Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House (60 page)

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Foreign Relations of the United States: Cuban Missile Crisis and Aftermath.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996.

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Foreign Relations of the United States: Kennedy-Khrushchev Exchanges, 1961–1963.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996.

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Foreign Relations of the United States: Soviet Union, 1961–1963.
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1998.

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Foreign Relations of the United States: Vietnam, 1961
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Foreign Relations of the United States: Vietnam, 1962.
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Foreign Relations of the United States: Vietnam, August–December, 1963.
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Foreign Relations of the United States: Vietnam, January–August 1963.
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White, Theodore H.
The Making of the President, 1960.
New York: Atheneum, 1961.

Widmer, Ted.
Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy.
New York: Hyperion, 2012.

Wofford, Harris.
Of Kennedys and Kings
. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1980.

Woods, Randall B.
Fulbright: A Biography
. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Zelikow, Philip, Ernest May, and Timothy Naftali, eds.
The Presidential Recordings: John F. Kennedy: The Great Crises, July 30–October 28, 1962.
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Acknowledgments

E
very book is the product of a collective effort: archivists, editors, and colleagues generous enough to take time from their own work to read the manuscript.

John Wright, my agent and friend for twenty years, suggested this project and offered wise counsel on the broad scope of the book as well as on its details. Tim Duggan, my editor at HarperCollins now for the third time, read three versions of the manuscript, each time pressing the case for revisions that have made a considerable difference in bringing Kennedy’s many advisers into sharper focus and enriching our understanding of Kennedy the man and policymaker.

Geri Dallek, as usual, was unrelenting in reminding me that readers want to know the people you are describing—not simply as men trying to find answers to impossible questions about war and peace, but also as flesh and blood characters struggling with their own inner demons and reach for historical influence. Like Tim Duggan, she deserves a special shout-out for offering wise counsel. None of this, however, is meant to suggest that either she or Tim should share responsibility for whatever defects remain in the organization and composition of the text.

Several others have helped bring the book to life, including Emily Cunningham, associate editor at HarperCollins, whose keen eye for the right phrase and more economical use of quotations have made this a much more readable book.

Matthew Dallek, with whom I had the pleasure of teaching some courses at the University of California in Washington, UCDC, offered compelling advice in several discussions about what I was trying to do in the book. I had the chance to try out some of my ideas in both his class and my own at Stanford University in Washington, SIW, where I have been teaching for five years under the guidance of Adrienne Jamieson, the Center’s superb director. Peter Kovler, who knows more about national politics than any of the so-called experts I have met over the years, has been another helpful sounding board on a book about presidential advisers.

I am also grateful to Tom Pitoniak for his excellent copyediting. He has saved me from numerous errors. Lydia Weaver, the production editor, applied her expertise to the publication of my third HarperCollins book. I am in her debt for making the process so relatively easy. She is a master of her craft.

Finally, I cannot resist saying thank you to President Barack Obama, who has graciously hosted four dinners for presidential historians, where I had a close-up look at what a president hoped he could learn from history. It provided a glimpse into how a president interacted with men and women trying to offer useful judgments on the not entirely different problems earlier presidents, including Kennedy, faced.

Index

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.

Abbreviations: JFK stands for John F. Kennedy; RFK stands for Robert F. Kennedy; LBJ stands for Lyndon Baines Johnson

