The Kennedy Brothers: The Rise and Fall of Jack and Bobby (62 page)

18
  Cuba: 1961, RFKP, JFKL.

19
  
Time
, 16 February 1962.

20
  Kim Novak to RFK, undated; correspondence file, 1961, RFKP, JFKL.

21
  Interview, Lawford.

22
  Ibid.

23
  
Time,
16 February 1962.

24
  Ibid. See also Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy and His Times
, pp. 609—10.

25
  
Time
, 16 February 1962.

26
  
Newsweek,
12 February 1962.

27
  Accompanying him on the trip was his close friend and advisor, John Seigenthaler, who recounts this scene in his oral history at the JFKL.

28
  Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy and His Times
, p. 617.

29
  RFK’s correspondence file 1962—63, RFKP, JFKL, evidences these communications.

30
  Collier and Horowitz,
The Kennedys,
pp. 284—89.

31
  Ibid., p. 289.

32
  Gore Vidal, who did not himself attend the seminar, made this characterization. Vidal, “The Best Man, 1968,”
Esquire
, 2 March 1963.

33
  James Brent Clarke to RFK, 10 June 1962; RFK to James Brent Clarke, 14 June 1962.

34
  
Time
, 16 February 1962.

35
  Ibid.

36
  Guthman and Shulman, eds.,
In His Own Words
, pp. 332—34.

37
  
Christian Science Monitor
, 16 April 1962;
Wall Street Journal
, 19 April 1962; Charles Reich,
The New Republic,
30 April 1962.

38
  Guthman and Shulman, eds.,
In His Own Words
, p. 334.

39
  Bradlee,
A Good Life
, p. 240. At the White House correspondents’ dinner that spring, the president did a civil liberties takeoff on himself and the administration’s handling of the steel crisis.
Robert Kennedy On His Own,
p. 335.

40
  Drew Pearson, “Washington Merry-Go-Round,”
Washington Post
, 6 January 1962.

41
  Memorandum from J. Edgar Hoover to Kenneth O’Donnell, 27 February 1962, no. 92—3267—125.

42
  Interview, O’Donnell. The president’s schedule indicates the 1 P.M. appointment and contains no other entries for that afternoon. JFKL.

43
  Wofford,
Of Kennedys and Kings,
p. 405.

44
  At least in terms of the attorney general’s telephone logs, the exchanges and messages between RFK and JFK were approximately twice the normal. RFKP, JFKL.

45
  Rappleye and Becker,
All-American Mafioso
, pp. 207—8.

46
  Memorandum to Mr. Belmont from C. A. Evans, Subject: John Roselli Anti-Racketeering, 29 August 1962, NA.

47
  Liz Smith, “The Exner Files,”
Vanity
Fair, January 1997. In the article, there is a reprint of the Walter Winchell item.

48
  Bradlee,
A Good Life
, pp. 238—39.

49
  Hersh,
The Dark Side of Camelot,
pp. 326—47.

50
  James Spada,
Peter Lawford,
pp. 292—94.

51
  Ibid., pp. 297—98.

52
  Anthony Summers reports another version of this comment: “They can’t touch me while I’m alive, and after I’m dead, who cares?”
Official and Confidential,
p. 270.

53
  Memorandum to the attorney general from Herbert J. Miller, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Subject: Arthur J. Balletti Wiretap Case, 24 April 1962, NA.

54
  Testimony of Lawrence Houston, HSCA, p. 62, NA.

55
  Rothman’s visit is detailed in HSCA staff memorandum, “Norman ‘Roughouse’ Rothman,” dated 20 January 1975, NA.

56
  See Andy Postal Memorandum for the Record, Re: Chronology of Events as We Now Know Them, 12 September 1975, NA.

57
  Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. gives the most detailed case absolving RFK. See
Robert Kennedy and His Times,
pp. 525—32.

58
  Andy Postal, Rhett Dawson Memorandum (Top Secret/Declassified) to John Bayly, Charles Kirbow, Mike Madigan. Subject: Relevance of Department of Justice Documents to Awareness of Assassination Plots, 12 August 1975, NA.

