WHEN STEVE SMITH, in late April of 1959, moved down from his beloved New York City and opened the Kennedy campaign offices at the historic Esso Building in downtown Washington, DC, there was no fancy signage indicating the site of Kennedy headquarters. There was only a simple sign on the door that read STEPHEN E. SMITH. For Kenny, the move was welcome news. It was the first official step in the launch of this important phase of Jack Kennedy’s political journey and, by extension, his own.
Kenny would come to consider Pierre Salinger, who would the handle press, almost as a younger brother. Salinger had been working at the McClellan Committee and had made himself memorable from his first meeting with Bobby. Bobby and Ethel invited Pierre to dinner one evening at their home in Hickory Hill. At that time, neither Ethel nor Bobby drank. “No problem,” Pierre assured them good-naturedly. Then he opened his briefcase to reveal stowed away, in case of such emergencies, a lovely bottle of red wine. When Kenny heard the story he roared with laughter. Pierre was his kind of fellow.
While Pierre’s loyalty would prove to be absolute, he was not without his issues. Kenny recalled, “The problem with Pierre was twofold: Like all of us, he was quite young and inexperienced on a national level. He also completely lacked national press contacts. Right from the beginning he made a good many crucial mistakes that were fortunately caught by Senator Kennedy in time. It was a difficult period for Pierre.”
Often, Kenny feared that Pierre would not make the grade in these early days, so he did what he could with his own contacts to help. While Pierre’s start was rocky, he managed to find his sea legs as the organization took shape.
The next step was to bring in the office staff, led by Justine O’Donnell, a dark-haired, green-eyed beauty with a sharp wit, a keen intelligence, and a work ethic that made her invaluable to the Kennedy operation. The remaining women included a brilliant political operator from Massachusetts by the name of Helen Keyes, whose father had been a dentist for the Kennedy family. Beyond Helen, there was also Helen Lempart, Kenny’s pal from Haverhill; Pauline Fluet, who would later work for Kenny at the White House, then go on to work for Steve Smith running the Kennedy family office in New York; and Jean Lewis, who came over from Jack’s Senate office.
These “girls,” as Kenny and Jack called them, were in many ways the Kennedy organization’s backbone. Kenny said, “They were fearless, savvy, tough, smart as hell, very, very sharp, and could outwork anyone. So they were brought in to begin working on the infrastructure of the campaign. They were our secret weapon. Our first step was to put these girls to work on the card system, the same system first implemented so successfully in the ’52 campaign, used again, updated in ’58, and now would be used for the primary on a state-by-state basis. We had imported that from the Massachusetts Senate campaign and now planned to take it to a national level. Naturally, it was far too early and there were no delegates as such in existence.”
Justine noted, “The best anyone could do was take the list of delegates from the 1956 convention. Most, if not all, of these delegates would not return, but it gave us a starting point. As with ’52 and ’58, an index card was created for a delegate. It would list how they had voted in the most recent campaign, their political leanings, connections, . . . likes or dislikes, relatives in politics, and any other pertinent information. We then would give these cards to the Kennedy secretaries once we had determined whether this delegate planned to return or not; if not, [we would find out] who replaced them. Then a card would be created for that person, so by the time we got to the convention in Los Angeles in 1960, the idea was every single delegate would have an index card created for them. We also recruited both of my other brothers,” Justine chuckled. “My older brother Cleo Jr. and younger brother Warren were persuaded to put their careers on hold and join the campaign, not that Kenny gave them much choice in the matter. But the core of the campaign began to come together.”
Ralph Dungan, Jack Kennedy’s legislative aide, agreed with Justine’s assessment of the early days. Dungan himself began to move into a quasi-role with the campaign, one foot in the Senate office and the other in the campaign office.
As Dungan recalled, “Steve Smith came down and set up offices at the Esso Building around late April/May after the meeting in Palm Beach. I was not part of that meeting but knew from Sorensen that it marked the unofficial kickoff. I was not really in the inner circles of the political planning group among the Washington unit. That was Sorensen, O’Donnell, Bobby, Steve, the Old Man, and sometimes O’Brien. That was it. They were the decision makers.”
The focus was largely on organization in these early days of the campaign, which meant duplicating the system Kenny and Larry had established in Massachusetts, moving it to Washington, and expanding it for the national presidential campaign.
Kenny and Larry were to find out later that not everything in their system would translate or work as well in the national arena. The political stage and players proved very different. The Irish Brotherhood would discover their grassroots approach now had to include the national party organization and its leaders.
“Our approach in Massachusetts,” Kenny said, “had been to go the grassroots level only, because we knew we had no chance with the party regulars. We had to really kick the door in by going to the people directly. We expected to have to do the same thing on the national level as well. But we would learn that we needed a two-pronged approach to be successful. In the national political arena the grassroots approach might win primaries but not get you the nomination. But we had not gotten to this stage yet.”
“However,” Kenny added, “once we began to understand that, we adapted as quickly as possible. The key to any successful political operation is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances as quickly and effectively as possible. That had always been our strength.”
Bobby left the McClellan Committee in July of 1959 to finish writing his book The Enemy Within. “This period, July and August,” Kenny remarked, “was a real hiatus. There is not much you can do in politics at this time of year. The Congress was out. The senator was out campaigning as best he could under the circumstances.”
