the intervention of Joe Sr.’s former London attaché, Captain Alan Kirk, and his entry into Naval Intelligence, Hamilton, pp. 405–6.
43 His specific distraction: Inga Arvad’s background, Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1987), pp. 729–30.
43 “Her conversation was miles”: Hamilton, pp. 684–85.
44 “He had the charm that makes birds”: Leaming, pp. 122–23.
44 Struck by the beautiful: Goodwin, pp. 731–32.
44 They maintained surveillance: FBI surveillance on Inga Arvad, Pitts, p. 85.
44 Hoover’s agents bugged: Pitts, pp. 85–86.
45 “They shagged my ass back down”: Geoffrey Perret, Jack: A Life Like No Other (New York: Random House, 2001), p. 98.
45 Now, more than ever: Goodwin, p. 734. “He had become disgusted with the desk jobs . . . and as an awful lot of the fellows that he knows are in active service, and particularly with you in fleet service, he feels that at least he ought to be trying to do something.”
45 “If you can find something you really believe in”: Inga wrote to Jack, Leaming, p. 131.
46 “I want to go over”: Author interview with Paul Ferber.
46 “I have applied for torpedo boat school”: Pitts, pp. 95–96.
46 Bulkeley was looking: The makeup of the PT officers, Goodwin p. 747.
46 He and Joe had: Harvard intercollegiate sailing team, O’Brien, John F. Kennedy, p. 80.
46 After they completed: JFK orders to stay stateside, Goodwin, p. 749.
46 This time, political rescue: Senator David I. Walsh, Dallek, An Unfinished Life, p. 89.
47 Even going at half speed: Goodwin, p. 748.
47 “I’m rather glad to be on my way”: Jack letter to Lem, Pitts, p. 96.
47 “I had been praising the lord”: Ibid., pp. 96–97.
48 Lieutenant (JG) Kennedy found: United with fellow officers in South Pacific, Hamilton, p. 534.
48 “Do you realize that if what you did”: Red Fay quote, ibid., p. 516.
49 One day Bill Battle: Visiting the chaplain, William Battle, John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program.
49 “Jack was a big letter writer”: Johnny Iles quote, Goodwin, p. 751.
49 But Jack would join other: Account of going to church near Sesape Island, Donovan, p. 39.
49 “Getting out every night on patrol”: Letter from JFK to parents, Goodwin, p. 752.
49 “That laugh of his”: Red Fay quote, Hamilton, p. 629.
49 “There was an aura around him”: Jim Reed quote, ibid., p. 544.
49 “Get acquainted with this damn war”: JFK to Johnny Iles, ibid., p. 518.
50 “Just had an inspection by an Admiral”: Letter to Inga, Dallek, An Unfinished Life, p. 93.
50 “His back was troubling him, he wasn’t well”: Jim Reed quote, Hamilton, p. 629.
50 Jack Kennedy often slept with a plywood board: Johnny Iles quote, ibid., p. 518.
50 In another officer’s: Recalling Jack’s corset, Joan and Clay Blair, Jr., The Search for JFK (New York: Putnam, 1974), pp. 179–81.
50 “I’ve been shafted”: Dick Keresey quote, Kennedy Library Panel, June 27, 2005.
50 “What’s the purpose of having the conflict”: Red Fay recalled, Hamilton, p. 629.
50 “We’d sit in a corner and I’d recall”: Blair, p. 191.
51 “He had a way of really picking”: Goodwin, p. 752.
51 “He loved sitting around talking”: Hamilton, p. 543.
51 There were twelve crewmen: Description of Jack’s command vessel, thirteen men including JFK on PT-109, Donovan, p. 128.
51 “Lenny, look at this”: JFK tells executive officer, ibid., p. 210.
51 “Sound general quarters!”: JFK quote, ibid., p. 212.
51 “Who’s aboard?”: JFK quote, Goodwin, p. 758.
52 “You go on”: Pappy McMahon quote, Hamilton, p. 578.
52 When dawn came: Goodwin, p. 759.
53 Each man was well aware: Japanese treatment of prisoners, Donovan, p. 160.
53 “There’s nothing in the book”: Maguire account, ibid., p. 158.
53 Their skipper’s solution: Ibid., p. 162.
53 “The rest of you can swim together”: Ibid., p. 162.
