Distasteful ironies seem to be Caroline Kennedy's fate as she tries to follow her family's tradition of public service. After being smeared by New York's governor during her pursuit of Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, her appointment as US Ambassador to the Vatican now has reportedly been blocked by the Holy See because she supports abortion rights.
If true, the daughter of the man who broke through centuries of prejudice against his Church to become the first Catholic president is being deemed unsuitable to represent her country for views that would have no bearing on her duties as a US Ambassador.
When JFK ran, he assured voters he could reconcile his religious beliefs with his political duties, a position the Vatican did not find objectionable, but now his daughter is apparently being held to a different standard.
In January, I suggested: "The Obama Administration should ask her to serve as ambassador to Great Britain (as her grandfather did) or France or Ireland, where her intelligence and instincts, along with her Kennedy and Bouvier background, could be an important American asset...as a gracious ambassador to a generation of Europeans who have never known what it is like to love an American president."
The Vatican is apparently not the right place for that.
Showing posts with label Caroline Kennedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caroline Kennedy. Show all posts
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Thursday, February 05, 2009
The Caroline Kennedy Smear
In the aftermath of the Hillary Clinton replacement soap opera, there is a footnote to the misadventure of JFK's daughter in seeking the seat--the price of getting involved with political pygmies in the desire to continue a family tradition of public service.
The New York Times, which played a part in discrediting Caroline Kennedy as not ready for prime time, has gone back (with one of the same reporters) to untangle the final scenes of her withdrawal and the efforts of a governor's minions to smear her on his behalf.
It is not a pretty picture.
"A review of public comments and interviews with more than a dozen people involved in the process," says the Times, "make clear that Gov. David A. Paterson’s administration released confidential information about Ms. Kennedy and misled reporters about its significance as part of an orchestrated effort to discredit her after she withdrew...
"One of the administration’s central claims to reporters was that Ms. Kennedy had, in the words of a person close to the governor, 'a definite tax issue' and 'a nanny problem' that 'she didn’t want to become public.'
"But that story was inaccurate. The governor and his aides now acknowledge that those issues--a tax lien of a few hundred dollars in 1994, and a lapsed visa for a foreign nanny who worked for Ms. Kennedy during the late 1980s-- had been resolved years earlier and were never considered disqualifying during the vetting process."
In the era of Blagojevich et al, the New York governor's attempt to throw an idealistic Kennedy under his reelection campaign bus may be small potatoes, but it only underscores what may have been Caroline Kennedy's real reason for withdrawing--disgust.
The New York Times, which played a part in discrediting Caroline Kennedy as not ready for prime time, has gone back (with one of the same reporters) to untangle the final scenes of her withdrawal and the efforts of a governor's minions to smear her on his behalf.
It is not a pretty picture.
"A review of public comments and interviews with more than a dozen people involved in the process," says the Times, "make clear that Gov. David A. Paterson’s administration released confidential information about Ms. Kennedy and misled reporters about its significance as part of an orchestrated effort to discredit her after she withdrew...
"One of the administration’s central claims to reporters was that Ms. Kennedy had, in the words of a person close to the governor, 'a definite tax issue' and 'a nanny problem' that 'she didn’t want to become public.'
"But that story was inaccurate. The governor and his aides now acknowledge that those issues--a tax lien of a few hundred dollars in 1994, and a lapsed visa for a foreign nanny who worked for Ms. Kennedy during the late 1980s-- had been resolved years earlier and were never considered disqualifying during the vetting process."
In the era of Blagojevich et al, the New York governor's attempt to throw an idealistic Kennedy under his reelection campaign bus may be small potatoes, but it only underscores what may have been Caroline Kennedy's real reason for withdrawing--disgust.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Right Office for Caroline Kennedy
Writing about her withdrawal from seeking Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, I committed a journalistic sin--burying the lead.
