Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House

  as liberal, 81

  on Lovett, 84

  on McNamara, 88, 294

  “peace speech” and, 360

  quashing of New Republic article and, 141

  resignation from LBJ’s White House, 423–24

  RFK and, 49

  RFK’s anniversary party, 207

  RFK’s presidential hopes, 336

  on Rostow, 243

  on Rusk, 100

  Soviet build-up in Cuba disputed by, 288–89

  Soviet nuclear testing and, 213

  as speechwriter, 80, 279

  State of the Union (1962), 251

  Vietnam and, 345

  Wilkins and, 402

  writings on JFK’s presidency, 423, 424

  Seaborg, Glenn T., 209, 212, 213, 255

  Seigenthaler, John, 63

  Shannon, William, 264

  Sheehan, Neil, 275–76, 337–38, 345–46

  Shepard, Alan, 179, 180

  Shoup, David, 316

  Shriver, Eunice Kennedy, 86, 129

  Shriver, Sargent, 120, 129

  JFK’s appointments and, 86, 119

  JFK’s presidential campaign, 86

  marriage to Eunice Kennedy, 86, 129

  Peace Corps and, 129–30

  Special Olympics and, 129

  Sidey, Hugh, 75, 199

  Smathers, George, 167, 379

  Smith, Jean Kennedy, 143

  Smith, Steve, 88

  Sorensen, Theodore, x, 109

  background, 76–78

  Castro ousting and, 215

  as civil rights activist, 76–77

  Cuban missile crisis, 302, 318

  JFK message to Khrushchev and, 323

  JFK’s “alter ego,” 76

  JFK’s health post-election, 3

  JFK’s health problems and, 79

  JFK’s inaugural speech and, 105

  JFK’s memory preserved by, 422, 425–26

  JFK’s presidential campaign, 80

  JFK’s Senate years, 78–79, 80

  LBJ and, 353

  LBJ’s presidency and, 425

  on LeMay, 74

  memo on Vietnam, 165–66

  “Ministry of Talent,” x

  O’Donnell as hostile to, 81, 369

  as “outsider,” 81

  on the Peace Corps, 129

  “peace speech” and, 359–60

  Profiles in Courage and, 80

  on RFK, 44–45, 51

  space race and, 177

  as special counsel to the president, 80, 126

  as speechwriter, x, 3, 80, 279, 302, 425

  writings on JFK’s presidency, 423, 425–26

  Sorensen, Tom, 360

  Southeast Asia Task Force, 231, 236

  Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), 236, 242, 243

  Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), 108

  Soviet Union. See also Khrushchev, Nikita

  arms race and, 67

  atmospheric nuclear testing and, 208, 210–11

  Bay of Pigs failure and, 146–47

  Berlin and, 103, 180–86

  Berlin Wall and, 225–26

  Cuba, military build-up in, 288–91

  Cuba and, 103, 106, 131, 366

  Cuba as problem in U.S. relations, 372, 377

  Cuban missile crisis, 292–329

  East Germany, nuclear missiles in, 290

  economic weakness, 178–79

  JFK’s advisers wrong on, 290

  JFK seen as weak, 146–47

  Laos and, 159

  menace to West of, 132–33, 203

  “missile gap” and, 20, 67

  nuclear war fears and, 40, 67–68

  RFK and William O. Douglas in (1955), 46

  Sino-Soviet split, 367

  space race and, 177–79

  test ban treaty and, 209–13

  space race, 177–80

  Stages of Economic Growth (Rostow), 91–92

  Stahr, Elvis, 274

  Stalin, Joseph, 186, 189, 195

  steel industry, 259–60

  Steeves, John, 231–32

  Steinbeck, John, 248

  Stevenson, Adlai, 43, 81, 288–89

  on America’s lack of grand vision, 107

  Ball and, 103–4

  Bay of Pigs failure, 151

  as Bay of Pigs skeptic, 142–43

  Berlin crisis and, 228

  Bowles and, 101

  calls RFK “Black Prince,” 59

  campaign of 1956, 47–50

  Cuba and, 386

  Cuban missile crisis and, 301, 302, 308, 325

  desire for Secretary of State job, 93–94

  JFK campaigning for, 50

  JFK desire for vice presidency and, 48–49

  JFK’s administration and, 63

  JFK’s ambassadorship offers, 94–95

  Kennedy’s “Irish gutter talk” and, 104

  Nixon’s attack on, 20

  RFK campaigning for, 49–50

  on Soviet nuclear testing, 211

  third-time candidate hopes, 15–16, 51–52

  Stilwell, Joseph W., 98

  Strategy for Peace, The (JFK), 120

  Strauss, Lewis, 209

  Sullivan, William H., 411

  Sully, François, 286

  Sulzberger, Arthur, 414

  Sylvester, Arthur, 71, 72

  Symington, Stuart, 16, 57, 243

  tax reform, 107, 108

  Taylor, Maxwell, 72, 93

  background, 157–58

  Berlin crisis and, 228

  Castro ousting and, 213, 216, 254

  Cuba and, 360

  Cuban missile crisis and, 297, 298, 303, 305, 315, 317, 318, 332

  as Diem supporter, 231, 284, 398, 401, 407, 409, 416

  as JFK adviser, 157–58

  JFK’s diminished confidence in, 279

  Joint Chiefs and, 330–31

  resignation from LBJ’s White House, 431

  Vietnam and, 232, 234, 235, 242, 341, 342, 346, 397, 406–8, 411–12

  Vietnam fact-finding trips, 237, 238, 239, 282, 283, 409–11

  Vietnam report to JFK, 284

  Teller, Edward, 209

  Tempelsman, Maurice, 423

  Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis (R. Kennedy), 427

  Thompson, Llewellyn “Tommy,” 182–83, 185, 192, 198

  background, 313

  on Cuba, 367–68

  Cuban missile crisis and, 311, 312–13, 328, 333

  nuclear test ban treaty and, 358

  Thompson, Robert G. K., 347–48

  Thornton, Charles, 86

  Thousand Days, A (Schlesinger), 424–25

  Thunder Out of China (White), 235

  Time magazine, leaks to, 203

  Travell, Janet, 308–9

  Troutman, Robert, 174

  Truman, Bess, 125

  Truman, Harry, 17, 19, 25, 28, 42, 47, 53

  Acheson and, 205

  Bell and, 119

  Bowles and, 101

  “buck stops here,” 25, 147

  China policy, 98, 164, 248

  containment policy, 28

  dislike of Nixon, 60

  Eisenhower and, 22

  firing of MacArthur, 75

  Harriman and, 192

  on JFK, 60

  JFK and, 379

  Korean War and, 247, 262, 273

  Lovett in administration, 84

  Neustadt serving under, 25

  reputation as sob, 59

  Symington and, 243

  test ban treaty and, 379, 382

  Tuchman, Barbara, 320

  Turkey, U. S. missiles in, 326–27, 328–29

  Twain, Mark, 13

  Udall, Stewart, 255

  Ugly American, The (Lederer and Burdick), 218

  Uncertain Trumpet, The (Taylor), 72, 158

  Unfinished Life, An (Dallek), ix, 12

  Ung Van Kiem, 280

  United Nations

  Cuban missile crisis and, 323


  Eleanor Roosevelt at, 95, 125

  Fulbright support for, 96

  Khrushchev address (1956), 195

  Stevenson ambassadorship, 94–95

  United States Information Agency (USIA), 264

  University of Georgia, 176

  University of Virginia, 40–41

  Unruh, Jesse, 38

  U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, 208, 209

  U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, 120, 121, 258

  U. S. Congress

  House Appropriations Committee, 274

  JFK’s low opinion of the House and congressmen, 13–14

  JFK’s speech (1961), 176–77

  JFK’s term in the House, 13, 38

  JFK’s term in the Senate, 14, 96

  O’Brien as JFK’s congressional point man, 113–14

  Senate Armed Services Committee, 71, 242

  Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 96, 261, 268

  Senate Labor Rackets Commission, 111

  Senate Space Committee, 179

  southern opposition to civil rights, 123, 173

  test ban treaty and, 380, 382

  Vietnam and, 242

  U. S. Department of Defense. See also Joint Chiefs

  anti-Castro forces and, 366

  Cuba, Castro, and JFK’s policy toward, 366

  Cuban missile crisis and, 318

  disagreement with negotiated Vietnam outcome, 272

  JFK criticism of, 257

  nuclear war and, 294

  task force on Vietnam, 274

  Vietnam and, 236, 245, 268

  U. S. Department of Justice

  Civil Rights Division, 122, 174

  Cuban missile crisis and, 301

  RFK as attorney general, 62–65

  White as deputy attorney general, 122

  U. S. Department of State. See also Rusk, Dean

  Ball replaces Bowles, 155

  Bay of Pigs and, 133, 139–40, 150

  Berlin and, 183, 185–86

  Bowles as Undersecretary, 101–3, 139

  Bowles ousted, 155–56

  Bureau of Inter-American Affairs, 365

  China White Paper, 98

  Cuban missile crisis and, 302–3, 318

  Cuba reconciliation opposed by, 388

  Far Eastern affairs department, 98, 273

  FDR’s exasperation with, 184

  Intelligence Bureau, 355

  JFK-Khrushchev summit and, 191

  JFK’s attitude toward, 93, 103, 184, 270

  JFK’s reforming of, 95–96

  press censorship in Vietnam and, 263, 264–65

  Rusk as Secretary, 93, 97–101, 103, 328

  “shit list” of those to be fired, 95

  on U. S. military intervention in Cuba, 134

  Vietnam and, 236, 241, 346

  Vietnam rationale, 286–87

  Vietnam working group, 336, 348–49, 355

  U. S. Department of the Treasury

  Cuban missile crisis and, 318

  Dillon as Secretary, 116–18

  U. S. Intelligence Board, 290

  U. S. News & World Report, “Curtain of Secrecy” story, 263

  U Thant, 323, 325, 329

  Vandiver, Ernest, 61

  Vann, John Paul, 346

  Varentsov, Sergei, 225

  Vienna summit (1961), 186–200

  Vietnam, xi, 162–72, 229–49, 260–78, 280–87, 336–52, 354–56, 390–419

  Ap Bac, 339–40, 341, 345–46

  assassination of Diem and Nhu, 417–18

  British Advisory Group, 347–48

  Buddhist repression and crisis, 349, 351–52, 355, 391, 392, 393, 394, 395–96, 397, 399

  bureaucratic infighting and failing policy of, 345, 346

  consensus on U. S. military support, 336–37

  cost of war, 338

  Counterinsurgency Plan, 162

  Diem and (see Ngo Dinh Diem)

  domino theory, 160–61, 431

  Durbrow as ambassador, 162–63

  Eisenhower’s policy, 160, 165

  expanding U.S. role, 266, 267–68

  fog of war and, 396

  French advice to JFK, 234–35

  French defeat, 160, 170, 241, 338

  Galbraith advice on, 166, 232–33, 234, 269–71

  GAO report on aid programs, 347

  Geneva Accords, 160, 270–71

  Gilpatric advice on, 166

  Green Berets, 218

  Harkins as commander in, 260, 265, 274, 275, 280–81, 337, 340, 343, 346

  hawkish demands for military intervention, 233, 236–38

  Hilsman and Forrestal trip and report (1963), 340–41

  JFK administration failure to ask five basic questions before engagement in, 246–47

  JFK and a negotiated settlement, 269–71, 272, 273–74, 280

  JFK’s advisers divided on, 401, 405–9, 414–15

  JFK’s advisers supporting Diem, 164, 168, 170–71, 230–31, 237, 414

  JFK’s ambivalence on, 429

  JFK’s commitment to, 246–47, 286–87, 343, 393, 405

  JFK’s dilemma in, 350–51

  JFK’s doubts about financing South Vietnamese forces, 171

  JFK’s eight questions for advisers, 242

  JFK’s final policy on, 418–19

  JFK’s hiding U.S. involvement, 260–61, 262, 263–64, 269, 340

  JFK’s intention to withdraw, 351

  JFK’s lack of prioritizing, 342

  JFK’s meeting of January, 1961, 161

  JFK’s meeting of September 10, 1963, 406–8

  JFK’s meetings of August 26– 28, 1963, 397–401

  JFK’s meetings of October 29, 1963 on Diem coup, 415–16

  JFK’s motivations for expanding U.S. commitments in, 247–48, 273, 350

  JFK’s opposition to build-up of U.S. military in, 161–62, 229–30, 232–33, 237, 240, 241, 242, 261–62

  JFK’s press conference (July 17, 1963), 393

  JFK’s reluctance to back Diem coup, 354–55, 416–18

  JFK’s skepticism about rescuing South Vietnam, 339–40

  JFK’s task force on, 280–82

  JFK’s TV interviews to put Diem on notice, 405–6

  JFK turns over management of war to McNamara, U.S. military, and the Saigon embassy, 267, 283, 342

  Joint Chiefs and, 166, 236–37, 240, 245, 260–61, 340, 341–42, 343, 395

  Kattenburg’s warning, 404

  Kennedy letter to Diem, 245–46

  Kennedy letter to Khrushchev, 246

  Khrushchev holds up as model for insurgencies, 166–67

  Landsdale as CIA station head, 218

  Lansdale report to JFK, 161, 163

  LBJ report (1961), 168–70

  LBJ’s Rolling Thunder campaign, 427–28

  LBJ’s Vietnam policy, 429–30

  LBJ trip to (1961), 167–68

  Lodge as ambassador, 355–56, 391, 392, 396

  Mansfield memo to JFK, 238–39

  Mansfield report, 337–39, 343

  as McNamara’s war, 267

  McNamara-Taylor visit (1963) and report, 409–11, 412, 413

  McNamara visit (1962), 274–76

  misinformation on, 274, 275, 277–78, 280–82, 284, 345–46, 396

  as a muddle without a solution, 405–7

  NIE report on, 348

  Nolting and Diem, 230–31, 266

  Nolting as ambassador, 163, 243, 244, 265, 274, 275, 337, 340, 343, 344–45, 348

  partition of, 163

  Pentagon officer inspection trip (1963), 340

  press and, 20, 265, 267, 276–77, 285, 286, 336, 337–38, 342, 344, 345, 392, 393–98, 412–13

  press censorship, 286, 408, 409

  press complaints, 263, 264–65

  public dissent against war, 281

  reporter Sheehan in, 275–76

  Rostow and, 92, 229–30

  Rusk memo opposing Taylor-Rostow report, 241–42

  Sorensen memo on, 165–66 br />
  “A Strategic Concept for South Vietnam” (Hilsman), 262

  Strategic Hamlets Program, 277, 282, 283, 336, 338, 347–48, 349, 392, 406

  supporters of military victory in, 343, 347–48

  supporters of political initiative, 344

  Taylor-Rostow report, 239–40, 241, 242

  U.S. casualties in, 404

  U. S. critics of war, 346–47

  U. S. debate over, 343–45

  U. S. military advisers in, 171, 240, 245, 261–62, 338, 348, 349

  U. S. Special Forces in, 165

  as war against communism, 159, 166–67, 169, 245, 247, 261, 272, 276, 286–87, 343, 405

  Wheeler report, 341–42

  White House fact-finding trip (1961), 237–40

  White House press release promising withdrawal of troops, 411–12

  Volcker, Paul, 432

  von Brentano, Heinrich, 184

  Vu Van Mau, 280

  Wahl, Nicholas, 189

  Wallace, George, 352, 432

  Washington, George, ix, x, 1, 108

  Webster, Daniel, 14

  Westmoreland, William, 431

  “What We Are Doing in Southeast Asia” (Harriman), 277

  Wheeler, Earle, 316, 340, 341–42, 343, 346

  White, Byron, 122, 123

  White, Lincoln, 324–25

  White, Theodore, 235, 248, 422

  White House Historical Association, 125

  Why England Slept (JFK), 12

  Wiesner, Jerome, 209, 356

  Wilkie, Wendell, 218

  Wilkins, Roy, 176, 251, 402

  Wilson, Woodrow, 22, 25, 26, 93–94, 127, 380

  Wofford, Harris, 119–20, 123

  fate of Bowles and, 153

  JFK’s presidential campaign, 120

  as point man for JFK’s civil rights agenda, 60, 119–22, 175

  World War II

  Chamberlain’s appeasement, 8, 161

  Eisenhower’s staff in, 68–69

  firebombing of Tokyo, 86

  Humphrey’s lack of service, 19

  JFK as hero, 37

  Joe Kennedy, Jr.’s death in, 9–10

  Joe Kennedy, Sr. as ambassador to Great Britain, 7

  Lovett in, 84

  McNamara and, 85–86

  O’Brien in, 112

  Power in, 73

  RFK in, 39

  Rostow in OSS, 91

  Rusk and, 97–98

  Shriver in, 129

  Taylor in, 157

  Young, Kenneth T., 239

  Photo Insert

  Rose and Joe Kennedy: JFK said of his father, “He made it all possible.”

  President Kennedy and brother Bobby, his closest confidant and most forceful advocate.

  Ted Sorensen, the brilliant thirty-three-year-old wordsmith who crafted most of Kennedy’s best lines during their eleven-year association.

  In March 1962, former president Dwight Eisenhower saw Kennedy as too young and inexperienced to master Cold War challenges.