THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KENNEDY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200640007-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2004
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: January 14, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW S T A T E S M A N ?, ( /:2u%/~ ~~`~LZ /t// ~
Approved For Release 2004/11/01 : CIA-RDP88-013508000200640007-7
(London, England) January 14E, 1966
In Britain one is, I suppose, either a poli-
tician or not; in America the fine is not so
clear. hcrc, (lie cabinet-mcn:` __ trusted
adviser of one government does not usually
to into opposition on the fall. of that govern-
?t,ent? he -oes back into private life often
A Thousand Days has been much con-
demned, in America, for its `indiscretions',
notably - for disclosing that Kennedy
..ncd to drop Dean Rusk. ('Drop Rusk
on Hanoi," said one of the peppier placards
at the last Washington march.) All indiscre-
with hope of returning to politics when the. Lions are indiscreet - 'if he did it once he may
,:government changes again. Normally, such do it again' - yet some indiscretions have an
hopes hinge on the alternations of the, parties' in-built teleological discretion at their core. This
in power. At present it is rot so much a particular disclosure is a flaming indiscretion
question of Democrat or Republican; there is in the view of the Johnson administration
an air of /n de republique around; a dynas -since it diminishes what is called the 'credi-
tic loyalty stirs; the servants of the murdered bility' of an already sLrgliciently improbable
Caesar have much good to say of young Se.:-ary of State. But what is scandalous
Octavian. John Kennedy, Mr Schlesinger*. under Johnson, damaging to Johnson, may be l
tells us, `was particularly proud of his brother, helpful to the second Kennedy, and pardoned
always balanced, never rattled, his eye fixed. by hits, with the obvious reservations~ ? In any
on the ultimate as well as on the immediate.' case, entertaining as the .book is. it certainly
'Bob's unique role,' says Mr Sorensen 'f in his could have been much more entertaining:
first chapter, is implicit in nearly every chap- there are moments when one seems to I ear
ter that follows.' And \4r Sorensen also re-. the muffled struggle as some liccly anecdote
minds us of a pertinent observation made by. is suppressed for the time being. Nothing is
John Kennedy in his senatorial days:, `Just as Isere that could hurt any Kennedy candida-
I went into ,,olitlcs when Joe :died, if any- (tire, no scar\ cs are plucked from Caesar's.
thing happened tb.nie tomorrow my brother .images.
Bobby would rti15 for my seat.' Not that that particular Caesar had any
We can hear hint running now, if we real need of scarves. Both these books on
listen; Schlesinger and Sorensen are listening. Kennedy, which complement each other,
Nothing in either of these important and record the emergence Of an unmistakably great
valuable books is inconsistent with the hypo- ntan: a powerful mind and indomitable will
thesis that both authors expect to serve, be at work, steadily divesting themselves of the
fore long, in the administration of. President inherited and unnecessary, and beginning, to-
Robert Kennedy. I believe that this expecta- wards the end, to master the multiple, unrt.ily
t.ton exists, is reasonable and honourable" and energies of the greatest power in hlslbry. The
is a limiting factor on the candour, and there- natural momentum of. this power-system isi
foe the value to the public, of both books. towards world-domination: throughout the
Air Sorcn.crt psis written a dry book, even a world `power-vacuums' `have' to be filled,*
dill he could ccrtantly produce a blaze dependents advised or admonished, potential
ii Ise i rsr, but his fires. arc banked; there enemies bought, besieged or cestroycd. This
.rirint in these sober pages that could slicer- momentum dragged Kennedy through
entb,:rrass or hamper a future Secretary of the Bay of Pigs and left him, on the far side..
s(a e. Granted the length of the book, the a sadder, dirtier and very much wiser man.
suh ccts treated, and the considerable amount That salutary fiasco shattered, as these.
of information conveyed, this feat is in itself books show, all (lie idols of the Establishment.
a proof of. \-ir Sorensen's formidable talents, - the Joint Chiefs, the State Department. and
Mr Schlesinger, on the other hand, is enter- especially the CIA - and led Kennedy to:
taiuing, easy. sometimes witty; there is a touch depend increasingly on his own . judgment.
of Pepys, of Boswell. even of Pouter about, and on those whom lie chose to consult in-,
momentum remained:
hart, a, h,? ,?cscls in :1 ail. He is too much formally.. i lie
he writer. the don, even the ham, to be sought, with increasing success, to control it,;.
capable of Mr Sorensen"s iron discretion. That the attempted installation of Russian.
. O much the better Mr Schlesinger's book, so' rockets in Cuba was answered not by in-'
much tlrc more remote, !'suspect, tier Schlc vasion but by selective blockade, is proof of
.in_ers person from the figure throne. Happy die degree of control he had won. What the
consegUeiiccs, both. Conti c~
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