The Reality of Camelot

...The Reality of Camelot JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy By Herberts Parmet Dial 402 pp $19 95 Reviewed by David M. Oshinsky Author, "A Conspiracy So Immense The World of Joe McCarthy" The fortunes of historian Herbert S Parmet are something of a puzzle He has written one excellent book after another without receiving his fair share of attention and acclaim His 1972 study of the Ike Age, Eisenhower and the American Crusades, for example, quietly established the concept of the "hidden-hand Presidency" long before others took credit for the "discovery " His meticulous volume on Kennedy's pre-Presidential years, Jack The Struggles of John F Kennedy, was overshadowed by a host of inferior efforts about the assassination in Dallas Now Parmet offers a first-rate examination of the Camelot Era (1960-63) One hopes that proper recogmtion will be forthcoming at last It would be difficult to review JFK without mentiomng the earlier works of Arthur SchlesingerJr (A Thousand Days) and Theodore Sorensen (Kennedy) Both are fine partisan accounts by men who knew Kennedy, admired him and served in his Administration They also were published right after his death, when grief made objective analysis almost impossible Parmet is more detached and far less emotional He is writing 20 years later He is not burdened by friendship or by the need to rationalize decisions in which he personally participated In addition, he has carefully mined the new collections and oi al interviews at the Kennedy Library in Boston Parmet's scholarly, readable scrutiny abounds with telling anecdotes One can vividly imagine President Eisenhower referring to Jack as "Little Boy Blue," to Bobby as "that little shit" and to Teddy as the "Bonus Baby " Or Clare Booth Luce suggesting that bomb shelters be tax deductible as medical expenses Or Lyndon Johnson calling Kennedy on election eve, 1960, to say "I heard you're losing Ohio, but we're doing fine in Pennsylvama " This portrait does not flatter JFK Like most mortals, Kennedy demanded more of others than he did of himself He spoke a lot about personal morality yet he flirted with underworld figures, abused hard drugs and cheated on his wife (His fnend Ben Bradlee called Kennedy the "world's champion male chauvinist pig ") As President, JFK nursed angry grudges, harassed his enemies and spent great chunks of time on petty problems like the White House social budget "He was constantly irritated over costs that required [his] personal checks to compensate for [overruns ] He ordered the mansion's butlers not to open bottles of champagne until the last one was finished and advised that they were not to rush about trying to refill half-empty glasses " Parmet believes, too, that Kennedy inspired people more easily than he led them The real JFK was cautious and cynical His life had been spent on the edge of disaster and "his margins of survival—from the Amigan that shced open PT109 to the victory over Nixon?had been exceedingly narrow " As a result, Kennedy took few chances in office His foreign policy was neither daring nor especially effective He remained what he had always been, a traditional cold warrior caught between the evils of "holocaust" and "humiliation " Moreover, "his infatuation with paramilitary operations made a mockery of rhetoric that appealed to reason " At home, Kennedv seemed too quick to accommodate himself to prevailing political realities " He rarelv challenged Congress on important issues The military he appeased bv elevating General Curtis LeMay, whom he feared and despised, to Air Force Chief of Staff Although personally disgusted by racial injustice, he had little sympathy for activists like Martin Luther King Jr, who seemed to be stirring up racial passions and embarrassing America in the eyes of the world Still, Parmet is sensitive to the problems that Kennedy faced and quite willing to give him credit where it is due He reminds us that getting civil rights legislation through Congress was no mean feat in 1962 The major committees were dominated by Southerners who could have sabotaged Camelot at every turn In the face of this opposition, Kennedy's Justice Department did compile an impressive record in enforcing court orders Similarly, Executive action did lead to open occupancy m housing And just before his death the President did send Congress a Civil Rights Bill that outlawed discrimination m public facilities The same holds true in foreign affairs Parmet sharply criticizes Kennedy's blunders in Vietnam, Laos and Cuba But, he adds "If Kennedy was a 'cold warrior,' who was not in his day7 Who, that is, among those who could have plausibly risen to the Presidency' He believed that strength was the most effective producer of reason, and that has yet to be disproved He saw the world as a dangerous place and reacted accordingly If he had not, his inevitable replacement would have been someone who would have promised to really get tough " Parmet agrees that Kennedy matured in office, that his record improved By 1963 he had soured on the CIA and no longer accepted its advice without question His attitude toward Castro was saner and less confrontational He was taking steps to promote civil rights, to begin controlling the arms race and even, perhaps, to end the Vietnam quagmire "If I tried to pull out completely now," he told Senator Mike Mansfield, "we will have another Joe McCarthy Red scare on our hands, but I can do it alter I'm re-elected So we had better make damned sure that I am re-elected " But Parmet is looking at performance, not promises His final iudgment, therefore, is a negative one Jack Kennedy, he concludes, "established a new style and tone for the Presidency, one that evoked national pride and hope That made his limitations all the more painful...