CHAPTER ONE
To underline his seriousness: Thomas G. Corcoran, unpublished memoir, Corcoran Papers, Library of Congress. See also Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917–1963 (Boston: Little, Brown, 2003).
“Kennedy was then”: Abram Chayes, Oral History, pp. 13–14, John F. Kennedy Library, Boston (hereinafter JFKL).
“We all underestimated Kennedy”: Joseph Clark, Oral History, p. 88j, JFKL.
“The Senator’s own interest”: Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), p. 83.
“I think he just wanted to see”: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, p. 660, JFKL.
One of the very first articles: Ralph G. Martin and Ed Plaut, Front Runner, Dark Horse (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960), p. 27.
an earlier Sorensen memorandum: Sorensen, p. 81.
Kennedy was thinking of entering the New Hampshire primary: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 81.
“We all know that all 96 Senators”: Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 11, JFKL.
CHAPTER TWO
“Sometimes you read”: Charles Bartlett, Oral History, p. 3, JFKL.
it was a “mistaken impression”: James G. Colbert, Oral History, pp. 1–3, JFKL.
“It’s often been said that his father”: Andrew Dazzi and John Harris, Oral History, pp. 23–24, JFKL.
To the extent Kennedy had a campaign manager: Mark Dalton, Oral History, pp. 1–18, JFKL.
“I thought I might be governor”: Michael Widmer and Caroline Kennedy, Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy (New York: Hyperion, 2012), p. 235.
“the only game in town”: Theodore C. Sorensen, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), p. 169.
“As I told JFK”: Ibid., p. 170.
The first words of encouragement: Quigley letter to JFK and Kennedy response, Pre-Presidential Papers, Box 507, JFKL.
“We have at the banquet table tonight”: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 9, JFKL.
“You have to remember”: John M. Bailey, Oral History, p. 3, JFKL.
“Early in ’56”: Fletcher Knebel, Oral History, p. 3, JFKL.
Knebel’s visit motivated Sorensen: Fletcher Knebel, Oral History, p. 4, JFKL; Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 85.
“I got the credit”: John M. Bailey, Oral History, p. 5, JFKL.
the document “caused many people to think”: Ibid.
“The widespread attention accorded its contents”: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 83.
“All indicate that there is”: Theodore C. Sorensen, “The Catholic Vote in 1952 and 1956.” All quotations that follow are from the “Bailey Report” and notes that Sorensen wrote, to be found in Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 9, JFKL.
“While I think the prospects are rather limited”: Kennedy letter, June 29, 1956, in The Letters of John F. Kennedy, edited by Martin W. Sandler (New York: Bloomsbury, 2013) p. 54.
In the face of: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 84.
But according to McCarthy’s top aide: Roy Cohn, Oral History, p. 3, JFKL.
When the roll-call vote that destroyed McCarthy: Sorensen, Counselor, p. 163.
Sorensen always insisted it was his own decision: Ibid.
The last word, ironically: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 25, JFKL.
Farmers, liberals, and his father aside: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 9, JFKL.
CHAPTER THREE
Burke “was controlled wholly”: John E. Powers, Oral History, JFKL.
In private conversations with friends: John Sharon, Oral History, JFKL.
McCormack had circulated a petition: Thomas P. O’Neill, Oral History, JFKL.
His mother, Rose, had passed on a bit of family history: Gerard O’Neill, Rogues and Redeemers: When Politics Was King in Irish Boston (New York: Crown, 2012), p. 97.
with Joe McCarthy: Kenneth O’Donnell and David Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Boston: Little, Brown, 1972), p. 105.
“Leave it alone”: Ibid.
Kennedy supported Adlai Stevenson: Ibid., p. 106.
Without revealing that he planned: Ibid.
“We can’t let Burke or McCormack know”: Ibid.
the elder Kennedy loaned Fox $500,000: Herbert S. Parmet, Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy (New York: Dial Press, 1980), pp. 242–43.
But Fox broke with the Kennedys: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 108.
The skirmish over control of the state committee: Joseph Rauh, Oral History, JFKL.
The morning after the primary: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 109.
The following day Kennedy drove: Ibid.
Burke provoked one story: Ibid., p. 110.
Kennedy had been so preoccupied: Ibid., p. 111.
“They want an old familiar face”: Ibid., p. 112.
Mired in the ferocious culture of Boston politics: Sorensen, Personal Papers, JFKL.
to avoid “further disruption”: Boston Globe, May 17, 1956.
“McCormack Rebukes Kennedy, Dever”: Boston Globe, May 18, 1956.
Republican senator Jacob Javits: O’Neill, Oral History, JFKL.
The Hotel Bradford: Parmet, Jack, p. 353.
The Kennedy team believed they had 47 votes: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 114.
While Kennedy worked the crowd: Ibid., p. 115.
For their first maneuver: Boston Globe, May 20, 1956.
“Paddy, I ought to knock you”: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 115.
Meanwhile Knocko McCormack looked as ominous: Lawrence O’Brien, No Final Victories: A Life in Politics from John F. Kennedy to Watergate (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974).
The room teetered toward riot: Boston Globe, May 20, 1956.
Pat Lynch took 47 votes: Ibid.
“The will of United States Senator John F. Kennedy prevailed”: Ibid.
A month later Kennedy met with McCormack: John F. Kennedy, Senate General Papers, Box 504, JFKL.
The victory put Kennedy in a commanding position: Sorensen, Personal Papers, JFKL.
Kennedy had “plunged into the fray”: Ibid.
O’Brien felt it had been a mistake: O’Brien, No Final Victories.
it was a “turning point in his career”: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 104.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I think I have the best chance”: Evelyn Lincoln, My Twelve Years with John W. Kennedy (New York: David McKay, 1965), p. 75.
His father owned Chicago’s enormous Merchandise Mart: David Nasaw, The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy (New York: Penguin Press, 2012), p. 403.
Stevenson talked of his fondness for Jack: Ralph G. Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1964), p. 379.
“all the family at one time or other”: Thomas P. O’Neill Jr., Oral History, JFKL.
Sarge Shriver stayed close to the Stevenson operation: Donovan L. Luhning, “Prelude to Power: John F. Kennedy and the Democratic Convention of 1956” (graduate thesis, Vanderbilt University, 1991), p. 20; Ralph G. Martin, A Hero for Our Time (New York: Macmillan, 1983), p. 107.
“We were lobbied to death”: Luhning, “Prelude to Power,” p. 16.
He was anything but passive: Robert Troutman, Oral History, JFKL.
Paul Butler, the national Democratic chairman: Dore Schary, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy remained publicly coy: Boston Globe, August 11, 1956, p. 1.
The idea of an open convention: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 373; John H. Sharon Papers, Series 2, Democratic Party Files, 1954–1955, Box 7, JFKL.
Sharon had gotten to know Kennedy: John H. Sharon, Oral History, JFKL.
Through his backchannel contact: Luhning, “Prelude to Power,” p. 20.
The nationally syndicated political columnist Doris Fleeson: Boston Globe, August 9, 1956.
When he withdrew from his failing campaign: Charles L. Fontenay, Estes Kefauver: A Biography (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1980), pp. 266–67.
Stevenson disliked Kefauver: Sharon, Oral History, JFKL; Parmet, Jack, p. 373.
Frank Clement, who had visions: Fontenay, Estes Kefauver, p. 279.
“The Democrats last night smote”: Interview with Russell Baker by author, 2003.
Humphrey was convinced he would be chosen: Max Kampelman, reflections on Hubert H. Humphrey, private letter published in Dan Cohen, Undefeated: The Life of Hubert Humphrey (Minneapolis: Lerner, 1978), p. 192; Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 381.
But Stevenson had been put off: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978), p. 131.
During opening night ceremonies: Parmet, Jack, p. 367.
Washington lawyer Abba Schwarz: Ibid., p. 368.
She had disliked his father for years: Martin, A Hero for Our Time, p. 107.
he found Mrs. Roosevelt’s suite: Ibid.; Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 415.