The last sentence was: "The Obama Administration should ask her to serve as ambassador to Great Britain (as her grandfather did) or France or Ireland, where her intelligence and instincts, along with her Kennedy and Bouvier background, could be an important American asset."
This self-rebuke arises after reading the new New Yorker piece about Caroline Kennedy, which sheds no light on the reasons for her decision but is a reminder of how much she is like her mother:
"It was, evidently, Jacqueline Kennedy’s intention to raise children who were as unaffected as possible by the extraordinary circumstances of their lives, and it seems that she succeeded: Caroline Kennedy’s life has in many ways been indistinguishable from that of any other smart and reasonably diligent child raised on Fifth Avenue in the nineteen-sixties."
Back then, Caroline's widowed mother was taking her children to the playgrounds of Central Park herself and, on one occasion, warning her brother John not to ram into one of mine while careening down a slide.
The year after JFK's death, I asked Jacqueline Kennedy to become a contributing editor of McCalls. She was still too deep in mourning, but when she talked about wanting to find a way to keep alive her husband's "ideas and ideals," she could conceive of doing that only through someone else with a more public persona.
"Robert Kennedy would be perfect," she said, "but that's not possible."
In her lifetime since then, Caroline Kennedy has been her mother's child, with public service for good causes behind the scenes on boards and collecting best-selling anthologies of poems and essays, not by herself but others.
The right place for her now is not out glad-handing in the "Me, me, me" atmosphere of the US Senate but helping the most public person of our era by representing him--and us--as a gracious ambassador to a generation of Europeans who have never known what it is like to love an American president.
The last sentence was: "The Obama Administration should ask her to serve as ambassador to Great Britain (as her grandfather did) or France or Ireland, where her intelligence and instincts, along with her Kennedy and Bouvier background, could be an important American asset."
This self-rebuke arises after reading the new New Yorker piece about Caroline Kennedy, which sheds no light on the reasons for her decision but is a reminder of how much she is like her mother:
"It was, evidently, Jacqueline Kennedy’s intention to raise children who were as unaffected as possible by the extraordinary circumstances of their lives, and it seems that she succeeded: Caroline Kennedy’s life has in many ways been indistinguishable from that of any other smart and reasonably diligent child raised on Fifth Avenue in the nineteen-sixties."
Back then, Caroline's widowed mother was taking her children to the playgrounds of Central Park herself and, on one occasion, warning her brother John not to ram into one of mine while careening down a slide.
The year after JFK's death, I asked Jacqueline Kennedy to become a contributing editor of McCalls. She was still too deep in mourning, but when she talked about wanting to find a way to keep alive her husband's "ideas and ideals," she could conceive of doing that only through someone else with a more public persona.
"Robert Kennedy would be perfect," she said, "but that's not possible."
In her lifetime since then, Caroline Kennedy has been her mother's child, with public service for good causes behind the scenes on boards and collecting best-selling anthologies of poems and essays, not by herself but others.
The right place for her now is not out glad-handing in the "Me, me, me" atmosphere of the US Senate but helping the most public person of our era by representing him--and us--as a gracious ambassador to a generation of Europeans who have never known what it is like to love an American president.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Kennedy, Burris and Identity Politics
The withdrawal of JFK's daughter as a replacement for Hillary Clinton leads to questions about gender and race in national politics in what we all celebrated as the Age of Obama this week.
In Illinois, the future felon Rod Blagojevich appoints Roland Burris amid calls to retain the President's seat for an African-American and now, with Caroline Kennedy gone, New York's governor speaks publicly and privately about "the importance of selecting a woman to replace Mrs. Clinton."
With the critical questions facing the Senate, when and how did substantive qualifications fall behind demographics in making choices for such high office?
Blagojevich was trying to save his skin in the face of impeachment and/or indictment. Now David Paterson, an accidental governor who came to office less than a year ago when Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sexual scandal, seems to be calculating his chances for election in 2010.
