The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963 (138 page)

134 “The whole thing …”: ibid.

134 “talked with the …”: ibid., May 1939.

134 “What Germany will …”: ibid.

134 “All of the young …”: ibid.

135 “evince[d] that capacity …”: YM, p. 45.

135 “The ideal was the …”: ibid., p. 8.

135 “a skeptic in …”: ibid., p. 76.

135 “Nature had meant …”: ibid., p. 78.

9. “It’s the End of the World, the End of Everything”

136 he shared with Chamberlain: Moffat, December 16, 1938.

136 The British feared: British Foreign Office, preparations for Evian meeting, “International Assistance Refugees,” signed by R. M. Marke, 23/5, KP.

137 “The baby is tossed …”: JPKP, HTF, p. 303.

137 “I have a couple …”:
Liverpool Post,
May 19, 1937.

137 “He is, after all …”: Franklin Roosevelt to Joseph P. Kennedy, July 22, 1939, JPKP, HTF, p. 353.

138 “the chief thing …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Franklin Roosevelt, August 9, 1939, JPKP, HTF.

139 “I could barely …”: interview, Edward Kennedy, RCP.

139 “Joe [Jr.] took Teddy …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

140 “It’s the end …”: KR, p. 190.

140 “The natural shock …”: “The Athenia Affair,” John F. Kennedy, JFKPL.

141 “there are signs of decay …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Franklin Roosevelt, September 30, 1939, RL.

141 “Maybe I do him …”: Joseph P. Kennedy, unpublished diplomatic memoir, James M. Landis Papers, LC

142 “For Christ’s sakes”: Moffat, pp. 297-98.

143 “That is taking …”: The account of the meeting is based on Joseph P. Kennedy, unpublished memoir, Landis Papers, LC.

143 “Supposing, as I do not …”: KR, p. 197.

143 “Jack rushed madly …”: Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. to Joseph P. Kennedy, March 17, 1940, JFKPL.

144 “The [British] nation …”: John F. Kennedy, “Why England Slept,” thesis, JFKPP.

144 “resort[ing] to …”: J. E. Fuller, D. F. Parry, and A. W. Sulloway, “Sex by the Yard,”
Harvard Advocate,
December 1937, KUA.

144 far less than 1 percent: ibid.

144 “gone too far …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to John F. Kennedy, May 20, 1940, JFKPP.

145 Blair Clark: interview, Blair Clark.

145 “it is already a best-seller …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Winston Churchill, August 14, 1940, NHP.

145 the book sold: William Roulet, president, Wilfred Funk, Inc., to Senator John F. Kennedy, November 30, 1959, and Joel Satz to John F. Kennedy, August 23, 1940, NHP

145 “He was stunned …”: LL interview with Martha Sweatt Reed.

145 “Well, if Bill …”: John F. Kennedy to Mrs. Sweatt, n.d., courtesy Martha Sweatt Reed.

146 “At Choate …”: ibid.

146 he was taking: Joseph P. Kennedy to Rose Kennedy, August 2, 1940, JPKP, HTF, p. 454.

147 “Actually the incident”: Raimund von Hofmannsthal to Clare Boothe Luce, March 20, 1940, Clare Boothe Luce papers, LC.

147 “His behavior as ambassador …”: interview, Henry Luce, RWP.

147 “that Mr. Kennedy …”: British Foreign Office files, FOI 371/24251, January 18, 1940, KP.

147 To the British, who: ibid., February 9, 1940.

147 In reality, Joe: JPKP, HTF, p. 232.

147 “quite unpopular …”: British Foreign Office files, FOI 371/24251, March 5, 1940, KP.

148 “playing off …”: ibid., March 6, 1940.

148 “treat us rough”: Jay Pierrepont Moffat diary, February 13, 1940, KP.

148 “It is always difficult…”:
The Spectator,
March 8, 1940.

148 “as he [the American ambassador] …”: Viscount Halifax to Lord Lothian, British Foreign Office, 3242/131/45, May 13, 1940, KP.

148 “running the government”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Secretary of State, August 2, 1940, KP.

149 “How can we …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Cordell Hull, July 31, 1940, KP.

149 He told a story: Breckinridge Long,
The War Diary of Breckenridge Long
(1966), November 6, 1940, p. 146.

149 “I am depressed …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Arthur Krock, November 3, 1939, KP.