“That was so long ago”: Ibid., p. 416.
Kennedy asked flatly whether that meant: Ibid., p. 395.
“I think I should know”: Ibid.
a draft was delivered to Sorensen: Ibid., p. 396.
Kennedy looked at his copy of the speech: Thomas Winship, Oral History, JFKL.
Winship went to the press room: Ibid.
In a session with his closest advisors: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, pp. 58–60.
Rayburn, who presided over the convention: Ibid., pp. 60–61.
They felt it reflected Stevenson’s indecisive nature: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 400.
“I have either done the smartest thing”: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, p. 62.
“the goddamndest, stupidest move”: Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys (New York: St. Martin’s, 1987), p. 784.
“I have decided that the selection”: Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, 1956, published by the Democratic National Committee, JFKL.
Kefauver felt betrayed: Alex Rose, Oral History, JFKL.
“At least talk to Adlai”: Fontenay, Estes Kefauver, p. 270.
Kefauver agreed to accompany Roper: Ibid; Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 403.
the Tennessee delegation refused to endorse Kefauver: Fontenay, Estes Kefauver, p. 271.
A similar situation prevailed in the Texas delegation: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 420.
Humphrey was actually writing his acceptance speech: Cohen, Undefeated, p. 193.
A cross-current of machinations: Robert Wagner, Oral History, JFKL; Rudy Abramson, Spanning the Century: The Life of W. Averell Harriman 1891–1986 (New York: Morrow, 1992), pp. 540–42.
Following his unplanned meeting: Parmet, Jack, p. 376.
it seemed to be “a fixed convention”: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 404.
Kennedy had a short, private talk: Robert Wagner, Oral History, JFKL.
The warring New Yorkers agreed: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, pp. 66–75.
Robert Kennedy who tackled the unpleasant duty: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 122.
Armed with a pen and a legal pad: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, pp. 407–8.
When Carmine DeSapio: Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, p. 783.
“a way of knocking down Kefauver”: Terry Sanford, Oral History, JFKL.
the irony of a Jew advocating a Catholic: Martin, A Hero for Our Time, p. 106.
Smathers felt a sharp pain: George Smathers, Oral History, JFKL.
Robert Kennedy had approached his brother’s rival: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, pp. 121–23.
“a spectacle that might have confounded”: Russell Baker, New York Times, August 18, 1956.
Given space to watch the proceedings: Tom Winship, Oral History, JFKL.
At the end of the balloting: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 428.
Calculations were difficult: J. Leonard Reinsch, Oral History, JFKL; Martin, A Hero for Our Time, p. 114.
He expressed delight over the unanimous vote: Boston Globe, August 18, 1956.
After his second-place finish: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, p. 75.
Kennedy partisans roamed the Amphitheater: Martin, A Hero for Our Time, pp. 112–13; O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye.
Robert Kennedy grabbed at the arm: G. Mennen Williams, Oral History, JFKL.
Humphrey had watched the first roll-call vote: Hubert H. Humphrey, Oral History, JFKL.
he began to cry: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, p. 435; Fontenay, Estes Kefauver, p. 273.
Learning that Kefauver himself: Interview with Ted Sorensen by author, 2003.
“Hubert, I’ve just got to have those delegates”: Fontenay, Estes Kefauver, p. 273.
Humphrey croaked instructions: Ibid.
James Roosevelt, Eleanor’s son: Don Rose, Oral History, JFKL.
Though Johnson had lobbied: Martin, Ballots and Bandwagons, pp. 420, 423.
Robert Kennedy could be seen on the convention floor: Tom Winship, Oral History, JFKL.
Gore had retreated from the floor: Interview with John Seigenthaler by author, 2003.
Now Evans reminded Gore: Ibid.; Fontenay, Estes Kefauver, p. 275.
some of Kennedy’s advisors privately complained: Boston Globe, August 18, 1956; Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 92.
simply said, “Let’s go”: Parmet, Jack, p. 380.
“Will the convention be in order?”: Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, 1956, published by the Democratic National Committee, JFKL
he perceptibly slumped: Interview with Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. by author, 2003.
CHAPTER FIVE
It was an example: Jean Kennedy Smith interview with author, 2015.
Instead of plunging back into Senate business: Ibid.
“We tried to get Kennedy to speak”: John Sharon, Oral History, JFKL.
“I took over a briefcase”: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 100.
This was the beginning of an intimate association: Ibid.
“Perhaps the most striking contrast”: John F. Kennedy, Speeches and Press Releases, 1956, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
“Sen. Kennedy asked me to obtain”: John F. Kennedy, General Senate Files, Box 504, JFKL.
“We were conscious that he was going to run”: Robert F. Wagner, Oral History, JFKL.
“He wasn’t quite that definite”: Frank Thompson, Oral History, JFKL.
an October foray into Louisiana: Edmund Reggie, Oral History, JFKL.
his brother Robert joined Stevenson’s traveling staff: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 133.
Sharon said the idea of enlisting Robert: John Sharon, Oral History, JFKL.
As Schlesinger put it, “From my own viewpoint”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 133
“I know he felt”: William M. Blair, Oral History, JFKL.
“Bob learned what not to do”: Newton Minow, Oral History, JFKL.
“He spent all day long”: Robert F. Kennedy, Memorandum on Stevenson, January 25, 1957, RFK Papers, JFKL.
he voted for Eisenhower: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 136.
By October, however: A tape of the Meet the Press broadcast is in the audiovisual collection, JFKL.
Sorensen described “a steady turning”: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 25, JFKL.
“my first major speech”: John F. Kennedy, Speech and Press Releases File, Pre-Presidential Papers, Box 896, JFKL.
As hints go, that was fairly strong: Jean Kennedy Smith, interview.
Off the living room was a small room: Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, pp. 787–88; Edward M. Kennedy, True Compass (New York: Twelve, Hachette, 2009), p. 116.
Jean Kennedy Smith described the father-son meeting: Interview with author, 2015.
“If we work our asses off”: Martin, A Hero for Our Time. Martin’s book was published in 1983, four years before Goodwin’s book.
Some people, of course, didn’t need to be told: Sorensen, Counselor, p. 172.
“My very appearance here”: Ibid.
CHAPTER SIX
The telephone call came: Leonard Reinsch, Oral History, JFKL.
“Jack, if you’re still interested”: Newton Minow interview with author, 2015.
“And of course that was the time”: Wayne Aspinall, Oral History, JFKL.
Aspinall was not the only westerner: Teno Roncalio, Oral History, JFKL.
Raskin was unusual in believing: Hyman B. Raskin, Oral History, JFKL.
“I will work out plans”: Francis X. Morrissey, from a collection of writings in a tribute to Joseph P. Kennedy assembled by his son Edward and privately published as A Fruitful Bough in 1965, pp. 125–30.
“I started early”: Widmer and Kennedy, Listening In, p. 287.
“In 1952,” Kennedy recalled: Ibid.
Kennedy turned in no fewer than 232,324: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, JFKL.
Kennedy money was being spent: Robert Troutman, Oral History, JFKL.
He and Sorensen did agree, however: Theodore C. Sorensen Papers, Box 2, JFKL.
“Most people didn’t take Kennedy very seriously”: Robert Donovan, Oral History, p. 3, JFKL.
“It’s not that I have”: Douglass Cater, Oral History, p. 4, JFKL.
“How can you say a thing like that?”: Washington Reporters Peter Lisagor, George Herman, and Mary McGrory, Oral History, JFKL.
several pages of Fletcher Knebel’s copy: Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 22, JFKL.
“to the hosts of becalmed voters”: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, JFK Campaigns, Box 11, JFKL.
Probably the most eyebrow-raising example: Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 23, JFKL.
“I contracted malaria during the war”: Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 22, JFKL.
As it turned out, no one really noticed: Robert Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power (New York: Knopf, 2012), p. 46. (Travell also treated Caro for his own back issues.)
“I waited until he finished this long tirade”: Clark Clifford, Oral History, p. 6, JFKL.