Elective politics can be messy, but calculated, self-interested appointments to represent two of the largest states in the Union are clearly worse.
Roland Burris will be a caretaker choice for the next two years, and Governor Paterson would be well-advised to do the same for New York, albeit for more honorable reasons.
At the risk of being repetitive, there is an appointee who could bring wisdom and experience to the Senate until voters make their choice in 2010. His name is Mario Cuomo, and it would reflect well on New York's governor if he could rise above identity politics and name him to Hillary Clinton's seat.
In Illinois, the future felon Rod Blagojevich appoints Roland Burris amid calls to retain the President's seat for an African-American and now, with Caroline Kennedy gone, New York's governor speaks publicly and privately about "the importance of selecting a woman to replace Mrs. Clinton."
With the critical questions facing the Senate, when and how did substantive qualifications fall behind demographics in making choices for such high office?
Blagojevich was trying to save his skin in the face of impeachment and/or indictment. Now David Paterson, an accidental governor who came to office less than a year ago when Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sexual scandal, seems to be calculating his chances for election in 2010.
Elective politics can be messy, but calculated, self-interested appointments to represent two of the largest states in the Union are clearly worse.
Roland Burris will be a caretaker choice for the next two years, and Governor Paterson would be well-advised to do the same for New York, albeit for more honorable reasons.
At the risk of being repetitive, there is an appointee who could bring wisdom and experience to the Senate until voters make their choice in 2010. His name is Mario Cuomo, and it would reflect well on New York's governor if he could rise above identity politics and name him to Hillary Clinton's seat.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
"American Idol" Finals for the Senate
The Washington talent show heads for a climax this week with the leading contenders a stand-up comic from Minnesota, a woman from New York doing an Eleanor Roosevelt impersonation and an Illinois ventriloquist act. Is this any way to run a country?
Al Franken, Caroline Kennedy and Roland Burris could very well turn out to be fine US senators but, in the shenanigans surrounding their possible entry, will any or all of them be up to speed for casting votes on the huge, intricate and critical stimulus bill for the economy and the other legislation to follow?
As the media and bloggers feast on all the details of the contests, it's unnerving to think about the people who may be helping to decide America's economic future coming into the debate after weeks of being immersed in a vote recount, a Sarah Palinish campaign to project political gravitas and the maneuvering by a governor facing impeachment and/or indictment.
By month's end, all three may be seated in the Senate and ready to go to work with the best of intentions, but it's hard not to think that even "American Idol" puts its aspirants through a more rigorous process of prepping for their performance.
Al Franken, Caroline Kennedy and Roland Burris could very well turn out to be fine US senators but, in the shenanigans surrounding their possible entry, will any or all of them be up to speed for casting votes on the huge, intricate and critical stimulus bill for the economy and the other legislation to follow?
As the media and bloggers feast on all the details of the contests, it's unnerving to think about the people who may be helping to decide America's economic future coming into the debate after weeks of being immersed in a vote recount, a Sarah Palinish campaign to project political gravitas and the maneuvering by a governor facing impeachment and/or indictment.
By month's end, all three may be seated in the Senate and ready to go to work with the best of intentions, but it's hard not to think that even "American Idol" puts its aspirants through a more rigorous process of prepping for their performance.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Caretaker for Clinton's Seat
If Gov. David Paterson wants to resolve his dilemma over replacing Hillary Clinton by naming a caretaker and letting the public decide in 2010, the perfect choice is at hand--a wise, experienced, respected politician who knows New York State better than any other: Mario Cuomo.
At 76, the former governor would be junior to a platoon of octogenarians in the Senate, not to mention 91-year-old Robert Byrd of West Virginia, and in the Obama Administration's struggle during a time of national stress, would be a powerful ally in pursuing legislative solutions.
