The House of Kennedy Read online

  27 “lines he loved”: Swanson, “Inventing Camelot.”

  PART FIVE

  The Prophet: Robert Francis Kennedy

  Chapter 23

  1 “just another lawyer now”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 321.

  2 “sink quite easily”: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, 179.

  3 “like Daddy lost both arms”: Lou Lumenick, “Ethel Kennedy Spills Family Secrets,” New York Post, January 20, 2012.

  4 “I was concentrating”: Robert Kennedy, “Our Climb Up Mount Kennedy,” Life, April 9, 1965.

  5 “Good luck, Daddy”: Kennedy, “Our Climb Up Mount Kennedy.”

  6 “His paper had just completed my obituary”: Kennedy.

  7 “I climbed Matterhorn in 1957”: “Nine Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Bobby Kennedy,” New England Historical Society website, 2019.

  8 “up Everest three times in my mind”: Michael Jourdan, “Mountain Tribute to JFK Evoked by Kennedy Trip to Yukon,” National Geographic, August 5, 2013.

  9 “Don’t slip, dear”: Kennedy, “Our Climb Up Mount Kennedy.”

  10 “I was so delighted”: Alexia Fernandez, “Robert Kennedy’s Friend Recalls the ‘Emotional’ Moment He Climbed Peak Named after Late JFK,” People, November 6, 2019.

  11 “President Kennedy’s family flag”: Jourdan, “Mountain Tribute to JFK Evoked.”

  12 Kennedy family flag: “Kennedy Family Crest,” Green Studio, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

  13 Chief Herald of Ireland: Correspondence from Gerard Slevin, the Chief Herald of Ireland, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers, 17 May 1963–68, June 1968.

  14 “lonely, stark, forbidding”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 811.

  Chapter 24

  1 Thousand-dollar tickets: Henry Machirella and Paul Healy, “E. Side, W. Side Chorus ‘Happy Birthday’ to JFK, New York Daily News, May 20, 1962 (republished as “John F. Kennedy Celebrates Birthday in Madison Square Garden in 1962,” New York Daily News website, May 18, 2015).

  2 “The late Marilyn Monroe”: Jesse Greenspan, “‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ Turns 50,” History.com—A&E Television Networks, May 18, 2012.

  3 “beads and skin”: Enid Nemy, “Jean Louis, 89; Dressed Stars and Socialites,” New York Times, April 24, 1997.

  4 “world’s most expensive”: “See the World’s Most Expensive Dress!” Ripley’s Believe it or Not—Ripley Entertainment Inc., Ripleys.com.

  5 “a very ‘rah rah rah’ kind of atmosphere”: Ben Cosgrove, “Behind the Picture: Photos from the Night Marilyn Sang to JFK, 1962,” Time, April 30, 2014.

  6 “Life’s too short to worry about Marilyn Monroe”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot (New York: Warner Books, 2000), 129.

  7 “such a sweet, wholesome way”: Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan, 130.

  8 Photo of Marilyn, Bobby, and Jack: Olivia B. Waxman, “The Story Behind the Only Known Photo of Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy Together,” Time, August 3, 2018.

  9 Photo of Stephen Smith and Marilyn: “Dress Marilyn Monroe Wore for John F. Kennedy Birthday Song Sells for $4.8 Million,” NBCChicago.com, November 18, 2016.

  10 “I do not think I have seen anyone so beautiful”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 590–91.

  11 “orchestrated the whole goddamn thing”: Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan, 131.

  12 “spectacular absenteeism”: Alexandra Pollard, “Something’s Got to Give: The Story of the Marilyn Monroe Film That Never Got Made,” Independent (UK), March 29, 2019.

  13 “you and Bobby are the new item!”: Louise Watt, “Marilyn Monroe’s Dresses, Notes, Checkbook Seen Before Sale,” Associated Press, September 27, 2016.

  14 Jean Kennedy Smith affair: Laura Lippman, “Two Books Unveil Details, from Sex to Silverware,” Baltimore Sun, August 12, 1994.

  15 “Very often distraught”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 591.

  16 Robert Slatzer claims of marriage: “‘Marilyn and Me’ dramatizes possible fourth marriage,” Baltimore Sun, September 22, 1991.