The ABC executives had nothing to counter: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 70.
For perspective, Sorensen said, he found insight: Sorensen, Counselor, p. 177.
“One hour of work in 1957”: Sorensen, Kennedy, pp. 76–77, 96.
CHAPTER SEVEN
he coveted a seat on the Foreign Relations Committee: Horace Busby, Oral History, p. 4, JFKL.
assignments to the committee went to “team players”: Caro, Master of the Senate (New York: Knopf, 2002), p. 564.
“No other Democratic Senator”: John F. Kennedy, Pre-Presidential Papers, 1960 Campaign Files, Box 996, JFKL.
“I kept picturing old Joe Kennedy”: Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, p. 790.
the Foreign Relations Committee represented a public platform for his ideas: Joseph Alsop, Oral History, JFKL; Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys (New York: Summit Books, 1984), p. 233.
“a Stevenson with balls”: Alsop, Ibid.
As the committee’s junior member: “Why England Slept,” typescript, John F. Kennedy Personal Papers, JFKL; Michael O’Brien, John F. Kennedy (New York: Macmillan, 2005), pp. 107–8.
Even as war in Europe approached: O’Brien, John F. Kennedy, p. 94.
Kennedy seemed reluctant to take daring positions: John Sharon, Oral History, JFKL.
In 1951, during his third term in the House: Edwin Guthman, ed., Robert F. Kennedy in His Own Words (New York: Bantam, 1991), pp. 436–37; Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 92.
“He didn’t like him much”: Guthman, Robert F. Kennedy in His Own Words, p. 437
From the Subcontinent: O’Brien, John F. Kennedy, p. 235.
Although the three Kennedy siblings were treated royally: Guthman, Robert F. Kennedy in His Own Words, p. 437
to fight communism “by merely the force of arms”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, pp. 92–93.
The speech marked the beginning of another rupture: Ibid.
“I couldn’t possibly have a worse argument”: Ibid.
It was not difficult for him to speak out: O’Brien, John F. Kennedy, p. 352.
Kennedy had called upon the considerable academic community: Parmet, Jack, p. 401.
one young academic, Fred Holborn: Fred Holborn, Oral History, JFKL.
The Algeria speech became a major production: Ibid.
“He had handled relatively safe subjects”: Ibid.
Kennedy’s office made sure that an advance copy: Tom Wicker, Oral History, JFKL.
“The most powerful single force”: John Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Compendium of Speeches, Statements and Remarks Delivered During His Service in the Congress of the United States (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964), JFKL.
The speech triggered more reaction: Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, p. 790; Algeria Speech File, 1957, Box 919, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
But Kennedy was rebuked: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 199; Joseph P. Kennedy Collection, Box 225, JFKL.
“For years the political sharpshooters”: Nasaw, The Patriarch, p. 711.
“[You are] dead right”: Chester Bowles, letter to JFK, Algeria Speech File, 1957, Box 919, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
“I do not see that anything is to be gained: JFK, letter to Chester Bowles, Algeria Speech File, 1957, Box 919, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
“one of the historic events of post-war Europe”: Ibid.
Within a month of his Algeria speech: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 108.
a “geopolitical map of the world”: John F. Kennedy, “A Democrat Looks at Foreign Policy,” Foreign Affairs 36, no. 1 (October 1957).
Kennedy made a major speech in the Senate: Joseph Alsop, Oral History, JFKL.
“it is no longer true that the best defense”: John F. Kennedy: A Compendium of Speeches . . . Aug. 14, 1958.
“one of the most remarkable speeches”: Column by Joseph Alsop, Aug. 17, 1958, cited in Kaiser’s 2015 article cited below.
the incestuous ties between writers and politicians: Robert G. Kaiser, “The Great Days of Joe Alsop,” New York Review of Books, March 12, 2015; Robert W. Merry, Taking on the World: Joseph and Stewart Alsop—Guardians of the American Century (New York: Penguin, 1996), p. 342.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“The automobile–durable consumers’ goods–suburbia sectoral complex”: Walt W. Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1960).
In comments destined to be associated with Kennedy: The question of the origin of Kennedy’s trademark phrases from the campaign has intrigued writers for decades. Shortly after he became president he told the writer David Wise that the source was Rostow, and Wise reported this in the old New York Herald Tribune. Rostow, by then McGeorge Bundy’s deputy, helping him run the National Security Council in the White House, called him up to acknowledge “get this country moving again” but questioned the attribution of “New Frontier.” Walt Rostow, Oral History, p. 138, JFKL. But Wise surprised him with the quotations from Rostow’s book. The record tends to support Kennedy on the former, but it is more complicated and fuzzy on the latter
But he resisted Rostow’s entreaty: Rostow, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy’s “remarkable computer of a mind”: Ibid.
“I like to think of myself”: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, p. 187.
“The base of support”: Meyer Feldman, Oral History, p. 36, JFKL.
“Now if he couldn’t get the south”: Ibid., p. 32.
The well-known liberal lawyer Joseph Rauh: Joseph Rauh, Oral History, p. 8, JFKL.
“Whenever the UAW needed John Kennedy”: Ibid.
“Unlike so many public figures”: Archibald Cox, Oral History, pp. 9, 20, JFKL.
“When we came back in ’59”: Stewart Udall, Oral History, p. 7, JFKL.
a campaign “to get the country moving again”: Arthur Schlesinger Jr., “The Shape of National Politics to Come,” in Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 25, JFKL.
CHAPTER NINE
“I’ll be singing Dixie”: Arthur Krock, Memoirs (London: Cassell, 1968).
was being “dealt with very satisfactorily”: Transcript, Face the Nation, July 1, 1956.
When Rosa Parks refused: Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954–63 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988).
white mobs thwarted the Brown decision: Ibid.
Blacks composed less than 2 percent: U.S. Census Bureau statistics, 1950.
an interesting assortment of segregationist leaders and virulent racists: Official proceedings of the Democratic National Convention, 1956, published by the Democratic National Committee, JFKL
“I appreciated the help and support”: John F. Kennedy, letter to John Bell Williams, Mississippi File, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
“highest regards and best wishes”: John F. Kennedy, letter to Judge George C. Wallace, and reply to JFK from Wallace, Alabama File, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
“the darling of the South”: Edmund Reggie, Oral History, JFKL.
“Let me assure you that my vote”: William Winter, letter to John F. Kennedy, Mississippi File, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
the man he expected to be one of his chief rivals: Robert Caro, The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate (New York: Knopf, 2002).
The Sphinx-like Eastland: Clay Risen, The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2014).
“under this bill”: Caro, Master of the Senate.
the senator “wanted to be on both sides”: Joseph Rauh, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy was ambivalent: Parmet, Jack.
would not “constitute a betrayal of principle”: Paul Freund letter, Campaign Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, Box 994.
Kennedy “misused the letter”: Joseph Rauh, Oral History, JFKL.
“Frank did a great thing today”: Frank Church, Oral History, JKFL.
“It appeared to me that the senator”: Roy Wilkins, Oral History, JFKL.
“The feeling in Washington”: Tom Wicker, Oral History, JFKL.
“are in love with death”: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, JFKL.
“You showed you were for civil rights”: Ibid.
The son of a fiery socialist: Roy Reed, Faubus: The Life and Times of an American Prodigal (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1997).
As a product of the northwestern part: Jim McDougal and Curtis Wilkie, Arkansas Mischief: The Birth of a National Scandal (New York: Henry Holt, 1998), p. 58.
It seemed logical for Kennedy to consider him: Ibid., p. 41
a politician “who would trade your daughter”: Ibid.
But when the “Little Rock Nine” reappeared: Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff, The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation (New York: Knopf, 2006).
make a political appearance: Sorensen, Kennedy.
As many as two thousand Mississippians: Parmet, Jack. p. 413
“Is it not a fact,” Yerger asked: Ibid.
Kennedy had planned to again laud: O’Brien, John F. Kennedy, p. 375.