With Bobby off writing his book and the McClellan Committee finally coming to a close, Kenny was, as he put it, “finally able to join Steve over at the campaign full-time to set up the physical organization.”
The campaign’s primary strategy was still not finalized, but in these early days during the summer doldrums the goal was to get the Kennedy organization up and operational as quickly and effectively as possible. O’Brien spent much of the summer going back and forth from Springfield, where he was slowly shutting down his business operation in anticipation of a full-time role with the campaign.
Kenny recalled, “Larry and I went through all the files and became completely familiar with every state, every primary, and every individual and political person we would need to know if the senator were to enter that state’s primary. These are all the unglamorous early steps of campaign organization, which, if done well, can prove crucial in the later months when you no longer have the time available to strategize.”
The summer months were spent on setting up the organization and the initial core staff. Kenny took a few early but mostly inconclusive trips with Jack. From Kenny’s point of view, the next most important thing that happened in the campaign was the meeting in Hyannis Port in October.
For Kenny, “this meeting really was the indication we were under way,” he said. “This was the first full-blown meeting of the Kennedy for President campaign. Senator Kennedy conducted the meeting this time.”
The group present at the Kennedy compound that October had expanded since that first tentative meeting in early April. This time the players, besides the core group of Joe, Jack, Bobby, Kenny, Larry, and Steve, included John Bailey, Governor Ribicoff of Connecticut, Governor [Dennis] Roberts of Rhode Island, and Hy Raskin. Raskin was a lawyer from San Francisco whom Joe had recruited. He had worked on Stevenson’s campaign in ’52 as deputy director and been head of the Western States for Stevenson organization in ’56 before going to the Democratic National Committee, where he eventually made the transition to Jack Kennedy and never looked back.
Raskin later described his first impressions of Jack Kennedy upon meeting him in 1956: “The knock on Kennedy was he was young, he was very rich, and perhaps lacked expertise and experience, not to mention the Catholic issue. But right from the start, we saw in ’56 at the convention, he had what I would call political sex appeal.”
Others at Hyannis Port that October included Ted Sorensen, pollster Lou Harris, John Salter (administrative assistant to Senator Henry Jackson), and Dave Hackett, whom Bobby Kennedy had recruited to work with him at the McClellan Committee before being brought onto the campaign and eventually to a position within the Kennedy Justice Department.
Hackett, a gifted athlete and talented writer, had been a close friend of Bobby’s since their prep school days together at Milton Academy. Hackett had befriended the shy Bobby, making his transition to Milton easier. Bobby’s oldest son, Joseph Kennedy II, best described Hackett “as my dad’s oldest and best friend.” Finally, the meeting included the youngest Kennedy brother, Teddy.
Jack stood, as journalist Ted White described it, “with his back to the fireplace, facing the others as they sat, dressed in a sports jacket (which he later removed), slacks, loafers, and looking thoroughly boyish. His hair was still cut in the youthful brush cut with which the public would become so familiar, later replaced by the more mature side cut once he was president.”
Jack began the meeting with a dazzling analysis of the facts and the situation now facing the fledging campaign.
“It was a detailed analysis of the campaign as he saw it,” Kenny said. “He went state by state with the primaries. He discussed each primary as he had in the past, presenting a rather clear one, two, three setup. He went through Ohio, Wisconsin, and whether we had to enter one or the other and, of course, whether we had to enter both.
“He named those whom he had talked to in each state and where they stood. He listed those who were supportive and those who were leaning, as well as those who were not and posed serious problems.
“The senator then enumerated which states and issues would bother him or present problems for us. It was a complete and total rundown and lasted about an hour. It was very impressive. He then suggested that we ought to assign each person a role in the campaign. He felt the campaign had been very disorganized so far, in large measure because it was running without a head and because people did not have specific roles or assignments. They did not, in fact, know what was expected of them and when. Now each person ought to have a specific assignment and be responsible to someone and report in rather regularly as to their contacts and the results of their efforts.
“From there the meeting rather degenerated a bit. Things became rather vague as they always do in these large organizational meetings. It is very difficult to get anything too specific out of meetings with that many people in there at once.
“The first really specific thing that I recall was that O’Brien would look to the primary states as his overall responsibility. Larry should begin visiting all the potential primary states and meeting with the proper people. Then Larry and I should have battle plans drawn up for each state. We should know the laws and filing dates for each state. Sorensen had done some of this, but he could use some help there, and so those assignments were given out. The battle plan should outline the issues, potential supporters, detractors, and the major problems we faced with issues, people, supporters, logistics, deadlines, size, and so forth. The senator also indicated I would continue in my role with him, which was, as Bobby joked, ‘whatever Jack wanted it to be.’”
From there, the meeting moved to a discussion of the primaries. Questions remained about the best approach. As Kenny recalled, “We discussed the ones of interest to us: Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland. The senator took on Ohio almost as a personal chore, indicating he and I would deal with that situation. He took the same approach to California also, though that was a ways off, so not a priority.”
From there, Bobby asked John Salter to look into the western states. Abe Ribicoff and John Bailey were asked to continue doing what they were doing, which was trying to tie down the New England states and keep them together as a Kennedy bloc.
New York was largely left to, as Kenny said, “the capable hands of Mr. Kennedy, Steve Smith, and Senator Kennedy himself.” It was Kenny’s memory that Joe Kennedy and Steve Smith, whose connections ran deep in New York, took on the complicated issues in the Empire State.
