Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family (39 page)

245.
“Joan, who had crumpled when”:
Clymer,
Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography
, p. 61.

245.
“a very busy patient . . . fine spirits”:
“Joan Launches Ted’s Campaign,”
Boston Globe
.

245.
“Still, I was on the road”:
Kennedy,
Joy of Classical Music
, ch. 3.

245.
“He’s getting awful”:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 109.

7. “Nobody, Nothing”

246.
Joan managed for a long time:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 118.

246.
She stayed as busy as ever:
“Joan Visits Retarded Classes,”
Boston Globe
, December 11, 1965.

246.
cheer up soldiers wounded in Vietnam:
Liston, Carol, “Radiant Joan Kennedy Spreads Cheer on Tour,”
Boston Globe
, December 10, 1965.

246.
When Ted buried the hatchet:
“Ted’s Wife on Political Bandwagon,”
Boston Globe
, September 21, 1966.

246.
And she was by her husband’s side:
Riddell, Janet, “Memorial Building Solemnly Dedicated,”
Boston Globe
, September 10, 1966.

246.
“The timing was ironic . . . clan cronies, Dean Markham”:
Cheshire, Maxine, “Kennedys Wary of the ‘Caroline,’” July 13, 1967.

247.
He was baptized by Cardinal Cushing:
Negri, Gloria, “Cardinal Baptizes Patrick,”
Boston Globe
, July 30, 1967.

247.
“The house was always full of cooks . . . nothing, not needed”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 30.

247.
“He thinks you’re a wonderful wife . . . just has this addiction”:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 119.

247.
“When one grows up feeling”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 39.

248.
“My dear . . . chase after politicians”:
Clymer papers.

248.
“I tried telling myself”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 39.

248.
“The only thing I was sure of”:
ibid.

248.
“Joan Kennedy wore a glittering . . . Blue Room in the White House”:
“Joan Stuns Nixons in Mini-Dress,” United Press International, March 13, 1969.

248.
In 1968 she again was:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 111.

248.
he worried that his brother:
ibid., p. 127.

248.
Bobby’s theme was:
Kennedy,
Joy of Classical Music
, ch. 3.

249.
“I have never, ever . . . beyond grief and agony”:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 134.

249.
“She disappeared, and no one knew”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 36.

249.
“He looked slightly heavier”:
Murphy, Jeremiah, “Tragedy Ages Ted, Darkens His Mood,”
Boston Globe
, August 22, 1968.

249.
“Gone, perhaps forever, is the Teddy Kennedy”:
ibid.

249.
“It wasn’t my personality . . . things didn’t hurt so much”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, pp. 36–37.

250.
“a flurry of awed whispers—‘She is pretty! She is pretty!’ ”:
Caldwell, Jean, “Joan’s a Real Kennedy; She Enjoys Campaigning,”
Boston Globe
, September 14, 1968.

250.
Not two weeks later:
Cheshire, Maxine, “Joan Kennedy Will Campaign for Bayh,”
Boston Globe
, September 24, 1968.

250.
Whatever grief she felt . . . non-answers to both:
Caldwell,“Joan’s a Real Kennedy.”

250.
“I drank socially at first”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 40.

250.
“I tried to talk about it . . . nobody would really talk about it”:
Leamer,
Kennedy Women
, p. 699.

251.
She stayed at the couple’s Cape house:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 37.

251.
“It’s too early to predict anything . . . his decision, not mine”:
Blackman, Ann, “And a Time for Solitude and Thought,”
Boston Globe
, March 23, 1969.

8. Chappaquiddick

252.
after serious contemplation, Ted decided:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 146.

252.
“Don’t run for President . . . Stop him”:
Dedman, Bill, “Ted Kennedy FBI File Reveals Death Threats,” MSNBC.com, June 14, 2010. www.nbcnews.com/id/34248485/ns/us_news-life/t/ted-kennedy-fbi-file-reveals-threats.

252.
almost 80 percent of whom:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 146.

252.
“The feeling of momentum”:
ibid.

253.
Afterward, he visited a:
ibid., pp. 148–49.

253.
“Politics was her life”:
ibid., p. 149.

253.
“The next thing I recall”:
Shaffer,
Left to Die
, p. 54.

253.
He said he dove repeatedly:
Leamer,
Kennedy Women
, p. 647.

254.
He didn’t report the accident:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, pp. 155–57.

254.
“No one told me”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 90.

254.
Joan had a miscarriage:
“Joan Kennedy Resting in Hospital,”
Boston Globe
, August 30, 1969.

254.
About this time, she also learned:
Leamer,
Kennedy Women
, p. 651.

254.
On November 18, 1969, he died:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, pp. 292–93.

255.
“For a few months everyone . . . when I truly became an alcoholic”:
Leamer,
Kennedy Women
, p. 651.

9. “The Beginning of the End”

256.
“We remained together . . . perhaps fear of change”: Kennedy,
True Compass
, pp. 183–84.

256.
“the beginning of the end”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 38.

256.
“I believe everything Ted said . . . alive at all”:
“ ‘I Worry All the Time Whether Ted Will Be Shot,’ Says Joan Kennedy,” Associated Press, June 30, 1970.

256.
Joan later recalled:
Kennedy,
Joy of Classical Music
, ch. 4.

257.
“repeat the performance”:
Cheshire, Maxine, “TV Shows Chase Joan Kennedy,”
Washington Post
, December 9, 1970.

257.
“It took a lot out of me”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 41.

