The Kennedy Half-Century (97 page)

28
. Nancy Harrison to Joan Braden, Gilbert Harrison Papers, Box 8, “John F. Kennedy 1960–64,” Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, DC.

29
. Thomas C. Reeves,
A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy
(Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1992), 165, 173, 202.

30
. “Coffee Hours—Little Parties with a Big Purpose!” and “How to Use Campaign Volunteers,” Gerald Bruno Papers, Box 1, “1960 Campaign Democratic Convention,” John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts. “Kennedy Girls” who were stationed at Democratic offices were under orders to “receive calls from Democratic voters who need babysitters.” “Girls will immediately be taken to the house of the voter to carry out the wishes of the voter.” They were encouraged to be “courteous and friendly, remembering that any other ways may be the loss of a Democratic or Kennedy vote.” See “Kennedy Girls,” Gerald Bruno Papers, Box 1, “1960 Campaign Trips,” John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts.

31
. Howard Kurtz, “Jack Anderson’s Nixonian Tactics,” Media Notes Blog,
Washington Post
, September 13, 2010,
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/howard-kurtz/2010/09/jack_andersons_nixonian_tactic.html
 [accessed November 29, 2010].

32
. Mark Feldstein, “A Half-Century of Political Dirty Tricks,”
Washington Post
, January 14, 2011.

33
. Larry J. Sabato,
Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American Politics
(New York: Free Press, 1991), 39; David Halberstam,
The Best and the Brightest
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1992), x.

34
. Shortly after the break-in, Kennedy asked Travell to collect his medical records from the hospitals where he had undergone treatment and place them under lock and key. See David L. Robb,
The Gumshoe and the Shrink: Guenther Reinhardt, Dr. Arnold Hutschnecker, and the Secret History of the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon Election
(Solana Beach, CA: Santa Monica Press, 2012), 132–35.

35
. Robert Dallek, “The Medical Ordeals of JFK,”
Atlantic Monthly
290 (December 2002): 49–61.

36
. Paul H. Nitze Papers, Box 141, Folder 8, Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, DC; Ambrose,
Education of a Politician
, 592. Nixon was fibbing in order to conceal the administration’s invasion plans. On March 17, 1960, Eisenhower had approved a four-point plan concerning Cuba, as presented to him by CIA-operative Richard Bissell. The plan “had four parts: (1) creation of a ‘responsible and unified’ Cuban government-in-exile; (2) ‘a powerful propaganda offensive’; (3) ‘a covert intelligence and action organization in Cuba’ that would be ‘responsive’ to the government-in-exile; and (4) ‘a paramilitary force outside of Cuba for future guerrilla action.’ Eisenhower indicated that he liked all four parts, but put his emphasis on Bissell’s first step, finding a Cuban leader living in exile who would form a government that the United States could recognize and that could direct the activities of the covert and paramilitary forces.” Ike later denied that he had ever bequeathed a Bay of Pigs battle plan to Kennedy, and the former president went to extraordinary lengths to set the record straight, from his perspective, in the wake of the April 1961 fiasco. Stephen E. Ambrose,
Eisenhower: The President
, vol. 2 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984), 557, 639. During the campaign, Kennedy put together a Committee on National Security Policy. Members included William C. Foster, Dean Acheson, Dean Rusk, Chester Bowles, Roswell
Gilpatrick, James Perkins (an executive of the Carnegie Corporation), K. E. Bruce (former undersecretary of state), Paul Nitze, and Walt Rostow. Research was provided by Rand, MIT, Stanford, and other institutions. In August 1960, Kennedy told the press that the committee would “function between November 8, when he hopes to be elected, and January 20, when he would take office” (
Washington Evening Star
, August 30, 1960). He also said that it was “to make sure, if I am successful, that the months of January, February, and March would be used most effectively” (
Washington Post
, August 31, 1960). On November 9, 1960, the committee sent its private report to Kennedy: “In addition to Berlin, the new Administration will be faced with a most serious set of legacies in other parts of the world. These include Cuba, the Congo, Quemoy and Matsu, Algeria, Laos, and the smoldering guerrilla war in South Vietnam. On all these issues the Republicans will be prepared to raise cries of appeasement, war-mongering, or both, depending on the course which the new Administration follows. In the Cuban situation it looks as though Castro’s internal support should progressively weaken over at least the next three or four months. It is possible, however, that if no firm action is taken against him during the ensuing period of internal weakness, the Communists might be able increasingly to consolidate their position.” “Report of the Committee on National Security Policy,” November 9, 1960, Paul H. Nitze Papers, Box 141, Folder 8, Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, DC. Thus, Kennedy’s own team encouraged some sort of action against a “weakening” Castro in the near term. The internal advisers had assessed the situation as poorly as the Eisenhower CIA. During the same period, Kennedy raised the possibility of assassinating Castro. Senator George Smathers (D-FL) campaigned with Kennedy in the South and remembered the candidate “throwing out a great barrage of questions—he was certain [the assassination of Castro] could be accomplished—I remember that—it would be no great problem. But the question was whether it would accomplish that which he wanted it to, whether or not the reaction throughout South America would be good or bad and I talked with him about it.” See “From the Archive, 18 August 1970: Kennedy Talked of Possibility of Killing Castro,”
The Guardian
, August 17, 2012,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2012/aug/17/john-f-kennedy-fidel-castro
 [accessed September 10, 2012].

