An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 (131 page)

p. 344: “might trigger”: Five Interviews with Glen T. Seaborg, Box 11, Closed Deposit, NHP.

p. 344: ”the lead in bringing”: Gilpatric OH.

p. 344: “is a nuclear war man”: McGeorge Bundy to JFK, Oct. 3, 1961, Box 103, POF.

p. 345: “Would things be”: Quoted in Kaplan, 43-44, 256.

p. 345: “unreconstructable”: Gilpatric OH.

p. 345: “was always troubled”: Paul Nitze OH.

pp. 345-46: “The plan that he inherited”: White House Staff OH.

p. 346: “a truly monstrous”: Walt W. Rostow OH.

p. 346: Lemnitzer presentation and JFK’s tension: White House Staff OH.

p. 346: “And we call ourselves”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 229-30.

p. 346: “not so happy”: JFK-Adenauer conversation, April 13, 1961, Noon, Box 79, NSF.

p. 346: “the threshold for”: April 12, 1961, Box 79, NSF.

p. 346: “stop Soviet forces”: Dean Acheson to JFK and Rusk, April 20, 1961, Box 70, NSF.

p. 346: “these plans might lessen”: April 12, 1961, Box 79, NSF.

pp. 346-47: “have left the United States”: Nitze OH. Also see Robert Komer to Dean Acheson, Feb. 20, 1961, and Komer to JFK, Mar. 6, 1961, Box 4339, NSF.

p. 347: “‘repeat to the point’”: Kaplan, 285.

p. 347: “That son of a bitch”: White House Staff OH.

p. 347: On a nuclear first strike: Fred Kaplan, “JFK’s First Strike Plan,”
The Atlantic,
Oct. 2001, though Kaplan makes clear that JFK was highly skeptical of any first-strike plan.

p. 347: “I never met a man”: Quoted in Hersh, 253.

p. 347: Kennedy announced increases:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
229-40, 658-59.

p. 348: “charges that”: Ibid., 658-59.

p. 348: “They don’t get it”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 245.

p. 348: “would have been profoundly”: Parmet,
JFK,
132. JFK’s view of Khrushchev’s speech: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
302; Kalb and Abel, 110.

p. 348: “brutally torn”:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
23.

p. 349: “I find it difficult”: Ibid., 91.

p. 349: “massive unilateral intervention”: Ibid., 99.

p. 349: “the U.N. could not”: Quoted in Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
575.

p. 349: “used to oppress”:
FRUS: Congo Crisis,
99-101.

pp. 349-50: For LBJ’s African trip and “Cadillac diplomacy,” see Dallek,
Flawed Giant,
12-16.

p. 350: “counter-guerrilla forces”: National Security Action Memorandum No. 2, Feb. 3, 1961; JFK to Mac Bundy, Feb. 6, 1961; Robert McNamara to Bundy, Feb. 23, 1961, Box 328, NSF. Robert Komer to Walt W. Rostow, Feb. 28, 1961, Box 414, NSF. Also see Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
320, 340-42.

p. 351: “It is, I think”:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
213. Also see 16, 23, 34, 71, 74-75, 122, 149, 154, 185, and 1-120 of
FRUS: Laos Crisis
.

p. 351: “I don’t think there are probably”: Kenneth P. O’Donnell taped interview with Sander Vanocur, MR 91-27:49, JFKL.

p. 351: “any satisfactory solution”:
FRUS: Laos Crisis,
45.

p. 351: “Laos was hopeless”: Winthrop G. Brown OH.

p. 351: “These jungle regimes”: Galbraith,
Letters,
70.

p. 351: “We must never”: Brown OH.

pp. 351-52: “Laos is far away”:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
214.

p. 352: He “said that”: Memo of conversation, April 7, 1961, Chalmers Roberts Papers, JFKL.
New York Times,
Mar. 21, 1961; Richard Reeves, 75; O’Donnell Tapes, MR 91-27:49.

p. 352: “But I need not tell you”: Harold Macmillan to DDE, April 9, 1961, Box 29A, POF.

p. 352: “That boy doesn’t know”: Earl Mazo OH, Columbia University.

p. 352: Ambassador Brown:
FRUS: Laos Crisis,
139-41.

