The Kennedy Men: 1901-1963 (150 page)

644 He scribbled: In his note to himself, Kennedy said that Dillon called the missiles “flops,” but the NSC account of the meeting states that “Dillon recalled that we sent United States missiles to Europe because we had so many of them we did not know where to put them.” Minutes of the 506th meeting of the National Security Council, Washington, D.C., October 21, 1962, 2:30–4:50
P.M.
FRUS.

644 “We don’t want to …”: Ex Comm meeting, October 22, 1962, 3:00
P.M.,
tapes 33 and 33A, JFKPL.

644 “that in the days …”: May and Zelikow, p. 201.

645 The president was constantly: Bradford, p. 239.

645 “Who’s that? Eddie?”: Edward Berube, KLOH.

646 “It’s a very difficult choice …”: meeting with members of Congress in the Cabinet Room, October 22, 1962, tape 33A, JFKPL.

647 “They’re gonna keep …”: Ex Comm meeting, October 23, 1962, 6:00
P.M.,
tape 35, JFKPL.

647 “whatever was done …”: memorandum for the files, October 23, 1962, CIA, DCI/McCone files, “Meetings with the President,” FRUS.

648 “It looks really mean …”: Ex Comm meeting, October 23, 1962, 6:00
P.M.,
tape 35, JFKPL.

648 “Robert Kennedy and his circle …”: Fursenko and Naftali, pp. 249-50.

649 “I called Bolshakov …”: LL interview with Charles Bartlett.

649 A few minutes later: Thomas, p. 222.

649 “had almost daily conversations”: Anatoly Dobrynin,
In Confidence
(1995), p. 76.

649 “was far from being …”: ibid., pp. 82-83.

649 “he had a very helpful…”: RKHT, p. 514.

650 “an idea of the …”: Dobrynin, p. 82.

650 That same evening: Bradford, p. 240.

650 He told the president: TD, pp. 51-52.

650 “He [Kennedy] took.…”: Bradford, p. 240.

650 The air force’s massive: Brugioni, pp. 366, 398.

651 “the danger and concern …”: TD, p. 53.

651 “Here is the exact situation”: Ex Comm meeting, October 24, 1962, 10:00
A.M.,
Cabinet Room, tapes 34 and 35, JFKPL.

651 “for a few fleeting …”: This account of RFK’s mindset is based on his own recollections in
Thirteen Days,
pp. 53-54, a handwritten note in RFK’s personal papers, JFKPL, seen by two authors who have had access to the document: Thomas, p. 225, and RKHT, p. 514; and the tape transcripts of the Ex Comm meeting. There are subtle differences in these three accounts that the author has attempted to reconcile in a reasonable way.

652 The next afternoon: Bradford, p. 240.

652 And an ironic: ibid., p. 241.

653 “Lansdale feels badly …”: memorandum for the director, “Subject: Mongoose Operations and General Lansdale’s Problems,” October 25, 1962.

653 “stated that he understood…”: memorandum of Mongoose meeting, October 26, 1962, FRUS.

653 “that would leave …”: memorandum of telephone conversation between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Macmillan, October 26, 1962, NSC files, FRUS.

653 “the primary Soviet…”: paper prepared by the Planning Subcommittee of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, NSC files, JFKPL, October 25, 1962, FRUS.

653 “it was not incoherent…”: TD, p. 66.

653 “not transport armaments…”: embassy in the Soviet Union to the Department of State, Moscow, telegram, October 26, 1962, 7:00
P.M.
., president’s office files, FRUS, JFKPL.

654 “as not an unreasonable solution”: Ex Comm meeting, October 27, 1962, 10:00
A.M.
, JFKPL.

654 “The missiles [in Turkey] were …”: transcript of a discussion about the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1983, NSC archives 03307, DHP.

655 Joint Chiefs were preparing: Ex Comm meeting, October 27, 1962, FRUS.

655 In an invasion: Fursenko and Naftali, p. 276.

655 anyone within half a mile: ibid., p. 242.

655 “We all know….”: Ex Comm meeting, October 27, 1962, 4:00
P.M.
., Cabinet Room, tapes 42 and 43, JFKPL.

656 “Well, the only …”: ibid.