149 could “run the show”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., June 6, 1940, JPKP, HTF, p. 436.

149 “I wanted to ring you …”: Joseph P. Kennedy, “Memorandum of Telephone Conversation Between the President and Myself at 5:00
P.M.,
August 1, 1940,” RCP.

150 “For the United States …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Secretary of State, September 11, 1940, KP.

150 “I certainly don’t get …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Edward Kennedy, September 11, 1940, NHP.

151 “in bedroom all morning”: Clare Boothe Luce diary, April 2, 1940, Clare Boothe Luce papers, LC.

151 “Yesterday a Messerschmitt …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Clare Boothe Luce, October 1, 1940, Clare Boothe Luce papers, LC.

152 “25 million Catholic votes”: Kessler, p. 207.

152 “I urge you to …”:
Boston Globe,
undated clipping, NHP.

153 “
WHEN YOU LAND
…”: Mrs. Henry R. Luce, cable to Joseph P. Kennedy, October 21, 1940, Clare Boothe Luce papers, LC.

153 In early October: Viscount Halifax to Lord Lothian, British Foreign Office, F0371/2425, October 10, 1940, KP.

153 “not to make …”: Franklin D. Roosevelt to Joseph P. Kennedy, October 17, 1940, RL.

153 The president insisted: Franklin D. Roosevelt to Joseph P. Kennedy, October 26, 1940, RL.

153-54 “The president sent …”: Arthur Krock private memorandum, December 1, 1940, AKP.

154 Roosevelt had alerted: This account of the meeting is based on Joseph P. Kennedy’s diary, JPKP, HTF, pp. 480-82; Krock’s memo of the meeting, KP; and TR p. 274.

155 According to Roosevelt’s: KR, p. 218

155 “then he would support”: ibid., p. 221.

155 “his father’s greatest …”: FBI director, February 23, 1942, FBIFOI.

156 “self-success”: Torbert Macdonald to John F. Kennedy, n.d., JFKPP.

156 “In my years …”: JPKP, HTF, pp 482-89, RWP.

156 “There was that radio …”: interview, Henry Luce, RWP.

157 “more brains than …”:
Boston Globe,
November 10, 1940.

10. Child of Fortune, Child of Fate

158 “seemed to …”: Searls, p. 156.

159 “Still can’t get used …”: John F. Kennedy to Lem Billings, October 4, 1940, JFKPP.

159 “Because of his back …”: WNJ, p. 149.

159 “I’m not interested …”: Hamilton, p. 358.

160 “I think Jack knew …”: interview, Harriet Price, BP.

160 Jack was chosen:
Stanford Daily,
October 18, 1940.

160 “This draft has caused …”: John F. Kennedy to Lem Billings, November 14, 1940, JFKPP.

160 “When I hear these …”: Joseph P. Kennedy to John F. Kennedy, September 10, 1940, JFKPP.

160 “I think his father …”: quoted in Hamilton, p. 351.

161
“WHEN WILL OUTLINE
…”: Joseph P. Kennedy to John F. Kennedy, December 5, 1940, JFKPP.

161 “I have seen the English stand …”: John F. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy, December 6, 1940, JFKPP.

161 “The danger of our …”: John F. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy, “Flying the Mainliner,” n.d., JFKPP.

162 “As I remember …”: John F. Kennedy to Harriet Price, read in interview, BP.

162 “I think in that…”: quoted in RKHT, p. 43.

163 “a personal favor…”: Joseph P. Kennedy to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., March 17, 1941, ASP.

163 private flying lessons: LL interview with Benedict Fitzgerald.

163 “Year after year …”: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, “We Want to Remember His Life, Nor Relive His Death,”
Parade,
June 30, 1988.

164 “Remember, too …”: Rose Kennedy to Robert F. Kennedy, January 12, 1942, ASP.

164 Bobby began to tremble: LL interview with Pierce Kearney.

165 Rose sent Teddy to join: RKHT, p. 34.

165 arrived in short pants: interview, Pierce Kearney, KP.

165 ten in all: TEEK, p. 38.

165 “That was hard to take …”: LL interview with Edward Kennedy.

165 “You’ll just have to…”: RKHT, p. 31.

