Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House (56 page)

209  
In March 1961
: Ibid., pp. 45–48, 63–66;
Foreign Relations of the United States: Arms Control and Disarmament, 1961–
1963
(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995), 38–41, 53–57, 69–71, 81–83.

210  
The exchanges at the conference
:
FRUS: Arms Control
, 83–92; Seaborg,
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban
, 66–68.

210  
After Vienna, Moscow
: Seaborg,
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban
, 68–78; Schlesinger,
Thousands Days
, 398; Reeves,
President Kennedy,
223; PPP: JFK, 1961, 486–87;
FRUS: Arms Control
, 150–56.

211  
At the same time, Kennedy
: PPP: JFK, 1961, 618–26.

212  
But the Russians seemed impervious
: Seaborg,
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban
, 84, 111;
FRUS: Arms Control
, 217–21.

213  
Kennedy’s ambivalence
: Seaborg,
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban
, 126–31;
FRUS: Arms Control
, 282–88.

213  
With little success in turning
:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961–1962
, 640–47, 654–55, 657.

215  
At the same time, however
: Ibid., 641, 657.

215  
But White House discussions
: Ibid., 664–68; Bird,
Color of
Truth
, 199; Thomas,
Robert Kennedy
, 145–48.

217  
Yet the administration
:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961–1962
, 684–89; Thomas,
Robert Kennedy
, 151–52.

217  
Lansdale was the president’s and Bobby’s
:
Robert Kennedy in His Own Words
, 378; Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy
, 461–62, 466–67; Thomas,
Robert Kennedy
, 148–50;
New York Times
obituary, Feb. 24, 1987; Jonathan Nashel,
Edward Lansdale’s Cold War
(Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2006).

219  
As much as the Kennedys
:
Robert Kennedy in His Own Words
, 378; Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy
, 478–85; Thomas,
Robert Kennedy
, 151–52.

220  
The Joint Chiefs also got into
: The documents on Operation Northwoods are available at the National Archives website.

220  
Unhappily for the president
: Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy
, 477–78.

221  
While nuclear talks and Cuba
:
Newsweek
, July 3, 1961.

221  
The
Newsweek
article
:
FRUS: Berlin Crisis, 1961–1962
, 187–202, 209–22; Acheson’s comment is in Honoré M. Catudal,
Kennedy and the Berlin Wall Crisis
(Berlin: Berlin-Verlag, 1980), 182; McGeorge Bundy, OH, JFKL; Acheson Speech, July 25, 1961, POF, JFKL.

222  
To counter Acheson’s assault
: PPP: JFK, 1961, 513–21.

223  
The questions to Kennedy
: Schlesinger,
Thousand Days,
390–91.

223  
Kennedy saw the speech
: Dallek,
Unfinished Life
, 422–24; PPP: JFK, 1961, 533–40.

224  
Kennedy’s speech had its desired effect
: Taubman,
Khrushchev
, 503–506.

225  
The Wall touched off
: Bird,
Color of Truth
, 212; Shapley,
Promise and Power
, 121; Poole,
History of the Joint Chiefs
, 148–49;
FRUS: Berlin Crisis, 1961–1962
, 339–42.

226  
Kennedy and his White House advisers
: O’Donnell and Powers,
Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye
, 303;
FRUS: Berlin Crisis, 1961–1962
, 330–32.

226  
The pressure on Kenned
y: O’Donnell and Powers,
Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye
, 299; Dallek,
Flawed Giant
, 19–20.

227  
But uncertainties remained
:
FRUS: Berlin Crisis, 1961–1962
, 359–60, 377–78, 392, 397–98, 435–37.

228  
The clash of opinions
: Ibid., 444–55; Salinger,
With Kennedy
, chapter 12.

229  
With the opening of negotiations
: Schlesinger,
Thousand Days
, 400.

229  
Kennedy’s decision in early July
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 195–96, 198–200, 205–207.

230  
Rostow was not alone
: Halberstam,
Best and Brightest
, 147;
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 216–20.

231  
Others in the Kennedy administration
: Ibid., 234–36, 243–44, 248–51.

232  
Three days after his July 25
: Ibid., 252–56; Galbraith,
Letters to Kennedy
, 70–71; PPP: JFK, 1961, 624.

234  
Mindful that Kennedy
: Galbraith,
Letters to Kennedy
, 76–77.

234  
Galbraith thought
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 256–57, 267–69, 292; William C. Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships, 1961–1964
(Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1984), 60–61; Halberstam,
Best and Brightest,
150; White to JFK, Oct. 11, 1961, POF, JFKL.

235  
With the Berlin Wall
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 283; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 61–63.

236  
But no one could deny
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 336–46; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 66–71.

237  
In choosing the team
: Halberstam,
Best and Brightest
, 165–66;
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 359, 362–63.

238  
On October 16:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 381–82, 443.

238  
Despite Kennedy’s directive
: Ibid., 456–57, 467–70.

239  
Mansfield’s memo:
Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 72, n.2.

239  
Taylor and everyone on the mission
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 427–30, 477–81, 489–94; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 72–78.

240  
After seeing President Kennedy
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 532–34, 538–40, 543–44, 547–48, 550–52, 572–73; Ball,
Past Has Another Pattern
, 363, 365; McNamara,
In Retrospect
, 38–39; Schlesinger,
Thousand Days
, 547.

241  
The memo gave Kennedy support
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 576–78; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 91–92.