The idea of a caretaker choice was broached during the New York Times ill-fated interview with Caroline Kennedy yesterday:
"At one point, she said that it might have been preferable to seek the seat in an election, noting that 'it would give me a chance to explain exactly what I’m doing, why I would want to do this, and, you know, to get people to know me better and to understand exactly what my plans would be, how hard I would work.'
"But she would not say whether she thought Mr. Paterson should appoint a caretaker candidate to fill out Mrs. Clinton’s term, which would allow Ms. Kennedy and others interested in the seat an equal and unfettered chance to campaign for it in 2010."
The "others" would include Mario Cuomo's son Andrew, who is now New York's Attorney General and a possible opponent for the gubernatorial nomination against Gov. Paterson that year.
In the complex political geometry of two years from now, Paterson could show voters now that he has the best interests of the state at heart by selecting the most articulate advocate for their interests during a crisis and letting the issue of political families' heirs wait until then.
At 76, the former governor would be junior to a platoon of octogenarians in the Senate, not to mention 91-year-old Robert Byrd of West Virginia, and in the Obama Administration's struggle during a time of national stress, would be a powerful ally in pursuing legislative solutions.
The idea of a caretaker choice was broached during the New York Times ill-fated interview with Caroline Kennedy yesterday:
"At one point, she said that it might have been preferable to seek the seat in an election, noting that 'it would give me a chance to explain exactly what I’m doing, why I would want to do this, and, you know, to get people to know me better and to understand exactly what my plans would be, how hard I would work.'
"But she would not say whether she thought Mr. Paterson should appoint a caretaker candidate to fill out Mrs. Clinton’s term, which would allow Ms. Kennedy and others interested in the seat an equal and unfettered chance to campaign for it in 2010."
The "others" would include Mario Cuomo's son Andrew, who is now New York's Attorney General and a possible opponent for the gubernatorial nomination against Gov. Paterson that year.
In the complex political geometry of two years from now, Paterson could show voters now that he has the best interests of the state at heart by selecting the most articulate advocate for their interests during a crisis and letting the issue of political families' heirs wait until then.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Not in the Kennedy Political Handbook
In the hard times ahead, New York will need a senator who is a politician, not a symbol, and as Caroline Kennedy edges into public life in a bid to succeed Hillary Clinton, it's becoming clearer that temperamentally she may not be the ideal choice for the position.
Now she has managed to alienate political reporters who write that "in an extensive sit-down discussion Saturday morning with The New York Times, she still seemed less like a candidate than an idea of one: forceful but vague, largely undefined and seemingly determined to remain that way."
The largely negative tone of the Times piece can be traced to her evasiveness on almost every issue and, sadly, an exchange when asked to describe the moment she decided to seek the Senate seat:
"Ms. Kennedy seemed irritated by the question and said she couldn’t recall.
“'Have you guys ever thought about writing for, like, a woman’s magazine or something?' she asked the reporters. 'I thought you were the crack political team.'”
Insulting journalists from the state's most powerful paper for asking a legitimate question is not in the JFK political handbook, but the would-be senator managed to make it even worse in her exit from the interview:
"As things wrapped up, a reporter tried to pose another question, but she interrupted him.
“'I think we’re done,' she said."
If she keeps acting that way, so will Caroline Kennedy's campaign for the Senate seat.
Now she has managed to alienate political reporters who write that "in an extensive sit-down discussion Saturday morning with The New York Times, she still seemed less like a candidate than an idea of one: forceful but vague, largely undefined and seemingly determined to remain that way."
The largely negative tone of the Times piece can be traced to her evasiveness on almost every issue and, sadly, an exchange when asked to describe the moment she decided to seek the Senate seat:
"Ms. Kennedy seemed irritated by the question and said she couldn’t recall.
“'Have you guys ever thought about writing for, like, a woman’s magazine or something?' she asked the reporters. 'I thought you were the crack political team.'”
Insulting journalists from the state's most powerful paper for asking a legitimate question is not in the JFK political handbook, but the would-be senator managed to make it even worse in her exit from the interview:
"As things wrapped up, a reporter tried to pose another question, but she interrupted him.
