An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 (134 page)

p. 439: “We were hysterical”: U.S. Senate,
Interim Report,
142. Also see
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
659-60.

pp. 439-40: On JFK, RFK, and assassination plots, see Lawrence Freedman, 150-51; Central Intelligence Agency,
CIA Targets Fidel,
25, 108; and Arthur Schlesinger Jr. to Editor, Dec. 21, 1997,
New York Times Book Review
.

pp. 440-41: On Jagan and British Guiana:
FRUS: American Republics,
519-40; Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
773-79.

Chapter 13: Reluctant Warrior

p. 442: For discussions on Vietnam between March and LBJ’s trip in May:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
58-157.

p. 443: For a concise history of Indochina, see Roy Jumper and Marjorie Weiner Normand, “Vietnam: The Historical Background,” in Gettleman.

p. 443: Kissinger had it right: Kissinger, 226.

p. 443: “There is no clearer example”:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
84.

pp. 443-44: Muting U.S. involvement: Gibbons, 34-36.

p. 444: Rostow to JFK, May 26, 1961:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
157-58.

p. 444: Assurance on MAAG, limited appropriations, and Diem’s resistance: Ibid., 85-86, 166-68, 174.

p. 444: Special Financial Group: Ibid., 179, 198-203, 221-23.

p. 444: “emphasized the reluctance”: Ibid., 253-54.

p. 445: “you would wish”: Quoted in Gibbons, 61-62.

p. 445: JFK to Diem, Aug. 5, 1961,
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
263-66.

p. 445: “specifically conditioned”: Ibid., 260.

p. 446: U.N. speech:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
624.

p. 446: Rostow to JFK, Sept. 15, 1961; Taylor to JFK, Sept. 18, 1961:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
298-99, 304-5.

p. 446: In his U.N. address:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
624.

p. 446: Bowles to Rusk, Oct. 5, 1961:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
322.

p. 447: “any investment”: Theodore White to JFK, Oct. 11, 1961, Box 128, POF.

p. 447: “Concept for”: Quoted in Gibbons, 69-70.

p. 447: White House meeting, Oct. 11, 1961:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
343-44.

p. 447: Preferred alternatives:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
656, 660.

p. 447: Press conference: Ibid.

p. 447: Responded to press reports:
New York Times,
Oct. 14, 1961; Gibbons, 71.

p. 448: Rusk to Bell, Oct. 12, 1961; Lemnitzer to Adm. Felt, Oct. 13, 1961:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
359, 362-63. Felt’s reply: Gibbons, 72.

p. 448: JFK’s message to Taylor, Oct. 28, 1961:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
443.

p. 448: Taylor report: Ibid., 477-532. The quotes are on 477-79.

pp. 448-49: Taylor proposals: Ibid.

p. 448: “Only the Vietnamese”: Ibid., 489. Gibbons, 73-78.

p. 449: Military coup:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
493-94, 512-14.

p. 449: McNamara recommendations: Ibid., 538-40, 559-61.

p. 449: The compromise recommendations: Ibid., 561-66, 576; Gibbons, 89-91.

p. 450: “United States troops”: Krock,
Memoirs,
332-33.

p. 450: “They want a force”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
547.

p. 450: “had many questions”:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
532-33.

p. 451: Opposed the suggestion: Ibid., 467-70, 474-76, 580-82.

p. 451: Ball was as emphatic: Ball, 366-67.

p. 452: Armed himself with eight questions:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
576.

p. 452: Nov. 11 meeting: Ibid., 577-78.

p. 452: William Bundy believed: Gibbons, 91-92.

pp. 452-53: Kennedy approved a recommendation:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
591-94, 603-4.

p. 453: NSC meeting, Nov. 15, 1961: Ibid., 607-10.

p. 454: Rostow’s warning: Ibid., 601-2.

p. 454: Rusk to Nolting, Nov. 13, 1961: Ibid., 583.

p. 454: The sense of urgency: Ibid., 477, 479, 486, 490, 511-12, 524.

pp. 454-55: JFK’s message of Nov. 15, 1961, to Diem: Ibid., 656-57; Gibbons, 99-100.

p. 455: Diem’s ghosted letter:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
801-2.

p. 455: JFK’s speeches:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
724-28, 735-36.

p. 455: Implemented JFK’s directives: Gibbons, 137.

pp. 455-56: Opposition from Diem:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
643, 689-91.

p. 456: John K. Galbraith to JFK, Nov. 21, 1961: Galbraith,
Letters,
89-94.

