An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek
p. 342: Khrushchev’s views: FRUS: Soviet Union, 39-46.
p. 342: Feb.11, 1961 meeting: Ibid., 63-67.
p. 342: “a mentality”: Charles Bohlen OH.
p. 342: “a sustained offensive”: Barbara Jackson to JFK, Mar. 5, 1961, and “ Outline for a Possible Address,” Box 33, POF.
p. 343: “find another forum”: JFK to Jackson, n.d., ibid.
p. 343: “greatest nightmare”: White House Staff OH, LBJL.
p. 343: “I have been greatly”: JFK to DDE, Mar. 30, 1960, Box 29A, POF.
p. 343: “in the overall interest”: John J. McCloy to JFK, Mar. 8, 1961, Box 100, POF.
p. 343: “stand at Geneva”: JFK-Macmillan talks, April 6, 1961, 3:45 P.M., Box 175, POF.
p. 343: “every approach”: Roswell L. Gilpatric OH.
p. 343: “only in the light”: JFK-Adenauer Talks, April 13, 1961, 10:30 A.M., Box 255A, NSF.
p. 343: “a war-fighting capability”: Rand Research Memorandum, “Political Implications of Posture Choices,” Dec. 1960, Box 64, POF.
p. 344: “a subordinate commander”: McGeorge Bundy to JFK, Jan. 30, 1961, Box 313, NSF.
p. 344: “whether he was not”: Brandon Diary, Jan. 16, 1961, Box 5, Henry Brandon Papers, LC.
p. 344: “We became increasingly”: Gilpatric OH. Memorandum, Feb. 24, 1961; JFK conference with military chiefs, Feb. 27, 1961, Box 345, NSF.
p. 344: “might trigger”: Five Interviews with Glen T. Seaborg, Box 11, Closed Deposit, NHP.
p. 344: ”the lead in bringing”: Gilpatric OH.
p. 344: “is a nuclear war man”: McGeorge Bundy to JFK, Oct. 3, 1961, Box 103, POF.
p. 345: “Would things be”: Quoted in Kaplan, 43-44, 256.
p. 345: “unreconstructable”: Gilpatric OH.
p. 345: “was always troubled”: Paul Nitze OH.
pp. 345-46: “The plan that he inherited”: White House Staff OH.
p. 346: “a truly monstrous”: Walt W. Rostow OH.
p. 346: Lemnitzer presentation and JFK’s tension: White House Staff OH.
p. 346: “And we call ourselves”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 229-30.
p. 346: “not so happy”: JFK-Adenauer conversation, April 13, 1961, Noon, Box 79, NSF.
p. 346: “the threshold for”: April 12, 1961, Box 79, NSF.
p. 346: “stop Soviet forces”: Dean Acheson to JFK and Rusk, April 20, 1961, Box 70, NSF.
p. 346: “these plans might lessen”: April 12, 1961, Box 79, NSF.
pp. 346-47: “have left the United States”: Nitze OH. Also see Robert Komer to Dean Acheson, Feb. 20, 1961, and Komer to JFK, Mar. 6, 1961, Box 4339, NSF.
p. 347: “‘repeat to the point’”: Kaplan, 285.
p. 347: “That son of a bitch”: White House Staff OH.
p. 347: On a nuclear first strike: Fred Kaplan, “JFK’s First Strike Plan,” The Atlantic, Oct. 2001, though Kaplan makes clear that JFK was highly skeptical of any first-strike plan.
p. 347: “I never met a man”: Quoted in Hersh, 253.
p. 347: Kennedy announced increases: PPP: JFK, 1961, 229-40, 658-59.
p. 348: “charges that”: Ibid., 658-59.
p. 348: “They don’t get it”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 245.
p. 348: “would have been profoundly”: Parmet, JFK, 132. JFK’s view of Khrushchev’s speech: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 302; Kalb and Abel, 110.
p. 348: “brutally torn”: PPP: JFK, 1961, 23.
p. 349: “I find it difficult”: Ibid., 91.