37
. John F. Kennedy, “Excerpts of Remarks at Granby High School Athletic Field, Norfolk, VA, November 4, 1960,” John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters,
The American Presidency Project
[online], Santa Barbara, CA,
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=74320
 [accessed November 29, 2010]; “Sound Fiscal Policy Pledged by Kennedy,”
Richmond Times Dispatch
, November 5, 1960; “Elsie Carper, “Virginians Wildly Hail Kennedy Raising Party’s Hopes for State,”
Washington Post
, November 5, 1960; David Bowers, conversation with Alvin Hudson, September 24, 2010. This interview was graciously submitted to the author by Bowers, who is the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia. Virginians voted for Nixon anyway. Virginia’s Democratic National Committeeman, G. Fred Switzer, told reporters in January of 1960 that JFK would have a tough time in the Old Dominion: “[Virginians] side with the most conservative candidate, and I believe, generally speaking, Nixon is more conservative than Kennedy. Kennedy’s too liberal, he’s too pro-labor.” See “Switzer Sees Nixon Over Kennedy in Va.,”
Washington Post
, January 5, 1960.

38
. Willard Edwards, “Ike Asks Election of Nixon,”
Chicago Daily Tribune
, November 3, 1960; Gary A. Donaldson,
The First Modern Campaign: Kennedy, Nixon, and the Election of 1960
(New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007), 139–40; Dallek,
Unfinished Life
, 293.

39
. “Sen. Kennedy Stumped in 237 Cities, Vice President Nixon, 168,”
Washington Post and Times Herald
, November 5, 1960; “ADA Joins Kennedy, Asks U.S. Accept World Court Rule,”
Boston Globe
, March 27, 1960; “Excerpts from Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy (Dem. Mass.), Liberal Party Dinner, New York—September 14, 1960,” John Bartlow Martin Papers, Box 75, Folder 2, Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, DC.

40
. Emmett P. Malloy to Kay Folger, September 1, 1960, R. Sargent Shriver Papers, Box 4, Series 1, “Washington Correspondence August–September 1960,” John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts; Lithuanian American Pamphlet, R. Sargent Shriver Papers, Box 3, Series 1, “Lithuanian American Committee for John F. Kennedy, 1960,” John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts; “Demo Aspirant Hailed by King,” New Orleans
Times-Picayune
, November 11, 1960.

41
. “Speech of Senator John F. Kennedy Prepared for a Dinner Held by the Democratic National and State Committees, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, NY, October 12, 1960,” John Bartlow Martin Papers, Box 75, Folder 3, Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, DC; Donaldson,
Modern Campaign
, 120; “Matsu Complex,” Stanley Karnow Papers, Box 59, “Taiwan, 1955–67,” John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts. Kennedy lined up the support of a number of prominent liberals before the convention began. In June 1960, “an open letter to American liberals … in support of Senator John F. Kennedy” arrived in mailboxes across the country. Signatories included James Burns (political scientist), Henry Steele Commager (historian), J. Kenneth Galbraith (economist), Arthur Goldberg (attorney), Gilbert Harrison (publisher), Allan Nevins (historian), John Saltonstall (attorney), and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (historian). Some of these men later joined the Kennedy administration.

