NORTON WILL ISSUE CUBAN-CRISIS BOOK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200630009-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 2, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

Q Oct as53
A roved For Release 2004/10/13,: CIA-R P88-01350R000200630009-6
NORTON Will ISSUE.
CUBAN-CRISIS HOOD
'
$250,000 Paid for Rights to
Robert. Kennedy Memoir.-
By ALDEN WHITMAN
Book rights to the late Sena-
tor Robert F. Kennedy's 25,000-
word- account of the Cuban
missile crisis have been ac-
quired by W. W. Norton & Co.,
a small privately owned pub-
lishing house, for a sum in ex-
cess of $250,000.
The sale, which became
known yesterday, was from the
McCall Corporation, which pur-
chased the manuscript last
month from the Senator's es-
tate for $1-million. The manu-
script will appear as a maga-
zine article in the November
be published January 20, the Ke inedy family's approv-
Norton's acquisition of the al." "We feel very fortunate to
book rights was negotiated :get Mr. Sorensen to do these
over the last six weeks by notes," Mr. Thomas continued,
George P. Brockway, president "because he v as a member of
of the.company, and Evan W. the inner White House circle
Thomas 2d, an editor nd, victe
president. of the concern.
Ironically, Mr. Thomas, who
will edit the book with Mr.
Brockway, was editor, when he,
was at Harper & Row, of Wil-
liam Manchester's "Death of a
President," a task that culmi-
nated in serious differences be-
tween Mr. Thomas and the
Kennedy family. . '
Earlier in his 22-year career
at Harper's Mr. Thomas had
edited John F. Kennedy's "Pro-
files in Courage" and three
books by the late Senator. His'
relations, with the Kennedys
had been amicable until the
IManchester episode.
Center of Controversy
The Manchester chronicle of
the assassination of President
Kennedy was published in 1967
when Mr. Thomas was vice
Lpresident of Harper & Row. At
the time he was a center of
controversy over changes in
the book that were demanded
by the Kennedy family and re-
sisted by the author. One of
the spokesmen for the family
was the late Senator. Mr.
Thomas resigned from Harper
& Row last spring to join Nor-
ton.
The'sale to that company, af-
ter spirited bidding by a num-
ber of publishers, was ap-
proved by Theodore W. Soren-
sen, attorney for the Kennedy
estate's executers - Mrs. Rob-
ert F. Kennedy, the Senator's
widow; Senator Edward M.
Kennedy of Massachusetts, his
brother, and Mrs. Patricia'K.ca-
,,
,,
nedY, his..sister? ,.. ~...... ' subsidyaiX 11;h M.-
nG slain Senator was Pres-
idcnt.Kennedy's Attorney Gen-
eral qnd confidant during the
Cuban crisis in. October, 1962.
Mr. Thomas said that Mr. So-
ren5en "must have received
permission from the Kennedy
family" to offer the book to
Norton, and added:
";personally can rejoice that
Mr., Sorensen felt it could. be
shpwn to Norton despite earli-
er' misunderstandings between
the Kennedy family and me,
differences that we, hope are
largely settled."
'Great Public Servants'
Mr. Thomas went on to em-
phasize that "I never viewed
Robert Kennedy or John Ken-
nedy other than as great pub-
lic servants." .
Mr. Sorensen, Mr. Thomas
said,. will write explanatory
during the missile crisis and
knew both brothers under ex-
traordinary circumstances."
Mr, Sorensen served as spe-
cial counsel to the President
,in the Kennedy Administration.
The book's publication Jan.
.20 -will mark the eighth an-
niversary of President Kenne-,
!dy's inauguration. Its title, sug-
,gested by Mr. Thomas, will be
"Thirteen Days: A Memoir of
the Cuban Missile Crisis."
in addition to the Sorensen
notes, the 160-page book will
contain introductions by Rob-
ert S. McNamara, President
Kennedy's Secretary of De-
fense, and Harold Macmillan,
the British Prime Minister dur-
ing the crisis with the Soviet
Union over its emplacement of
missiles on Cuba.
Neither these Introductions
nor the Sorensen notes will)
appear in.McCall's.
"Thirteen Days" will 'also in-i
elude documents of the crisis,'
including President Ken-i
nedy's speech to the nation "n
it, maps, diagrams and photo-
graphs. The book will be priced
at $4.95, and a first printing of
100,000 copies has been sched
uled..
According to Mr. Thomas, the
Norton book has been sold
to the Book-of-the-Month Club
and will be its February se-
lection. The paperback. rights,
he said, have been bought by
the New American Library,
which will publish its edition
next summer. Mr. Thomas de-
Mined to disclose what his com-
for
thgs4
-pany had..received
Approved For Release 2004/10/13 : CIA-RDP88-0.1350R000200630009-6