SENATOR MCGOVERN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000500090005-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 30, 2003
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: February 9, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN

STAT
Approved For Release
CONGRESSIONAL PECORD
200q/(f1V-"6fA$6~75-00149R000500090005-6
From the Baltimore Sun, Dec. 5, 19051
CnLESINGER ON KENNEDY
0S
This is a superb and Important book. It
ought to be "must" reading for all future
presidential candidates and aspiring White
House aids even though it might thin their
ranks. It should also be read by anyone
wanting to discuss Vietnam, Cuba, civil
ri;itts or any of the ether major Issues In-
volving the Government of the United States
because of its Important background ma-
terials. Arthur Schlesinger has been even
more successful than Theodore Sorensen In
producing a work of contemporary history
of first-rate quality and Importance.
The author has been known in his profes-
sion as a very political historian In a partisan
sense. One of his books found support for
the New Deal In Jacksonian Democracy while
the first volume of his unfinished series on
.the Franklin Roosevelt administration left
the impression that an inept Herbert Hoover
and the Republican Party were chiefly re-
sponsible for the stock market crash and the
world depression. The author was also active
In Adlai Stevenson's campaigns of 1952 and
1950 and only shifted his allegiance to Ken-
nedy at Los Angeles in 1960.
He writes then with the values of a liberal
northern Democrat, but within this frame-
work he comes surprisingly close to the
unattainable goal of objectivity. Since he
has viewed two previous Presidential regimes
in a detailed analysis he is able to pick out
the most salient details, to ask the Important
questions and to offer judgments which have
some depth.
When President-elect Kennedy added
Schlesinger to his staff he knew that he was
hiring an historian who would be tempted
to write of his White House years. On occa-
sion he jokingly warned Schlesinger against
making too much of his position, and lie
did ask that no staff members keep detailed
accounts of conversations as a threat to
freedom of expression.
But after the Bay of Pigs disaster Kennedy
changcd his mind. He told Schlesinger that
"You can.be damn sure that th%, 4 has Its
-record and the joint chiefs theirs. We'd bet-
ter be sure that we have a record over here."
On that basis Schlesinger kept a full account
of subsequent Important conferences. Al-
though he does,pot disclose his sources, he
h barn given access to and the right to use
d,,riiments which other historians are not
likely to see for decades. A footnoted man-
uscript of the book has been filed in the
Kennedy library to be used after "an appro-
priate interval."
ON STATE DEPARTMENT
The matter which aroused the most atten-
tion in the earlier serializing of this book
was the treatment of Secretary of State Rusk
and the reporting of Kennedy's decision to
replace him. In the fuller version Rusk ap-
pears as only one aspect of the President's
frustrating experience with the State Depart-
ment bureaucracy. The Pentagon also had
built-in resistance to change, but Kennedy
seems to have felt that Secretary McNamara
was making some headway. State remained
relatively unchanged in Its devotion to older
anti often discredited policies.
In foreign affairs-tbe test ban treaty, the
Alliance for Progress, the American Uni-
versity speech and the tense negotiations
over the Cuban missile crisis-were handled
with little assistance from the State Depart-
ment. On some crucial occasions Rusk
seemed willing to have the Joint Chiefs of
Staff or the CIA- nvade and take over the
decisions aJMch rightly should have been
made by the State Department.
LATIN AMERICA
Schlesinger was strongly Interested in
I r lhu American affairs and writes a full re-
on the innovation and operation of the
A.111-1, ' t. For those who think that the good
ncighb,r policy has been a cornerstone since
the second Roosevelt It will come as a sur-
pri.-,e, as It did to Schlesinger that a single
Communist country, Yugoslavia, with only
18 million people received more American
money in the period 1945-60 than did all
of Latin America with its almost 200 million
largely impoverished peoples. Kennedy was
strongly critical of this neglect and of what
Schlesinger calls the Pentagon's chronic
need to dispose of obsolescent weapons
which led to the dumping of large quantities
of arms on Latin American governments.
Foreign affairs rightly takes up much of
the volume, but due attention is also given
to the domestic issues, particularly civil
rights. The role of Robert Kennedy is also
handled In ways which will Interest those
who consider him a future White House pos-
sibility.
MANY LIGHT TOUCHES
There are many light touches as well, one
involving Robert. During World War II PT
Boat Commander Jack Kennedy In the Pa-
cific received a picture of his younger brother
being sworn into the Navy at the age of 17.
But what Jack claimed as his chief concern
was the discovery that Bob had appropriated
his checked London-tailored coat; "I'd like
to know what the hell I'm doing out here
while you go stroking around in my drape
coat, but I suppose that Is what we are out
here for."
"A Thousand Days" Is a long book with a
'little more than a page for each day, but it I.
a richly rewarding book. It will probably
be read by many future generations for Its
penetration Into the great complexities
which beset a nation and Its political leader.
in a time of revolutionary change and Inc
world of troubles.
WU.LIAM L Nzulwew.
Approved For Release 2004/01/16 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000500090005-6