John C. Culver Interviewer: Vicki Daitch Date of Interview: May 12, 2003 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Length: 31 Pages
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John C. Culver Oral History Interview—5/12/2003 Administrative Information Creator: John C. Culver Interviewer: Vicki Daitch Date of Interview: May 12, 2003 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Length: 31 pages Biographical Note Culver, a Kennedy family friend, legislative assistant to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1963), representative from Iowa (1964-1974) and senator from Iowa (1975-1981), discusses his long-time friendship with Edward M. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy’s personality and legacy, and his involvement with various Kennedy memorials, among other issues. Access Open. Usage Restrictions According to the deed of gift signed February 24, 2004, copyright of these materials has been assigned to the United States Government. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish. 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Transcript of Oral History Interview These electronic documents were created from transcripts available in the research room of the John F. Kennedy Library. The transcripts were scanned using optical character recognition and the resulting text files were proofread against the original transcripts. Some formatting changes were made. Page numbers are noted where they would have occurred at the bottoms of the pages of the original transcripts. If researchers have any concerns about accuracy, they are encouraged to visit the Library and consult the transcripts and the interview recordings. Suggested Citation John C. Culver, recorded interview by Vicki Daitch, May 12, 2003, (page number), John F. Kennedy Library Oral History Program. John C. Culver Table of Contents Page Topic 1 First meeting with Edward M. Kennedy (EMK): Fall of 1950 2 First meeting with John F. Kennedy (JFK): Spring 1951 3 Army-McCarthy hearings: March-June 1954 4 Kennedys effect on Culver’s political life 5, 7 EMK’s 1962 senatorial campaign 6 Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.’s personality 7 Working for EMK 9, 27 JFK’s personality and legacy 10 JFK’s historical sense 11 89th Congress historic legislation: 1965-1967 12 Contact with Robert F. Kennedy after JFK’s death 13 Adapting to political changes 14 RFK’s personality changes after JFK’s death 15 EMK’s senatorial work 17 EMK’s presidential ambitions 18 EMK’s senatorial legacy 20 EMK’s family, compassion, and love 21 Kennedy memorials involvement 22 First sailing experience with EMK 24 Experience as Kennedy Foundation director 25 Conservation and historical preservation interests 26 Kennedys’ knowledge of agricultural issues 29 John F. Kennedy’s library’s mission 30 Political character importance 31 Youth and politics Oral History Interview with John C. Culver May 12, 2003 Boston, Massachusetts by Vicki Daitch For the John F. Kennedy Library DAITCH: So what I’ll do is just set them up by saying that I’m Vicki Daitch, and I’m speaking with John Culver, former senator from Iowa, and friend of the Library [John F. Kennedy Library] and former member of the Board. I guess one of the first things I wanted to ask is just how did you end up involved with the Kennedy family? You went to school at Harvard? Is that where you...? CULVER: Yes, Senator Ted Kennedy [Edward M. Kennedy] and I first met and became friends in the fall of 1950 when we entered Harvard College and met on the Harvard freshman football team. DAITCH: Oh, neat. So you’ve been friends since way back then? CULVER: Over 50 years. DAITCH: Yes. Oh, that’s neat. So did you know the other brothers, too? CULVER: Yes. In the course of our undergraduate years, I got to know the President [John F. Kennedy] [-1-] and also his brother Robert Kennedy [Robert F. Kennedy] and other members of the family. And so I became acquainted with a large number of the people in the family. DAITCH: Was that exciting for you? I mean I can’t imagine.... I would have thought it would be exciting. CULVER: Well, you know, at that time we were 18-year-old kids. I had come from a very strong Republican family in Iowa. My father had been a Taft [Robert A. Taft] delegate to the 1952 convention. Later, in 1954, the year I graduated from college, on August 10th, I actually drove Herbert Hoover to West Branch, Iowa, on the occasion of the first birthday celebration for him in Iowa. That became an annual event until the time of his death, I think, a little over ten years later. So I came from that background. When I met Senator Kennedy, I think I was aware of the prominence of his father [Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.]. But other than that, you know, it was before, of course, the President was more nationally noted in public life. I first met President Kennedy in the spring of 1951, and we were playing touch football at the family compound at Hyannis. He had been picked up at the airport, I believe, and he drove in while we were playing out there. He went in the house, and he must have asked the people in the house who was out there with Ted. And he knew about a number of us who had been on the football team with Ted. Suddenly a window opened, and he stuck his head out and said, “Culver’s a bum!” And slammed the window. I’d never met him, of course. He was, you know, having a lot of fun. Then he came out, and he had a t-shirt and shorts on, and his back was still a problem for him after the war, as you know. And this was prior to any surgery that he ever experienced. So he couldn’t really run with us in touch football, but he played quarterback on both our teams that day and he threw the ball and so forth. And that was the first time that I met him and became so fond of him and admiring of him. DAITCH: I had no idea that you had known them for that long. Because, you know, you look at the official record, and the first thing that you really see is that you were a legislative assistant for Ted Kennedy. CULVER: Right. DAITCH: But you were friends with them even in the fifties. CULVER: Yes. I remember in 1954 after I graduated from college, Ted and I drove down to Washington in, it must have been in June. And we stayed with then Senator Kennedy and his wife, Jackie [Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy], in Georgetown. It was before they moved out to Hickory Hill. I remember when we arrived.... Of course, Jack and Jackie had just been married recently, and when we arrived, Jackie greeted us at the [-2-] door. Shortly after we went in the house, she said to Ted, “Oh, Ted, I’m so glad you’re here, Teddy. I know you’re studying government. I want you to give me a very clever question that I can ask Jack at dinner so I can impress him.” And of course she needed little help to impress Jack. But I’ve always thought back on that as an illustration, you know, of her wonderful humor and personality and vivaciousness. On that occasion, too, we went up to the Capitol, and it was during the Army-McCarthy [Joseph R. McCarthy] hearings. DAITCH: Oh, yes. CULVER: Bobby Kennedy was counsel to the McClellan Committee [Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management]. I remember attending some of those hearings and also going out in the hallway and visiting with Bobby who came out and talked to us about what was going on that particular day. We also played touch football a lot with Bobby Kennedy and Dave Hackett [David L. Hackett], who was a very close friend of Bobby’s. Ted and I, we would play those two, and we had some really interesting times together and a lot of fun. DAITCH: What about the work that they were doing during the McCarthy hearings? What was Bob’s—what were his comments? CULVER: I honestly don’t recall any specifics because it was a long time ago. It was much more social and seeing his brother and talking about being down there. I don’t remember any specific discussion on that. DAITCH: Do you remember general impressions? I mean there’s been so much written about it that it seems very dramatic now. But maybe at the time it didn’t. CULVER: Well, I think the most distinctive recollection I have was the dramatic occasion when Joseph Welch [Joseph Nye Welch], the Boston lawyer, was defending one of the individuals in the Army-McCarthy hearing. Senator Joe McCarthy had made a critical reference to the young lawyer assisting Mr. Welch in terms of suspicions of alleged possible Communist associations with some particular interest group that he had been affiliated with.