p. 456: “I’ve told the Secretary”:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
612-14.

p. 456: “considerable discussion”: Ibid., 673-74, 675-76. Gibbons, 106-7.

p. 456: Drawn into firefights and lacked the training: Edward G. Lansdale OH, Columbia University;
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
741, 754.

p. 457: Rusk cable, Nov. 28, 1961: Ibid., 679.

p. 457: JFK news conference, Jan. 15, 1962:
PPP: JFK, 1962,
17.

p. 458: “we seem headed”:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962,
129-32.

p. 458: “now involved in”: James Reston,
New York Times,
Feb. 14, 1962. Salinger, 394, 398.

p. 458: “maximum feasible”: Rusk to Saigon Embassy, Feb. 21, 1962.
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962,
158-60.

p. 458: February 14 press conference:
PPP: JFK, 1962,
136-37.

p. 458: Ongoing problems with the press:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962,
194-95, 206-7, 279-81.

p. 459: Harriman to Embassy, April 4, 1962: Ibid., 305-6.

p. 459: Rusk to Embassy, April 11, 1962: Ibid., 323-24.

p. 460: Galbraith to JFK, April 4 and 5, 1962: Galbraith,
Letters,
100-103. David Kaiser, 131-32, 518 n. 37.

p. 460: JFK-Harriman discussion, April 6, 1962:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962,
309-10.

p. 460: “subterranean war”:
PPP: JFK, 1962,
199.

p. 460: “we are going to win”:
New York Times,
Feb. 19, 1962. In March, the White House told Sen. Wayne Morse of Oregon that RFK’s remarks “reflect the policy of the Administration toward Viet-Nam”:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962,
230.

p. 461: White House conversation, May 1, 1962: Ibid., 366-67.

p. 461: For JFK’s dilemma on testing, see Seaborg, 63-86. Also see
FRUS: Arms Control and Disarmament, 1961-1963,
38-40, and Memo, April 7, 1961, Chalmers Roberts Papers, JFKL.

p. 462: Soviets’ fifty atmospheric tests: Seaborg, 89-90.

p. 462: Nov. 2 NSC meeting:
FRUS: Arms Control,
217-22.

p. 462: The president announced:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
692-93.

p. 462: “we now entered”: Seaborg, 111.

p. 462: “We could not get”: Ibid., 126-27.

pp. 462-63: “considerably more in favor”: Ibid., 129-30. Also
FRUS: Arms Control,
272-81.

p. 463: Repeatedly sought assurances: Seaborg, 132. News conference, Jan. 15, 1962:
PPP: JFK, 1962,
18.

p. 463: “Who would want”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 274.

p. 463: Decision to test: NSC Meeting., Feb. 27, 1962:
FRUS: Arms Control,
331-37.

pp. 463-64: JFK address, Mar. 2, 1962:
PPP: JFK, 1962,
186-92.

pp. 464-65: Civil defense:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
536-37; JFK to McNamara, Aug. 20, 1961, Box 295, NSF; Jerome Wiesner to JFK, Sept. 27, 1961, Box 67, POF; Kaplan, 309-10.

p. 465: JFK to governors, Oct. 7, 1961, and news conference, Oct. 11, 1961:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
648-49, 657.

pp. 465-66: The pamphlet and the response to it and the program: Kaplan, 310-12; Galbraith to JFK, Nov. 9, 1961, Box 295, NSF; Schlesinger to JFK, Nov. 22, 1961, Box 63, POF; Sorensen to JFK, Nov. 23, 1961, Box 30, Theodore Sorensen Papers, JFKL.

p. 466: Meetings with Teller: Bundy to JFK, Dec. 1, 1961, Box 295, NSF; Kaplan, 313-14.

p. 466: JFK’s backtracking on civil defense: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
748-49; Kaplan, 314.

p. 466: JFK news conference, July 5, 1962:
PPP: JFK, 1962,
543.

p. 467: Anti-Castro planning:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-62,
689-700, 703, 710, 719-20, 746, 767, 771, 786-91.

p. 467: Mary Hemingway:
The Nation,
Mar. 26, 2001, 17.

p. 468: Dominican Republic:
FRUS: American Republics,
623-24, 642-44, 679-93.

p. 468: Visits to Venezuela and Colombia:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
803-15. Also see Angello M. Novello to RFK, July 27, 1961, General Correspondence, Box 2, RFK Papers, JFKL.