“Illinois,” Kenny recalled, “was another primary state discussed, though at this time it was not assigned to anyone. We went through the problem in Pennsylvania. We all realized that at this point there was only one person who could talk to Dave Lawrence, who was governor of Pennsylvania, a Catholic, and critical to our plans, and that was the candidate himself. It was too early to do that just now, though. New Jersey was not assigned to anyone; in fact, whatever contacts there were in New Jersey came from the senator and his father. So that was also left alone for the present and would be assigned later. The decision as to whether Bobby wanted to handle the southern states himself or get someone to handle it was left in his hands.”
The reason for this, of course, was that Bobby was the only one who knew anything about the South due to his extensive work with Senator McClellan. Kenny was not assigned to anything specifically. When he asked, Bobby shrugged and pointed to Jack. Kenny nodded. His role was now set. With that, Jack’s campaign was off and running.
“During these discussions,” Dave Powers said later, “Senator Kennedy did not dwell on the problems either he or the campaign faced. He outlined them in his very straightforward manner but did not dwell.”
Kenny agreed. He felt that Jack “simply cited potential problems and then determined how to address those problems. But we had two immediate and key problems. The first was that the Kennedy organization was not in shape yet.” As Kenny told Jack and the Old Man in private, “We need to get Bobby to take control and get organized in order to be effective. Until Bobby takes full command and control, we simply cannot get under way. It is like a car with only three wheels. We need Bobby now.”
“Right,” Joe said. “Let’s get that done.”
The second major problem, one that even the substantial political and financial resources of Joe Kennedy could not fix, was that Jack was viewed as young and Catholic. Jack said to Kenny and Joe in private that he was concerned that he was seen as unelectable and that that view would be reflected by most of the other candidates and the political elite. Jack believed that this opinion of his unelectability would combine with the left wing of the party, which remained extremely dubious of his position on labor, giving him in the end almost no solid base of support.
This concerned Jack deeply. He suspected, quite accurately as it turned out, that he would not be taken seriously. In fact, he would have to prove himself the hard way by going at it in the primaries, taking his case to the people. By doing so, Jack felt he would be able to pick up a great many delegates personally.
“Very early on,” Kenny said, “the senator took the position that the leaders and professionals would follow their delegations. He believed that if he began to build a fire under these leaders by appealing directly to the voters and to the delegates, then the delegates would build a fire under the party leaders.”
Jack and Kenny believed that to accomplish this he would have to “win, win, and win,” meaning he would have to stay up in the polls, especially the Gallup Poll, which would help him win over as many delegates as possible. If necessary, he would personally talk to each delegate about why he would be the best Democratic candidate to beat Nixon, the presumed Republican nominee in 1960.
Jack knew full well that he could have an intellectual conversation with Philadelphia political strategist Bill Green or Pennsylvania governor David Lawrence or any of these other people and change their minds. But a strong showing in the polls would be the most persuasive argument in his favor.
In other words, Kenny indicated, “they all came to realize the only way he could make his case to the professionals was through the ballot box. Normally, even in state and local elections, a candidate would have to have strong party support and a number of delegates already lined up before entering the field. No question, it was an unusual approach for a national political candidate.”
As they had discussed back in April in the meeting in Palm Beach, “The question then became exactly how to be in both the Ohio and Wisconsin primaries at once and how to best spend our energies. Despite the fact that he felt Ohio was a problem and Wisconsin presented an even worse problem, the senator seemed willing to take the gamble in Wisconsin.”
Jack said to Kenny, “If we can wrap up Ohio, we may have to take that gamble and roll the dice with Wisconsin.”
In the end, the decision as to which primary to participate in, Ohio or Wisconsin, or both, would be critical. Like any politician, Governor DiSalle of Ohio did not want to be embarrassed or lose. He wanted to back a winner. Jack’s Irish Brotherhood had to convince him to take the risk, put aside his own ambitions and his concerns about the “Catholic issue,” and go with Jack. They all agreed that if Jack had to go into Ohio against Governor DiSalle, and then go into Wisconsin, he would not have the resources to handle both campaigns. Kenny believed, as did O’Brien, that DiSalle could be dealt with and that a deal could be struck that would satisfy DiSalle and give him a way to resolve the dilemma.
“It became clear to me,” Kenny said, “that Ohio would be a much better state for John Kennedy to run in than Wisconsin. I think he shared that view with me. I know Larry shared that view. However, that decision was not in our control. That decision was in the control of the Ohio party leaders.”
The decision would be faced soon enough, but first the Kennedy team had to deal with the looming issue of the United Automobile Workers convention. The convention was in New Jersey in October 1959 and was in many ways the logical next step for the Kennedy organization. All the major candidates were expected to speak there, and this included Jack. It was decided that Kenny was the right man for the job of ameliorating any ruffled union feathers.
Everyone knew Jack had a great weakness on his left flank, largely due to Stevenson and Eleanor Roosevelt’s suspicion of Jack’s more conservative leanings. Bobby’s work on the McClellan Committee had only inflamed that weakness.
Hubert Humphrey, the Minnesota senator, a potential candidate, assumed that he would easily pick off the support of the party’s left wing. Additionally, Stevenson was a sleeper candidate who could take what little support on the left remained for Jack. This would leave the left wing of the party waiting to see what Stevenson would do at the convention and unwilling to commit to another candidate.
