The editor of this book has made every attempt to contact the writers or estates of all the letters in this book for permission to print them. The publisher would appreciate hearing from any letter writer or estate whom the author has been unable to contact so that appropriate permission can be secured.
It is important to state that a book of this magnitude could not have been completed without the invaluable aid of many individuals. I am indebted to Sam Rubin, Steve Plotkin, and Laurie Austin of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum for all their help. Thanks are due also to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation’s Karen Mullen for her aid and support. A special debt of gratitude is owed to Marilyn (Lynn) Farnell for her dedicated and superlative research and to Marie McHugh, Frances Mayo, Laura Phillips, and Karen and Carol Sandler for their many contributions. Special thanks are extended to Bloomsbury’s Rob Galloway who, time and again, came to the rescue. Finally, it has been my great good fortune to have compiled this book under the guidance of publisher/editor Peter Ginna. There are simply not words adequate enough to describe all that he has contributed to this volume and I am eternally grateful.
As for the documents included in this volume, the vast majority are housed in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and are in the public domain. Other letters in this book, also in the public domain, are contained in the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following individuals and estates for their gracious permission to include other letters not in the public domain, and for their assistance in finding information about documents and copyright holders: The Briscoe Center for American History for the James Farmer letters; Bob Clark, supervisory archivist, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, for the Eleanor Roosevelt letters; Dawn Evans, legal department, the Evangelistic Association, for the Billy Graham letter; Rich Ewig, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, for information regarding the Inga Arvad letter; James Galbraith for the Galbraith letters; Peter Gilbert and the Estate of Robert Lee Frost for the Robert Frost letters; Sig Gissler, administrator, Pulitzer Prizes, Columbia University, for the Pulitzer Prize letter; Brooke Hersey, literary executor for John Hersey, for his letter; Laura Hoguet, the Ed Banfield estate, for the Banfield letter; Mrs. Hulan Jack for the Hulan Jack letter; the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation for the Joseph Kennedy Jr. and the Rose Kennedy letters; Bruce Kirby, manuscript reference librarian, Library of Congress, for the A. Philip Randolph letters; Patrick Kerwin, manuscript reference librarian, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, for the W. Averell Harriman letter; Daniel Linke, Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University, for the Adlai Stevenson and Bernard Baruch letters; William Marx for the Harpo Marx letter; John Natter, Office of the Secretary, United States Department of State for the John Kerry letter; Chris Petersen, Special Collections, Oregon State University, for the Linus Pauling and Mrs. Linus Pauling letters; Mrs. Rachel Robinson for the Jackie Robinson letters; Cynthia Schlesinger, for the Arthur Schlesinger Sr. and the Arthur Schlesinger Jr. letters; Thomas Schwartz, director, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, for the Herbert Hoover letter; Ethan Wayne, president, John Wayne Enterprises, for the John Wayne letter. Letters by Martin Luther King Jr. are reprinted by arrangement with the heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., c/o Writers House, New York, N.Y., as agent for the proprietor. Letters by Winston Churchill, copyright Winston S. Churchill, are reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown, London, on behalf of the Estate of Sir Winston Churchill.