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Home , Myer Feldman, Ted Sorensen

dents agree that Kennedy resisted a military solution but that Johnson was 1 "suckered" by the Pentagon. Kennedy's top assistant, , recalls that the military brass "repeatedly urged him to send troops in" but that "his answer was always 'no.' " Explains Sor- ensen: "Kennedy was a highly rational Jolm F. Kook human being. He knew what was work- ing, what was not working." Other aides remember, in contrast, that Johnson was impressed with the Would the World Be Different military brass and was easily persuaded by their advice. Recalls , legal counsel under both If Lee Harvey Oswald men: "I was shocked when the Joint piris decided and Lyndon Jorrisc.ir went along with sending 550,000 Had Missed? troops into Vietnam. It was inconsistent with the discussions we had." Rusk unsure on Vietnam by jack Anderson The only uncertainty comes from WASHINGTON, D.C. brighter. For, in their opinion, more the military don't know what they are Kennedy's , Secretary of State, Dean t was all over in six seconds. Three than a President was killed in Dallas; a doing. They will tell you things that will Rusk. "During much of 1963," he says, shots in rapid succession cut down promise for the future died with him. snarl you in things, because they like "we were optimistic about the way President John F. Kennedy, shattered I have questioned them in depth about war. That's the way they have of get- things were going in Vietnam. [Ken- ICamelot and changed history. Four- what might have been. Their answers ting ahead, of getting promotions." nedy] had made no decisions as to teen years. have now passed since that are revealing. Concludes Smathers: "I, think be- whether the U.S. should withdraw." dreadful day in Dallas. One news shock cause of his bad experience in Cuba, Rusk contends that "nobody can possi- military has followed another from Vietnam to Skeptical of Kennedy was not being persuaded by bly know" what Kennedy would have Watergate. These depressing events • Would Kennedy have kept us out of them. He was beginning ,to get sick of done about Vietnam. But Sorensen is have raised a tantalizing question: .the ? Kennedy had lost the war. He said to me that this thing emphatic: -We would not have sent in Would the world be any different today confidence, his associates agree, in the wasn't going well. He said Eisenhower, combat' forces. We would not have :•-: if the presumed assassin, Lee Harvey military advisers who later promised whom he didn't think very bright, was bombed North Vietnam. The Marines : Oswald, had missed his target? Lyndon Johnson victory in Vietnam. The right when he said we shouldn't get in- would never have landed." • Had Kennedy lived, he would have Bay of Pigs fiasco left him skeptical and volved in a land war in Asia. Kennedy It is possible, however, that Kennedy >3 been 60 years old now. Those who suspicious of the military. His close told me: "Old Eisenhower had more would have kept the special forces in i knew him best, the aides and advisers friend, ex-Sen. George Smathers (D., sense than these people. They didn't get Vietnam. He once told me that conven- • who were familiar with his plans, be- Fla.), remembers hearing Kenrrdy de- him suckered in.' " tional warfare was the wrong way to lieve the world would have been clare,angrily: "Those dumb bastards in Aides who worked for both Presi- defend South Vietnam. It required a ..< 8 at Dallas airport Nov. 22,1963. Within hours, he fell victim to an assassin's bullet. President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy received warm welcome a professional association, one of mu- crack counter-insurgency force, he said, tual respect." to cope with the Communist guerrillas. He formed the special forces to train Papa Joe admired LB) the South Vietnamese how to combat - Ted. Kennedy notes that their father guerrilla warfare, he added. was "a strong admirer of Lyndon John-. Associates agree this was the Ken- son." The implication was that old Joe nedy concept; he felt the Joint Chiefs Kennedy would have influenced his were pushing the wrong strategy. son to keep Johnson on the ticket. Smathers recalls this Kennedy com- • Who would have taken over the ment: "It isn't that kind of war. Hell, how can you fight a war 'when every- White House in 1968? A retiring Presi- body looks exactly alike?" dent usually has the power to deter- • • Would Kennedy have been reelec- mine who shall replace, him on the ted? The political pros generally agree ticket. The