“'I think we’re done,' she said."
If she keeps acting that way, so will Caroline Kennedy's campaign for the Senate seat.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Second Thoughts for Caroline Kennedy
Just when things were going well on her upstate tour comes the word that Harry Reid has been lobbying Gov. David Paterson to name Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.
Being backed a Majority Leader who can't get anything done is yet another obstacle for JFK's daughter, following the news that Al Sharpton is supporting her.
The usually publicity-shy Sharpton has sent the media an unsolicited statement announcing she had called him about the position and, with double-negative grandeur, he felt "compelled to state that I unequivocally disagree with those that say she is not qualified and could not bring needed leadership to this state and country."
Sharpton also disclosed he has "invited Ms. Kennedy to dine with me at Sylvia's this week in Harlem and reminded her that I took Sen. Obama there during his campaign so it's a good luck stop since he did all right."
If consorting with the likes of Reid and Sharpton is not enough to give Caroline Kennedy pause, Gail Collins asks "how much of her life does she really want to spend at fund-raisers for people she suspects will be indicted before they have a chance to cash the checks? How does she feel about admiring butter sculptures at state fairs?"
As if all this were not enough for second thoughts, has she really thought about what it would be like to have Chuck Schumer for a mentor yakking at her for hours at a time?
In her father's immortal words, how much is too much to "ask what you can do for your country."
Being backed a Majority Leader who can't get anything done is yet another obstacle for JFK's daughter, following the news that Al Sharpton is supporting her.
The usually publicity-shy Sharpton has sent the media an unsolicited statement announcing she had called him about the position and, with double-negative grandeur, he felt "compelled to state that I unequivocally disagree with those that say she is not qualified and could not bring needed leadership to this state and country."
Sharpton also disclosed he has "invited Ms. Kennedy to dine with me at Sylvia's this week in Harlem and reminded her that I took Sen. Obama there during his campaign so it's a good luck stop since he did all right."
If consorting with the likes of Reid and Sharpton is not enough to give Caroline Kennedy pause, Gail Collins asks "how much of her life does she really want to spend at fund-raisers for people she suspects will be indicted before they have a chance to cash the checks? How does she feel about admiring butter sculptures at state fairs?"
As if all this were not enough for second thoughts, has she really thought about what it would be like to have Chuck Schumer for a mentor yakking at her for hours at a time?
In her father's immortal words, how much is too much to "ask what you can do for your country."
Monday, December 15, 2008
Kennedy, Cuomo or None of the Above
New York's Governor David Patterson, himself a second-generation politician, is faced with a hard dynastic decision now that Caroline Kennedy has made it clear that she wants Hillary Clinton's Senate seat.
In the Empire State, unlike those where money talks and talks, political bloodlines matter in the choice between a former president's daughter and a former governor's son, Andrew Cuomo, to replace a former First Lady.
To complicate it even more, Cuomo is divorced from Caroline Kennedy's cousin Kerry, whose brother, Robert Kennedy Jr. only recently took himself out of contention for the Clinton seat.
In political experience, Cuomo is a quarter of a century ahead, starting in his father Mario's administration in the 1980s and going on to serve as chairman of New York City's Homeless Commission, then in Bill Clinton's cabinet as HUD Secretary and now as New York State Attorney General.
But Caroline Kennedy is a serious, intelligent public figure-by-birth whose close ties to the new President could be an advantage for residents of the state even without experience in the rough-and-tumble.
Gov. Patterson, who inherited the job after Eliot Spitzer's downfall, should, of all people, know that character counts in public life. Making the choice will be a test of his own, and he may just surprise everyone by picking None of the Above.
In the Empire State, unlike those where money talks and talks, political bloodlines matter in the choice between a former president's daughter and a former governor's son, Andrew Cuomo, to replace a former First Lady.