p. 349: “massive unilateral intervention”: Ibid., 99.
p. 349: “the U.N. could not”: Quoted in Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 575.
p. 349: “used to oppress”: FRUS: Congo Crisis, 99-101.
pp. 349-50: For LBJ’s African trip and “Cadillac diplomacy,” see Dallek, Flawed Giant, 12-16.
p. 350: “counter-guerrilla forces”: National Security Action Memorandum No. 2, Feb. 3, 1961; JFK to Mac Bundy, Feb. 6, 1961; Robert McNamara to Bundy, Feb. 23, 1961, Box 328, NSF. Robert Komer to Walt W. Rostow, Feb. 28, 1961, Box 414, NSF. Also see Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 320, 340-42.
p. 351: “It is, I think”: PPP: JFK, 1961, 213. Also see 16, 23, 34, 71, 74-75, 122, 149, 154, 185, and 1-120 of FRUS: Laos Crisis.
p. 351: “I don’t think there are probably”: Kenneth P. O’Donnell taped interview with Sander Vanocur, MR 91-27:49, JFKL.
p. 351: “any satisfactory solution”: FRUS: Laos Crisis, 45.
p. 351: “Laos was hopeless”: Winthrop G. Brown OH.
p. 351: “These jungle regimes”: Galbraith, Letters, 70.
p. 351: “We must never”: Brown OH.
pp. 351-52: “Laos is far away”: PPP: JFK, 1961, 214.
p. 352: He “said that”: Memo of conversation, April 7, 1961, Chalmers Roberts Papers, JFKL. New York Times, Mar. 21, 1961; Richard Reeves, 75; O’Donnell Tapes, MR 91-27:49.
p. 352: “But I need not tell you”: Harold Macmillan to DDE, April 9, 1961, Box 29A, POF.
p. 352: “That boy doesn’t know”: Earl Mazo OH, Columbia University.
p. 352: Ambassador Brown: FRUS: Laos Crisis, 139-41.
p. 353: NSC meeting, April 27, 1961, Box 313, NSF.
p. 353: “You start using”: Guthman and Shulman, 248.
p. 353: “if we are given”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 338.
p. 353: “general agreement among” and congressional leaders: FRUS: Laos Crisis, 142-43, 146-47. JFK and congressional leaders, April 27, 1961, Box 345, NSF.
p. 353: “It would be a mistake”: Lincoln Diary, April 28, 1961, Box 9, Evelyn Lincoln Papers, JFKL.
p. 353: Neutrality agreement: Gibbons, 112.
p. 353: “dribbled to a conclusion”: O’Donnell Tapes, MR 91-27:49.
pp. 353-54: “critical condition” and “for the first time”: FRUS: Vietnam, 1961, 12-19.
p. 354: “the worst one”: Rostow OH.
p. 354: “the entire western”: Quoted in David Kaiser, 73.
p. 354: LBJ trip and troop commitment: PPP: JFK, 1961, 354, 356.
pp. 354-55: LBJ’s visit to Saigon: Dallek, Flawed Giant, 13-14.
p. 355: “a series of joint”: FRUS: Vietnam, 1961, 128.
p. 355: “We have not become”: Quoted in David Kaiser, 73.
p. 355: “I cannot stress too strongly”: Quoted in Dallek, Flawed Giant, 17-18.
p. 355: “our billions”: John K. Galbraith to JFK, Mar. 2, 1961, Box 29, POF.
p. 356: “nearly always”: Laura B. Knebel to James Ellison, n.d., in Box 5, “Closed Deposit,” NHP. Also see Laura B. Knebel OH.
p. 356: Refusing to comment: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 5.
p. 356: “a rapprochement”: John Sharon OH, Columbia University.
p. 356: The Lens report: AES to JFK, Jan. 13, 1961, Box 33, POF.
p. 356: CIA plan: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 233.
pp. 356-57: January 22 meeting: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 46-53.