As Kenny saw it, “This was a potential source of real trouble to Senator Kennedy as we began the campaign. The senator had naturally moved to meet the challenge in any way that he could. By that, I mean he met directly with George Meany, the tough-minded head of the American Federation of Labor and one of the chief labor leaders in Washington, DC. The antagonism had diminished to some degree, which was in part due to Senator Kennedy’s personal intervention with the leaders. I think despite themselves they had come to realize that Senator Kennedy had not been really harmful to them. Nevertheless, he still had to face a major drift and uncertainty on the left wing, which continued to be troublesome. This was, in part, due to the Walter Reuther–Eleanor Roosevelt–Stevenson troika and their ability to deal with the media.”
“Our next trip,” Jack told Kenny, “we should attend the UAW convention in Atlantic City and determine if we might be able to stop some of this drift.” Kenny smiled. Kenny understood that stopping the “drift” would be his job. He didn’t need any more direction than that.
The decision was made that Kenny would take Bobby with him to Atlantic City. “Maybe the UAW will be happy to see you,” Kenny teased Bobby.
Over lunch, Bobby, Kenny, and Jack discussed the best approach to the convention. Kenny recalled, “With the UAW convention looming, Bobby pointed out to the senator that I had a good relationship with them, unlike himself. He said he felt that if anyone could do anything to repair the relationship with labor, I would be the one to do it.”
So Kenny headed out in early October 1959, arriving at the convention three days ahead of Jack. “I arrived in the lobby of the hotel,” Kenny recalled, “and immediately spotted Joe Rauh, who had preceded me in the check-in line. Joe was rigorously campaigning for Hubert Humphrey. After we had both checked in, we went into the bar and had a drink together. Joe and I had become quite friendly through the McClellan Committee hearings. However, we were friendly enemies at the moment.
“Jack Conway joined us in the bar for a couple drinks. Conway was a close personal friend of Joe Rauh’s. He had become quite friendly with me as well. However, when he came into the bar and saw that Joe was sitting with me, it was an embarrassing and awkward situation for Conway. The UAW as a general rule had not made any final decision about whom to support.”
Kenny stood and shook Conway’s hand, inviting him to sit. “Look, we know you have not made a decision. I know you guys give every candidate a fair shake. That is all we are asking for—a fair shake.”
Conway nodded and took his seat as Kenny ordered them all another round. It was a small but important step forward.
“He didn’t,” Kenny joked to Bobby, “run for the door, and that was good. Course, I didn’t have you with me, so that may have been part of it.”
Bobby laughed but admitted to Kenny ruefully that there was perhaps some truth to the comment.
The first day involved a major demonstration of political strength for Hubert Humphrey. Kenny was intrigued, since Humphrey represented the largest threat to Jack’s candidacy.
This was particularly frustrating, Kenny said, “because we all knew that Humphrey had no chance to get the nomination, yet the road for us to the nomination led right through Hubert.”
The UAW’s love of demonstration was everywhere at the convention: There were pro-Humphrey signs and pictures, slogans, buttons, and pins. They were preparing to go all out for Humphrey’s arrival.
Kenny watched the organization with great interest, looking for a way to break in. “In the process of walking around watching them get ready for this and having conversations with people, I ran into a few of my friends from Ohio who worked for the local union where Dick Gosser was vice president. They were quite friendly with me, and they were anti–Walter Reuther.
“Now within the UAW itself the Gosser forces were opposed to Reuther and vice versa. These fellows indicated to me that Walter Reuther was 100 percent for Hubert Humphrey. They told me Reuther, under the influence of Eleanor Roosevelt, had already made up his mind and that he was now trying to force the members to go along with his choice of Humphrey.”
But what Kenny was finding was that the members themselves were not all in agreement with Reuther and resented being forced to back a candidate they believed would not and could not win the party’s nomination at the Los Angeles convention. Kenny had suddenly found his way in, isolating UAW members whom he could pick off for Jack.
Within hours Kenny arranged a meeting with Dick Gosser. “We chatted for a while and then we went and had a few drinks. By the end of the evening we had maneuvered into a position where it became clear that Richard Gosser was totally for John Kennedy.”
Gosser said to Kenny, “Don’t worry, we will have a bigger demonstration for John Kennedy than Hubert Humphrey could have in his wildest dreams!”
This was progress.
A bonus for the Kennedy organization was the fact that Dick Gosser’s district in the union was extremely large, including Ohio and parts of Indiana. He ran a powerful local that had strong connections in the key primary state of Pennsylvania as well.
“By now,” Kenny explained, “the Gosser people had connected me to members, and I had begun to make inroads. I met all the Pennsylvania UAW and the New York UAW people. I then was able to track down the Massachusetts UAW people. So by the end of the first evening we had a large and powerful demonstration set up for John Kennedy. There was now an internal argument within the union forces about who would have a larger demonstration, the Kennedy or the Humphrey crowd. I left those internal arguments to the union and went to bed. I was pleased to know that at the end of the first day I was able to get those commitments and get the demonstration plans under way. When I had arrived, we had no idea that this was something Humphrey had planned, so had we not been able to get an equal or better demonstration set up for Senator Kennedy’s arrival. It would have looked very bad in the press and to potential delegates.”