257.
Sometimes she’d leave the children:
ibid., p. 43.

257.
“My mom struggled mightily . . . aren’t available to many people”:
Kennedy, Patrick. Telephone interview with author, April 2014.

257.
“What family? . . . never wanted Ted to be President. Never”:
“ ‘I Worry All the Time Whether Ted Will Be Shot,’ Says Joan Kennedy,” Associated Press.

257.
“subjecting my family to fears . . . it’s too early.”:
“Kennedy Says Fear of Assassin Halted ’72 Run,” United Press International, July 27, 1971.

258.
“He grudgingly admitted”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 305.

258.
He’d have to have his right:
ibid., p. 307.

258.
“Ted would bring in the whole . . . and I was the traffic cop”:
Leamer,
Kennedy Women
, p. 676.

258.
Joan had been treated in private:
MacPherson, Myra, “Joan Kennedy—The Trying Years,”
Boston Globe
, November 16, 1975.

259.
“has reached an agreement that”:
Cheshire, Maxine, “Joan to Make Few Appearances If Ted Runs,” September 9, 1973.

259.
In April 1976, Joan’s mother:
“ Joan Kennedy’s Mother Found Dead in Florida,” Associated Press, April 9, 1976.

259.
“I couldn’t help her . . . for my own survival”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 47.

259.
“I’d been told that an alcoholic . . . have some time for myself”:
ibid.

259.
“public life has not been kind”:
“Nation: The Vulnerable Soul of Joansie,”
Time
, November 5, 1979.

259.
She relapsed badly:
ibid.

260.
“If Joan did not campaign . . . if Joan could forgive him, so could they”:
Chellis,
Living with the Kennedys
, p. 70.

260.
She kept up with the grueling pace:
Dowd, Maureen, “Not a Launching But a Scuttling,”
Time
, December 13, 1982.

260.
This was buoyed by her:
Taylor, Benjamin, “A Pledge from Joan Kennedy,”
Boston Globe
, February 16, 1980.

260.
“I’m learning what it is like . . . never been doing better in my entire life”:
“Joan Kennedy’s Life Alone,” Associated Press, March 3, 1982.

10. Still a Kennedy

261.
“She didn’t pick being a . . . that they weren’t alone”:
Kennedy, Patrick. Personal interview with author. April 2014.

261.
“had a number of good years . . . more churches and castles”:
ibid.

261.
Three years later, she was:
McPhee, Michele, and Dave Wedge, “The Fall of Joan,”
Boston Magazine
, August 2005.

262.
“She was conscious . . . that it was anything special”:
ibid.

262.
Though Joan didn’t appear drunk:
ibid.

262.
The agreement stipulated that:
Ellement, John, and Maria Sacchetti, “Joan Kennedy, Children Reach Agreement; Medical, Financial Team, Rehab Cited,”
Boston Globe
,June 13, 2005.

262.
His new wife, Vicki, was by his side:
Newton-Small, Jay, “A Family Gathers to Say Farewell to Ted Kennedy,”
Time
, August 26, 2009.

262.
Ted stepped in and helped:
Donaldson, Susan James, “Kara Kennedy’s Heart May Have Taken ‘Direct Hit’ by Cancer Cure,” ABC News, September 20, 2011.

262–63
.
“Her disease sidelined her . . . second chance with her, so to speak”:
Author interview with Patrick Kennedy, April 2014.

263.
“I was aghast”
: ibid.

Part V: Vicki

1. A Different Type

266.
“What’s wrong? . . . Dream on, Kennedy”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 423.

266.
“Oh, don’t talk to”:
Clymer papers.

267.
“Up close, the face is a shock”:
Kelly, Michael
,
“Ted Kennedy on the Rocks,”
GQ,
February 1990.

267.
A criminal investigation:
Jordan, Mary, “Jury Finds Smith Not Guilty of Rape,”
Washington Post
, December 12, 1991.

267.
Ted’s approval ratings:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 434.

267.
But as Ted chatted:
Clymer papers.

267.
he felt more relaxed:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 423.

267.
Edmund Reggie, Vicki’s father:
Reggie, Edmund, Oral history, JFK Library.

267.
“There was a film made about the Democratic Party”:
Marquard, Bryan,
Boston Globe
, “Edmund M. Reggie, 87; Louisiana stalwart for Kennedy campaigns became Edward M. Kennedy’s father-in-law,”
Boston Globe
, November 19, 2013.

268.
“I was really taken . . . praying for [Jack’s] success”:
Reggie, Edmund, Oral history, JFK library.

268.
“I could never vote for”:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 282.

268.
“I have six children”:
Reggie, Edmund, Oral history, JFK library.

268.
Victoria, Vicki for short, was:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 283.

268.
“Where Life Is Rice and Easy”:
Crowley city website, www.crowley-la.com.

268.
At one time, the city:
Canellos,
Last Lion
, p. 283.

268.
“but it wasn’t a sprawling . . . to be just like Vicki Reggie”:
Thomas, Jack, “The Next Kennedy: Folks Back in Crowley, La., Have Nothing But Good Things to Say about Her—It’s Ted Who Gets the Mixed Reviews,”
Boston Globe
, April 2, 1992.

268.
“There was a jukebox”:
ibid.

268.
The Reggie family was of Lebanese:
Reggie, Edmund, Oral history. JFKL.

269.
“
very sweet and very polite”:
Thomas, “
The Next Kennedy
.”

269.
“There were conversational boundaries . . . with each other”:
Kennedy,
True Compass
, p. 400.