p. 357: During the last week: January 25 and 28 meetings and follow-ups, ibid., 54-58, 61-65; JFK to Bundy, Feb. 6, 1961, Box 35A, POF.
pp. 357-58: The February 8 discussions: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 89-91.
p. 358: “appeaser”: O’Donnell Tape 49.
p. 358: “However well disguised”: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 92-93.
p. 358: “be landed gradually”: Ibid., 90.
p. 359: “the small invasion force”: Ibid., 119-20.
p. 359: “will have”: Ibid., 135.
p. 359: “The Cuban paramilitary”: Ibid., 142.
p. 359: “willing to take”: Ibid., 143-44.
p. 359: “small-scale World War II”: Ibid., 145-48.
p. 359: “A slight danger”: Ibid., 156-57.
p. 360: “[has] done a remarkable job”: Ibid., 158.
p. 360: “in order to make this appear” and “reserved the right”: Ibid., 159-60.
p. 360: “the plan was dependent on”: Ibid., 160.
p. 360: “What do you think”: Schlesinger, A Thou
p. 360: “U.S. strike forces”: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 177.
p. 360: “If you fail”: Quoted in Johnson, 67.
pp. 360-61: “If the operation”: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 178-81.
p. 361: “No one”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 247.
p. 361: CIA paper: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 213-16.
p. 361: “Are you serious?”: Dean Acheson OH. For the Schlesinger, Rusk, and Fulbright dissents, see FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 185-89, 191, 196-203, and Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 250-56.
p. 362: “Mr. President”: Theodore Sorensen OH; Sorensen, 332.
p. 362: Schlesinger remembered: A Thousand Days, 258.
pp. 362-63: “appear as an internal”: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 185.
p. 363: “everything possible”: Ibid., 191-92, 213.
p. 363: Newspaper stories: For examples of the newspaper leaks: “Regime to Fight Castro Being Formed Here,” New York Herald Tribune, Mar. 22, 1961, and Schlesinger to JFK, April 7, 1961, Box 65, POF.
p. 363: Castro “doesn’t need”: Quoted in Wyden, Bay of Pigs, 155.
p. 363: “in helping”: PPP: JFK, 1961, 258.
p. 363: “play down the magnitude”: Bissell, 183.
p. 363: “one of those rare events”: Quoted in Peter Kornbluh, 2.
p. 363: On the bombing raids and Stevenson’s response: FRUS: Cuba, 1961- 1962, 226-30; Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 268-72; Richard Reeves, 90-91.
p. 364: “the room in evident concern”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 272-73.
p. 364: “failure to make”: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 235-37.
p. 364: “the situation in Cuba”: Ibid., 272. For the details of the defeat, see 273 ff.
p. 364: “nobody knew”: Ibid., 274-75.
pp. 364-65: Meeting in the Cabinet Room: Richard Reeves, 93-95.
p. 365: “were sure”: O’Donnell and Powers, 274.
p. 365: “an incident, not a disaster”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 275-76.
pp. 365-66: “Under a parliamentary”: Quoted in Powers, 115.
p. 366: “the chief cause” and other quotes: See Kornbluh, 13-14, 45-46, 113-14.
p. 366: “was so upset”: Smith, 697-98.
p. 366: “within the privacy”: O’Donnell and Powers, 274.
p. 366: The Rose Garden: Ibid., 272, and Salinger, 195.
p. 366: Messed hair: Richard Reeves, 95 and 677.
pp. 366-67: Henry Raymont: Interview with author.
p. 367: Ill-timed health problems: See Dr. Janet Travell medical records, Jan.-Apr. 1961, JFKL.
p. 367: “quite shattered”: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 305.
p. 367: “How could I” and the meeting with the Cubans: Richard Reeves, 94, 96-99; Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 279-85.
p. 367: “the worst experience”: Nixon, 234-35.
p. 367: “I was thinking about”: O’Donnell and Powers, 274-75.
pp. 367-68: “President Kennedy has stated,” and ”an old saying”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 289-90.