59
  Andy Postal Memorandum for the Record, Re: Chronology of Events as We Now Know Them, 12 September 1975.

60
  Spada describes the now-famous scene in
Peter Lawford,
pp. 303—5.

61
  Quoted in Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy and His Times
, p. 636.

62
  Summers,
Official and Confidential
, p. 296.

63
  Ibid., pp. 296—99.

64
  Schlesinger,
Robert Kennedy and His Times
, p. 637.

65
  Marilyn Monroe cable to the attorney general, dated 27 May 1962. RFKP, JFKL.

66
  Quoted in Spada,
Peter Lawford,
p. 308.

67
  Roemer,
Man Against the Mob,
p. 175.

68
  Interview, Lawford.

69
  Quoted in Anderson,
Jack and Jackie,
pp. 336—37.

70
  Phil Potter to RFK, 7 August 1962. Potter enclosed the AP story quoting the attorney general. Correspondence file, RFKP, JFKL.

71
  RFK to Phil Potter, 18 August 1962, correspondence file, RFKP, JFKL.

72
  J. Edgar Hoover personal memo to the attorney general, 16 August 1962, FBI Archives.

73
  The HSCA internally concluded that the attorney general did not know that the Rosselli connection continued and that it had been “reactivated.” Harvey’s denial of the Edwards memo is on page 97 of his testimony before the committee on 25 June 1975. Andy Postal Memorandum, Re: Chronology of Events as We Now Know Them, 12 September 1975.

74
  Confidential interview 18 with an anti-Castro operative, then twenty-two years old, and currently an attorney in Miami.

75
  Bradley Earl Ayers,
The War That Never Was: An Insider’s Account of CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1976), p. 38.

76
  Ibid., pp. 38—47.

77
  This memorandum is quoted in “Alleged Assassination Plots Against Foreign Leaders,” the Church Committee Report, p. 141.

78
  E. G. Lansdale Memorandum, Subject: The Cuba Project, 20 February 1962, NA.

79
  FBIS, 28 January 1962, Cuba file, 1962, RFKP, JFKL.

80
  Interview, Alarcon. See also Jon Lee Anderson,
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
(New York: Grove Press, 1997), pp. 518—20.

81
  See Corn,
Blond Ghost
, pp. 65—119. Also, Hinckle and Turner,
The Fish Is Red
, pp. 96—107.

82
  CIA Inspector General Report (May 1967), p. 6. The author of the IG report was J. S. Earman, NA.

83
  Rappleye and Becker,
All-American Mafioso,
p. 220.

84
  Alleged Assassination Plots Against Foreign Leaders,
Church Committee Report
, p. 83.

85
  HSCA staff untitled secret memorandum (sanitized and declassified), n.d., NA.

86
  It is possible that Rosselli and Morales knew each other previously from their days in Havana. See Rappleye and Becker,
All-American Mafioso,
p. 147.

87
  Hinckle and Turner,
The Fish Is Red
, pp. 172—75.

88
  Rosselli gave this account to Jack Anderson and Les Whitten, Jimmy Breslin, as well as his attorneys. Bill Harvey and Bradley Ayers among others later confirmed his role in the commando operations. Rappleye and Becker,
All-American Mafioso,
pp. 224—25.

89
  The author toured the site, now overgrown with mangrove trees, in November 1996.

90
  Director FBI (92—3267) to SAC Los Angeles (92—113), radiogram. Subject: John Roselli (
sic
), 11 May 1962.

91
  In his testimony before the HSCA on 25 May 1975, Bill Harvey characterized Rosselli as “honestly motivated by patriotism” with “high marks for personal integrity.”

92
  Rappleye and Becker,
All-American Mafioso
, pp. 103—5.

93
  The attorney general’s telephone log and typewritten messages evidence the constancy of this connection. See also RFK’s correspondence file, which contains letters from San Roman and other Brigade 2506 leaders.

94
  William D. Pawley to Robert F. Kennedy, 2 July 1962, with reference to Goodwin’s role. See also Novello message log of call from Goodwin to RFK, 9 July 1962.

95
  It is not known whether RFK knew Rosselli was a subscriber. Evidence of this is contained in SAC (LA) to Director, FBI airtel 92—168, 20 August 1962, NA.

96
  Background on the Rosselli-Foley relationship is contained in SAC (LA) to Director, FBI airtel 97—881, 20 January 1963, NA.