To complicate it even more, Cuomo is divorced from Caroline Kennedy's cousin Kerry, whose brother, Robert Kennedy Jr. only recently took himself out of contention for the Clinton seat.
In political experience, Cuomo is a quarter of a century ahead, starting in his father Mario's administration in the 1980s and going on to serve as chairman of New York City's Homeless Commission, then in Bill Clinton's cabinet as HUD Secretary and now as New York State Attorney General.
But Caroline Kennedy is a serious, intelligent public figure-by-birth whose close ties to the new President could be an advantage for residents of the state even without experience in the rough-and-tumble.
Gov. Patterson, who inherited the job after Eliot Spitzer's downfall, should, of all people, know that character counts in public life. Making the choice will be a test of his own, and he may just surprise everyone by picking None of the Above.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Caroline Kennedy's Genetic Conflict
News that she is interested in being appointed to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat is coming as a surprise to those who have always seen Caroline Kennedy as an essentially private person, temperamentally more like her mother than her father.
“I believe that she is considering it,” her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells the New York Times. “A lot of people the last couple of weeks have urged her to do it.” She apparently called New York Gov. David Paterson this week to discuss the position.
That would represent a drastic midlife switch for the 51-year-old wife and mother of three who has kept a low profile in her career as a lawyer, writer and philanthropist, very much like her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy, in her widowhood.
She emerged last January with a Times op-ed piece titled, "A President Like My Father," to endorse Barack Obama and then actively campaign for him and serve on his vice-presidential search team.
If Caroline Kennedy were to replace Sen. Clinton, she would be committing herself to run in a special 2010 election and for reelection in 2012, two grueling political campaigns for someone who has spent a lifetime so far in relative privacy.
But it's also easy to understand what has led her to consider such a change. A year after JFK's death, I asked Jacqueline Kennedy to become a contributing editor of McCalls. She was still too deep in mourning for that, but she talked about wanting to find a way to keep alive her husband's "ideas and ideals."
It's a measure of the difference between then and now that she could conceive of doing that only through a man. "Robert Kennedy would be perfect," she said, "but that's not possible."
Now her daughter, even with the same tendencies toward privacy, seems to be ready to step out and emulate her father in the Senate.
Caroline Kennedy may have given us a clue when she wrote that OpEd about Obama:
"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president--not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."
“I believe that she is considering it,” her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tells the New York Times. “A lot of people the last couple of weeks have urged her to do it.” She apparently called New York Gov. David Paterson this week to discuss the position.
That would represent a drastic midlife switch for the 51-year-old wife and mother of three who has kept a low profile in her career as a lawyer, writer and philanthropist, very much like her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy, in her widowhood.
She emerged last January with a Times op-ed piece titled, "A President Like My Father," to endorse Barack Obama and then actively campaign for him and serve on his vice-presidential search team.
If Caroline Kennedy were to replace Sen. Clinton, she would be committing herself to run in a special 2010 election and for reelection in 2012, two grueling political campaigns for someone who has spent a lifetime so far in relative privacy.
But it's also easy to understand what has led her to consider such a change. A year after JFK's death, I asked Jacqueline Kennedy to become a contributing editor of McCalls. She was still too deep in mourning for that, but she talked about wanting to find a way to keep alive her husband's "ideas and ideals."
It's a measure of the difference between then and now that she could conceive of doing that only through a man. "Robert Kennedy would be perfect," she said, "but that's not possible."
Now her daughter, even with the same tendencies toward privacy, seems to be ready to step out and emulate her father in the Senate.
Caroline Kennedy may have given us a clue when she wrote that OpEd about Obama:
"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president--not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Kennedy Nostalgia
When Caroline Kennedy was a little girl in the White House, JFK would get around her mother's objections to publicity for the children by waiting until Jacqueline Kennedy was out of town before letting photographers take pictures of her.