54 As McMahon floated on his back: McMahon’s account of JFK saving his life, ibid., p. 166.
54 Plum Pudding Island: Ross description, Hamilton, p. 582.
54 And when he went to stand: Vomiting source, Donovan, p. 165.
54 “George Ross has lost his life”: Red Fay’s prematurely eulogizing JFK, ibid., pp. 169–70.
54 “The next morning we heard”: Jim Reed quote, Hamilton, pp. 575–76.
54 “How are we going to”: JFK quote, Donovan, p. 170.
55 Hanging his .38 pistol: Going on patrol, ibid., p. 172.
55 Kennedy reached his destination: Out on patrol, ibid., p. 177.
55 He arrived at noontime: Ibid., p. 177.
55 “Barney, you try it tonight”: Ibid., p. 177.
55 The day after that: Ibid., p. 181.
55 There, they came upon: Finding canoe, water, crackers, Goodwin, p. 760.
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p; 55 Exhausted, Ross fell asleep: Hamilton, pp. 587–88.
55 This time he was greeted: Donovan, p. 191.
56 NAURO ISL NATIVE: Goodwin, p. 760.
56 “On His Majesty’s Service”: Ibid., p. 761.
56 “As a captain”: Dick Keresey quote, Keresey, “Farthest Forward,” American Heritage 49, no. 4 (July/August 1998).
56 Jack had his own account: Letter to Inga, Hamilton, pp. 616–17.
59 “proven himself on foreign soil”: Hometown booster quote, Red Fay, The Pleasure of His Company (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), pp. 156–57.
59 “On the bright side”: Letter from JFK to his parents, Hamilton, p. 611.
60 “We have been having a difficult time”: Letter from JFK to Lem, Pitts, p. 99.
60 At the same time he got off a letter: Jack letter to Lem’s mother, ibid.
60 Before leaving the South Pacific: Describe getting crew members back to States, Hamilton, p. 646.
60 “chronic disc disease”: Thomas Fleming, “John F. Kennedy’s PT-109 Disaster,” Military History Quarterly, February 8, 2011.
60 “His skin had turned yellow”: Macdonald description, Hamilton, p. 655.
61 “extremely heroic conduct”: Parmet, p. 121.
61 “That wound was a savage wound”: Ibid., p. 122.
61 “I’ll never forget Jack sitting”: Spalding quote, Hamilton, p. 640.
61 That August, Joe Jr. was killed: Ibid., pp. 659–60.
61 Jack, up at Hyannis Port: Ibid., p. 662.
62 “clenching and unclenching his fists”: Ibid., p. 660.
62 A month later, another terrible: Leaming, pp. 161–62.
63 “greatest campaign manager”: Author interview with Billy Sutton.
CHAPTER FOUR: War Hero
This chapter benefits from a diary Jack Kennedy kept of his travels through Europe in 1945 and the early weeks of his race for Congress. It was published and edited by Deirdre Henderson as Prelude to Leadership: The European Diary of John F. Kennedy, Summer 1945 (Washington, DC: Regnery, 1995). The jotted-down notes contained here are priceless clues to Jack’s postwar thinking, also a wonderful clue to his studious approach to his new career in politics. I cite it as Diary.
The topic is Jack Kennedy’s first race for Congress. Here again, as in preceding chapters, I have relied on Nigel Hamilton’s remarkable reporting.
. . . .
66 “It was written all over the sky”: Hamilton, p. 543.
66 “I think there was probably a serious side to Kennedy”: Ibid., p. 623.
66 All of the other old troubles continued: Parmet, p. 151.
68 Curley, now, was about to abandon: Joe Sr. used former Boston police chief Joseph Timilty as his go-between, Hamilton, p. 674.
69 His father wrangled him a job: Parmet, p. 131.
69 “from the point of view of the ordinary GI”: Diary, p. 85.
70 “I’m not talking about Bohlen”: Author interview with Paul Fay .
72 “We must face the truth that the people”: JFK letter to war buddies, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965), p. 88.
72 “Either wittingly or unwittingly”: Hamilton, p. 703.
73 “He asked every sort of question”: Barbara Ward Jackson, John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program.
73 “We have suffered the loss of nearly 8 hundred thousand young men”: Diary, p. 3.