97
  Kennedy and Foley met 8 June 1962. Knebel’s message is contained in the telephone message file, RFKP, JFKL.

98
  The account is from
Granma,
16 October 1971.

99
  Ibid. Also Hinckle and Turner,
The Fish Is Red,
pp. 106—7.

100
  Corn,
Blond Ghost
, pp. 76, 84.

101
  HSCA RG 233, JFK Collection, staff memorandum, n.d., inventoried 2 March 1977, NA.

102
  Hinckle and Turner,
The Fish Is Red,
p. 175.

103
  Wyden,
Bay of Pigs
, p. 326.

104
  Robert F. Kennedy,
To Seek a Newer World
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967), pp. 116—17.

105
  Corn,
Blond Ghost
, p. 82.

106
  The author’s interviews with former Cuban exile operatives reflect the consistent sentiment of approval regarding RFK.

107
  Interview, Ball.

108
  Interview, Bundy.

109
  Corn,
Blond Ghost,
pp. 82—83.

110
  RFK Appointments, 5.62, RFKP, JFKL.

111
  The HSCA staff compiled profiles of operatives Masferrer, del Valle, Sturgis, and 27 others in the course of its investigation. NA.

112
  Quoted in Russell,
The Man Who Knew Too Much
, pp. 508—9.

113
  David Aaron Memorandum to Bill Miller, Fritz Schwarz, Curt Smothers, Bill Bader, Subject: Assassinations — Castro, 27 May 1975. HSCA, NA.

114
  William Harvey Memorandum to Deputy Director (Plans), Subject: Operation Mongoose, 14 August 1962. In the memorandum, Harvey refers to the phrase “including liquidation of leaders,” contained in Lansdale memo.

115
  Corn,
Blond Ghost,
p. 87.

116
  This is the recollection of Sergo Mikoyan, the son of Soviet first deputy premier Anastas I. Mikoyan. The younger Mikoyan at the time was the editor of
Latinskaya Amerika.
He offered this account at the Cambridge Conference of former Soviet and American foreign policy leaders regarding the Cuban missile crisis. James G. Blight and David A. Welch,
On the Brink: American and Soviets Reexamine the Cuban Missile Crisis
(New York: Hill and Wang, 1992), pp. 238—39.

117
  Quoted in Schlesinger,
A Thousand Days
, pp. 798—99.

118
  The characterization is Schlesinger’s. See
Robert Kennedy and His Times
, p. 543.

119
  James G. Blight, Bruce J. Allyn, and David A. Welch,
Cuba on the Brink: Castro, The Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse
(New York: Pantheon, 1993), pp. 342—43. In his foreword to the book, Harvard professor Jorge I. Dominguez reaches a similar conclusion: “U.S. decision makers and scholars have typically thought that the Soviet Union deployed ballistic missiles in Cuba in order to redress the strategic imbalance between the United States and the Soviet Union. This book suggests that the deployment may well have had a significant impact of such imbalance had the Soviet Union been able to retain its strategic weapons in Cuba. But this book also makes clear that a comparably important motivation for the Soviet deployment was the defense of Cuba against U.S. aggression” (p. x).

120
  Many of the descriptions of the confrontation at the University of Mississippi are based on those in Walter Lord,
The Past That Would Not Die
(New York: Harper & Row, 1965).

121
  Guthman and Shulman, eds.,
In His Own Words,
pp. 161—62.

122
  Harris Wofford to John F. Kennedy, 30 December 1960, PPP, JFKL; also Wofford,
Of Kennedys and Kings
, p. 133.

123
  Wofford’s conclusion at pp. 142—43 is supported by the scholarship of Carl M. Brauer,
John F. Kennedy and the Second Reconstruction
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1977), p. 167.

124
  William A. Geoghegan (Assistant Deputy Attorney General), memorandum to the attorney general with appended statement, 10 March 1962, RFKP, JFKL.

125
  Martin Luther King Jr., “Bold Design for a New South,”
The Nation,
30 March 1963.

126
  Quoted in Wofford,
Of Kennedys and Kings,
p. 161.

127
  Guthman and Shulman, eds.,
In His Own Words,
p. 109.

128
  File: James Meredith, n.d. Burke Marshall Papers, RFKP, JFKL.

129
  Transcriptions of the 26 telephone conversations between RFK and Barnett and JFK and Barnett are found in the Burke Marshall Papers, JFKL. The dates are 15 through 28 September 1962.