likely contenders in 1968 he would have •won a second term would have been Vice President Lyndon easily. "He looked in good shape," re- Johnson and Attorney General Robert calls his political manager, Larry Kennedy, most insiders agree. O'Brien. "We were confident about It's no secret that the two men de- 1964." • spised one another. They did not have Bay of Pigs boner a close relationship," concedes Larry ' His biggest boner, the Bay of Pigs O'Brien. "You might term it mutual disaster, did him no political damage. suspicion. Lyndon would wonder what He faced up. to it at once. "I'm going to was motivating 'Bobby. Bobby felt the the American people and tell them I've same way about Lyndon. The situation goofed and pledge that I'll do better in grew in intensity." the future," his aides remember him President Kennedy was sensitive saying. Recounts O'Brien: "We were about establishing a Kennedy dynasty, amazed at that kind of candor. But the but he could hardly have favored John- polls reflected an upswing. We thought son over his own brother. The men it would be a disaiter, but it turned out around JFK believe he would have had to be otherwise.." no choice.. Smathers puts it bluntly: The late President's brother, Sen. . (D., Mass.), says JFK used to speculate about the ticket the Republi- cans would put up against him. "He thought their dream ticket would be a combination of Nelson Rockefeller and ," the Senator says. As O'Brien remembers the speculation, they thought Rockefeller would be "a worthy opponent" but that Goldwater should be "easy to defeat." • Would Kennedy have dumped Lyn- don Johnson? Johnson went through a political menopause. during his Vice Presidency, and it began to get on Kennedy's nerves. As George Smathers tells it, "Johnson was pouting, moping all over the place. Kennedy called and asked me what the hell to do. I said send him on a trip." Sniathers recalls Kennedy's response: "That's a damn good idea. How far away can I send him?" Not long afterward, Johnson was Scenes like this, with the Marines in action outside Da Nang, might not have dispatched on a goodwill mission to occurred if JFK had lived, say his aides. Ted Sorensen, for one, says, "We the far ends of the Far East. would not have bombed North Vietnam. The Marines would never have landed." Feldman remembers "some mention of dumping Johnson in 1964" but doubts that Kennedy would have aban- doned his Vice President. Most White House aides recall that Kennedy treated Johnson with respect and insisted they do likewise. "They didn't socialize," recalls O'Brien. "Their relationship was "Bobby would have pushed; his mother and sisters would have pushed; the White House staff would have pushed." Most Kennedy intimates agree that brother Robert would have inherited Camelot. "Assuming that the Camelot aura continued," adds former press sec- retary Pierre Salinger, "then Bobby would surely have beaten " in 1968.. • Could Kennedy have kept his Ad- ministration scandal-free? Several Ken- nedy aides have mentioned that he believed in playing by the rules, whether it was sports or politics. They. insist, therefore, the White House never fixed government contracts or cases for the political manipulators. Swears Feldman:. "Under Kennedy the attempted ITT fix would never have occurred. Kennedy resisted the pres-

sures. Bobby was the same way." Ted Kennedy • recalls that Nixon tried to Bobby Kennedy campaigning in California for the Presidency in June 1968. An justify his own ITT shenanigans by im- a!sassin later gunned him down. Kennedy intimates feel JFK would have chosen plicating the Kennedys in similar prac- Bobby as a successor over Lyndpn Johnson because of strong family pressure. tices. "The Nixon Administration turned the Justice Department upside down during the ITT investigation to find some evidence that the Kennedy 4(i, ministration had also tried to fix cases," the FBI? President Kennedy's first move says the Senator. "They came up with- after his inauguration was to reappOi& out a scintilla of evidence that anyone J. Edgar Hoover as FBI director. But Ted in the Kennedy White House had ever Kennedy now claims both his brothers made a single telephone call." became disturbed over the FBI's opera- 'A different atmosphere' tions. .