One spectator spoke afterward of his wonder: Ibid.
he talked until 2 a.m. with Governor J. P. Coleman: J. P. Coleman, Center for Oral History, University of Southern Mississippi Library; interview with J. P. Coleman by Connie Lynnette Cartledge, Special Collections, Mississippi State University Library.
“He is too intelligent”: Parmet, Jack, p. 413
CHAPTER TEN
“He just asked for my help”: Bernard Boutin, Oral History, p. 2, JFKL.
“Let us face it frankly”: John F. Kennedy, 1960 Campaign Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, Box 996, JFKL.
“It is my hope”: John F. Kennedy, letter to Louis Harris, January 8, 1958.
In a five-page memorandum to Sorensen: Louis Harris, letter to Theodore C. Sorensen, December 9, 1957.
“While the degree to which these primaries are binding”: Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, 1960 Campaign Files, Box 25, JFKL.
commissioned a survey in California: John F. Kennedy, Senate Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, Box 815, JFKL.
The California survey: Information on the 1958 polls is from Louis Harris & Associates.
“the largest single handicap”: Ibid.
“When one out of every four voters is anti-Catholic”: Ibid.
Bernard Boyle was not an elected official: Bernard Boyle, Oral History, p. 2m, JFKL.
Colorado had Joe Dolan: Joseph Dolan, Oral History, pp. 11–12, 17–18, JFKL.
“the consensus . . . of the working politicians”: Robert P. McDonough, Oral History, pp. 1–21, JFKL.
Another example of the success: Harvey Bailey, Oral History, pp. 1–11, JFKL.
“I think the most remarkable thing”: Patrick Lucey, Oral History, pp. 1–49, JFKL.
“Senator Kennedy came out to Wisconsin”: William Proxmire, Oral History, pp. 1–17, JFKL.
“the itty bitty group”: Marguerite Benson, Oral History, p. 2, JFKL.
“A man’s record”: Berkshire Eagle, April 28, 1958.
Kennedy chose not to respond: A file containing the Kennedy-Wilkins material was retained by Ted Sorensen in his Personal Papers, Box 19, JFKL.
“I can’t be sure of the political future”: A file containing the Kennedy–Eleanor Roosevelt correspondence, along with news clippings, was retained by Sorensen in his Personal Papers, 1960 Campaign Files, Box 25, JFKL.
shortly after the 1958 election: Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 8, JFKL.
“In the interest of taking up”: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, Box 6, JFKL.
It was understood that an endorsement: Jack Conway, Oral History, JFKL.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Discussions with Jack and Bobby”: Wallace memo, Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, 1960 Campaign Files.
“I think your main problem”: Robert A. Wallace, Oral History, JFKL.
In 1959 Iowa was on a short list: Undated 1959 file, “Prospectus for 1960,” Sorensen, Personal Papers, JFKL.
“I opposed him quite violently”: Herschel Loveless, Oral History, JFKL.
What the governor was not aware of: Edward A. McDermott, Oral History, JFKL.
Geography was a principal reason: John Blatnik, Oral History, p. 11, JFKL.
“Some early work”: Edward A. McDermott, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy’s advisors did not believe Humphrey had a credible path: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 21, JFKL.
“He hoped to be nominated”: J. Edward Day, Oral History, JFKL.
Daley “indicated strong support”: Theodore Sorensen, memorandum to Robert Kennedy, October 23, 1959, in Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 24, JFKL.
calling him “a first-rate intellect”: Paul Douglas, Oral History, JFKL.
Symington decided against running in the primaries: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, pp. 428, 432.
“In the case of Kennedy,” Clifford said: Ibid.
“there was no great groundswell”: O’Brien, No Final Victories.
Sorensen called it “the Summit”: Sorensen, Counselor, p. 180.
More levity and eye-rolling: Paul Fay, The Pleasure of His Company (New York: Harper & Row, 1966).
“Our main conclusion”: O’Brien, No Final Victories, p. 139.
The outlook Sorensen had presented at Palm Beach: Theodore Sorensen, Summary of Sorensen Talk (another copy bears the handwritten title “Summary of Talk by Kennedy Men”), Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 22, JFKL.
a “southern candidate who did not play”: Ibid.
“Kennedy Delegate Count (Confidential)”: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, JFKL.
“If he had to put his foot on us”: John Patterson, Oral History, JFKL.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Christie didn’t hesitate: Sidney L. Christie, Oral History, pp. 1–2, JFKL.
Kennedy was already entrenched: Alfred Chapman, Oral History, p. 14, JFKL.
“My feeling that Stevenson”: James E. Doyle, Oral History, p. 1, JFKL.
To boost his standing in Wisconsin: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, pp. 218–46.
“All these people who say I might be influenced”: Ibid.
religion had become one source of political frustration: Jack Bell, Oral History, pp. 9–10, JFKL.
So Kennedy contradicted it: Martin and Plaut, Front Runner, pp. 218–46.
“It would seem to me that the man”: Ibid.
saying he was “deeply disturbed”: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 24, JFKL.
Kennedy’s idea about Pennsylvania: Ibid.
In Kennedy’s judgment nothing about Ohio:
Bailey reported that the governor had been unequivocal: John Bailey, Oral History, p. 18, JFKL.
“see DiSalle and make sure”: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 113.
“My hints were to keep him unsure”: O’Brien, No Final Victories, p. 60.
O’Brien’s best ammunition: John F. Kennedy, Senate Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
“They met to pledge to the Senator”: Joseph Cerrell, Oral History, JFKL.
“It was a very hard delegation”: Don Bradley, Oral History, JFKL.
“I told Pat I had no desire”: Paul Fay, The Pleasure of His Company (New York: Harper & Row, 1966).
he was getting 34 percent support among Protestants: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 25, JFKL.
Joseph Walton, was more than willing to help: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 21, JFKL.
“Son, you’ve got to learn”: Caro, The Passage of Power, p. 71.
The Kennedy camp described vulgar Texas yahooism: Robert Kennedy, Oral History, JFKL.
In O’Brien’s files at the end of the year: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, JFK Campaigns 1954–1960, Box 6, JFKL.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
But the beleaguered New Hampshire Democrats were stirring: Bernard Boutin, Oral History, June 3, 1964, pp. 1–2, JFKL.
Kennedy spent a few days in New Hampshire: Bernard Boutin, Oral History, April 27, 1972, pp. 15–16, JFKL.
Elton Britt, a country singer: Fred A. Forbes, Oral History, February 16, 1966, pp. 9–10, JFKL.
Kennedy ignored him: Ibid.
Other attacks on Kennedy: Ibid., p. 20.
he had “not the slightest idea”: Sorensen, Counselor.
“Like his father before him”: Ibid., p. 116.
There is a credible story: Ibid., p. 120.
“Stop spreading the word”: Seymour M. Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot (Boston: Little, Brown, 1997), p. 120.
Kennedy quickly penciled a two-page statement: Ibid., pp. 115–16.
Kennedy approached Clark Clifford: Clark Clifford, Oral History, JFKL.
somebody “who could destroy him”: Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot, p. 117.
J. Edgar Hoover summarized her file: Ibid.
Kennedy “never permitted the pursuit of private pleasure”: Sorensen, Counselor, p. 121.
“No one has ever so understood”: Ibid.
Kennedy had to shift quickly: Cohen, Undefeated, p. 212.
“An awful lot is fortune”: Widmer and Kennedy, Listening In.
“the Protestant vote immediately reacted”: Harris Polls, Pre-Presidential Papers, Box 819, JFKL.
Humphrey meanwhile seemed at home: Primary, a documentary by Robert Drew.
Kennedy knew Wisconsin would be a major test: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 137.
found Kennedy ahead 54 to 46: Harris Polls, Pre-Presidential Papers, Box 819, JFKL.
Robert Kennedy sent a detailed memo: Robert F. Kennedy, State Files, Wisconsin Primary Miscellaneous folder, Pre-Administration Papers, Box 50, JFKL.