  17 “Robert Kennedy promised to marry”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 591.

  18 “I like him”: Schlesinger, 591.

  19 “talk to Monroe about putting a bridle on”: Seymour M. Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot, (New York: Little, Brown, 1997), 104–5.

  20 “you’ll marry Jack, that’s great”: Julie Miller, “Jackie Kennedy Gave Marilyn Monroe Her Snarky Blessing to Marry J.F.K., New Book Claims,” Vanity Fair, August 5, 2013.

  21 “say good-bye to yourself”: Ellis S. Conklin, “Marilyn Monroe’s Last Words Were a Farewell to President…” United Press International, September 24, 1985.

  22 “the feeling of violence”: Sam Kashner, “Marilyn and Her Monsters,” Vanity Fair, October 5, 2010.

  23 “a minute fracture”: Joan Kron, “The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe’s Plastic Surgery,” Allure, October 9, 2013.

  24 “a mini–phone listening device”: Stephen Galloway, “Rock Hudson’s Wife Secretly Recorded His Gay Confession,” Hollywood Reporter, June 6, 2013.

  25 Monroe’s house: Lindsey Campbell, “Inside Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood Home,” House Beautiful, October 28, 2014.000 Fred Otash: Myrna Oliver, “Fred Otash; Colorful Hollywood Private Eye and Author,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1992.

  26 “on behalf of Howard Hughes and Nixon”: Galloway, “Rock Hudson’s Wife Secretly Recorded.”

  27 “I did not trust him not to dissemble”: Galloway.

  28 “Well, I think I made his back feel better”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 413.

  29 “I listened to Marilyn Monroe die”: Galloway, “Rock Hudson’s Wife Secretly Recorded.”

  30 “passed around like a piece of meat”: Galloway.

  31 “sounded like Marilyn”: Tracy Connor, “Spotlight Gave a Jolt to Joe’s First Family,” New York Post, March 9, 1999.

  Chapter 25

  1 Monroe’s housekeeper calls Greenson: J. I. Baker, K. C. Baker and Liz McNeil, “Why Marilyn Monroe’s Death Is Still a Mystery,” People, June 29, 2017.

  2 “remove anything incriminating”: Myrna Oliver, “Fred Otash; Colorful Hollywood Private Eye and Author,” Los Angeles Times, October 8, 1992.

  3 “misinterpreted as a cover-up”: Baker, Baker, and McNeil, “Why Marilyn Monroe’s Death Is Still a Mystery.”

  4 “most obviously staged death scene”: Richard Belzer and David Wayne, Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country’s Most Controversial Cover-Ups (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), Chapter 4.

  5 Nembutal capsules: Howard Hertel and Don Neff, “Marilyn Monroe Dies; Pills Blamed,” Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1962.

  6 “affair with Bobby Kennedy”: Baker, Baker and McNeil, “Why Marilyn Monroe’s Death Is Still a Mystery.”

  7 “I can’t flat out fire her”: “John Miner” (Obituary), Telegraph (UK), March 4, 2011.

  8 Dr. Noguchi’s impression of Monroe: John Preston, “Dr Thomas Noguchi: LA Coroner Confidential,” Telegraph (UK), September 10, 2009.

  9 “might be a murder victim”: Preston, “Dr Thomas Noguchi.”

  10 “acute combined drug toxicity”: Baker, Baker, and McNeil, “Why Marilyn Monroe’s Death Is Still a Mystery.”

  11 “I tell you, doctor”: Seymour M. Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot (New York: Little, Brown, 1997), 104.

  12 “Robert Kennedy came to inhabit”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 591.

  13 “no room in my life for him”: “John Miner” (Obituary).


  14 “eyes wide and hurt”: Alexandra Pollard, “Something’s Got to Give: The Story of the Marilyn Monroe Film That Never Got Made,” Independent (UK), March 29, 2019.

  15 “The Strange Death of Marilyn Monroe”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 323.

  16 she and Jack bought the place: Matt Blitz, “Hickory Hill and the Kennedy Mystique,” Arlington Magazine, June 4, 2018.

  17 “no credible evidence”: Larry Tye, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon (New York: Random House, 2016), 192.