74 “The clash may be finally and indefinitely postponed”: Ibid., pp. 7–8.
74 “Mr. Roosevelt has contributed greatly to the end of Capitalism”: Ibid., p. 10.
74 “People did not realize what was going on in the concentration camps”: Ibid., p. 58.
74 But he predicted the Red Army’s treatment: Ibid., p. 56.
74 “scared the hell out”: Hamilton, p. 722.
74 “He made me speak into it”: Horton OH.
75 “I’ve made up my mind”: Hamilton, p. 689.
75 “He was never pushed off”: Ibid., pp. 702–3.
75 “A lot of stories have been written”: Ibid., p. 673.
75 When Jack asked Torby Macdonald: Macdonald OH.
75 “I tell you, Dad is ready right now”: Hamilton, p. 679.
76 “Although Jack shammed indifference”: Fay, pp. 2–4.
76 “I had never lived very much in the district”: Presidential recordings, John F. Kennedy Library.
77 “He was very clear about his decision”: Charles Bartlett, John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program.
77 “A reporter is reporting what happens”: Presidential recordings, John F. Kennedy Library.
77 Writing his stump speech himself: Ibid. “The first speech I ever gave was on ‘England, Ireland, and Germany: Victor, Neutral, and Vanquished.’ It took me three weeks to write and was given at an American Legion post.”
78 “For all Irish immigrants”: Ibid.
78 “I had in politics, to begin with”: Ibid.
78 “Says I’ll be murdered”: Diary, pp. 79–80.
79 In politics you don’t have friends: Ibid., p. 80.
79 “The one great failure of American government is the government of critics”: Ibid., p. 83.
79 The shrewd first hire was Billy Sutton: Billy Sutton, John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program.
80 The person most surprised by this was his father: Goodwin, p. 828.
80 The fact that he was a returning: Dave Powers in the Flying Tigers, Bart Barnes, “JFK Aide David Francis Powers Dies at 85,” Washington Post, March 28, 1998.
80 “I think I know how you feel”: Jack’s appearance before a group of Gold Star Mothers, Goodwin, p. 823.
80 Not surprisingly, the daily slog of introducing: Sutton OH.
81 “I couldn’t believe this skinny”: O’Neill, p. 73.
81 “wasn’t looking healthy”: Sutton int.
81 “skeleton”: Mark Dalton description of JFK, Hamilton, pp. 747–48.
81 “My father thought I was hopeless”: John F. Kennedy’s January 5, 1960, interview with Ben Bradlee.
81 “This impatience that he passed on”: Spalding quote, Hamilton, p. 690.
82 “even though I was a Republican”: Red Fay quote, ibid., p. 745.
82 “My God”: JFK had forgotten to file his nomination papers, Fay, p. 147.
82 Kennedy pulled off other escapades: Joe Russo newspaper ad, Boston magazine, June 1993.
83 Tip O’Neill recalled a far more daunting: O’Neill, p. 77. “During the campaign, the Kennedys flooded the district with copies of that article [John Hersey’s on PT-109] and sent reprints to every returning veteran. Using the mails to send out campaign literature was a new and expensive proposition. Normally, a volunteer would give it out on the street or hang a flyer on your door. Naturally, the Hersey article served as a good reminder that only one of the candidates has much of a war record.”
83 Jack’s father and mother: Tea party at Hotel Commander, Goodwin, p. 830.
83 Kennedy was starting: O’Neill, p. 76. “Jack Kennedy, of course, was a Democrat. But looking back on his congressional campaign, and on his later campaigns for the Senate and then for the presidency, I’d have to say that he was only nominally a Democrat. He was a Kennedy, which was more than a family affiliation. It quickly developed into an entire political party, with its own people, its own agenda, and its own strategies.”
84 “He was probably the first”: Hamilton, p. 756.
85 “I guess I’m the only one”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), p. 153.
85 “Womanpower”: O’Neill, p. 78.
85 “They would scream”: Fay quote, Hamilton, p. 767.
85 “My chief opponents”: Presidential recordings, John F. Kennedy Library.
85 “We were constantly”: Reardon quote, Hamilton, p. 757.
86 “Remember, we were all”: Billings quote, ibid., p. 769.