Once a reliably Republican state: Cohen, Undefeated, p. 214.
William Proxmire’s election: William Proxmire, Oral History, JFKL.
a faux Irishman who went by the name of Paul Corbin: Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), p. 94.
Corbin hung around the fringes: Paul Corbin, Oral History, November 18, 1965, pp. 10–11, JFKL.
Corbin’s career with the Kennedys: Paul Corbin, Oral History, November 27, 1967, p. 24, JFKL.
“He took cheerful delight”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 196.
a controversial documentary called Primary: Thom Powers, “The Kennedy Films of Robert Drew & Associates: Capturing the Kennedys,” Criterion Collection, April 26, 2016, online.
“Tell Humphrey to lay off”: Al Eisele, Almost to the Presidency: A Biography of Two American Politicians (Blue Earth, MN: Piper, 1972), p. 147.
“The next two weeks of campaigning”: Harris Polls, Box 819, JFKL.
the campaign proceeded to “bungle” expectations: O’Brien, No Final Victories, p. 65.
Edwin Bayley, later blamed himself: Edwin Bayley, Oral History, pp. 1–17, JFKL.
Proxmire hosted a dinner party: William Proxmire, Oral History, JFKL.
Robert took the returns personally: Thomas, Robert F. Kennedy, p. 93.
Kennedy was more verbal: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 160.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
He had begun cultivating support: Robert McDonough, Oral History, JFKL.
“low on our list”: O’Brien, No Final Victories, pp. 66–76.
“It’s a nothing state”: Nasaw, The Patriarch, p. 733.
“Take this decision about the West Virginia primary”: Rostow, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy was heartened by a Harris poll: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, pp. 160–78.
As the filing deadline of February 6: Robert McDonough, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy was meeting in his Georgetown home: Alex Rose, Oral History, JFKL.
The next day Goldberg and Rose met with Humphrey: Ibid.
not Humphrey’s only visitors: Jack Conway, Oral History, JFKL.
Rev. Norman Vincent Peale: Robert McDonough, Oral History, JFKL.
“The fact that I was born a Catholic”: Ibid.
William Battle, who had been a fellow PT boat commander: William Battle, Oral History, pp. 6, 7–9, 11, JFKL.
When Ted Kennedy submitted to an interview: Kennedy, True Compass, p. 143.
“Beat Humphrey over the head”: Robert Wallace, Oral History, JFKL.
Wallace had second thoughts: Ibid.
Convinced that the rapidly expanding new medium: Jean Kennedy Smith interview with the author, 2015.
Devine was quickly hired: A collection of Devine’s commercials is available in the audiovisual department at the JFKL. A larger collection is housed at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Matt Reese, a local political consultant: Matt Reese, Oral History, JFKL.
“I’d give my right testicle”: Charles Bartlett, Oral History, p. 47, JFKL.
he relied on a gimmick: John Seigenthaler, Oral History, #2, JFKL; Vito N. Silvestri, Becoming JFK: A Profile in Communication (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000).
yet if he spoke openly about Kennedy’s Catholicism: James Rowe, Oral History, JFKL.
A damaging perception: Charles Bartlett, Oral History, p. 47.
Strapped for funds to combat Kennedy’s riches: Ibid.
Rowe acknowledged trying to raise money: James Rowe, Oral History, JFKL.
The son seemed to enjoy the long hours: Frank Forbes, Oral History, March 4, 1966, p. 35, JFKL.
an explosive bit of opposition research: Ibid., p 36.
In the last days of the West Virginia effort: Ibid., p. 37.
On Roosevelt’s final day in West Virginia: Ibid., pp. 37–38.
Roosevelt had charged that Humphrey: Charleston Daily Mail, May 7, 1960.
“Any discussion of the war record”: Ibid.
“I have no suitcase filled with money”: Memo to Kenneth O’Donnell, including verbatim descriptions of news stories, Robert F. Kennedy Memos Folder, Box 39, JFKL.
“By golly, we’ve come this far”: Robert Wallace, Oral History, JFKL.
Larry O’Brien was given the task: O’Brien, No Final Victories, pp. 66–76.
Dick Donahue, did some firsthand negotiating: Donahue, in interview with the author, 2015.
“The facts are that both sides”: Robert Wallace, memo to Robert Kennedy, May 27, 1960, Pre-Administration Papers, JFKL.
“For West Virginia . . . nobody gives a damn”: Donahue, Oral History, JFKL.
The question of where the cash: Burnhardt, Oral History, JFKL.
a “carefully documented report”: Robert D. Novak, The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington (New York: Crown, 2007), p. 65.
“I was paid out of private funds”: Robert Wallace, Oral History, JFKL.
Contingency planning may be wise: See, for example, Theodore H. White, The Making of the President 1960 (New York: Harper Perennial, 2010), p. 101, in which the attribution is made to “the citizens of Kanawha County (which encompasses Charleston).” Sorensen, in Kennedy, written after his murder in 1964, repeated this supposed Harris projection of “a 60–40 landslide for Humphrey” statewide.
“Sen. Hubert Humphrey has taken”: Bob Mellace, Charleston Daily Mail, April 15, 1960.
he gave one local official in the Charleston area: Richard Donahue, Oral History, pp. 22–25, JFKL, and in an interview.
Kennedy himself chose to spend the evening: Benjamin C. Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy (New York: Norton, 1975), p. 27.
He had expected a whipping: Joseph Rauh, Oral History, JFKL.
At 12:08 a.m.: Associated Press bulletin, May 11, 1960.
Johnson had already arranged for changes: Robert Dallek, Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times 1908–1960 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), 546.
There was more evidence of his intentions: Caro, The Passage of Power, pp. 71–73; Jack Valenti, Oral History, JFKL.
Then there were the whispers from Capitol Hill: Hugh Sidey, Oral History, JFKL.
Johnson’s friends were puzzled: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, p. 559.
“I understand you’re having a state convention”: Stewart Udall, Oral History, JFKL.
He turned immediately to Maryland: Fred Forbes, Oral History, JFKL.
Governor J. Millard Tawes: Bernard Boutin, Oral History #2, JFKL.
The commitment had been made: Ibid.
The day after West Virginia: Joseph Tydings, Oral History, JFKL.
For style points: “John F. Kennedy forever part of the Harford Co. legacy,” Baltimore Sun, Nov. 22, 2013.
He had been shown the results: Harris Polls, Senate Files, Pre-Presidential papers, Box 816, JFKL.
“It is obviously important”: Robert F. Kennedy Pre-Administration papers, Memos, Outgoing Folder, Box 34, JFKL.
“the loneliest man in Washington”: Oregonian, April 24, 2016.
In spite of his embarrassing defeat: Associated Press, May 20, 1960.
a strange feud with Morse: Mason Drukman, Wayne Morse: A Political Biography (Portland: Oregon Historical Society, 1997), pp. 285–89.
Kennedy and Smathers, “together or singly”: Roger Mudd, The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News (New York: Public Affairs, 2008), p. 95.
On the morning of March 1: George Smathers, Oral History, JFKL.
The former first lady issued a public statement: Adlai Stevenson Collection, Box 68, Correspondence with Eleanor Roosevelt, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.
After agonizing over the proper wording: Ibid.
“You ask when I am ‘going to make a direct move’ ”: Ibid.
“different types” who “never got along”: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, JFKL.
Stevenson was equally suspicious: John Sharon, Oral History, JFKL.
Stevenson met secretly with Johnson: Ibid.
privy to “the most anti-Kennedy diatribe”: Ibid.
Johnson’s loyalist in Texas, John Connally: Ibid.
Stevenson sent a “Dear Jack” letter: Adlai Stevenson Collection, Box 68, Correspondence with Eleanor Roosevelt, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.
In a combustible political environment: John Bartlow Martin, Adlai Stevenson and the World: The Life of Adlai E. Stevenson (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977), pp. 506–11.
“Guess who the next person”: Ibid.
he had made a “dire mistake”: Ibid.
regarded Stevenson as “a pain in the ass”: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, JFKL.