When Kenny filled Jack in that evening before heading to bed, Jack was delighted. It was clear that Bobby’s suggestion to get Kenny up to the convention with a three-day lead was already paying off.
Kenny remembered, “I spent the next day really walking around and talking to the fellows and introducing myself. I talked to them about their concerns and about Senator Kennedy, the usual stuff. I got along with them all very well. That night, Jack Conway, Joe Rauh, and a tough-minded UAW member by the name of Millie Jeffrey invited me to join them over at a tavern where they all hung out to have drinks and dinner. The tavern was an insiders’ place where they talked business, and outsiders were not welcome. That I was invited was good news. I was very pleased to be included. When I first walked in, the room fell silent. I think many were surprised to see me there.
“It was an uncomfortable moment, but then Millie Jeffrey indicated I had been invited, and the atmosphere changed. I met most of the leadership, and we got along really well. We didn’t talk campaign stuff too much. We just had a good time. We had dinner and drinks and the whole inner leadership of the UAW was there. It was a real coup to be invited and included in such an evening. Joe Rauh turned out to be a great dancer with all the pretty girls from the UAW. Joe danced better than I did! I actually got up and danced with some of the girls myself. Joe and I feigned this real competition about who was the better dancer and could get more pretty girls. It was great fun. For the first time, I think Senator Kennedy was making real inroads with these fellows, because they saw me as a regular guy, one of their own, and not an elitist snob. This was how they perceived the people around Kennedy. Of course, it was not true, but sometimes these perceptions can really be hard to overcome.”
When Kenny returned home to tell Helen his story, Helen, who had been an aspiring actress and amateur dancer in her younger days in Worcester, burst out laughing. “I can never get you to dance. The things you will do to get Jack Kennedy in the White House!”
Most of the union’s contacts with John Kennedy had been through Sorensen and Bob Wallace, who was then in the Senate office.
“The problem,” Kenny noted, “was that both Sorensen and Wallace are sort of eggheads, to say the least. They are not regular-type guys. The unions were convinced that Kennedy was sort of an elite type and an egghead guy since they rather felt that the fellows around Kennedy were sort of egghead types as well. My job was to change that perception. The issue to them was that Sorensen and Wallace were not their type of guys. The union guys to some degree felt Sorensen and Wallace talked down to them. Now here they have a guy like me, who is a regular guy and will go in and have a couple drinks with them and be able to talk to them. We had some drinks, dinner, lots of laughs. While I am not sure who won the dance contest, I bet it was me. But seriously, at the end of two days, I felt that I had made a pretty serious dent in Hubert’s strength in the UAW. If not actually getting them to commit to John Kennedy, at least their attitude toward John Kennedy had begun to change.”
While Kenny may not yet have switched any votes, he had undone much of the fear and damage created by the McClellan Committee hearings. In giving himself to the UAW as a middleman, he had opened their minds to the possibility of a Kennedy presidency.
Kenny had not yet met Walter Reuther, but by the second day he had met almost all the influential UAW people.
By the next day, reports had made their way back to Reuther about Jack Kennedy’s new man in the campaign, a blue-collar, regular guy. And the impression he was making on the leadership was positive. They were beginning to talk about a second look at Kennedy. What bothered Reuther, though, was that Kenny’s contacts were mainly through Dick Gosser.
Gosser and Reuther were engaged in a serious inside battle over power in the union. Gosser was old-school and Reuther was the new face of the UAW. Reuther had been trying unsuccessfully to purge Gosser. But Gosser still had more power than Reuther. When news of Kenny’s inroads and friendship with Gosser got back to Reuther, he was concerned enough to call Jack Conway and ask for a meeting with this O’Donnell.
Walter had of course known Kenny and seen him in action around the McClellan Committee, but this was different. This was presidential politics. In Reuther’s mind, union insiders had already committed to Humphrey, and this O’Donnell fellow was stirring things up.
Kenny quickly called Jack Conway, asking him “to attend the meeting with me. Conway and I went up together to meet with Walter,” Kenny recalled. “Walter was careful but cordial. We had met on several occasions before but had never carried on any great conversations.
“He was extremely friendly. We talked politics for about an hour. Walter told me how pleased he was with Jack and how wonderful things looked for the campaign. Then, in a rather direct fashion, he began indicating that Dick Gosser was really not such a wonderful fellow. Walter went on to say that he hoped I would stay with Jack Conway and that Conway would introduce me to the real leaders of the UAW.
“Reuther made no direct or implied threat, but it was clear that he felt that he was communicating that Gosser did not represent the best elements of the UAW. He went on to say that by sticking with Conway and the fellows Conway introduced me to I could probably do my candidate more good. After all, that is ‘why you are here.’ He then asked when the senator was coming to the convention. He asked for an advance copy of the speech and a chance to chat with the senator. He made no clear threats of any kind, but I got his point. It was an extremely pleasant conversation. He made no commitments to us but made clear that he was pleased with my presence and felt that it was a good sign for any potential future relationship between the UAW and the senator.”
Kenny and Jack Conway left Reuther and headed to the bar for a drink. Kenny was careful. He was pleased with much of what he had heard from Reuther, but Kenny was savvy enough to recognize that Gosser still could do them good in key primary states. And while Kenny did not want to make Reuther or Conway angry, he was also not going to give up Gosser.