Acheson, Dean, 20, 84, 98, 118

on Bay of Pigs, 135

Berlin crisis and, 183, 184, 203–4, 221–22, 224, 228

on Bowles, 103, 271

Cuban missile crisis and, 315, 317–18, 332

on JFK’s appointments, 63–64

on JFK’s leadership, 204, 223

JFK’s opinion of, 204–5

Joe Kennedy, Sr. and, 205

nuclear war and, 223

Adams, John, 26

Adenauer, Konrad, 181, 182, 184, 202

Age of Roosevelt, The
(Schlesinger), 27

Alford, Mimi Beardsley, 31–33, 330

Alliance for Progress, 105, 128, 130–31, 133, 139, 167, 216, 253, 254, 291

Alsop, Joseph, 116, 127, 202, 221, 223, 224, 237–38

Anderson, George, 316, 322, 331, 381

arms race, 23, 105–6, 93.
See also
nuclear war and weapons

“missile gap” and, 20, 67

nuclear test ban treaty, 209–13, 255–57, 356–60, 379–83

Soviet Union’s inferiority, 211, 225, 298

U.S. advantage in, 295, 298

Arnett, Peter, 338

As I Saw It
(Rusk), 430

Attwood, William, 384–85, 387–88, 389

Auden, W. H., 422

Baker, Bobby, 57

Ball, George, 103–4, 155

Cuban missile crisis and, 297, 309–10, 314, 328

“green light” cable for Diem coup, 414–15

Vietnam and, 232, 240–41, 269, 277, 341, 391, 394, 396, 400–401, 413

Barnett, Ross, 282–83

Barrington, James, 280

Bartlett, Charlie, 127

Batista, Fulgencio, 387

Bay of Pigs, 133–56

advisers’ misjudgments and, 133–38, 140–41, 145–47

analysis of, 144–46

Bissell’s input, 134–35

Bowles memo against, 139

CIA and, 134, 134–36

critics of, 139–41

as Eisenhower’s plan, 138

failure of, 143–44, 146, 149

JFK accepts responsibility for, 148, 153, 188

JFK goes with plan, 135, 137, 143, 146

JFK’s determination not to use U.S. forces, 138–39, 144–45

JFK’s doubts about, 133, 143

JFK’s guilt about captives, 364

JFK’s hope for secrecy, 134, 136, 138, 143

JFK’s last-minute use of Navy pilots, 144

JFK’s motives, 137–38, 145–46, 147, 150

JFK’s payback for being misled, 152–54

JFK’s reliance on advisers as an error, 144, 149, 188

JFK’s use of moon shot to distract from failure of, 177–80

Khrushchev on JFK and, 190

military planners and, 137

Rusk and, 133, 139–40

Beardsley, Mimi.
See
Alford, Mimi Beardsley

Bell, David, 119

Berlin, 93, 103, 180–81, 225

Acheson on, 203–4

de Gaulle’s advice, 187

JFK’s address (1963), 391

JFK’s addresses on crisis (1961), 201, 222–25

JFK meets with Brandt, 182–83

JFK’s seeking counsel on, 201–5

Macmillan and, 200

Soviet threat, 147, 180–86, 199–201, 221–29, 224

Wall built, 225–26, 235

Berlin, Isaiah, 187–88, 307

Bigart, Homer, 276–77

Billings, Lem, 13, 30

Bissell, Richard, 134–35, 149–50

Bohlen, Charles, 183, 187, 191, 194, 307, 311–12

Bolshakov, Georgi, 254, 306

Boston

“cut glass set” or FIF’s of, 4

Democratic Party in, 4

Irish as political force in, 5

JFK elected to Congress, 37–38, 40

Joe Kennedy-Curley deal for congressional seat, 37

Kennedy family and politics, 4–6

Lodge family in, 5

Boston Post
, 40, 42

Bowles, Chester, 101–3

Acheson’s view of, 103

demotion of, 155, 271

JFK’s response to, 103

leaking of dissent about Bay of Pigs, 149, 150–51, 153–55

memo against Bay of Pigs, 139

memos on Vietnam, 271, 272–73

positions of, 102

RFK and, 369

Rusk and, 273

Bradlee, Ben, 64, 331

Brandt, Willy, 182–83, 226, 227

Briand, Aristide, 256

Browne, Malcolm, 338

Bruce, David, 183

Bryan, William Jennings, 93–94

Buckley, William F., Jr., 146

Bundy, McGeorge, 74, 89, 118, 281–82, 292–93, 408, 428

appointed national security adviser, 74, 89–92, 126, 149

Bay of Pigs and, 138, 146, 147, 149

Berlin crisis and, 226, 228

character of, 89–90, 91

on conflict among advisers, 369

Cuba, Castro, and, 215, 216, 254, 287, 365, 374, 384, 386, 388–89

Cuba hosting Soviet missiles disputed by, 290, 293

Cuban missile crisis and, 293–94, 297, 302, 304–5, 315, 317, 318, 328, 332

Harvard and, 89, 90–91, 93

JFK’s input on Berlin and, 201–2