• have • Would the Watergate scandal Hoover to get boot been averted? Ted Sorensen answers But .Hoover was too formidable a this way: "If Kennedy had lived, there public figure even for Presidents to • would have been a different atmo- challenge. President Kennedy intended sphere in the country. The passions of to wait until after the 1964: election, the late '60's would never have built. therefore, to deal with Hoover. There i's" There would have been no unrest over question, Senator Kennedy main- Vietnam. The black people felt he un- tains, that his brother would have re- derstood them; they would not have 3 moved Hoover after the election. resorted to violence. Young people • Would Kennedy have stopped the identified with him. People had a re- CIA abuses? Privately, he blamed the spect and liking for him. The relatiaTh, CIA for the , which ship with the press was one of mutual he called the blunder of all blunders. respect. All this went sour with Viet- He declared afterward that he "wanted nam. An atmosphere of hope and ideal- to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces , ism went sour in the country as well. and scatter it to the winds." And it was that sourness which pro- When he cooled down, Kennedy duced Nixon and Watergate." called in White House adviser Clark Kennedy aides insist that their man Clifford, who had drafted the legislation would never have resorted to Water- establishing the CIA. Clifford remem- gate tactics himself. Contends Feldman: bers the late President's words vividly: "Kennedy would never permit break-ins "I made some bad decisions on the Bay and blackmail." of Pigs," said Kennedy. "I made these .1 • How would Kennedy have handldd bad decisions because I had bad in- tainly, he would never have left her." formation. My information was bad be- Wanted more children cause our intelligence was poor. Some- Ted Kennedy confides that his late thing is gravely wrong inside the CIA, . brother wanted more children but that and I intend to find out what it is. I Jacqueline had medical complications cannot afford another Bay of Pigs." with the baby who died. "It may not con tin Uea t have been possible for them to have a 9 bigger family," he says quietly. • Would violence have exploded in the black ghettos? Former aides , believe the Kennedy style, with the goodwill he continued inspired, might have kept the peace. Elffilif Myer Feldman explains it this way: Kennedy wanted someone he could "Kennedy always understated his ob- trust to keep an eye on the CIA and ' jectives, made sure they were within selected his brother Rbbert as his un- reach, made good preparations. I'm official overseer. But associates recall sure he would have gone as far as Lyn- that Bobby Kennedy became fascinated don Johnson on civil rights. But it with the CIA's cloak-and-dagger opera- would have been in a different way. I tions. Sources who would rather not be think the Kennedy method is better, identified say Bobby had full knowledge less calculated to excite the people. The change would have come and come quickly but not, I think, with such dra- matics." Larry O'Brien claims Kennedy was of the attempts to knock off Cuba's "at the breakthrough point on civil Premier Fidel Castro. ' rights" before he died in Dallas. The Some associates believe the late assassination spurred the legislation President would have taken action in through Congress, in the opinion of his second term to curb the CIA. Larry Kennedy aide Lee White, "because O'Brien offers this `assessment: "Ken- Congress wanted to give Kennedy some nedy had a particular annoyance with kind of tribute." the advisers and counselors he inher- But it was Lyndon Johnson who ited, the CIA and military. He antici- caused the civil rights explosion. Dean pated—it was a probing sort of thing— Rusk offers this observation: "To me, JFK's interest in civil rights came out of his mind. With LBJ, it came out of his guts. When LBJ no longer faced the necessity of being elected Senator, - [civil rights] came out like a volcano.'.' making some significant moves in the Had Kennedy lived, Rusk suggests, CIA, Pentagon and in the recesses of "blacks might not have gotten their the State Department. The basic thrust civil rights so quickly," but the improve- was that he knew a lot of changes bad ments might have stirred less violence. to be made." • Would Jacqueline have walked out Save Nietnam's billions It is no longer a secret that on JFK? • Would Americans have been more , President Kennedy had a weakness for prosperous under Kennedy? Ted Ken- women. This became a strain, intimates nedy believes his brother would have now admit, on his storybook marriage withdrawn from Vietnam and, there- fore, would have saved the $155 billion that was sunk into the Vietnam war. This is money that could have been • used to strengthen the domestic