The “cold hard political reality” was, as Kenny said to Jack later, that “they still had no commitment from Reuther, so it was worth going after Gosser. Risky, but worth it.”
He said none of this to Jack Conway. They had drinks and were later joined by Joe Rauh for dinner in the UAW’s favorite tavern. It was assumed that Kenny had gotten Walter’s message. But nobody asked directly, and Kenny was relieved that he did not have to lie. But while Kenny may have been pleased with his success with the Reuther leadership, he still held tight to his relationship with Gosser, whom he secretly planned to introduce to Jack as soon as possible.
Conway no doubt believed that Kenny had gotten the message and, like so many others, would not dare go against Reuther’s orders. But Jack Conway had a lot to learn about Kenny and the Irish Brotherhood. From Kenny’s point of view, his job was to seek Jack’s best interest; that was why he was here. Jack always came first. Always.
Jack was scheduled to arrive that night from Hartford. Kenny recalled, “That was the evening of a very funny conversation with Millie Jeffrey. Millie was a rather difficult person. She was not really my cup of tea, but I seemed to be making some real progress with her.
“Millie was important because she was on the UAW Executive Board. She was kind of inclined to be for John Kennedy but did not want to admit it. She was nominally for Hubert Humphrey but had switched from being anti-Kennedy. This was due to the efforts of Jack Conway. It was now clear to her that neither Jack Conway nor Walter Reuther looked with disfavor upon John Kennedy.”
But Kenny had not totally convinced her. “We sat and we sipped our drinks. She was pumping me and being extremely friendly with me. As I say, we had had drinks the night before at the insiders’ bar, actually both nights before, and had been up until three or four in the morning both nights that I had been there.
“We were on the best of terms by this point. She was truly shocked that a working-class guy from Boston had gone to Harvard, worked for John Kennedy, was reasonably intellectual, and could discuss the issues with her in as much depth as Ted Sorensen.”
Millie made clear that she thought rather highly of Ted Sorensen and referred to him as “her kind of Kennedy man.” She questioned Kenny at great length and was rather taken aback that he knew anything about labor laws. She couldn’t believe that an Irish guy like Kenny knew anything more than how to buy votes in the wards of Boston.
Kenny explained that Jack Kennedy surrounded himself with people strong enough to do the hard work that has to be done but intellectual enough to discuss the issues. As Kenny recalled, “We were sitting in a hotel bar on the boardwalk, and the table we were sitting at was right in front of the window. I had a view across the boardwalk. At about that moment the door burst open, and in strolled Steve Smith and Dave Powers.
“They threw themselves in the chairs around us, completely uninvited, I might add. Steve was his usual smooth, charming self. Steve had met Millie before, so they had a wonderful chat. Steve ordered a drink, and Dave quickly ordered two fast drinks, to ‘steady his hand,’ as he put it.
“Those drinks were gone in minutes, and after a long day of campaigning, the alcohol hit him like a ton of bricks. As if on cue, Dave began to realize Millie’s worst fears of an Irish ward politician. You would think you were in the middle of The Last Hurrah. He went on and on. It was unbelievable.
“Steve and I just could not contain ourselves. We were laughing hysterically. In minutes, all my hard work had been completely undone. Poor Millie was being entirely serious discussing the issues. Powers had never been so funny. The more serious she got, the worse he got. Steve and I agreed later that we were both laughing so hard we thought we’d wet our pants. At one point, Dave actually said to her, ‘The minute I saw you, I knew you worked for the UAW.’ Millie asked how, and Dave replied, ‘I could tell by your bumpers!’ She was shocked. Then he gave her a big hug and kiss. To avoid him, she literally fell out of her chair. She got right back up and sat down again, but she was just red-faced. I could tell she was sort of complimented though, as she was not the kind you would naturally compliment in the looks department.
“Then they got into an argument about Hubert Humphrey. Powers told her that he took a rather dim view of Humphrey, because he seemed to talk a lot and did not listen. Of course, he was just teasing her, but she got quite upset.
“She said to him, ‘The problem with you people is in your damn polls!’
“Powers said, ‘See, they are prejudiced, the Humphrey people are prejudiced, and here they are knocking the poor Poles. I am shocked, just shocked. After all, you have a lot of Poles in your union.’
“Poor Millie was reduced to trying to explain she did not mean Poles as in Polish; she meant polls as in pollsters, like Lou Harris. This went on and on for about an hour, maybe two hours. Steve and I finally felt we had to jump in and save her and our relationship. But Steve was so charming, and Millie was laughing so hard by the end of it, we knew it would be all right. Finally, we were able to pull Dave away. Steve and I went up to see the senator and catch up with him.
“As we went up, I told Steve that I was quite sure that all my efforts to prove to Millie and others that the Kennedy organization was not like their perception of the typical Boston Irish pol had all been undone. I said to Dave, ‘Look, you have just undone a whole day’s work.’ I can’t repeat what Dave said to me here, but he was not too concerned.”
From there, Steve, Dave, and Kenny went into Jack’s suite and met with him. “He wanted to know blow by blow what I had been doing, whom I had talked to, and what had happened,” Kenny remembered. “I brought him completely up to date. Humphrey had spoken that day and gotten a tremendous reception, so we talked about that. We went over his speech, and he asked me to make some comments. I read it, made a few suggestions, but overall I thought it was a great speech for this audience.”
