Really Cool Stuff about John F Kennedy
1. In 1937, Jack lost his first election as a freshman in college.
2. During the spring semester of 1939, Jack withdrew from Harvard so that he could spend time traveling around Europe. What was so cool about this was that he had front row seats to the initial stages of World War II. “During the spring and summer of 1939, Jack traveled throughout Europe, the Soviet Union, the Balkans, and the Middle East. From each capital he reported to his father on the political and economic situation” (p. 94). “’For a twenty-two year old American,’ said Richard Whalen, ‘ it was a unique opportunity to look behind the scenes as the stage was set for the Second World War’” (p. 94).
3. For a brief span, Jack was employed by William Randolph Hearst (a good friend of his dad’s) to work for the Chicago Herald American. “The position would give Jack something stimulating to do, keep his name before the public, probably grant him credentials to travel in Europe, and expose him to journalism as a career” (p. 180).
4. While a senator, Kennedy (and his office) checked out the most books from the Library of Congress. “(Later, the library staff reported the Kennedy’s office signed out more books than any other on Capitol Hill)” (p. 262).
5. I, personally, find this next tidbit extremely interesting because I’m a huge fan of Marion Davies. “Following a few days in Acapulco, the newlyweds [Jack and Jackie] flew to Los Angeles, where they stayed for a week in the Beverly Hills mansion of Marion Davies, the mistress of the late William Randolph Hearst” (p. 270). Awesome!
6. McCarthy is always portrayed as rather an evil character (in just about every book I’ve read) so it’s quite fascinating that Robert Kennedy not only worked for McCarthy at the height of his power, but liked him as well! “From January to July 1953, Bobby served as assistant counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which McCarthy chaired “(p. 274).
7. Nobody mentions this but Jack nearly died after his back surgery in 1954. “Other evidence indicates that the infection on the third day after the operation was a staph infection that nearly killed Jack. Most accounts of life say he slipped into a coma, was placed on the critical list, and received the last rites of the church” (p. 281).
8. This was one of those urban legends that I found to be true. Due to constant back pain, Jack really did have a specially-made bed…and chairs! “Travell designed a new mattress for him made of hair—tightly tied and firm—and installed a heavy bed board underneath the mattress…At Jack’s request Travell redesigned some of his household furnishings, particularly the chairs” (p. 348).
9. It was while Kennedy was a senator that a record was set for filibustering. On an unrelated note, I am not surprised that this long filibuster was to due to trying to halt a Civil Rights Act vote. “The Senate debate on the complicated legislation consumed over 121 hours. Democratic senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina filibustered for a record 24 hours and 18 minutes, trying to impede a vote” (p. 372).
10. And let’s not forget the Kennedy/Nixon debates were the first to be televised in history. “The debates had the potential for reaching a huge audience. In 1960 forty-six million American homes had televisions, 25 percent more TV households than only four years earlier”(p. 479).
11. I thought this was funny. Kennedy was so attractive as a presidential candidate that apparently women went absolutely mad over him. Thus the Kennedy group came up with funny nicknames for each group of crazed women: the Jumpers, the Double Leapers, the Clutchers and Runners. Theodore White explained the jumpers as “teenage girls who would bounce, jounce, and jump as the cavalcade passed…Then, as the press began to comment on the phenomenon, thus stimulating more artistic jumping, the middle-aged ladies began to jump up and down too.” (p. 490-91). “The double leapers were women who jumped together while holding hands. Clutchers crossed their arms, hugged themselves, and screamed, ‘He looked at me! He looked at me!’ The runners were women, sometimes carrying infants, who broke through police barricades to run after Kennedy’s car” (p. 491).
12. The 1960 presidential election was the closest in modern history. “Kennedy earned 49.7 percent of the total to Nixon’s 49.6 percent, the smallest popular-vote margin of any presidential race in the twentieth century” (p. 495).
13. During his administration, Kennedy promoted economic prosperity. “The Kennedy ‘boom,’ begun unspectacularly in the spring of 1961, became the longest peacetime period of prosperity in modern US history” (p. 638).
14. Never needing money, Jack was able to give most of his money earned from jobs away to charities. “Since 1947 John Kennedy had donated his entire legislative salary to charities” (p. 746). He kept up this habit while in the presidency and even donated all his royalties from Why England Slept as well.
15. Kennedy was the first American president to sell weapons to Israel. “Until the deal Israel had never received weapons from the United States” (p. 877).
I have to admit that I really liked this book. It was very pro-Jack from the start but it wasn’t unpalatable. He begins the book with a nice saga-like history of the Kennedys and the Fitzgeralds from Ireland which I found fascinating. Of course any book on John F Kennedy is really a history of the Kennedys themselves so I wasn’t disappointed here either. O’Brien (I wonder if he’s Irish as well) gives us all the gory details of the Kennedys’ rise to fame and fortune. Like I said before, the author, you can tell, likes Kennedy but he also is sure to give both sides of every story. For instance, the sinking of PT-109 caused quite an uproar with some people dubbing Jack a hero and other’s blaming him for the sinking in the first place. O’Brien lays it all out there for the reader to decide.
There were tons of ironies in this book. First of all, I thought it was funny that JFK and Nixon were actually pretty good friends. In fact, after Jack’s back surgery, Jack received a large gift basket that said “Welcome Home, Dick Nixon” (p. 283). I also liked the fact that JFK dated Oleg Cassini’s ex-wife and then Cassini would go on to become Jackie’s head fashion designer while she was First Lady. It’s a small world, people. Here’s something you never read about but was a big issue at the time. Because of segregation, African diplomats hated being stationed in Washington. JFK would have to field calls from the angry diplomats from African nations because they were refused room and board in Maryland while driving down from NYC. Indeed it was partially due to the pressure from other governments that Kennedy looked so favorably on civil rights.
I loved that O’Brien included this hilarious entrée into the unique and cliquish Kennedy world with “Rules for Visiting the Kennedys” by David Hackett. “Prepare yourself by reading the Congressional Record, US News & World Report, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, The Nation, How to Play Sneaky Tennis, and The Democratic Digest. Memorize at least three good jokes. Anticipate that each Kennedy will ask you what you think of another Kennedy’s a) dress, b) hairdo, c) backhand, d) latest public achievement. Be sure to answer ‘Terrific.’ This should get you through dinner. Now for the football field. It’s ‘touch’ but it’s murder. If you don’t want to play, don’t come. If you do come, play, or you’ll be fed in the kitchen and nobody will speak to you. Don’t let the girls fool you. Even pregnant, they can make you look silly. If Harvard played touch, they’d be on the varsity. Above all, don’t suggest any plans, even if you played quarterback at school. They Kennedys have the signal-calling department sewed up, and all of them have A-pluses in leadership. If one of them makes a mistake, keep still…But don’t stand still. Run madly on every play, and make a lot of noise. Don’t appear to be having too much fun though. They’ll accuse you of not taking the game seriously enough. Don’t criticize the other team, either. It’s bound to be full of Kennedys, too, and the Kennedys don’t like that sort of thing. To become really popular you must show raw guts. To show raw guts, fall on your face now and then. Smash into the house once and a while, going after a pass. Laugh off a twisted ankle, or a big hole torn in your best suit. They like this. It shows you take the game as seriously as they do. But remember. Don’t be too good. Let Jack run around you now and then. He’s their boy”(p. 341-42).
Even though I read this big, ol’ book on Kennedy and even though I watched numerous
movies on him as well, I still have to admit that I have no idea who killed JFK. We’ll just need to sit tight and wait for 2029 to get the truth.
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