econ- to Jacqueline. These intimates believe, omy, the Senator suggests. The wasted nevertheless, that the marriage would military money caused such a strain on have withstood the stresses. the economy, he contends, that it pre- According to Smathers, "Jackie knew cipitated "many of our problems at he was playing around. It upset her, but home and abroad." never enough to divorce him. Jack The late President would have used learned from his old man, who had a the powers of government to stimulate few flings in his day. But the economy, his aides further agree. never gave up on old Joe. Of course, Recalls Larry O'Brien: "He felt that the Jackie was more high-spirited. But Jack government should get involved. The loved Jackie, and she loved him. Cer- --thrust was that the government has to I between them for agreement." „ take action, that things must be done at • What would Kennedy have done the federal level." after leaving the White House? He - • Could Kennedy have duplicated Lyn- once spoke to me about the problem don Johnson's legislative achievements? of retiring at age 51. As a former Presi- Most observers agree that Kennedy dent, he mused, it might be awkward alienated Congressional leaders, that it to start a new career. took his assassination to solidify the 'Didn't want to retire' Democrats on Capitol Hill. His closest advisers dispute this report but ac- Jack Kennedy told his close friend knowledge he would have fallen short George Smathers that "the Senate is of Johnson's legislative record. the best job, with the most power and • Could JFK have achieved peace in the least answering to do." Smathers, the Middle East? Kennedy used his legal therefore, concludes: "In the Senate, counsel, Myer Feldman, to seek an out- he could'have been an elder statesman of-channels settlement. Recalls Feld- with power and influence. The idea of man: "We came within a millimeter of two Kennedys from Massachusetts in Solving that problem. It failed. I think the Senate appealed to him. He could we would have attempted it again in a have swung it. I think he would have Although JFK, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson "didn't socialize," says an little different way, using the full power run for the Senate. He certainly didn't aide, their relationship was "one of mutual respect" The Texan sometimes of the Presidency. He was developing want to retire and become a recluse." got on Kennedy's nerves but would not have been dumped as his running mate. a correspondence with the Arabs. I also But all these hopes and dreams ex- made sure the Israelis knew what was ploded in Dealey Plaza in Dallas on a going on, outside of channels. Both the terest, and he looked ahead to open- that relations with Russia would have sunny Nov. 22, 1963. What final specu- Security Council and the State Depart- ing a dialogue with the Chinese main- been repaired.Says Rusk: "We didn't go lation can we offer about the man and ment got sore about it." land. But he probably would have around shouting détente, but we made the future? Ted Sorensen sums it up: Ted Kennedy also remembers that taken the slow diplomatic boat to some very important agreements with "It wouldn't have been Camelot. He his brother started writing personal, China. the Soviet Union." would have had strong opposition 'WI confidential letters to leaders in the Recalls : "Kennedy had a Pierre Salinger remembers that John 1964, especially from the South. He Middle East. In Ted's opinion, JFK near unanimous resolution from Con- Kennedy and started would have had continuing problems "would have continued this innovation gress objecting to the seating of Pe- off as hostile adversaries but grew with Congress. I don't mean to imply and would have been successful in king in the United Nations. Eisenhower closer together after the Cuban missile that everything would have beer, easy bringing the Israelis and Arabs closer also told him he could not support him crisis. Speculates Salinger: "I do know and wonderful. But things would have together." on the recognition of Peking." that Kennedy and Khrushchev were on been different, better. He wouldn't • Would the Chinese and Americans • Would there have been a détente the same wavelength. I think Khrush- have been a myth; he never wanted to have gotten together? Foreign affairs with Russia? The late President's for- chev would have survived if Kennedy be a myth. But he would have been a was President Kennedy's dominant in- eign policy advisers agree unanimously hadn't been killed. The will was really good President."