657 “spoiling for a fight”: Dobrynin, p. 87.

658 Bobby was almost crying: Thomas, p. 228.

658 “that some day …”: Dobrynin, p. 90.

658 Castro himself had admonished: Fursenko and Naftali, pp. 272-73.

658 “In order to save …”: ibid., p. 284.

659 “has given a …”: Chairman Khrushchev to President Kennedy, Moscow, October 28, 1962, Department of State, FRUS.

659 “the greatest danger …”: John F. Kennedy, speech on aid for Greece and Turkey, record of House of Representatives, April 1, 1947.

660 “Once we’ve got these …”: National Security Council meeting, November 7, 1962, tape 53A. The dialogue here and in the rest of this chapter are from tapes at the JFKPL that are here transcribed for the first time.

661 “conducting surveillance …”: NSC meeting, November 12, 1962, tape 56, JFKPL.

662 “Bobby’s notion is…”: NSC meeting, either November 14 or 15, 1962, tape 58, JFKPL.

662 “personal opinion”: Fursenko and Naftali, p. 300.

662 “definite schedule … let’s say …”: ibid., p. 303.

662 “We have the firm impression …”: ibid, p. 310.

29. The Bells of Liberty

664 “Ted Kennedy in Italy”: Joseph A. Page, “The Precocious Ted Kennedy,”
The Nation,
March 10, 1962.

665 When he left Panama: Walter Trohan,
Political Animals: Memoirs of a Sentimental Cynic
(1975), p. 327.

665 “some 200 million …”: quoted in Clymer, p. 35.

665-66 “Bobby was opposed …”: John Sharon, KLOH.

666 “The only argument…”: LL interview with Chuck Spalding.

666 “Can you put it in …”: LL interview with Bob Healy. See also Clymer, p. 36, and TEEK, p. 158.

667 “Teddy and his brothers…”: LL interview with Milton Gwirtzman.

668 The count was: Clymer, p. 39.

669 “… it was wrong …”: ibid, p. 38.

669 “Now listen, Eddie”: Fay, p. 226.

670 talked to Trohan: LL interview with Walter Trohan.

670 “In Israel he almost…”: quoted in TEEK, p. 181.

670 “Now, Mr. President…”: LL interview with Milton Gwirtzman.

670-71 “his candidacy has already…”: Joe McCarthy, “One Election JFK Can’t Win,”
Look,
November 6, 1962.

671 “widely regarded here.…”: quoted in Clymer, p. 38.

671 “You want something …”: ibid., p. 47.

671 “Teddy, these ate….”: ibid.

672 “The major wheels….”-.
Washington Star,
April 27, 1962.

672 “In the field of party …”: Sidney Hyman, “Why There’s Trouble in the New Frontier,”
Look,
July 2, 1963.

672 “In rough issues…”: ibid.

672 There were 15,600: David Kaiser,
American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War
(2000), p. 201.

673 “They’re not certain …”: presidential recordings, telephone conversations, cassette E, JFKPL.

673 The Americans placed: LL interviews with John Nolan and Barrett E. Prettyman Jr.

674 In a phrase: Thomas, p. 238.

674 “The time will probably …”: notes of President Kennedy’s remarks at the 508th NSC meeting, January 22, 1963, NSC files, FRUS.

674 “putting glass…”: ibid.

674 “He felt a very …”: LL interview with John Nolan.

674 On April 3: Thomas, p. 239.

674 “contingencies such as the …”: summary record of the second meeting of the NSC Cuba Standing Group, NSC files, April 23, 1963, FRUS, JFKPL.

675 Neither Bobby: LL interview with John Nolan.

675 they brought a wet suit: John Nolan has a picture of Castro in the wet suit hanging in his Washington law office.

675 the CIA had prepared: IR, p. 86.

675 “very interested”: Gordon Chase, memorandum for the record, “Subject: Mr. Donovan’s Trip to Cuba,” March 3, 1963, NSC archives, www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/.

676 “always the possibility”: President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to the Standing Group of the National Security Council memorandum, April 21, 1963, NSC files, “The Cuban Problem,” FRUS.

676 “desire for some noise level…”: Gordon Chase, NSC staff, to President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy), memorandum, April 11, 1963, FRUS.