165 “I had been …”: LL interview with Edward Kennedy.

166 “she’d read a Peter …”: ibid.

166 “The house for us …”: ibid.

166 “Teddy went outside …”: interview, Rose Kennedy, RCP.

167 “I saw a man and …”: LL interview with Joseph Gargan.

167 “I don’t know…”: John F. Kennedy to Cam Newberry, July 8, 1941, NHP.

167-68 “The boy has taken …”: A. G. Kirk to Captain C. W. Carr, Chelsea Naval Hospital, March 24, 1941, BP.

168 “I just had …”: interview, Edward Kennedy, RCP.

169 “Mr. Kennedy was so afraid…”: LL interview with Luella Hennessey Donovan.

169 In 1941: Elliot S. Valenstein, ed.,
The Psychosurgery Debate: Scientific, Legal, and Ethical Perspectives
(1980), p. 25.

169 the medical kings of lobotomy: ibid., p. 22.

169 They had performed: see Walter Freeman, M.D., and James W. Watts, M.D.,
Psychosurgery: Intelligence, Emotion, and Social Behavior Following Prefrontal Lobotomy for Mental Disorders
(1942).

170 Over half a century: This author was in a nearly empty restaurant in Nashville, the Pancake Palace, one afternoon in 1998. The only other customers were an elderly woman and a middle-aged woman in the next booth. The author overheard the older woman telling her daughter in mesmerizing detail about Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy and how guilty she still felt. When the author introduced himself to the women, they were at first startled and worried that they had been followed. But when they understood, the elderly woman told her story in detail.

170 Rosemary was shipped away: According to the institution’s records, Rosemary Kennedy did not arrive at her current home at what was then called the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children in Jefferson, Wisconsin, until July 1949. Until then, according to Luella Hennessey Donovan, she was kept at Craig House. Rosemary’s sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, says that she has no recollection of where Rosemary was kept.

171 “the Navy Department…”: Rose Kennedy to “Dear Children,” February 2, 1942, JFKPL.

171 “I am sorry Gunther’s …”: Rose Kennedy to “My Darlings,” December 5, 1941, JFKPL.

171 “There is nothing comparable …”: AWRJ, p. 35.

172 put in his hours: interview, S. A. D. Hunter, BP.

172 “He’s coming …”: Inga Arvad, unpublished memoir, NHP.

172 “the Royal Theatre…”: Inga Arvad to John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1942, NHP.

173 “To an indefinite …”: In the late 1990s the photo was in the possession of a collector, Ben Swearingen. Robert White showed the author a copy of the photo.

173 “the conversation slid …”: FBI report, November 16, 1940, FBIFOI.

173 “lost control of myself…”: W. H. Welch, FBI report, May 6, 1942, FBIFOI.

174 “a skirt chaser”: interview, Ronald McCoy, BP.

174 “I’ve got another …”: interview, Frank Waldrop, BP.

174 under FBI surveillance: FBI laboratory report, February 13, 1942, FBIFOI.

174 “He can help me …”: W. H. Welch, FBI report, May 6, 1942, FBIFOI.

174 “We’ve got ten …”: interview, Ronald McCoy, BP.

174 “I think he was …”: LL interview with Betty Coxe Spalding.

175 “She said that he began …”: LL interview with John White.

175 FBI inventoried her possessions: inventory of Inga Arvad possessions, n.d., FBIFOI.

175 “more possibilities than”: D. M. Ladd to Mr. Kramp, January 9, 1942, FBIFOI.

176 Instead, Jack took what he: LL interview with John White.

176 “One of ex-Ambassador …”: quoted in Hamilton, p. 438.

176 “He is full of enthusiasm …”: Inga Arvad to John F. Kennedy, January 26, 1942, JFKPP.

177 “You are going away”: Inga Arvad to John F. Kennedy, n.d., NHP.

177 “Maybe your gravest”: Inga Arvad to John F. Kennedy, Wednesday (by textual analysis, probably dated January 28, 1942), JFKPL.

177 “stinking New Dealism”: memo FBI director, “Re: Mrs. Paul Fejos, Espionage,” February 1, 1942, FBIFOI.

177 “stinks of defeat”: John F. Kennedy to Ralph Horton, n.d. (early 1942?), 1992, JFKPL.