On Meet the Press today, there was evidence of both parents' influence as a poised, self-confident Caroline Kennedy championed Barack Obama while deftly fending off Tom Brokaw's questions about her part in the VP vetting and any possible role in a new administration.
If the Obamas make it to the White House, the new First Lady could take a leaf from the Kennedy playbook in keeping her children grounded in reality amid the enormous amount of attention they will be getting.
Tomorrow night at the convention, JFK nostalgia will be in full flower as Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg leads a tribute to the 46-year career of her uncle Ted. For those of the generations who watched her growing up through years of violent loss, her presence will evoke painful memories and at the same time provide consolation.
On Meet the Press today, there was evidence of both parents' influence as a poised, self-confident Caroline Kennedy championed Barack Obama while deftly fending off Tom Brokaw's questions about her part in the VP vetting and any possible role in a new administration.
If the Obamas make it to the White House, the new First Lady could take a leaf from the Kennedy playbook in keeping her children grounded in reality amid the enormous amount of attention they will be getting.
Tomorrow night at the convention, JFK nostalgia will be in full flower as Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg leads a tribute to the 46-year career of her uncle Ted. For those of the generations who watched her growing up through years of violent loss, her presence will evoke painful memories and at the same time provide consolation.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Margaret Truman Daniel
She was an only child in the White House, a Daddy's girl if there ever was one. Harry Truman doted on her and, when the Washington Post gave her singing concert a bad review, Truman fired off the most intemperate letter a President ever sent to a newspaper.
"I have never met you," Truman wrote to the critic, "but if I do you'll need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below."
Margaret Truman gave up singing, married a New York Times reporter, had four sons and starting writing books and magazine articles, some of them for me.
I first met her in 1953 when I was editing an alumni magazine. After leaving the White House, Truman came to the Waldorf to speak at our annual dinner. I elbowed my way into the crowd of photographers firing a dazzle of flash bulbs and strobe lights at him.
When they were herded out, I stayed behind with my 35mm camera with no flash for a few more exposures. Truman noticed the soft hiss-clicks of the shutter and walked up to me.
"How many pictures have you taken?" he asked.
I did a quick calculation--three rolls, 36 frames. "About a hundred."
His expression did not change. "I hope your camera breaks," he said and walked off.
Margaret, who overheard, touched my elbow and tried to console me. "He doesn't mean it. Flashbulbs hurt his eyes."
Years later, when she was writing for McCalls, Margaret Truman confided that as a kid she had always wanted an electric train set. I sent her one.
She died today in a week when Caroline Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama and Chelsea Clinton was on the campaign trail for her mother. First Families have changed since Margaret Truman's time, but she was a kind and caring woman whose books about the place, including murder mysteries, will be a lasting part of White House lore.
"I have never met you," Truman wrote to the critic, "but if I do you'll need a new nose and plenty of beefsteak and perhaps a supporter below."
Margaret Truman gave up singing, married a New York Times reporter, had four sons and starting writing books and magazine articles, some of them for me.
I first met her in 1953 when I was editing an alumni magazine. After leaving the White House, Truman came to the Waldorf to speak at our annual dinner. I elbowed my way into the crowd of photographers firing a dazzle of flash bulbs and strobe lights at him.
When they were herded out, I stayed behind with my 35mm camera with no flash for a few more exposures. Truman noticed the soft hiss-clicks of the shutter and walked up to me.
"How many pictures have you taken?" he asked.
I did a quick calculation--three rolls, 36 frames. "About a hundred."
His expression did not change. "I hope your camera breaks," he said and walked off.
Margaret, who overheard, touched my elbow and tried to console me. "He doesn't mean it. Flashbulbs hurt his eyes."
Years later, when she was writing for McCalls, Margaret Truman confided that as a kid she had always wanted an electric train set. I sent her one.