676 “a railway bridge …”: ibid.

676 “might initially intensify…”: memorandum for the NSC Cuba Standing Group, NSC files, countries series, Cuba, general, May 1-15, 1963, FRUS.

677 Manuel Artime, their leader, received: Russo, p. 172.

677 “I had many chances …”: Blight and Kornbluh, p. 121.

678 One Sunday morning: Thomas, p. 239.

678 “in the dark-of-the-moon …”: memorandum for the record, June 19, 1963, CIA, “Subject, Meeting at the White House Concerning Proposed Covert Policy and Integrated Program of Action Towards Cuba,” FRUS.

678 “sabotage of Cuban …”: paper prepared by the CIA for the NSC Cuba Standing Group, Washington, D.C., June 8, 1963, NSC files, FROUS JFKPL.

678 when they had burned: LL interview with Samuel Halpern.

678 “We fixed that”: LL interview with Bradley Earl Ayers.

679 “set Cuba aflame”: LL interview with Grayston Lynch, and Lynch, p. 171.

679 “We could float…”: summary record of the tenth meeting of the NSC Cuba Standing Group, July 16, 1963, NSC files, FRUS, JFKPL.

680 “I need a phrase …”: LL interview with Myer Feldman.

681 “if he had said …”: Lord Harlech, KLOH.

681 “These were the three happiest…”: Dorothy Tubirdy, KLOH, and LL interview with Dorothy Tubirdy.

682 “more British than Irish”: Dr. Thomas J. Kiernan, KLOH.

682 “You’ll have to move it”: LL interview with Malcolm Kilduff.

683 “I think he felt back home”: LL interview with Mary Ryan.

683 “He had always …”: Jacqueline Kennedy, in a worldwide broadcast on what would have been JFK’s forty-seventh birthday, clipping, May 30, 1964, JFKPL.

685 “Bells mark…”: JFK notes written sometime on European trip, June 1963, JFKPP.

685 “Heroes of the past…”: President John F. Kennedy, “Heroes Watch Us!: Some Words to Live by for Independence Day,” ibid.

686 “Admiral, I want to express…”: audiotape of 1963 reunion. Courtesy R. F. Duffy.

30. The Adrenaline of Action

688 At the first dance of the winter of 1962-63: Nina Burleigh,
A Very Private Woman: The Life and Unsolved Murder of Presidential Mistress Mary Meyer
(1998), p. 217.

688 Once, at Hickory Hill: ibid., p. 177.

688 For a year: ibid., pp. 208-16.

688 “She was a very interesting …”: LL interview with Ben Bradlee.

689 “Mary, where have …”: Burleigh, p. 217.

689 “What is the scandal?”: presidential recordings, telephone conversations, John F. Kennedy and Arthur Schlesinger Jr., March 22, 1963, cassette E, JFKPL.

690 “How serious do …”: interview, George Smathers, BP.

690 “Have we learned …”: Evans to Belmont, July 2, 1963, FBIFOI.

691 Baker’s assertion: LL interview with Bobby Baker. See also Thomas, p. 255.

691 “the best oral sex I ever had”: Thomas, p. 444.

691 LaVern Duffy, one of Bobby’s: ibid., p. 257.

691 “The White House was…”: LL interview with Marcus Raskin.

692 “I don’t know …”: LL interview with Joseph Paolella.

692 “debaucher of a girl…”: memorandum to Mr. Mohr, October 27, 1961, FBIFOI.

692-93 “I think that all men …”:
The Thunderbolt,
no. 54, November 1963.

693 In July, the FBI: M. Jones to Cartha DeLoach, July 9, 1963, FBIFOI.

693 “would have been …”: LL interview with Edwin Guthman.

693 Kennedy’s aide Mike Feldman: LL interviews with Myer Feldman and Cartha DeLoach.

693 “I know how you dislike …”: Charles Bartlett to John F. Kennedy, July 19, 1963, PC.

694 “the committee would have …”: Charles Bartlett, memo of conversation with Kenny O’Donnell, February 1, 1963, PC.

694 “the buffer and the string cutter”: LL interview with John Seigenthaler.

694 “O’Donnell’s remark…”: Charles Bartlett, untitled memo, July 19, 1963, PC.