242  
A fierce argument:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 580–83, 601–603, 605–607; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 101–102; Halberstam,
Best and Brightest
, 154.

244  
Bundy’s advice resonated:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 607–10, 603–604.

245  
Yet for all his skepticism
: Ibid., 591–94, 604, 615–18.

245  
McNamara later asserted
: Ibid., 615–18, 636–39, 664.

246  
In retrospect
,
McNamara saw:
McNamara,
In Retrospect
, 39–40.

247  
Writing thirty-five years after
: Arthur Krock,
Memoirs: Fifty Years on the Firing Line
(New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968), 332–33; Wofford,
Of Kennedys and Kings
, 379.

248  
In November 1961
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961
, 672, 678–79.

248  
As 1961 came to an end
: Steinbeck is quoted in T. D. Schellhardt, “Do We Expect Too Much?”
Wall Street Journal
, July 10, 1979; “JFK on Presidency,” Box 23, David Powers Papers, JFKL; RFK interview, Oct. 23, 1961, Box 2, RFK Personal Papers, JFKL; PPP: JFK, 1962, 276.

Chapter 7: “The Greatest Adventure of Our Century”

251  
At the start of 1962
: Schlesinger,
Journals
, 141–42. Both State of the Union speeches can be viewed online
.
JFK’s January 15, 1962, press conference is also online. Roy Wilkins, OH, Columbia University; Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy
, 307–10, 376–78;
Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words
, 108–109, 112; Dallek,
Unfinished Life
, 492–96.

253  
In Kennedy’s view,
the greatest danger:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961–1962
, 710, 720–21, 745–46, 771, 785.

254  
Yet the administration’s
: Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy
, 513; William Manchester,
The Death of a President
(New York: Harper & Row, 1967), 48–49, 85;
Robert Kennedy in His Own Words
, 27–28, 311;
FRUS: Berlin Crisis, 1961–1962
, 308–310.

255  
Khrushchev’s aggressiveness
: Seaborg,
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban
, 126–31;
FRUS: Arms Control
, 295–97, 331–32, 411, 414–15, 439–42.

256  
Yet Kennedy was unwilling
:
FRUS: Arms Control
, 357–58, 372, 384, 447–48, 450, 456–59 .

256  
It also had the advantage:
Ibid., 487–88, 410–14; Seaborg,
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Test Ban
, 62–66; Philip Zelikow, Ernest May, and Timothy Naftali, eds.,
The Presidential Recordings: John F. Kennedy: The Great Crises, July 30–October 28, 1962
, 3 vols. (New York: Norton, 2001), vol. 1, 47–50.

258  
The resurfacing of the civil rights struggle
: Memorandum in the March 21–31, 1962, Folder, Box 50, POF, JFKL; Wofford,
Of Kennedys and Kings
, 159–61;
Robert Kennedy in His Own Words
, 157–58, 162–65; Berl Bernhard, OH, JFKL.

258  
Kennedy took comfort
:
The Gallup Poll, 1959–1971
, 1751, 1755, 1764–65, 1769, 1771.

259  
In the spring of 1962:
Dallek,
Unfinished Life
, 483–87.

260  
The struggle to find
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 3–4, 14–16, 32;
The Pentagon Papers: The Defense Department History of United States Decision Making on Vietnam
(Boston: Bantam Books, 1971), vol. 2, 662–66.

261  
But Kennedy remained
: PPP: JFK, 1962, 17; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 108.

262  
As the American role
:
FRUS, Vietnam, 1962
, 54, 73–90, 92–93, 95, 98, 124–25.

263  
On February 14
:
New York Times
, Feb. 14, 1962; PPP: JFK, 1962, 136–37.

264  
But the reporters in Vietnam
: Montague Kern, Patricia W. Levering, and Ralph B. Levering,
The Kennedy Crises: The Press, the Presidency, and Foreign Policy
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), 5;
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 129–32, 139, 156, 158–60
.

265  
In February, as the U.S. effort
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 171, 176–82, 186–87, 194–97; on Bobby Kennedy, see
New York Times
, Feb. 19, 1962, and
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 230.

267  
While Kennedy battled
: McNamara,
In Retrospect
, 41–45.

268  
In the first half of 1962
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 209, 216–19, 222, 233–34, 244–45, 273, 283.

268  
Kennedy had a sense of urgency
:
New York Times
, Feb. 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24, 28, March 8, April 1, 1962;
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 206–207, 276, 305–306; Ball,
Past Has Another Pattern
, 367.

269  
Kennedy’s eagerness
: Galbraith,
Letters to Kennedy
, 98–103.

271  
The same day Galbraith
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 299–303; Isaacson and Thomas,
The Wise Men
, 583.

271  
By contrast, on April 6
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 309–10, 317–18, 324–27; Halberstam,
Best and Brightest
, 35; Chester Bowles,
Promises to Keep: My Years in Public Life, 1941–1969
(New York: Harper & Row, 1971), 410–14.

273  
On May 1
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 366–67.

273  
At the same time
: Ibid., 375–76, 399.

274  
Administration resistance
: Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 121–22;
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 337–39, 353, 358, 364, 373, 379, 386–87; Shapley,
Promise and Power
, 146–51.

275  J
ournalists who trailed McNamara
: Shapley,
Promise and Power
, 151–52;
New York Times
, May 17, July 25, 29, 1962; April 17, 1991;
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 403–404, 489; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 122–23.

277  
Because serious negotiations
:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1962
, 418–19, 425–26, 432–33, 437; Gibbons,
The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War
, 124–25.