p. 353: NSC meeting, April 27, 1961, Box 313, NSF.

p. 353: “You start using”: Guthman and Shulman, 248.

p. 353: “if we are given”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
338.

p. 353: “general agreement among” and congressional leaders:
FRUS: Laos Crisis,
142-43, 146-47. JFK and congressional leaders, April 27, 1961, Box 345, NSF.

p. 353: “It would be a mistake”: Lincoln Diary, April 28, 1961, Box 9, Evelyn Lincoln Papers, JFKL.

p. 353: Neutrality agreement: Gibbons, 112.

p. 353: “dribbled to a conclusion”: O’Donnell Tapes, MR 91-27:49.

pp. 353-54: “critical condition” and “for the first time”:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
12-19.

p. 354: “the worst one”: Rostow OH.

p. 354: “the entire western”: Quoted in David Kaiser, 73.

p. 354: LBJ trip and troop commitment:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
354, 356.

pp. 354-55: LBJ’s visit to Saigon: Dallek,
Flawed Giant,
13-14.

p. 355: “a series of joint”:
FRUS: Vietnam, 1961,
128.

p. 355: “We have not become”: Quoted in David Kaiser, 73.

p. 355: “I cannot stress too strongly”: Quoted in Dallek,
Flawed Giant,
17-18.

p. 355: “our billions”: John K. Galbraith to JFK, Mar. 2, 1961, Box 29, POF.

p. 356: “nearly always”: Laura B. Knebel to James Ellison, n.d., in Box 5, “Closed Deposit,” NHP. Also see Laura B. Knebel OH.

p. 356: Refusing to comment:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
5.

p. 356: “a rapprochement”: John Sharon OH, Columbia University.

p. 356: The Lens report: AES to JFK, Jan. 13, 1961, Box 33, POF.

p. 356: CIA plan: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
233.

pp. 356-57: January 22 meeting:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
46-53.

p. 357: During the last week: January 25 and 28 meetings and follow-ups, ibid., 54-58, 61-65; JFK to Bundy, Feb. 6, 1961, Box 35A, POF.

pp. 357-58: The February 8 discussions:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
89-91.

p. 358: “appeaser”: O’Donnell Tape 49.

p. 358: “However well disguised”:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
92-93.

p. 358: “be landed gradually”: Ibid., 90.

p. 359: “the small invasion force”: Ibid., 119-20.

p. 359: “will have”: Ibid., 135.

p. 359: “The Cuban paramilitary”: Ibid., 142.

p. 359: “willing to take”: Ibid., 143-44.

p. 359: “small-scale World War II”: Ibid., 145-48.

p. 359: “A slight danger”: Ibid., 156-57.

p. 360: “[has] done a remarkable job”: Ibid., 158.

p. 360: “in order to make this appear” and “reserved the right”: Ibid., 159-60.

p. 360: “the plan was dependent on”: Ibid., 160.

p. 360: “What do you think”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
246.

p. 360: “U.S. strike forces”:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
177.

p. 360: “If you fail”: Quoted in Johnson, 67.

pp. 360-61: “If the operation”:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
178-81.

p. 361: “No one”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
247.

p. 361: CIA paper:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
213-16.

p. 361: “Are you serious?”: Dean Acheson OH. For the Schlesinger, Rusk, and Fulbright dissents, see
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
185-89, 191, 196-203, and Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
250-56.

p. 362: “Mr. President”: Theodore Sorensen OH; Sorensen, 332.

p. 362: Schlesinger remembered:
A Thousand Days,
258.

pp. 362-63: “appear as an internal”:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
185.

p. 363: “everything possible”: Ibid., 191-92, 213.

p. 363: Newspaper stories: For examples of the newspaper leaks: “Regime to Fight Castro Being Formed Here,”
New York Herald Tribune,
Mar. 22, 1961, and Schlesinger to JFK, April 7, 1961, Box 65, POF.

p. 363: Castro “doesn’t need”: Quoted in Wyden,
Bay of Pigs,
155.

p. 363: “in helping”:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
258.

p. 363: “play down the magnitude”: Bissell, 183.

p. 363: “one of those rare events”: Quoted in Peter Kornbluh, 2.

p. 363: On the bombing raids and Stevenson’s response:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961- 1962,
226-30; Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
268-72; Richard Reeves, 90-91.

