TLS twice signed “Bob,” with handwritten postscript, two pages, 8 x 10.5, United States Senate letterhead, April 18, 1957. A wonderful letter to Jack Anderson, who is considered one of the founders of modern investigative journalism. In full: “I enjoyed the article in the April 28 Parade very much, and appreciated the nice words it contained about my work as well as my brother. Although Jack left for Florida before I could show my advance copy to him, I am sure that he will also appreciate your observations on his career.
However, the article did contain three items which are inaccurate, and which I thought ought to be cleared for the record inasmuch as you may be writing or commenting on our family again at some future time. What bothers me about these items is not only what seems to be an attempt to weave a pattern indicating excessive parental control of otherwise helpless sons, but also because the inaccuracy of each of these items could have been determined with a minimum of checking.
1. You refer, in writing about Jack's 1952 Senate campaign (which I managed, and knew from top to bottom), to "a large staff of speech writers--some getting $1,000 a week." Jack's only assistance on speeches came from three friends, none of them professional speech writers and certainly not "a large staff." None of the three was paid. Although Ralph Coughlan was in our headquarters for less than a month, as I recall, he produced no speeches whatsoever and was forced to leave the campaign on account of illness. Possibly the amount paid to him upon his departure could be calculated at the rate of $1,000 a week, considering the brief period he was there--but all in all I believe you will agree that the picture you draw in the magazine is inaccurate.
2. My father's office staff in New York did not "arrange a switch" in houses for Jack and me, as you state. The facts of the matter are that, at the beginning of this year, I had no house, even under lease; and since Jack and Jackie were moving out of the McLean house to rent temporarily a home in Georgetown (which was in no way connected with previous houses I rented in Georgetown), it was natural that Ethel and I would move out to McLean. I can also say, having been here at the time (Jack was recuperating in Florida) that the office staff in New York had nothing whatsoever to do with finding the house in McLean for Jack and Jackie. Jackie was searching for a house off and on for nearly a year, with the help of a Washington real estate man who will certainly be surprised to read that the staff in New York found the house.
3. The story about "an ultra-swank New York restaurant" and Dad cutting off Jack's signing privileges is wholly false, and serves only to present Jack in a humiliating light as financially incompetent. Dad has never controlled the signing privileges of any of us in any respect in any city at any time; nor did he ever attempt to cut them off. Since Jack has been getting a considerable salary as Congressman and Senator for eleven years, an income which Dad could not possibly affect, it doesn't make sense to picture Jack's credit as dependent upon the whims of his father. I cannot imagine your including such a fantastic story without troubling to check on its accuracy.
I do not want to imply that my concern over these items has blinded me to the many nice things you said about us, or the very fair picture you painted of Jack's legislative record. Nevertheless I am sure that you would want to have these corrections for the future. Perhaps we can talk all this over next time you are up on the Hill.” Under his signature, Kennedy adds a brief postscript, which reads, “Jack, You made my mouth water describing that dessert. I hope you will drop in and see me. Bob.”
In fine condition, with staple hole to top left and mild creases to lower right corners. Accompanied by a photocopy of Anderson’s article on the Kennedy brothers from Parade magazine.
The Kennedys were a particularly close-knit family who always had the family's best interests and ambitions at heart. Patriarch Joseph Kennedy had coached all of his sons that nothing "just happened" and Bobby listened well. By cultivating favor with the media, Bobby was able to orchestrate an effective self-promotion of the family. Journalists submitted advanced copies of articles scheduled for publication with notes concerning the edits and if the final stories were critical or inaccurate, RFK always let the unfortunate reporter know. Such was the case in this April 18, 1957 letter to Jack Anderson in which the protective Kennedy brought the journalist to task for shoddy fact-checking to which the apologetic reporter replied in part, "My objective has always been to report fearlessly, but accurately." The columnist, who became the Washington Bureau Chief of Parade Magazine in the mid-1950s, is considered today as the ‘father of modern investigative journalism.’
While the article was a highly favorable portrayal of the family dynasty, Robert, who served as his brother's campaign manager in 1952, pointedly corrected "the inaccuracy of each of these items could have been determined with a minimum of checking." In the first point, JFK had hired former employee Joe Healey, longtime friend James Landis, and John Harriman of The Boston Globe to serve as his strategy team and help with his speeches. Some quarters claimed that the trio wrote most of his senatorial campaign speeches but the attorney argued these claims were exaggerated. Coughlan was a former editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch whom the candidate hired as his press agent. By the spring of 1952, the campaign was not going well and the elder Kennedy rebuked the original campaign manager Mark Dalton who quit; RFK got the call to replace him and put the campaign back on track. It defined his future role in the family and he eventually earned the nickname "Brother Protector." Initially, the elder Kennedy had not considered him as the brother to hold the family together, but he grew into the role with his diligence and personal strength. Unlike his brother who had been accused of being a spendthrift with little ambition, RFK was focused and results-oriented which made the patriarch rely on him during critical times and made the attorney the executor of his will. After JFK died, he became the family's "heir apparent," a senator grooming for a greater destiny, until he too was cut down by an assassin's bullet. To this day, many pundits believed if he had lived, he would have been an even better president than his revered brother. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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