p. 368: “the testimony”: JFK to Henry Luce, Aug. 29, 1961, Box 9, Evelyn Lincoln Papers.
p. 368: “I have felt”: Sept. 12, 1961, ibid.
p. 368: “the military and intelligence”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 258.
p. 368: “never to rely”: Ibid., 296.
p. 368: “The first advice”: Bradlee, Conversations, 122.
p. 369: “Well for the time being”: Brandon Diary, May 2, 1961, Box 5, Brandon Papers.
p. 369: Cynical complaint, especially in western Europe: FRUS: Cuba, 1961- 1962, 423-28. Also see Stevenson’s depressing analysis from the UN: Ibid., 295-97.
p. 369: “Not much time”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 108.
p. 369: Nixon and Republican opposition: Ambrose, Nixon, 632.
p. 369: “It is doubtful”: RCC Newsletter, April 27, 1961, Box 18, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Papers, JFKL.
p. 369: “look pretty good”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 289.
p. 369: “When he disagreed”: Guthman and Shulman, 264-65.
p. 369: The White House and NSC meetings: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 304-7, 313-14. RFK memo: Ibid., 302-4.
p. 370: “That’s the most”: Richard Goodwin, 187.
p. 370: “I knew it!”: Quoted in Ambrose, Nixon, 632.
p. 370: “It really is true”: Nixon, 233-35.
p. 370: “There is only one thing”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 102-3.
p. 370: Gallup, 1717, 1721.
p. 371: “It’s just like”: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 292.
p. 371: The Taylor committee: Taylor, 180-84; FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 318-24.
p. 371: “reoriented”: Guthman and Shulman, 11-13.
p. 371: “agreed that”: FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962, 482-83.
p. 371: “There can be no”: Ibid., 605-6.
p. 371: With only 44 percent: Gallup, 1721.
pp. 371-72: Time, May 5, 1961.
p. 372: Liked it better and “always on the edge”: JFK on Presidency, Box 23, David Powers Papers, JFKL.
p. 372: “Sons of bitches”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 116.
Chapter 11: A World of Troubles
p. 373: “If the self-discipline”: PPP: JFK, 1961, 304-6.
p. 374: Steel production: Arthur Goldberg to JFK, Mar. 21, 1961, Arthur Goldberg Papers, LC.
p. 374: Williard Mathias, “evolution,” and “suspected of being”: Bird, 177, 431, n74.
p. 374: “the Soviets have no”: Walter Heller to JFK, June 27, 1961, Box 125A, POF.
p. 375: “in the interest”: PPP: JFK, 1961, 334-38.
p. 375: “Maybe if you”: Quoted in Tifft and Jones, 314-15.
p. 375: “intended to examine”: PPP: JFK, 1961, 335.
p. 375: Philandering: Conversation with Robert Novak. Other journalists, Haynes Johnson, James Kilpatrick, Nick Kotz, Marianne Means, Bruce Morton, and Don Oberdorfer, echoed Novak’s assertion.
p. 375: Ultra-right-wing press stories: Conversation with Ronald Whalen, JFKL.
p. 375: “underground market”: Parmet, JFK, 114.
p. 375: LBJ’s womanizing: Dallek, Lone Star Rising, 189-91, 637, n13; and Flawed Giant, 186-87.
p. 376: People around the president worried: Confidential source.
p. 376: “Once every two”: Evan Thomas, 116.
p. 376: JFK-NSK Messages between November and February: FRUS: Kennedy-Khrushchev Exchanges, 1-6.
p. 376: “It is a secret”: NSK to JFK, April 18, 1961; JFK to NSK, April 18, 1961, ibid., 7-10. Also see Nixon, 234-35, and Beschloss, Crisis Years, 120-21.
p. 377: Khrushchev answered Kennedy: NSK to JFK, April 22, 30, May 16, 1961; also see JFK to NSK, April 12, 1961: FRUS: Kennedy-Khrushchev, 10-16, 18-21.
p. 377: His dilemma: PPP: JFK, 1961, 288.