p. 364: “the room in evident concern”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
272-73.

p. 364: “failure to make”:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
235-37.

p. 364: “the situation in Cuba”: Ibid., 272. For the details of the defeat, see 273 ff.

p. 364: “nobody knew”: Ibid., 274-75.

pp. 364-65: Meeting in the Cabinet Room: Richard Reeves, 93-95.

p. 365: “were sure”: O’Donnell and Powers, 274.

p. 365: “an incident, not a disaster”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
275-76.

pp. 365-66: “Under a parliamentary”: Quoted in Powers, 115.

p. 366: “the chief cause” and other quotes: See Kornbluh, 13-14, 45-46, 113-14.

p. 366: “was so upset”: Smith, 697-98.

p. 366: “within the privacy”: O’Donnell and Powers, 274.

p. 366: The Rose Garden: Ibid., 272, and Salinger, 195.

p. 366: Messed hair: Richard Reeves, 95 and 677.

pp. 366-67: Henry Raymont: Interview with author.

p. 367: Ill-timed health problems: See Dr. Janet Travell medical records, Jan.-Apr. 1961, JFKL.

p. 367: “quite shattered”:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
305.

p. 367: “How could I” and the meeting with the Cubans: Richard Reeves, 94, 96-99; Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
279-85.

p. 367: “the worst experience”: Nixon, 234-35.

p. 367: “I was thinking about”: O’Donnell and Powers, 274-75.

pp. 367-68: “President Kennedy has stated,” and ”an old saying”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
289-90.

p. 368: “the testimony”: JFK to Henry Luce, Aug. 29, 1961, Box 9, Evelyn Lincoln Papers.

p. 368: “I have felt”: Sept. 12, 1961, ibid.

p. 368: “the military and intelligence”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
258.

p. 368: “never to rely”: Ibid., 296.

p. 368: “The first advice”: Bradlee,
Conversations,
122.

p. 369: “Well for the time being”: Brandon Diary, May 2, 1961, Box 5, Brandon Papers.

p. 369: Cynical complaint, especially in western Europe:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961- 1962,
423-28. Also see Stevenson’s depressing analysis from the UN: Ibid., 295-97.

p. 369: “Not much time”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 108.

p. 369: Nixon and Republican opposition: Ambrose,
Nixon,
632.

p. 369: “It is doubtful”: RCC Newsletter, April 27, 1961, Box 18, Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Papers, JFKL.

p. 369: “look pretty good”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
289.

p. 369: “When he disagreed”: Guthman and Shulman, 264-65.

p. 369: The White House and NSC meetings:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
304-7, 313-14. RFK memo: Ibid., 302-4.

p. 370: “That’s the most”: Richard Goodwin, 187.

p. 370: “I knew it!”: Quoted in Ambrose,
Nixon,
632.

p. 370: “It really is true”: Nixon, 233-35.

p. 370: “There is only one thing”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 102-3.

p. 370: Gallup, 1717, 1721.

p. 371: “It’s just like”: Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days,
292.

p. 371: The Taylor committee: Taylor, 180-84;
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
318-24.

p. 371: “reoriented”: Guthman and Shulman, 11-13.

p. 371: “agreed that”:
FRUS: Cuba, 1961-1962,
482-83.

p. 371: “There can be no”: Ibid., 605-6.

p. 371: With only 44 percent: Gallup, 1721.

pp. 371-72:
Time,
May 5, 1961.

p. 372: Liked it better and “always on the edge”: JFK on Presidency, Box 23, David Powers Papers, JFKL.

p. 372: “Sons of bitches”: Quoted in Richard Reeves, 116.

Chapter 11: A World of Troubles

p. 373: “If the self-discipline”:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
304-6.

p. 374: Steel production: Arthur Goldberg to JFK, Mar. 21, 1961, Arthur Goldberg Papers, LC.

p. 374: Williard Mathias, “evolution,” and “suspected of being”: Bird, 177, 431, n74.

p. 374: “the Soviets have no”: Walter Heller to JFK, June 27, 1961, Box 125A, POF.

p. 375: “in the interest”:
PPP: JFK, 1961,
334-38.

p. 375: “Maybe if you”: Quoted in Tifft and Jones, 314-15.