p. 469: “I too found”: JFK to James Farley, Jan. 5, 1962, Box 33, James Farley Papers, LC.

p. 469: JFK’s reception: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
767

Chapter 14: The Limits of Power

p. 470: “the fix that he was in”: Theodore C. Sorensen, “Judgment and Responsibility: John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” in Lobel, 27.

p. 470: “I know that”: Lincoln Diary, n.d., Box 4, Evelyn Lincoln Papers, JFKL.

p. 471: “He and I continued”: Sorensen, 294.

p. 471: “He was tired”: Lincoln Diary, May 18, 1961, Box 2, Evelyn Lincoln Papers.

p. 471: “So much depends”: “JFK on Presidency,” Box 23, David Powers Papers, JFKL.

p. 471: “less tense“: Memorandum for the Files, Aug. 23, 1961, Box 479, Averell Harriman Papers, LC.

p. 471: “Do you think”: RFK interview, Oct. 23, 1961, Box 2, RFK Personal Papers, JFKL.

p. 471: Medical problems in Aug. 1961: Dr. Janet Travell medical records, JFKL.

p. 472: The lectern: Janet Travell to Evelyn Lincoln, July 10, 1961, Box 67, POF.

p. 472: Diet: Charles Bartlett to JFK, n.d., Box 28, POF.

p. 472: Dr. Janet Travell’s care: RFK to George McGovern, June 26, 1961, Box 2, RFK Personal Papers. Also see Travell, 5-7, 358.

pp. 472-73: JFK’s back problems and treatment: Dr. Janet Travell OH; Dr. George Burkley OH; Parmet,
JFK,
120-24; Richard Reeves, 242-44, 273-74; Leamer, 544-45. For the quotes describing JFK’s improvement, see Travell medical records.

p. 473: Kenneth O’Donnell to Dr. Travell and Dr. Burkley, April 10, 1962, document provided by Virginia P. Wilson, Travell’s daughter.

p. 473: “so totally inadequate”: Elizabeth Carpenter OH, LBJL.

p. 474: “As little as possible”: Richard Reeves, 154.

p. 474: “I don’t think”: Cass Canfield OH, Columbia University.

p. 474: “sorry for Jackie”: Hersh, 238.

p. 474: Jacqueline Kennedy to William Walton, June 8, 1962, Box 1, William Walton Papers, JFKL.

pp. 474-75: Jacqueline’s spending: Pierre Salinger OH; Parmet,
JFK,
109-10; Bradlee,
Conversations,
118-19.

p. 475: JPK’s illness: Parmet,
JFK,
124-25.

pp. 475-76: Kennedy’s womanizing: A number of books in recent years have catalogued Kennedy’s sexual escapades, but none more fully and probably more accurately than Hersh’s
Dark Side of Camelot
. As scholars Ernest May and Philip Zelikow wrote in an otherwise persuasive critical assessment of the book, “Hersh has accumulated new evidence that Kennedy’s womanizing became increasingly more abandoned and more reckless as he became older, more famous, and more powerful. Hersh has amassed convincingly detailed testimony to this effect from numerous confidantes, four Secret Service agents talking on the record, and many others, some of it buttressed by contemporaneous FBI records.” Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow, “Camelot Confidential,”
Diplomatic History,
Fall 1998, 642. Also see Giglio, 267.

p. 476: The nineteen-year-old: Barbara Gamarekian OH, to which she gave me access, including 17 pages blacked out at the JFKL.

p. 476: He told Macmillan: Horne, 290.

p. 476: Mary Meyer: Parmet,
JFK,
305-7.

p. 476: “Mary would be rough”: Bradlee,
Conversations,
54.

p. 476: “heard stories about”: Bradlee,
A Good Life,
216-17.

p. 477: Jacqueline Kennedy’s response to the affairs: Confidential source.

p. 477: “This is the girl”: Barbara Gamarekian OH.

p. 477: Keeping JFK’s staff informed: Hersh, 390 n.

p. 477: The story about JFK’s married aide and press hypocrisy: Gamarekian Interview, April 19, 2001.

p. 477: Press sleeping around: Barbara Gamarekian, “My Turn: History in the Making,”
Newsweek,
June 16, 1997.

p. 478: JFK called Sidey to the White House:
Time,
Feb. 23, 1962; Hugh Sidey OH; Richard Reeves, 287-88.

p. 478: On Marilyn Monroe: Richard Reeves, 315-16; and see a
Village Voice
clipping, attached to Schlesinger to JFK, May 31, 1962, Box 65A, POF.