Listening In (45 page)

A few fleeting moments from the tapes capture the effort that was building in the fall of 1963 to plan a successful Democratic convention, ward off challenges, and carry through to victory in November 1964. It was in pursuit of this plan that President Kennedy went to Texas, an essential battleground state.

In the 1960 speech that named the New Frontier, Kennedy cautioned Americans against seeking comfort in “the safe mediocrity of the past,” and he certainly would not have wanted readers to attack the problems of the twenty-first century by repeating the well-worn catchphrases of an earlier generation. But perhaps by asking Americans to deepen their acquaintance with the issues, and to renew their commitment to talk with one another, as the participants in these conversations do so well, these tapes will serve a new purpose that he never intended. That would be a worthy final legacy of John F. Kennedy; not to romanticize his time, but to embrace and engage with our own.

CALL ABOUT U.S. HOCKEY TEAM, MARCH 13, 1963

No theater of Cold War competition was too small for Kennedy to take an interest in—for example, the absorbing athletic rivalry that pitted the United States against the Soviet Union, and the many proxy contests in which they and their allies participated. At the very least, it was essential to perform to the utmost of one’s ability; to win, if possible, but if not, to at least show well. Unfortunately, that presidential directive did not reach the U.S. men’s hockey team, who suffered a series of ignominious defeats in the spring of 1963.

JFK:
Dave?

DAVID HACKETT:
¹
Yeah.

JFK:
How are you?

HACKETT:
How are you?

JFK:
Dave, I noticed in the paper this morning where the Swedish team beat the American hockey team, 17 to 2.

HACKETT:
Yeah, I saw that.

JFK:
Christ, who are we sending over there? Girls?

HACKETT:
They haven’t won a game.

JFK:
I know it. I mean, who got them up?

HACKETT:
I don’t know. I can check into it.

JFK:
God, we’ve got some pretty good hockey players, haven’t we?

HACKETT:
Yeah. Well, I think. Yeah.

JFK:
I suppose they are all playing on their college teams, are they, or something? I’d like to find out whether it was done … under what … who sort of sponsors it and what kind of players they’ve got, and I think it’s a disgrace to have a team that’s 17 to 2. That’s about as bad as I’ve ever heard, isn’t it?

HACKETT:
And they have been beaten by everybody by a score almost equal to that.

JFK:
So obviously, we shouldn’t send a team unless we send a good one. Will you find out about it and let me know?

HACKETT:
I’ll find out about it and let you know.

TWO CALLS ABOUT FURNITURE PURCHASE, JULY 25, 1963

Ever sensitive to public opinion, Kennedy was horrified to open the paper one day and see a photograph of a navy aide standing next to an expensive new naval project—a hospital bedroom that had been built at a base on Cape Cod, to be ready in case Jacqueline Kennedy went into labor with their son, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy. Such an expenditure seems modest today, but Kennedy was irate at the cost and, even worse, the publicity involved.

JFK:
… spent $5,000 for that! Let’s cut their budget another hundred million.

ARTHUR SYLVESTER:
²
Precisely, Mr. President. The last word that they had from me yesterday after my talk to Pierre
³
was to keep the photographers out of there and sign ’em out of there.

JFK:
OK.

SYLVESTER:
They went ahead on their own. The funny part about this is, it’s a sidelight which might lighten your day, is that the army, you know, we’re saved from this sort of thing out at Walter Reed. When they saw this yesterday, they are unhappy, if you please.

JFK:
Well then, that’s why the goddamn service, they ought to cut them a billion dollars.

SYLVESTER:
That’s right, exactly.

JFK:
When you think of the waste that goes on.

SYLVESTER:
It is absolute nonsense.

JFK:
Imagine what they’d do if you didn’t just stay on their ass. They were gonna order me three planes instead of one.

SYLVESTER:
Precisely.

JFK:
They’re gonna do all these, that’s the way these guys spend money.

SYLVESTER:
Absolutely.

JFK:
They’re shocked that we don’t. Now the only thing is it would seem to me, that I would like to turn that, I’d like to send that furniture back. Have they paid for it?

SYLVESTER:
I’ll find out, Mr. President.

JFK:
Just on my own. I don’t care what we owe on the store, I’d just like to send that goddamn furniture back. It’s probably worth fifteen hundred, two thousand bucks.

SYLVESTER:
When I asked them yesterday, “Where did the $5,000 go?” from the things they told me, I said it, well, you couldn’t have possibly spent $5,000 on that. They lied about it. Now I’ve gone back to them this morning, said, get the facts, I’m sick of it.

JFK:
Let’s find out. Yeah.

SYLVESTER:
Tell the President at the White House the wrong facts, and let’s get the facts to begin with.

JFK:
Let’s find out how much they spent on this thing. I mean, let’s find out what they spent, where the money came from also.

SYLVESTER:
We’ll get a rundown.

JFK:
Where, if the bills have been paid, because a lot of this stuff we can just ship right back today.

SYLVESTER:
Right, I’ll get right on it.

JFK:
I’d love to send it right back to Jordan Marsh
⁴
in an air force truck this afternoon with that captain on it.

SYLVESTER:
[laughs]

JFK:
[chuckles] Now, what about transferring his ass out of here in about a month? He doesn’t have any sense.

SYLVESTER:
Carlton.

JFK:
For incompetence, not for screwing us.

SYLVESTER:
Exactly. Well, I …

JFK:
And that silly fellow who had his picture taken next to the bed, have him go up to Alaska too. Pierre will be talking to you about that.

SYLVESTER:
Right.

HOSPITAL ROOM PREPARED FOR JACQUELINE KENNEDY, OTIS AIR FORCE BASE, JULY 1963

[new call]

JFK:
General?

GENERAL GODFREY MCHUGH:
⁵
Yes, sir.

JFK:
That air force has caused itself more grief with that silly bastard. Did you see the
Post
this morning?

MCHUGH:
Yes, sir, I’m …

JFK:
See that fellow’s picture by the bed?

MCHUGH:
Yes, sir.

JFK:
And did you see that furniture they bought from Jordan Marsh? What the hell did they let the reporters in there for? Are they crazy up there? Now you know what that’s gonna do? Any congressman is going to get up and say, “Christ, if they can throw $5,000 away on this, let’s cut ’em another billion dollars.” You just sank the air force budget! You’re crazy up there! Are they crazy? That silly bastard with his picture next to the bed?

MCHUGH:
Sir, I’m appalled but …

JFK:
Well, I’m appalled, too.

MCHUGH:
Yes, sir.

JFK:
Now, the thing is, the thing of the matter is, I’m gonna get that furniture, and I just told Sylvester and you can talk to him. I want to find out if we paid for that furniture because I want it to go back to Jordan Marsh.

MCHUGH:
All right, sir.

JFK:
Then I want, that fellow’s incompetent who had his picture taken next to Mrs. Kennedy’s bed, if that’s what it is. I mean, he’s a silly bastard! I wouldn’t have him running a cathouse! And that Colonel Carlson [sic], who let in Larry Newman and those reporters. Is he crazy, too? Christ, they’re all incompetents! Is that the way they are throwing money around over there? You better look into it, and especially when you told me that they hadn’t spent a cent.