“The insults and distortions of Mr. Khrushchev”: John F. Kennedy, Speech to the Senate, June 14, 1960, JFKL.
But Kennedy quickly pivoted into sharp criticism: Widmer and Kennedy, Listening In, p. 213.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kennedy developed a bond with Chicago’s Mayor Daley: Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor, American Pharaoh (Boston: Little, Brown, 2000), p. 250.
Winning elections meant winning power: Curtis Wilkie, “Chicago without Daley,” Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, May 4, 1980.
Daley called him “highly qualified”: Cohen and Taylor, American Pharaoh, p. 248.
Robert Meyner, had proved intractable: Center on the American Governors, Eagleton Institute of Politics, New Brunswick, NJ.
Serious allegations arose: Seymour Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot, pp. 110–11.
he had been “particularly incensed”: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Times to Remember (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974).
Kennedy believed he had reached an understanding: Frederick Dutton, Oral History, JFKL.
remained sentiment for Stevenson: Hyman Raskin, Oral History, JFKL.
Brown was shocked: Frederick Dutton, Oral History, JFKL.
In the five weeks between the California primary: Ibid.
subjected to intense efforts: Ibid.
Ten days before the convention: The dinner meeting is described in ibid.
Kennedy’s “strong position is striking”: Harris survey
“we wanted to be sure”: G. Mennen Williams, Oral History, JFKL.
The trio had originally felt much closer to Humphrey: Ibid.
For the first time several black leaders: Ibid.
In many ways New York: Ira Stoll, “John F. Kennedy: A New Yorker,” New York Post, November 22, 2013; Nasaw, The Patriarch.
Much of the preliminary spadework: Robert Wagner, Oral History, JFKL.
Once again the Kennedy boosters: Harris Polls, Pre-Presidential Papers, Senate, Polling Box 816, JFKL.
Manhattan Democrats were riven over issues: Michael Prendergast, Oral History, JFKL.
DeSapio “played little games”: Robert Wagner, Oral History, JFKL.
“My friend, Mr. DeSapio”: Michael Prendergast, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy had scored a big hit in New York: Nasaw, The Patriarch.
Seeing confusion in the Empire State: Robert Wagner, Oral History, JFKL.
Unable to prevent Kennedy supporters: Ibid.
Wagner had told him months earlier: Ibid.
Johnson was displeased by Wagner’s observation: Ibid.
Wagner hosted an event at Gracie Mansion: Ibid.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
confident that he had the votes: O’Brien, No Final Victories, pp. 79–83.
As a student of history: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 155.
Arriving in Los Angeles: Hugh Sidey, Oral History, JFKL.
“Nervous fugitives”: John Rechy, excerpt from City of Night, in Big Table 3, ed. Paul Carroll (San Francisco: Bolerium Books, 1959).
“How’s it look?” Sidey asked: Hugh Sidey, Oral History, JFKL.
Johnson went on the attack: Ibid., pp. 96–97.
“literally true but generally misleading”: Sorensen, Counselor, pp. 192–93.
he took a swipe at Joe Kennedy: Caro, The Passage of Power, p. 95.
Dispirited, Johnson watched: James Rowe, Oral History, JFKL.
There was one last trick: Caro, The Passage of Power, p. 102.
“Isn’t that the goddamndest thing”: John Seigenthaler, Oral History, JFKL.
Bouncing with enthusiasm, Kennedy entered: Caro, The Passage of Power, p. 103.
“He just tore Johnson a new asshole”: Jack Valenti, Oral History, JFKL.
The wife of financier Eugene Meyer: Jean H. Baker, The Stevensons: A Biography of an American Family (New York: Norton, 1997), p. 350.
While Stevenson was being feted: Martin, Adlai Stevenson and the World, p. 522.
Stevenson met with several Democratic movers and shakers: Ibid.
“Governor,” Minow said: Ibid., p. 523.
Mayor Daley announced that Kennedy would get: Cohen and Taylor, American Pharaoh, p. 259.
Much of Stevenson’s hope: Ibid.
“After going back and forth through the Biltmore today”: Norman Mailer, “Superman Comes to the Supermarket,” Esquire, November 1960.
“The applause as he left the platform”: Ibid.
“Mrs. Roosevelt and I sat there”: Martin, Adlai Stevenson and the World, p. 525.
Kennedy was believed to have 6 votes: Robert Wallace, Oral History, JFKL.
He attempted to reach Richard Daley: Martin, Adlai Stevenson and the World, p. 526.
As nominating speeches droned: W. H. Lawrence, “Kennedy Nominated on the First Ballot; Overwhelms Johnson 806 Votes to 409,” New York Times, July 14, 1960.
“Do not reject this man”: Mailer, Superman Comes to the Supermarket.
agreement with Kennedy’s controversial call: Chester Bowles, Oral History, p. 6, JFKL.
they plotted to put together slates of “independent” candidates: Curtis Wilkie, Dixie: A Personal Odyssey through Events That Shaped the Modern South (New York: Scribner, 2001), pp. 92–93.
“That young fellow will never get far”: Mississippi folklore abounds with tales of Barnett’s curious comments and malapropisms. This is one of them; others appear in Wilkie, Dixie.
“button-down-collar Klan”: Ibid.
“the loveliest and the purest of God’s creatures”: Thomas P. Brady, Black Monday (Winona, MS: Association of Citizens’ Councils, 1955), p. 12.
Kennedy had for weeks assiduously courted: LeRoy Collins, Oral History, pp. 11–13, JFKL.
With the first ballot only minutes away: Samuel Beer, Oral History, p. 3, JFKL.
Robert Kennedy had a final order: Kennedy, True Compass, pp. 148–50.
Robert Kennedy had to dispose of a last-minute ploy: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, p. 240, JFKL.
After nearly five years in pursuit: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 181.
Kennedy was in a no-talking mode: Bradlee, Conversations with Kennedy, pp. 30–31.
“Johnson—helps with farmers”: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 25, JFKL.
Kennedy wanted to be certain that Symington was “available”: Clark Clifford, Oral History, p. 8, JFKL.
The Symington sons had spent: Interview with Stuart Symington Jr. by author, 2016.
“We told him, ‘You don’t want to go’ ”: Ibid.
“We were satisfied it was Stuart Symington”: Richard Donahue, Oral History #2, JFKL.
Both Charles Bartlett and John Seigenthaler: Charles Bartlett, Oral History, JFKL; John Seigenthaler, Oral History #1, JFKL.
The triggering event was a telegram: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 214.
If Kennedy’s associates had stayed in closer touch: Caro, The Passage of Power, pp. 113–14; Sorensen, Counselor, p. 242
In June, David Lawrence: Thomas Donaghy, Keystone Democrat: David Lawrence Remembered (New York: Vantage Press, 1986), pp. 138–41.
Long before his campaign was drawn into combat: Thomas P. O’Neill, Oral History, JFKL.
“Lyndon didn’t get started early enough”: Ibid.
Later Jack and Robert Kennedy added to the mystery: John Seigenthaler, Oral History, JFKL; Dallek, Lone Star Rising, p. 578.
“mean, bitter, and vicious”: Guthman, Robert Kennedy in His Own Words, p. 417.
a “little shitass”: Caro, The Passage of Power, p. 139.
After reading Johnson’s telegram: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 214.
the first hint that Kennedy might choose Johnson: Ibid., p. 215.
Powers caught a second signal: Ibid.
The third signal was revealed to press secretary Pierre Salinger: Pierre Salinger, Oral History, JFKL.
The fourth hint of the developing storm: Jack Conway, Oral History, JFKL.
A final indication came that morning: O’Brien, No Final Victories, p. 84.
“a strange mixture of feelings”: Interview with James Symington by author, 2016.
Jackson would be offered the temporary chairmanship: O’Brien, No Final Victories, p. 84.
“He offered me the vice presidency”: Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 123.
“He hadn’t offered it”: Sorensen, Kennedy, pp. 163–66.