She died today in a week when Caroline Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama and Chelsea Clinton was on the campaign trail for her mother. First Families have changed since Margaret Truman's time, but she was a kind and caring woman whose books about the place, including murder mysteries, will be a lasting part of White House lore.
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Kennedy Time Warp
The woman on the TV news tonight, a very young 50 next to the 75-year-old ruin of her uncle, talking about her daughter who will be old enough to vote for Barack Obama this year, called up a black-and-white picture of three-year-old Caroline Kennedy leaping out of her father's lap toward Richard Avedon's camera in 1960.
As a magazine editor then, I put that picture on the cover of Redbook over the howls of a circulation department that it would "die" in the riot of color on the newsstands. The issue sold out because the Kennedys were magic then, all youth and vigor after decades of old faces in the White House.
Endorsing a new generation now, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg brought back a sense of that time, a wave of hope beyond reason that the world could be younger and better than it had been.
Reality overtook those hopes then, as it may now, but for the moment, the image of that golden little girl was a reminder of how good it was to have those feelings, however fleetingly.
As a magazine editor then, I put that picture on the cover of Redbook over the howls of a circulation department that it would "die" in the riot of color on the newsstands. The issue sold out because the Kennedys were magic then, all youth and vigor after decades of old faces in the White House.
Endorsing a new generation now, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg brought back a sense of that time, a wave of hope beyond reason that the world could be younger and better than it had been.
Reality overtook those hopes then, as it may now, but for the moment, the image of that golden little girl was a reminder of how good it was to have those feelings, however fleetingly.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Clinton-Kennedy Chasm
On the heels of Caroline Kennedy's paean to Barack Obama as the heir to her father's political ideals come reports that the family patriarch, Sen. Ted Kennedy, will endorse Obama, too.
For weeks now, JFK's alter ego Ted Sorensen has been campaigning for the Illinois Senator, underscoring the continental divide in American politics between the dynasties.
The famous picture of a starry-eyed young Bill Clinton in 1963 shaking Kennedy's hand is now an ironic reminder of the political and temperamental differences between the two.
Both came to office after enormously popular Republican presidents, Eisenhower and Reagan, but JFK overcame his political caution, learned from mistakes and earned respect for an idealism that, unlike Clinton's, strengthened during his tenure and earned respect across the ideological landscape.
Kennedy was a skeptic by nature, but he was not capable of the cynicism that Bill Clinton has been showing in the attempt to get his wife to the White House.
The Kennedy dynasty is over, but its heirs may play a significant role in ensuring that the Clintons' never materializes.
For weeks now, JFK's alter ego Ted Sorensen has been campaigning for the Illinois Senator, underscoring the continental divide in American politics between the dynasties.
The famous picture of a starry-eyed young Bill Clinton in 1963 shaking Kennedy's hand is now an ironic reminder of the political and temperamental differences between the two.
Both came to office after enormously popular Republican presidents, Eisenhower and Reagan, but JFK overcame his political caution, learned from mistakes and earned respect for an idealism that, unlike Clinton's, strengthened during his tenure and earned respect across the ideological landscape.
Kennedy was a skeptic by nature, but he was not capable of the cynicism that Bill Clinton has been showing in the attempt to get his wife to the White House.
The Kennedy dynasty is over, but its heirs may play a significant role in ensuring that the Clintons' never materializes.
"A President Like My Father"
In an interview after her husband's death, Jacqueline Kennedy told me she was disturbed that JFK was being remembered for how he died rather than what he had lived for.
Forty years later, their daughter is doing something about that. In an OpEd piece in today's New York Times, Caroline Kennedy writes, "All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
"Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
"We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama."
This comes two days after the Times endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in the New York primary. Is its Editorial Board trying to tell us something?
Forty years later, their daughter is doing something about that. In an OpEd piece in today's New York Times, Caroline Kennedy writes, "All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
"Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
"We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama."
This comes two days after the Times endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in the New York primary. Is its Editorial Board trying to tell us something?
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