JFK’s Khrushchev message and, 323

JFK’s lack of confidence in, 279

JFK’s speech to Cuban exiles and, 364

as JFK’s voice on Diem coup, 416–17

in LBJ’s administration, 427–28

nuclear test ban treaty and, 257

opinion of Lodge, 405

“peace speech” and, 360

recruitment of academics by, 93

Rostow and, 92–93

on Rusk, 100

Soviet nuclear testing and, 212, 213

as university professor, 428

Vietnam and, 232, 242–45, 277, 408, 409, 412, 414, 415, 428–29

Vietnam mistakes acknowledged, 404–5

Bundy, William, 236

Burdick, Eugene, 218

Bureau of the Budget, 118

Burke, Arleigh, 71–72, 75, 138, 213, 257

Cambodia, 159

Carter, Jimmy, ix, x

Carter, Marshall, 289, 297, 302

Castro, Fidel.
See also
Cuba

ABC reporter Howard’s interviews, 377

Attwood and overtures to the U.S., 384–85, 387

CIA and, 134, 135, 216–20, 253–54, 287–88, 365

Cuban missile crisis and, 303, 304

Daniel interview, 387, 390

Eisenhower and, 130, 131–32

on JFK, 390

JFK and rapprochement with, 374, 377, 383, 385–90

JFK’s policy on ousting, 138, 159, 213–21, 331, 383

Khrushchev and, 254

Latin America and, 366, 375

NIE report on, 217

Operation Mongoose and, 216–20, 365

Operation Northlands and, 220

popularity of, 145

refusal to allow U.N. inspection, 331, 360

RFK on, 152

Soviets and, 368, 376

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
See also
McCone, John

Bay of Pigs and, 134–36, 138, 144, 148, 150, 289

Bissell at, 134–35, 150

Castro and, 134, 135, 216–20, 253–54, 287–88, 365

Cuban exiles and black ops, 131, 141, 142, 146, 371, 372, 374, 375, 388

Cuban missile crisis and, 296, 318

Cuba reconciliation opposed by, 388

Cuba strategy of, 375–77, 385

Dulles heads, 22, 76, 102, 132, 150

Harvey as master spy, 219

JFK’s anger with, 149

Mafia in Cuba and, 135

McCone heads, 217, 287

profile of Khrushchev, 189, 190

report on Diem, 165

RFK’s Operation Mongoose and Special Group Augmented, 216, 219–20

Soviet military build-up in Cuba and, 288–89, 291, 292–93, 295

Soviet nuclear weapons in East Germany and, 290–91

station chief in Saigon, 392–93, 398, 400

U-2 incident in Russia, 142

U-2 flights over Cuba, 366, 370

U-2 photos of Soviet missiles in Cuba, 293, 302

Vietnam and, 341, 349, 407, 416

Chamberlain, Neville, 161

Chase, Gordon, 384, 386

Chiang Kai-shek, 186, 235

China, 98, 179, 192, 237, 261

loss of, as blow to Democrats, 98, 164, 248, 273

U.S. national security and, 133

Choate School, 9, 10–11, 39, 102

Christopher, Warren, 100

Churchill, Winston, 161, 186

civil rights, xi, 1, 173–76

Brown v. Board of Education
, 96, 108

Freedom Riders, 175

Hoover as antagonist to, 121

integration and, 108, 175, 292

JFK appoints southern racists to federal judgeships, 291–92

JFK’s caution on moving forward, 122, 176

JFK’s lack of prioritizing, 352–54

JFK’s meeting with black leaders (June 22, 1963), 402

JFK’s national address, 353–54

JFK’s record on, 251, 258–59

JFK’s reliance on executive action, 120, 174, 292

JFK’s rights bill, 352, 353–54, 402, 427

King on JFK as lacking “moral passion,” 173, 292

LBJ and, 123, 429

March on Washington, 402

Meredith’s enrollment in Ole Miss, 282–83

Mississippi crisis, 291–92

Montgomery demonstrations, 352

RFK and, 60–61, 62, 122, 173, 175–76, 427

RFK’s speech, University of Georgia, 176

southern congressmen and, 96, 123, 173

voting rights and, 258

Clay, Lucius, 227

Clifford, Clark, 24, 25, 63, 119

Cline, Ray, 293

Clinton, Bill, 100

Cohn, Roy, 45

Cold War

Berlin tensions and, 180–86

JFK-Khrushchev summit (June, 1961), 190–200

JFK’s appointments and, 22

JFK’s “peace speech,” 359–60

JFK’s positions on, 16

nuclear test ban treaty and, 209, 382–83

Soviet nuclear testing and, 212

space race and, 179

U. S. lagging in, 177

Vietnam and, 235–36, 243

Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, 123, 174–75

communism, x, xi, 166, 181.
See also
Bay of Pigs invasion; Vietnam

China and, 98, 405

Cuba and, 67, 103, 105, 130, 159, 362, 366, 375, 383

Khrushchev on, 197–98

in Laos, 23

national desire to curtail, 43, 106

RFK’s combating of, 44, 46, 142

Rostow and, 91–92

in Southeast Asia, 23, 67, 158–60, 231, 233, 239, 272, 343, 405

Soviet’s nuclear parity and, 212

Truman’s containment policy, 28

U.S. hyperbole and fear, 233–34

Vietnam policy and, 159, 166–67, 169, 245, 247, 261, 272, 276, 286–87, 343, 405

winning hearts and minds and, 96–97, 128, 230

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 173, 175

Connally, John, 56–57

Coolidge, Calvin, 28, 204

Corbin, Paul, 54, 56, 59

Corcoran, Tommy, 8, 47–48

Cordier, Andrew, 329

Cottrell, Sterling, 274, 365

Council of Economic Affairs, 118–19

Counselor
(Sorensen), 78–79, 426

Cousins, Norman, 358–59

Couve de Murville, Maurice, 234–35

Cronkite, Walter, 405

Cuba, xi, 23, 292–329, 360–77, 383–90.
See also
Bay of Pigs; Castro, Fidel; Cuban missile crisis

Attwood initiative, 384–87

Bay of Pigs, xi, 133–56, 181

Eisenhower and, 130, 132

exiles and black ops, 131, 141, 142, 146, 371–72, 374, 375, 383, 388

expanding communist influence and, 67, 103, 105, 130, 159, 362

JFK and anti-Castro hawks, 366–67, 368, 385

JFK and diplomacy, 385–90

JFK irritated about cross-currents around, 370–71, 373–74

JFK’s advisers as unhelpful in resolving problem of, 374–77

JFK’s advisers’ conflicting policy suggestions on, 368–70

JFK’s advisers on “aggressive steps” against, 287

JFK’s directions on, 373–74, 377

JFK’s non-invasion pledge, 327, 360, 364, 365, 366, 374

JFK’s opposing proposals for, 366

JFK’s policy, after Bay of Pigs, 156–57, 360–77

JFK’s policy, on ousting Castro, 213–21, 253–54

JFK’s speech before the Inter-American Press Association and, 389–90

Soviet military build-up in, 287–91

Soviets and, 103, 106, 131, 371

Soviet troops in, 368–69

support of Castro, 145

U-2 flights over, 360, 366, 370

Cuban missile crisis, 292–329

blockade-and-warning strategy, 303, 310, 313–15, 317, 318–22, 323, 326

Bundy delay in informing JFK about missiles, 293–94

domestic politics and, 295, 296

ending and resolution of, 324–29

experts and, 298, 310, 317

experts’ failure and, 290, 293–94

final U.S.-Soviet agreement, 361

focus on removing missiles, 298, 324

Harriman-JFK message, 322–23

initial advisory discussions, 297

JFK’s adviser group for, 296, 297, 302, 309–10

JFK’s anger at Joint Chiefs, 317

JFK’s choices for action, 302, 303, 304, 306–7, 309, 314

JFK’s concern about Navy’s operations, 321–22

JFK’s decision for blockade, 314–15, 317, 318–22

JFK’s decision for diplomacy, 311–12

JFK’s decision on force and, 305–6, 307, 311

JFK’s first two questions regarding, 297–98

JFK’s health and, 308–9

JFK’s hiding crisis from press, 296, 298, 301, 307

JFK’s Khrushchev message, 323

JFK’s lessons from, 331–32

JFK’s reaction to U-2 photo confirmation, 295

JFK’s response to Khrushchev letter, 327–28

Joint Chiefs and, 301–3, 305–6, 311, 315–17, 327, 330–33

Joint Chiefs call for military strike
after
Khrushchev’s agreement, 327, 332

Khrushchev and, 299, 300, 304, 310, 313, 314, 319–20, 321, 322–23

Khrushchev deal, 325–26, 329

McCone’s accuracy in spotting installations, 288–89, 292–93

McNamara and, 298–99, 307–8, 310–11, 314, 332

military response urged, 299, 301–3, 310–11, 314–18, 327, 330, 332

NSC and, 318–19

nuclear war threat and, 294, 299, 301, 302, 304, 308, 312, 314, 320, 321, 332

political response position, 302, 303, 307–8

political repercussions, 305, 311, 320

press leaks and, 324–25

recorded conversations, 298, 308, 316–17

RFK and, 294, 296, 300–302, 305–7, 312–14, 318, 320, 321, 328, 329, 332–34, 361