“I didn’t offer the Vice Presidency”: Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 124.
“You just won’t believe it”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, p. 208.
“the most indecisive time”: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, p. 619, JFKL.
The real reason, “that we’d try”: Ibid., p. 616.
The plan the Kennedy brothers devised: Ibid., p. 619.
The two brothers decided: Ibid., p. 616.
“I said [to Johnson]”: Ibid., 619.
In accounts from the Johnson perspective: Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 129.
he could not accept the nomination: Ibid., pp. 122–23.
a one-word response: “Shit”: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, p. 580.
“I told him, ‘I’m dead set’ ”: Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 128.
there were tales of changed minds: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, p. 579.
Johnson’s allies claimed that Robert’s last trip: Caro, The Passage to Power, pp. 132–34.
Trouble began to surface: Jack Conway, Oral History, JFKL; Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 136.
Alex Rose, the boss of New York’s Liberal Party: Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 136.
The Michigan delegation, stroked so successfully: G. Mennen Williams, Oral History, JFKL; Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 137.
Joe Rauh, the leader of Americans for Democratic Action: Joseph Rauh, Oral History, JFKL.
O’Donnell had already had his own argument: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 217.
Slowly the negative intensity: Ibid., p. 219.
One was Larry O’Brien: O’Brien, No Final Victory, p. 85.
“I was flabbergasted”: Douglass Cater, Oral History, JFKL.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
requested drafts of the traditional climax: Sorensen, Personal Papers, Campaign Files, Box 25, JFKL.
Kennedy himself later attributed the phrase: Rostow, Oral History, JFKL.
According to Freedman, “New Frontier”: Max Freedman, Oral History, p. 44, JFKL.
According to Sorensen, through whose typewriter: Sorensen, Counselor, p. 218.
Nixon, who escaped the primary season: Kennedy, True Compass, p. 158; Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 153.
“Whatever their motive”: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 170.
Walton was battle-tested as a correspondent: William Walton, Oral History, JFKL.
she had found him “a likeable man”: Eleanor Roosevelt journal, August 17, 1960, Eleanor Roosevelt Papers.
(Actually he had been taking lessons: Silvestri, Becoming JFK, p. 96.
Despite a postconvention memo: Robert F. Kennedy Papers, Pre-Administration, Political Files, 1960, Special Collection, JFKL.
Six days after his lunch with Mrs. Roosevelt: Presidential Campaign, Speeches, and the Press through 1960–1961, subsection 15-09, Pre-Presidential Papers, JFKL.
He was the child of a struggling family: Roger Morris, Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician (New York: Henry Holt, 1990), pp. 40–44.
After a layover in Sacramento: Ibid., pp. 772–73.
His ad hoc speech from the caboose: Ibid., pp. 831–33.
the experience left “a deep scar”: Richard M. Nixon, Six Crises (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962), p. 128.
The wound persisted: Jeffrey Frank, Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013), p. 60.
There had been a coldness: Morris, Richard Milhous Nixon, p. 733.
Nixon was able to bank on the respect: Frank, Ike and Dick, p. 191.
In June, he issued a lengthy statement: Richard Norton Smith, On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller (New York: Random House, 2014), pp. 340–48.
After an appearance in Greensboro: Frank, Ike and Dick, p. 208.
A few days before Nixon became immobilized: Ibid., p. 205.
To handle the Catholic issue, an office: Sorensen, Counselor, pp. 161–62.
At first Wine’s job: James Wine, Religious Issue Files, 1960, Box 1014, JFKL.
Once again Norman Vincent Peale: Karl Keating, Catholic Answers, blog, February 5, 2013.
Graham, a Baptist minister: Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House (New York: Hachette, 2007; Shaun A. Casey, The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 124–136.
“a highly financed and organized office”: Casey, The Making of a Catholic President, p. 124.
The Kennedy campaign was not blind: James W. Wine, Oral History, JFKL.
Coincidentally John Cogley: John Cogley, Oral History, JFKL.
Journalists were alerted: James W. Wine, Oral History, JFKL.
“It is inconceivable that a Roman Catholic president”: Robert P. Jones, The End of White Christian America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016), p. 64.
Wine and Cogley flew to Houston: John Cogley, Oral History, JFKL.
In his San Antonio prelude: Chan Miller, “Remembering the Alamo,” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York.
Wine and Cogley had lunch on the campaign plane: John Cogley, Oral History, JFKL.
Kennedy’s meeting with the Houston ministers: Film of John F. Kennedy’s address to Greater Houston Ministerial Association, September 12, 1960, JFKL.
Kennedy had accepted an invitation from Poling: James Wine, Religious Issues files, Subject: Chapel of the Four Chaplains, JFKL.
Kennedy was given a respectful standing ovation: Robert F. Kennedy, Pre-Administration Papers, Media Campaign, Film of Houston Ministers Folder, Box 37, JFKL.
“He ate ’em blood raw”: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, p. 210.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“The slick or bombastic orator”: John F. Kennedy, “A Force That Has Changed the Political Scene,” TV Guide, November 14, 1959.
“Good evening. The television and radio networks”: Ibid. The debate quotations are from transcripts kept by the Commission on Presidential Debates, online.
“In the election of 1860”: Ibid.
“Kick him in the balls”: William Wilson, interview with author, 2016.
Lou Harris’s constant polling: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Files, Box 11, JFKL.
This is why more than one prominent Republican: Leonard Reinsch, Oral History, JFKL.
numbers produced behind the scenes: Louis Harris polls, in Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, Box 11, JFKL.
It turns out that the only source: Broadcasting Magazine, November 7, 1960, p. 28.
“Even a draw, if it was a draw”: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 201.
“This is an incredible change”: Louis Harris polls, in Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, Box 12, JFKL.
Kennedy was lucky there was only one question: “The Campaign and the Candidates,” part 3 of NBC News series, interview with Senator and Mrs. Kennedy, September 30, 1960, for broadcast the following day.
“an unwise place to draw the line”: Ibid.
During the general election campaign: Chester Bowles, Oral History, JFKL.
In the rarefied world of bipartisan diplomacy: Richard M. Nixon, Six Crises, excerpt in Life, March 20, 1962, p. 76.
“No issue has the intensity”: Louis Harris polls, in Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, Box 11, JFKL.
“no matter how right Kennedy is”: Ibid.
He cited “the Cuban issue”: Ibid.
Nixon’s position was quite deceptive: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (New York: Doubleday, 2007), pp. 155–66.
At first Nixon responded defensively: Nixon, Six Crises excerpt in Life, p. 78.
Nixon himself had already begun leaking: David Pietrusza, 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon (New York: Union Square, Press, 2008), pp. 370–71.
According to Edwards, Nixon told him: Chicago Tribune, Oct. 12, 1960.
“In the field of foreign policy”: Ibid.
“I remember at some point or other”: Thomas and Joan Braden, Oral Histories, JFKL.
As governor he was approached by a CIA officer: John Patterson, Oral History, JFKL.
According to Dulles, however, repeated delays: Allen Dulles, Oral History, JFKL.
Robert Kennedy was told of the exiles’ activity: William Atwood, Oral History, JFKL.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“He had no close relationship”: Simeon Booker, Oral History, JFKL.
Just after his failed run: Clayborne Carson, ed., The Papers of Martin Luther King Jr. (Berkeley: University of California Press, ), p. 276.
Marjorie Lawson approached Martin Luther King Jr.: Ibid., p. 277.
Kennedy invited members of the Capital Press Club: Simeon Booker, Oral History, JFKL.
bickering between Mrs. Lawson and Reeves: John Seigenthaler, Oral History, JFKL.
The first meeting between the candidate and King: Clayborne Carson, ed., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. (New York: Hachette, 2001).
the Kennedys decided to add a prominent black name: Louis Martin, Oral History, JFKL.
Despite his congressional seniority: Harris Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings: Making Sense of the Sixties (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980), p. 61.