Kenny told the others that he felt sure that not only would the speech go over well but also that Jack would be surprised by the reception he would receive. Jack listened, but based on what he knew, he remained skeptical. He assured them, however, that he very much wanted Kenny to be correct.
They ordered dinner in, and the meeting lasted well past midnight. As they turned to leave, Jack had one last question: “I hear you won the dance contest the other night, Kenny.”
Kenny turned and smiled. “I did.”
“The things you will do to get the UAW endorsement,” Steve teased.
Jack gave Kenny a look. “Let me ask you something. Do you think your dancing helped or hurt us?”
They all started to laugh. “Well, Senator,” Kenny replied, “when you get their support, you will know who was responsible.” With that he demonstrated one of his better moves.
Jack laughed. “Get out of here. I am going to bed.”
When they finally left Jack’s room, Steve and Kenny went to the bar for one last drink. Tomorrow was crucial. While both men knew they would not be able at this early date to secure the UAW’s support, slowing Humphrey’s momentum was essential.
The next morning, Jack, Kenny, Steve, and Dave met for an early breakfast in the senator’s suite. This is where Kenny made his move. “I told him before he left for the speech that despite what Reuther had said, it might be worth it for him to at least say hello to Dick Gosser. I pointed out this convention was not a UAW thing totally. I could not see Reuther being too upset if Jack just said hi to Gosser. My point was, even though we had not made a decision on the primaries yet, if we did go into Ohio, having Dick Gosser on our side was going to be a major benefit to us. It might be at least worth a handshake and hello.”
While Jack agreed in theory, he was concerned about going behind Reuther’s back and undoing all Kenny’s hard work. Kenny had thought of that already, suggesting to Jack that after his speech “you could return to your suite for a bit and I would then sneak Gosser up, so as not to upset Walter Reuther and Jack Conway.”
Jack smiled. “It might work.”
The speech had been brilliantly written by Sorensen. “It got a tremendous reception,” Kenny remembered. “In fact, it was a very different reception than Hubert Humphrey got. Though Humphrey’s crowd was loud and enthusiastic, Senator Kennedy’s reception was wild and almost frenzied,” to Walter Reuther’s surprise and suspicion.
Thanks to their newfound friend Dick Gosser, Steve Smith later noted, “a great deal of Jack’s crowd came from the Indiana, Ohio, and especially New York regions. After the speech he went into a private room and chatted with Walter Reuther, Jack Conway, and other members of the Executive Board. He had a cup of coffee with them. They were so impressed with him. He was not what they had expected.”
“All of them,” Kenny said, “seemed shocked at what a good speech he had given. They were really impressed with his personal charisma. The speech was a real rabble-rousing speech, more in the Humphrey tradition than Jack Kennedy’s style. But everyone was very excited. It was their opinion that Hubert’s speech had been better, but they thought the senator’s speech was right behind Hubert’s.” Given how far the Kennedy forces had to come to impress the UAW, such praise was not to be taken lightly.
It was evident that the groundwork had been laid by Kenny. Jack as usual made the most of the opportunity. As he left the meeting room to return to his clandestine meeting with Dick Gosser, he put his hand on Kenny’s shoulder and whispered, “I hope we don’t blow it all with this crazy idea of yours to meet this fellow Gosser.”
Kenny smiled. “I will go get him. Reuther will never know.”
With that, the men parted. Jack, Steve, and Dave headed to the suite while Kenny went to find Gosser and lead him up the back stairs.
As Dick Gosser and his men entered Jack’s suite, Kenny saw Jack’s eye widen a bit. He gave Kenny a quizzical look. “Never had to come up back stairs before,” Dick Gosser was saying as they walked in, stopping once he saw Jack. He seemed surprised, almost awed to be in his presence.
“The first thing you must understand,” Kenny explained later to Bobby, “Mr. Gosser is very much the old-school labor union type of fellow and not of the new breed. It was a significant contrast from having just left Walter Reuther. Mr. Gosser had a couple of his boys with him. They both looked like wrestlers, the kind that might break a few legs or heads when called upon.”
Jack looked at them in astonishment as he shook Gosser’s hand, then shot Kenny a dirty look as if to say, “What the hell have you got me into?”
Nevertheless, Jack realized that this meeting was necessary for gaining union support in Ohio. The two men quickly moved to a discussion of Ohio and Ohio politics, and their discussion focused largely on the upcoming primary and the circumstances surrounding Governor DiSalle. It was a critical discussion, as the Kennedy team had yet to make a final decision about the primaries.
According to Kenny, “Mr. Gosser told the senator that Governor DiSalle was not in very good shape politically. That if Senator Kennedy chose to enter the primary, DiSalle would instantly fold. Gosser told the senator quite frankly and directly that he was for Senator Kennedy for president. Gosser made clear he and his men did not agree with Walter Reuther and the ‘intellectuals’ who had taken over the UAW.”
Despite appearances, as the two men talked, it was quickly evident that Dick Gosser not only had political power in Ohio but also was savvy politically. He made clear to Jack that while he liked Humphrey personally, and Stevenson for that matter, he was thinking about the general election. Gosser was sure that neither of these men could beat Nixon.
“Walter Reuther,” Gosser told Jack, Kenny, and Steve, “has decided that Ohio and the Ohio union do not agree with him.”
