Kouin Galvin The Matter Of TheKennedy C CTER Gary Allen is author of None Dare Call It Conspiracy; The Rockefeller File; Kissinger: Secret Side Of The Secretary Of State; Jimmy Carter/Jimmy Carter; and, Tax Target: Washington. He is an AMERICAN OPINION Contributing Editor. • HUMORIST Tom Anderson has hold his head up . That's true enough. quipped that an article on Teddy What we intend to deal with here is Kennedy's character would have to be how Edward Moore Kennedy got the one of the shortest literary pieces in way he is. history. As far as Anderson is con­ The last time that the private life cerned, Kennedy has no character, pe­ of a Presidential candidate was a ma ­ riod. After Chappaquiddick, when jor campaign issue was in 1884, when Teddy showed up at Mary Jo Kopech­ Grover Cleveland's illegitimate child ne's funeral wearing a neck brace, was the subject of great controversy. Tom remarked that he needed it to Since that time there has been a sort JANUARY, 1980 1 Then there are the important character im­ plications. Can a man who consistently lies to his own wife be trusted not to lie to the country? Similarly, does compulsive adultery reveal an unstable and self-destructive personality? If so, what are the chances that it will effect his judgment and reactions in a time of crisis? of gentleman's agreement among pol­ late whether more people have be­ iticians and the press that the subject trayed their country over sex or love not be discussed. Frankly, the general than out of greed for money. Certain­ fear is that it might open up a Pan­ ly more military secrets have been dora's box. And it is argued both that a divulged in pillow talk than have ever Presidential candidate is entitled to been microfilmed by spies in dark of-. personal privacy and that what one fices. does in private .life has no bearing Then, there are the character im­ upon public performance. But when plications. Can a man who consistent­ the personal immorality of a Presi­ ly lies to his wife be trusted not to lie dential candidate is so compulsively a to the country? Is a compulsive Don part of a candidate's lifestyle that it Juan the victim of a neurosis which becomes an international scandal the will be revealed in his policies and ac­ subject must be faced. tions as President? Similarly, does We are well aware that the movie such behavior reveal the deep-seated fan magazines and tabloids have self-hatred of an unstable personal­ been leering and sniggering at the ity? Is the man self-destructive? If Kennedys for two decades. They are, so, will it effect judgment or reac­ of course , interested only in pander­ tions in a time of crisis? ing to the prurient mobs who amuse More strictly moral questions also themselves by watching members of arise. Can believing Christians and that family as if their lives were a Jews, for instance, vote for a habitual daytime soap opera. Such publishing adulterer? If a man compulsively is, to our mind, reprehensible. But flouts one of the Ten Command­ when it comes to Presidential politics ments, is he likely to hold sacred the there are serious issues involved here remaining nine? If so, how many of which deserve considerable thought. the Commandments can a man utter­ First of all, a man who is scandal ly ignore and still command the sup­ prone is also blackmail prone. This is port and respect of moral men and why women have been effective spies women? since long before Mata Hari compro­ Of course the practitioners of Sec­ mised her first general. Governments, ular Humanism, which now passes organized crime, and unscrupulous for the state "religion, " hold that all operators have all used sex as leverage the above questions are nonsense and to influence the actions of those with therefore irrelevent. These advocates political power. One can only specu- of the "new morality" include the 2 AMERICAN OPINION powers that be at the New York . The Founding Father Times, the Washington Post, Time Many books have dealt with the magazine, Newsweek, and at CBS and powerful influence of Joseph P . NBC. The mass media want to define Kennedy, the so-called Founding the issues for the 1980 campaign just Father, on his sons Joe Jr., Jack, Bob­ as they have done in past elections. by, and Teddy. Old Joe Kennedy was And the character of the candidates is a textbook case of the domineering not on their check list. But millions of father who did everything possible to citizens who are concerned about the shape the character and training of morality of their country and the ex­ his sons. To try to fathom Teddy ample its leaders set for their children without studying his relationship to care very much. How can we raise our his father and older brothers is like children to respect God, family, and trying to understand the American country, they are asking, if the Presi­ South without knowledge of the Civil dent of the United States behaves like War. Errol Flynn with a college diploma? Joe Kennedy was not your typical The fact is that the quality of a father, anxious to see his children President's character is the most im­ succeed. He was a driven and vindic­ portant subject that voters should tive man who saw his children as consider. After all, we will be electing weapons with which to take revenge a man who can single-handedly com­ on those he hated. Old Joe's grand­ mit us to war; who can declare a na­ father came to Boston during the tional emergency and invoke Execu­ Irish potato famine in 1848. Joe's tive Orders which give him power over father, Patrick Joseph, started life as the American people and their econ­ a common laborer - and through am­ omy to a degree undreamed of even by bition and hard work rose to be a re­ the fabled Oriental potentates of old. spected barkeep. A man with a flair Any man who seeks such a position is for organization, P.J., as he was called, going to have to forfeit his privacy. organized the Irish-American precincts What the baker does after he is for some of the town politicians. through kneading his dough for the Using his political connections, he got day is none of our business. If the his son Joseph into Boston Latin High owner of the hardware store is a liber­ School, then the best public prep tine, that's a problem for him, his school in the country. From there, wife, and minister to worry about. Patrick Joseph was able to gain ad­ But the character of the men being mission for Joe to Harvard, no mean considered for President of the accomplishment for an Irish Catholic United States is everybody's business. in those days. People are cruel, and there will This is believed by many to have naturally be rumors about anyone who been at the heart of the neurosis is rich and powerful. It can be argued which drove Joe Kennedy. During the that anytime a Kennedy has shaken last half of the Nineteenth Century, hands with an attractive woman, gos­ the Irish were regarded by the Boston sips and scandal sheets have sought to aristrocracy as nearly sub-human. turn it into a full-blown romance. But This attitude filtered down through what is known of the Kennedy men the middle class, and it was not un­ and their misbehavior with women common for a help-wanted sign in a goes far beyond rumors. Theirs is, ap­ Boston store window to specify that parently, an unbridled compulsion. "No Irish Need Apply." The Cabots And there is a reason for it. (Continued on page seventy-five.) 4 AMERICAN OPINION From page four fulness to their wives, but their wives found it worthwhile to continue as CHARACTER wives and mothers." This lasted for were speaking only to the Lowells, and years - until Teddy's wife Joan the Lowells were speaking only to couldn't take it any longer. Undoubt­ God, but nobody who was anybody in edly the flagrant philandering has Brahmin Boston would speak to a caused great suffering among the Kelly or an O'Toole on any basis but other Kennedy women too, but they as to a menial. This attitude died apparently rationalized that it came hard, and still flickered until J .F.K. with the territory. was elected President. If Joe Kennedy practiced a double Though admitted to Harvard, the standard he was not so hypocritical as Irish barkeeper's son found himself to deny it. On the contrary, boasting excluded from the "right" social of his conquests was a topic of con­ clubs and from the company of the versation he rated with money, poli­ sons of America's first citizens, for tics, and horse racing. He said his which he yearned. Whether it was be­ philosophy was a simple one: "A mis­ cause of his personality or his morals, tress is a mistress, nothing more; have or as he suspected because of his fun with them, take them out, spoil humble origin, he bore the grudge them, but never fall in love with them until he died. After Harvard, when and never let them affect your wife the ambitious Joe Kennedy made a or your family." fortune in banking, he was still never Occasionally Joe did not follow his accepted, was excluded from the own advice.