Several members of the Georgia power structure: Jeff Roche, Restructured Resistance: The Sibley Commission and the Politics of Desegregation in Georgia (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1998), p. 176.
a matter that he “didn’t want to discuss”: Ernest Vandiver, Oral History, JFKL.
the Kennedy campaign produced a television spot: John Seigenthaler, Oral History, JFKL.
a former legislator named Willie Rainach: Amanda Leigh Russell, “Ballots, Barriers, Purges and Surges: African-American Voting Rights in Shreveport and Caddo Parish, Louisiana, 1958–1969,” North Louisiana History 40, no. 1 (Winter 2008).
difficulty with one of the candidate’s closest friends: John Seigenthaler, Oral History, JFKL.
After failing to rein in Smathers: Ibid.
One prominent Democrat in Florida, Farris Bryant: Farris Bryant, Oral History, JFKL.
“What the Hell has Dick Nixon ever done”: Caro, The Passage to Power, pp. 145–48.
1,247 various officials: Ibid.
only one comic slip-up: Ibid.
While Johnson romanced white southerners: Theodore Sorensen, Oral History #5, JFKL.
“All right, there’s no question”: Jack Conway, Oral History, JFKL.
In the period between the first and third debates: Simeon Booker, Oral History, JFKL.
Three days later, on October 7: Louis Martin, Oral History, JFKL.
the National Conference on Constitutional Rights: John F. Kennedy, Speeches, JFKL.
a grade “above 90”: Roy Wilkins, Oral History, JFKL.
the campaign needed his “thrust”: Wil Haygood, King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993), p. 270; Harris Wofford, Oral History, JFKL.
Louis Martin was delegated: Wofford, Of Kennedy and Kings, p. 60; Haygood, King of the Cats, p. 270; Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy, manuscript, p. 100, JFKL.
his associate, Ray “the Fox” Jones: Harris Wofford, Oral History, JFKL.
Tammany had already sneered: Robert Wagner, Oral History, JFKL.
Wagner was “becoming more and more a source”: Michael Prendergast, Oral History, JFKL.
Matters were made worse when Robert Kennedy: Ibid.
“They don’t know a thing, Mike”: Paul Corbin, Oral History, JFKL.
“You better do something about this”: Michael Prendergast, Oral History, JFKL.
“If you don’t have this guy out of here”: Ibid.
In Corbin’s version: Paul Corbin, Oral History, JFKL.
“He didn’t want to listen to Mike Prendergast”: John Seigenthaler, Oral History #2, JFKL.
Prendergast despised Walton: Michael Prendergast, Oral History, JFKL.
Walton too was harsh in his recollection: William Walton, Oral History, JFKL.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“It was just a slow, steady thing”: Richard Donahue, interview with author, 2015.
“You could feel the margin narrowing”: Walt W. Rostow, Oral History, p. 135, JFKL.
Not one to sugar-coat anything: Fay, The Pleasure of His Company, p. 65.
Ever since Labor Day: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, Box 12, JFKL.
Throughout the fall states: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, pp. 243, 245.
“I’ll be wasting my time in New York”: Ibid.
The Catholic issue could never be completely banished: Sorensen, Kennedy.
Faced with whether to confront the issue: Press release, Presidential Campaign folder, JFKL; James Wine, Religious Issue Files, 1960, JFKL.
Nixon “unlimbered his biggest weapon”: Sorensen, Kennedy, p. 207.
he proposed sending Nixon a telegram: Louis Martin, Oral History #1, pp. 12–13, JFKL.
the office sponsored a “flying caravan”: Louis Martin, Oral History #2, pp. 45–48, JFKL.
a project to obtain Martin Luther King’s endorsement: Carson, The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.
“I spent many troubled hours”: Ibid.
King and thirty-five students were arrested: Branch, Parting the Waters, p. 351.
Kennedy’s most forceful advisor on civil rights matters: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, pp. 14–15.
While the Kennedy campaign was dissembling: Branch, Parting the Waters, pp. 355–56.
On Monday morning, October 24: Ibid., pp. 357–58.
The stern sentence was quickly condemned: Harris Wofford, Oral History, p. 17, JFKL.
Fearing her husband’s life was in danger: Ibid., p. 18.
King’s attorneys prepared a writ of habeas corpus: Carson, The Autobiography of Marin Luther King Jr.
a prison notorious for racism and brutality: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, pp. 18–19.
“Negroes don’t expect”: Ibid.
Overjoyed, Mrs. King and her father-in-law: Ibid.
Kennedy casually mentioned his call: Ibid.
“Bob wants to see you bomb throwers”: John Seigenthaler, Oral History, JFKL.
news of the call had been made public: Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, p. 20.
On the afternoon of October 27: Ibid., p. 21; John Seigenthaler, Oral History #2, pp. 231–32, JFKL.
made a call he told no one about: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, JFKL; Guthman, Robert Kennedy in His Own Words, p. 70.
“Bob, you’d never believe the story”: John Seigenthaler, Oral History #2, pp. 233–34, JFKL.
“We now make you an honorary brother”: Louis Martin, Oral History, p. 512, JFKL.
“The suggestion came from him”: Robert F. Kennedy, Oral History, JFKL.
Vandiver confirmed some of the details: Jack Bass, Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Jude Frank M. Johnson and the South’s Fight over Civil Rights (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1993), p. 170; Maurice C. Daniels, Saving the Soul of Georgia: Donald L. Hollowell and the Struggle for Civil Rights (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2013), p. 118.
Despite their significance: Information on the “blue bombs” and their effect is in Wofford, Of Kennedys and Kings, pp. 23–25.
In a mid-October Harris survey of Texas: Harris Poll of Texas, Oct. 17, 1960, JFKL.
Bruce Alger, a conservative Republican congressman from Dallas: Caro, The Passage of Power, p. 149.
When the Johnsons arrived at the Baker Hotel: Lawrence Wright, “Why Do They Hate Us So Much,” Texas Monthly, November 1983; Scott K. Parks, “Extremists in Dallas Created Volatile Atmosphere before JFK’s 1963 Visit,” Dallas Morning News, October 12, 2013; Caro, The Passage to Power, p. 151; Harris poll of Texas, October 17, 1960, JFKL.
the election “was decided that day”: Wright, “Why Do They Hate Us So Much.”
Not having any irrefutable grounds for optimism: John Cauley, Oral History, p. 7, JFKL.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“We started getting down to the nuts and bolts”: Richard Donahue, Oral History, p. 135, JFKL.
“On election day”: John Bailey, Oral History, p. 56, JFKL.
“The need for an organizational effort in Connecticut”: Lawrence F. O’Brien, Personal Papers, Box 6, JFKL.
“I told him a couple of lies”: Richard Donahue, Oral History, JFKL.
And they were all wrong: Helen O’Donnell, The Irish Brotherhood: John F. Kennedy, His Inner Circle and the Improbable Rise to the Presidency (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2015), Kindle edition.
“We just could not figure it out”: Ibid.
The second major break: White, The Making of the President 1960, pp. 22–23.
Shortly after midnight the machine on Cape Cod: Ibid.
Some analysts have simply assumed: See, for example, Dallek, An Unfinished Life, p. 295: “Daley’s machine probably stole Illinois from Nixon.” In lieu of even anecdotal evidence Dallek then simply wrote that Daley “reported” the result “before the final tally was in.” In fact Daley reassured the Kennedy nerve center on the telephone all evening that the senator would carry the state, but again, there is no evidence that Daley’s standard-politician’s confidence was anything more than that.
After a month of accusations: Peter Carlson, “Another Race to the Finish,” Washington Post, November 17, 2000.
“On November 8, 1960”: Theodore C. Sorensen, Personal Papers, Box 7, JFKL.
the simple, overarching fact: White, The Making of the President 1960, p. 361.
“Negro Voters in Northern Cities”: Ithiel de Sola Pool, Robert P. Abelson, and Samuel Popkin, “Candidates, Issues and Strategies: A Computer Simulation of the 1960 and 1964 Elections,” p. 94.