  18 “got out of her misery”: Barbara Leaming, “The Winter of Her Despair,” Vanity Fair, September 18, 2014.

  Chapter 26

  1 Rededication of Idlewild: Ted Reed, “Fifty Years Ago, Idlewild Airport Became JFK,” TheStreet.com, December 20, 2013.

  2 “Those who knew him well”: “An Excerpt from ‘The Revolution of Robert Kennedy,’” MSNBC.com, June 6, 2017.

  3 “seventh of nine children”: Larry Tye, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon (New York: Random House, 2016), 13.

  4 “Kennedys moved fast”: George Vecsey, “The Game Stopped,” New York Times, November 21, 1983.

  5 “He never let up”: Chris Matthews, Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017), 66.

  6 “powerful and unsportsmanlike shove”: Ted Sorensen, “RFK Assassination: Aide Recalls Tragedy Repeated” and “Excerpt: ‘Counselor,’” Morning Edition, National Public Radio, June 5, 2008.

  7 “somewhat hollow in his convictions”: Robert Barr, “RFK: Kid Who Lived to Tackle, Adult Who Lived for His Brother,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1988.

  8 Senator McCarthy as Kennedy family friend: “RFK’s Enemies,” American Experience, PBS.org.

  9 “sharing his father’s dislike of liberals”: Sorensen, “RFK Assassination.”

  10 “politically dangerous”: Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster 2007), 74.

  11 “Indian hand wrestling”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy, 77.

  12 “became my mortal enemy”: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 53.

  13 “bug the little bastard”: “RFK’s Enemies,” American Experience, PBS.org.

  14 “the horns just blaring”: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 78–79.

  15 “throw acid in the eyes of his six children”: Tye, 78.

  16 “can you fix us some lunch?”: “Hickory Hill: RFK’s Virginia Home,” American Experience, PBS.org.

  17 “made him a sympathetic figure”: Joe Scarborough, “The Metamorphosis of the Ruthless Bobby Kennedy,” Washington Post, July 22, 2016.

  18 May 1963 Gallup poll: Lydia Saad, “Gallup Vault: A Look Back at Robert Kennedy,” Gallup, June 5, 2018.

  19 “Bobby goes a little further”: Morning Joe staff, “An Excerpt from ‘The Revolution of Robert Kennedy,’” MSNBC.com, June 6, 2017.

  20 “won’t be here by Christmas”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 606.

  21 “drink to the President of the United States”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 606.

  22 Bobby gets the call about JFK: Sheila Anne Feeney, “Robert Morgenthau Was with Bobby When He Got the News,” Newsday, November 21, 2013.

  23 “shoots and kills the son of a bitch”: Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 25.

  24 “I thought something was wrong”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 608.

  25 Hoover says JFK’s been shot: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 608.

  26 “wasn’t the way”: Schlesinger Jr., 629.

  27 “didn’t want to leave him”: Feeney, “Robert Morgenthau Was with Bobby.”

  28 “About thirty minutes after”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 608.

  29 “Jack is dead”: Feeney, “Robert Morgenthau Was with Bobby.”

  30 “I thought they would get one of us”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 312.

  31 “Did the CIA kill my brother?” Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, 317.

  32 “most wonderful life”: Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster 2007), 277.

  33 President Lyndon Johnson: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 288.

  34 “Why, God?”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 611.

  Chapter 27

  1 “one of the toughest guys”: Thomas Maier, The Kennedys: America’s Emerald Kings (New York: Basic Books, 2003), 488.

  2 “much left for me”: Larry Tye, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon (New York: Random House, 2016), 291.

  3 Bobby’s silver cigarette case: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 287.

  4 “I have another brother”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 613.

  5 “natural for Bobby to take charge”: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 289.

  6 “all the things that Jack started”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 612.

  7 “I don’t have the heart for it”: Schlesinger Jr., 632.

  8 “the significance of Jack’s death”: Maier, The Kennedys, 488.

  9 “wild, informal mixture”: “Hickory Hill: RFK’s Virginia Home,” American Experience, PBS.org.

  10 “a menagerie”: “Hickory Hill: RFK’s Virginia Home.”

  11 “And if Bobby died”: Morning Joe staff, “An Excerpt from ‘The Revolution of Robert Kennedy,’” MSNBC.com, June 6, 2017.

  12 Rosemary’s whereabouts: Evan Thomas, “The Fierce Rebellion and Compassion of Eunice Shriver,” Washington Post, April 13, 2018.

  13 Jack’s possible visit to Rosemary in 1958: Liz McNeil, “Why Rosemary Kennedy’s Siblings Didn’t See Her for 20 Years After Her Lobotomy,” People, September 2, 2015.

  14 “mentally retarded sister”: “Rosemary Kennedy, JFK’s Sister, Dies at 86,” NBCNews.com, January 8, 2005.

  15 “give them a lollypop”: Kirk Johnson, “Reaching the Retarded: An Old Kennedy Mission,” New York Times, June 23, 1995.

  16 “You know how Eunice is”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family 1968 to the Present (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2012), 37.

  17 “Just give Eunice what she wants”: Thomas, “The Fierce Rebellion and Compassion of Eunice Shriver.”

  18 Eunice’s summer camp: Eunice Kennedy Shriver, “Hope for Retarded Children,” Saturday Evening Post, September 22, 1962.

  19 “they will not be the victims of our neglect”: “Remarks upon Signing the Maternal and Child Health and Mental Retardation Planning Bill (434),” October 24, 1963, Public Papers of the Presidents: John F. Kennedy, 1963.

  20 “the custodian of the Kennedy dream”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 647.

  21 “came out of Dallas alive”: Garrett M. Graff, “Angel Is Airborne,” Washingtonian.

  22 “Bobby should have waited”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 657.

  Chapter 28

  1 Ted’s 1964 plane crash: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 322.

  2 Two of five killed: “Senator Kennedy Tells of His Rescue in Plane Crash,” New York Times, October 20, 1964.

  3 “a great year for the giggles”: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, 322.

  4 “to vote not for LBJ but RFK”: Rick Klein, “Jacqueline Kennedy Reveals That JFK Feared an LBJ Presidency,” ABCNews.com, September 8, 2011.

  5 “Robert Kennedy’s activities were of special interest”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 663.

  6 “Kennedy wing of the party”: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama, 322.

  7 “what you can
do for the Kennedys”: Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 299.

  8 RFK’s house in Glen Cove: “Kennedy Takes Lease on House in Glen Cove, L.I.; He Will Announce Candidacy for Senate Today—Fight Is Pledged by Stratton,” New York Times, August 25, 1964.

  9 “such strong public feeling”: “Kennedy’s Role as Attorney General,” New York Times, September 4, 1964.

  10 Bobby/Jackie romance rumors: Annie Wilkinson, “RFK: A Ripple of Hope,” Long Island Press, September 4, 2018.

  11 “Bobby’s wife thought”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot (New York: Warner Books, 2000), 310.

  12 “unprintable outrage”: “Kennedy vs. Keating in New York.”

  13 “His appearance is ever modern”: Kerry Kennedy, “Kerry Kennedy: What My Father, RFK, Means Today,” Time, May 31, 2019.

  14 “Too many young people”: Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life, 299.

  15 “like a Beatle”: “Kennedy, Keating Close Campaigns; Democrat Favored to Win—Senator’s Polls Show Extremely Close Race,” New York Times, November 3, 1964.

  16 “in a juke box but not in an election box”: “Keating vs. Kennedy: A Near-Debate; Senator Faces Empty Seat; Democrat Tries to Sit in It,” New York Times, October 28, 1964.

  17 “Let’s just go home”: “Kennedy-Keating: Finally a Face-to-Face Meeting; Keating, Kennedy Meet in a Debate on Radio Program; Candidates Discuss a Wide Range of Issues for Hour on a Late-Night Show; Hoffa’s Role Is Argued; Senator, on TV Earlier, Leaves Studio Door Open in Vain for Opponent,” New York Times, October 31, 1964.

  18 “He is really very shy, but he has the kindest heart in the world”: Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan, 303–4.

  19 The Post backs Bobby: “Kennedy, Keating Close Campaigns.”

  20 Bobby wins Senate race: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, 324.

  21 “a way-stop for this man on the run”: R. C. Baker, “Bobby the K: Robert Kennedy Comes to New York,” Village Voice, June 6, 2018.