p. 377: Department of urban affairs and housing: Ibid., 285.
pp. 377-78: On political opposition: Lee C. White to JFK, Aug. 21, 1961, Box 30, POF.
p. 378: On the bill’s secondary priority: Legislative Items Recommended by the President, May 15, June 30, 1961, Box 49, POF.
p. 378: On the economy, see Walter Heller to JFK, April 6, 27, and May 10, 1961, Box 5, Walter W. Heller Papers, JFKL; Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 630; and Bernstein, 126-27.
p. 378: Tax reform bill: PPP: JFK, 1961, 290-303.
p. 378: Business leaders’ opposition: Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 631.
p. 378: LBJ: Dallek, Flawed Giant, 11.
p. 378: Gains in domestic affairs: PPP: JFK, 1961, 220, 282, 344, 353, 365, 486, 488, 524, 552.
p. 379: “highest-priority items”: Legislative Items Recommended by the President, May 15, June 30, 1961, Box 49, POF.
p. 379: On defeat of the education and health insurance bills: Bernstein, chaps. 7 and 8.
p. 380: “Phase Two”: Lou Harris to JFK, June 22, 1961, Box 63A, POF.
p. 380: Vow to renew his efforts in 1962: See the undated 8-page memo headed: “Is the Kennedy Administration financially responsible?
pp. 380-81: “the limited goal,” “quick-talking,” and “the smartest politician”: Quoted in Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 315.
p. 381: “This is the way”: Bayard Rustin OH, Columbia University.
p. 381: Executive Order: Bernstein, 51-52.
p. 381: “kept muttering”: Wofford, 169-70.
p. 381: “timid and reluctant”: Louis Martin to Sorensen, May 10, 1961, Box 66, Gen. Corresp., RFK Papers, JFKL.
pp. 381-82: Polls: Gallup, 1705, 1713, 1723-24.
p. 382: Burke Marshall: Branch, 405.
p. 382: The Charleston incident: Ibid., 399-400.
pp. 382-83: “King’s name,” O’Donnell’s response, and the Mayflower meeting: Ibid., 404-7. Martin Luther King OH.
p. 383: “Summary of Civil Rights Progress,” Box 63, POF.
pp. 383-84: Freedom Riders: Burke Marshall OH; Guthman and Shulman, 82-84, 92-93; Branch, 412-30; Richard Reeves, 122-25.
p. 384: “Can’t you get”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 125.
p. 384: “What sort of help”: Branch, 428.
p. 384: Gallup, 1723.
pp. 384-85: Nashville students: Burke Marshall OH; John Patterson OH; Guthman and Shulman, 84-86; Branch, 429-44.
p. 385: “Do you know”: Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy, 296.
p. 385: “I never recovered”: Guthman and Shulman, 93.
p. 385: “Oh, there are fists”: Quoted in Guthman, We Band, 170-71. For the rest, Branch, 444-50.
p. 386: The response to King’s decision: Ibid., 451-54.
p. 386: JFK statement: PPP: JFK, 1961, 391.
p. 386: Bobby consulted him constantly: Guthman and Shulman, 95-96.
p. 386: Riots at Abernathy’s church: Branch, 454-65.
p. 386: “If they don’t get here”: Ibid., 460.
pp. 386-87: “Now, Reverend”: Wofford, 154.
p. 387: “destroying us politically”: Quoted in Branch, 464-65.
p. 387: “They had made their point”: Guthman and Shulman, 97-98.
p. 387: “Negroes have been,” “Man, we’ve been,” and “You know”: Wofford, 155-57.
p. 387: “Wait means ‘Never!’”: Time, June 2, 1961.
p. 387: “could say something”: Wofford, 125-26.
p. 388: “Eisenhower never did”: Harris Wofford to JFK, May 29, 1961, Box 68, Gen. Corresp., RFK Attorney General’s Papers, JFKL.
p. 389: Speech to Canadian Parliament: PPP: JFK, 1961, 380-88.