Kenny explained, “No matter what position Walter Reuther and Detroit took, Gosser was going to be for John Kennedy for president and support him in the primary should he enter Ohio. As far as Gosser was concerned, all the resources that he could bring to bear in Ohio would be put at Senator Kennedy’s behest.
“As he was speaking, Gosser began to get more and more emotional, and much to Jack’s horror, Gosser’s false teeth kept popping out. In between sentences he would reach up and shove his false teeth back into his mouth. Jack was appalled and kept giving me this dirty look. At one point, Gosser pulled them out altogether and examined them before trying to hand them to Jack, saying with his teeth in his outstretched hand, ‘These damn things keep slipping out all the time. They never fit right. Ever have that problem?’”
Jack quickly stepped back. Kenny, who was standing behind Gosser with Steve, was in hysterics watching Jack’s reaction. Kenny said later, “With Jack’s love of physical beauty and strength, it was hilarious to watch him try to handle the moment gracefully, but he did it beautifully. I do not think he appreciated Steve and I too much at that moment.”
Humor aside, Dick Gosser surprised both Kenny and Jack. He was articulate, smart, and well versed in his state’s and national politics. Despite appearances, he was very intelligent, which Jack had not expected. His policies and political station within the union made him different from Walter Reuther.
Gosser made clear that he felt Reuther did not take into consideration the feelings of the rank-and-file members, who were overwhelmingly for Jack Kennedy, not Hubert Humphrey or Stevenson, whom they saw as someone whose time had passed. As for Humphrey, most of the rank and file liked him all right, but they did not believe he could beat Nixon. For the most part, Gosser indicated, they went for Jack Kennedy. This was exactly what the Brotherhood believed, and they were delighted to have Gosser confirm their views.
As the meeting ended, the two men shook hands. Jack was leaving to do a television show. It was decided that Kenny would stay on for a few more days. If he had found Dick Gosser, perhaps another day might lead to another opening. As they began to depart, Jack pulled Kenny aside. With a nod to Dick Gosser’s departing figure, he said, “Where do you come up with these guys, Kenny?” Kenny laughed and kept walking.
Once Gosser and his men were safely gone, Kenny returned to the suite. He, Jack, and Steve had a few more things to discuss before heading out.
“That went well,” Jack said. “Reuther will be none the wiser.”
Kenny nodded. “That was the plan.” Then they got on the elevator and headed to the lobby. But, Kenny remembered, “As we walked off the elevator we ran right into Walter Reuther, Leonard Woodcock, and Jack Conway as they were stepping onto the elevator.”
Bob Wallace, who worked with Sorensen and was traveling with Jack on what would turn out to be his last trip, was also on the elevator. He was, in Kenny’s words, “an affable but none too bright guy,” who immediately greeted Reuther, “Hi, Walter, how are you? Dick Gosser was just up in the suite with the senator. What a great guy.”
Jack stared in disbelief at Wallace. Quickly, Jack grabbed Reuther’s arm to pretend to ask him a question. Jack Conway glared at Kenny. But the damage was done. So much for the private meeting between Gosser and Kennedy.
“You know this was supposed to be under the table. Kenny’s three days of hard work are now all in jeopardy!” Jack snapped at Wallace upon his return from a very upset Walter Reuther.
Kenny told Wallace to meet them at the car. Jack turned to Kenny, absolutely livid, saying, “I can’t believe anyone would be so stupid. That was supposed to be a private meeting. He knew it was a private meeting. Why couldn’t he just shut up? Where the hell did he come from? Get rid of him.”
Kenny told Jack that Sorensen had hired him, but he would take care of it.
Needless to say, that was the end of Bob Wallace as far as the Kennedy campaign and Jack were concerned. Wallace took one last trip with Jack to Oklahoma, where Jack was putting in a preprimary appearance at a football game. From there, Wallace was “sent to home,” as Kenny and Bobby liked to say.
It was through this rather uncomfortable situation that Kenny suddenly found he had another job assignment.
“Advance,” Jack said.
Kenny looked at him as they stood at the car. “What?”
“Advance,” Jack said. “You are now in charge.”
Kenny shook his head. “Do we have an advance staff?” he asked Jack.
“That is your job and your problem,” Jack snapped.
Kenny nodded. He knew better than to ask, recognizing that Jack was still fuming over Wallace’s screwup. Kenny would just have to figure it out.
Just then a young woman came up and asked the senator to autograph a copy of his recently released book, Profiles in Courage. He smiled at her and took the book but glared at Kenny as he signed it.
“What?” Kenny asked after the woman had walked off.
“I am trying to figure out if you find these people on purpose just to drive me nuts,” Jack said.
Kenny chuckled, shook his head, and turned to walk away, “Ye of little faith.”
“What are you going to do, Kenny?” Jack called after him suspiciously.
Kenny turned and smiled, “Listen to Symington. He comes in tomorrow.”
“Sure he does,” Jack replied. “Well, work hard, Kenny.”
Kenny laughed. “I always do.”
Jack began to climb into the car but stopped one last time. “I am sure you will work very, very hard,” he called after Kenny, a hint of irony in his voice.
Kenny stopped and turned. “You are just bitter because you don’t like Oklahoma football.”
Before Jack could reply, Kenny had disappeared back into the lobby to find Jack Conway and Walter Reuther. Kenny had some explaining to do to these men, and he prayed that he could repair the damage that had been done by Wallace’s gaff. Timing in politics is everything.