42
. In all likelihood, the IBM report came out
before
the returns from Philadelphia and Connecticut were known. “At 7:15 … the large television set in the corner of the room carried the news that CBS’s IBM 7090 computer had projected a victory for Richard Nixon.” Herbert S. Parmet,
JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy
(New York: Penguin Books, 1984), 57–58; Aide Kenny O’Donnell remembered that “The senator made his first appearance in Bobby’s house, where all of us were gathered around the television screens and the telephones, around seven-thirty in the evening, when the early returns from the East were full of good news” (Kenneth P. O’Donnell, David F. Powers, and Joe McCarthy,
“Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye”: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1970), 251).

43
. “Schedule, Senator John F. Kennedy, Monday, Nov. 7, and Tuesday, Nov. 8, 1960,” Gerald Bruno Papers, Box 1, “1960 Campaign Election Day Arrangements 11/8/60,” John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts; Sorensen,
Kennedy
, 211–12; O’Donnell, Powers, and McCarthy,
“Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye,”
250–51; Parmet,
JFK
, 57–58; Dallek,
Unfinished Life
, 294.

44
. Sorensen,
Kennedy
, 212.

45
. Legitimate, conflicting arguments can be made about whether Kennedy or Nixon won 1960’s popular vote. Some analysts point to anomalies in the Deep South, where voters chose so-called free electors who were not obligated to vote for their party’s candidates. Many of these electors eventually cast ballots for Virginia U.S. senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr., a committed segregationist, instead of JFK. If we subtract the number of voters represented by
each free elector, then Richard Nixon appears to have won the popular vote. See Brian J. Gaines, “Popular Myths About Popular Vote-Electoral College Splits,”
Political Science and Politics
34 (March 2001): 70–75; Sean Trende, “Did JFK Lose the Popular Vote?”
Real Clear Politics
, October 19, 2012,
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/10/19/did_jfk_lose_the_popular_vote_115833.html
 [accessed October 24, 2012]; and Gordon Tullock, “Nixon, Like Gore, Also Won Popular Vote, But Lost Election,”
Political Science and Politics
37 (January 2004): 1–2.

46
. The
Slate
journalist David Greenberg believes that the vice president’s refusal to contest the election was nothing more than a clever ruse: “[W]hile Nixon publicly pooh-poohed a challenge, his allies
did
dispute the results—aggressively.” See David Greenberg, “Was Nixon Robbed?”
Slate
, October 16, 2000,
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2000/10/was_nixon_robbed.single.html
 [accessed November 9, 2012].

47
. Larry J. Sabato and Glenn R. Simpson,
Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics
(New York: Random House, 1996), 277;
Guide to U.S. Elections
, 789.

48
. Peter Carlson, “Another Race to the Finish,”
Washington Post
, November 17, 2000; David Greenberg, “Was Nixon Robbed?”
Slate
, October 16, 2000,
http://www.slate.com/id/91350/
 [accessed September 7, 2011].

49
. Edmund F. Kallina, “Was the 1960 Presidential Election Stolen? The Case of Illinois,”
Presidential Studies Quarterly
15 (Winter 1985): 113–18.

50
. 
Guide to U.S. Elections
, 789; Larry J. Sabato,
A More Perfect Constitution: 23 Proposals to Revitalize Our Constitution and Make America a Fairer Country
(New York: Walker, 2007), 146; Sabato and Simpson,
Dirty Little Secrets
, 277; Joseph Alsop to Ted Sorensen, November 10, 1960, Joseph and Stewart Alsop Papers, Box 17, “Nov.–Dec. 1960,” Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, DC.

4. THE TORCH IS PASSED

1
. “Walkin’ Down to Washington,” Gerald Bruno Papers, Box 1, “1960 Campaign Democratic Convention,” John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts.