Matthews - Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America

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A LSO BY C HRIS M ATTHEWS

American

Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think

Hardball

Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero

For Mom and Dad

FREE PRESS

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Copyright 1996 by Christopher Matthews

Afterword 1997 by Christopher Matthews

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Free Press Subsidiary

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First Free Press trade paperback edition November 2011

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Cover photograph Popperfoto/Archive Photos

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Library of Congress control number for the Simon & Schuster edition: 96015677

ISBN 978-0-6848-1030-0

ISBN 978-1-4516-4428-9 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4391-3531-0 (ebook)

The list of those who made this book possible begins and ends with research director Barbara Daniel. It was her persistence, more than any other factor, that brought a great American story onto these pages.

I want to acknowledge, too, the help of those who knew the two antagonists of this saga as friends, bosses, politicians. Billy Sutton joined the first Kennedy campaign just hours after his return from World War II. He retains his wondrous gift for mimicry, his wistful memories of sharing that Georgetown town house that the young congressman made a Hollywood hotel. Ted Reardon, who served Kennedy from that first day in Congress to the day he set off for Texas, kept his proud leather-bound collection of Lodges Dodges high in his apartment closet till the day he died. Ted Sorensen, the brilliant counsel Jack Kennedy called his intellectual bloodbank, remains the standard to which all top political lieutenants aspire.

John Kennedys pals gave me another glance into the rivalry that marked his stunning emergence into history. Chuck Spalding exudes the genuine humility of a fellow who just happened to be friends with the most charismatic figure of the time. Red Fay is grateful, even today, for the fun, high times, and grand occasions he shared with the navy pal who met him in the South Pacific, then kept him aboard for the entire voyage. Charles Bartlett, who introduced Jack to future wife, Jacqueline, recalls his lost pal with tear-filled eyes a full three decades after his passing. Ben Bradlee, another reporter pal, is a storyteller with the same salty language and stylish irreverence as the Washington neighbor who became a president. George Smathers, who remembers Kennedy as the most charming man he ever met, evokes his and Jacks dont-give-a-damn times better than all the written-down legends together.

Thomas P. Tip ONeill, Jr., my boss for six years, shared a rich perspective on both of this books antagonists through many a languid session in the Speakers backroom office.

On the Richard Nixon side of the rivalry, I owe much to the late Pat Hillings, who took Richard Nixons seat in Congress and shared so many of his crises. From the moment I discovered Pat waiting patiently for me in a Palm Springs hotel lobby, he was a friend and correspondent of great cheer and helpfulness. Bob Haldeman, who died just a month after our long interview, could not have been more generous. His diaries provide the best possible record of this sagas final chapters. I want to thank John Ehrlichman for shedding light on the darker period of the Kennedy-Nixon story. John asked Richard Nixon at an anguished moment how he could explain the tragedy of Watergate to his children. Id like to believe that this book performs that service. Thanks to Richard Nixons friend and speechwriter Ray Price, I am able to exploit an insiders narrative of the forces that drove this troubled White House in its final days. Thanks to Alexander Haig, I could plumb the political calculation that guided Richard Nixon until those last steps toward the helicopter.

I would also like to thank those who allowed me to interview them on the events and personalities in this book: Clark Clifford, Charles Colson, Prof. Archibald Cox, Mark Dalton, Fred and Nancy Dutton, Bob Finch, James Flug, President Gerald Ford, Joan Gardner, Leonard Garment, Bill Gavin, Vic Gold, Bob Griffin, Louis Harris, Richard Helms, Stephen Hess, Don Hewitt, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Herb Klein, Tom Korologos, G. Gordon Liddy, Evelyn Lincoln, Sen. Eugene McCarthy, Pete McCloskey, Charles McWhorter, Rod MacLeish, Earl Mazo, Sen. Frank Moss, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Martin Nolan, Esther Peterson, David Powers, George Reedy, Pierre Salinger, Rex Scouten, John Sears, Sargent Shriver, George Tames, Helen Thomas, Ron Walker, and Speaker Jim Wright.

There are two historians to whom I owe the most: Herbert Parmets Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy is the best book I have ever read on this fascinating man. Stephen Ambroses three-volume biography of Richard Nixon was the scaffold on which I have worked these past years. Three other books were indispensable: Nixon Agonistes by Garry Wills, JFK Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton, and President Kennedy by Richard Reeves.

I want to thank my researchers Christopher OSullivan, Christopher L. Matthews, Joseph Walsh, and Jason Kibbey; Thomas Whalen and Allan Goodrich at the John F. Kennedy Library; and John Taylor and Susan Naulty at the Richard M. Nixon Library and Birthplace. Others who helped in this project include Mark Johnson, Margaret Carlson, Turner and Elizabeth Kibbey, Robert Schiffer, Hendrik Hertzberg, Evan Thomas, Michael Gillette, Sven Holmes, Lois Romano, Gail Thorin, Steven Katze, Nancy Morrissey, and the Honorable Edward Markey.

I want to thank my literary representative, Raphael Sagalyn, who proved his faith and loyalty long ago. I want to thank, more than I can put in words, Michele Slung, for her masterful editorial work on this volume. The hours she dedicated to detonating paragraphs and challenging sentences have transformed a long and turbulent narrative into a coherent and dramatic saga.

I want to especially thank my editor, Dominick Anfuso, who shared my excitement with this historic rivalry from the outset. It was he who recognized the classic tale that lay beneath the history and urged me to tell it.

Finally, as before, I thank my loving wife, Kathleen, and our God-given children for sharing with me a world that any writer would envy.

K ENNEDY

Charles Bartlett, columnist, Chattanooga Times; personal friend of Jack Kennedys.

Benjamin Bradlee, Washington bureau chief, Newsweek, 196165; executive editor, Washington Post; personal friend of Jack Kennedys.