New 1960 Kennedy tape revealed

[Douglas Caddy]

New Kennedy tape revealed

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#27168561

Tape of informal conversation with JFK on January 5, 1960 before he was elected president. It was recorded at his home in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C.

A portion of the tape was played on the NBC Nightly News today, October 13, 2008.

[J. Raymond Carroll]

New Kennedy tape revealed

A portion of the tape was played on the NBC Nightly News today, October 13, 2008.

NBC made a surprisingly big splash of this story. Perhaps it was just me, but they seemed to treat it as the biggest story of the evening, and it was strange and exhilarating, like being in the eye of a hurricane, to see this story given such significance in the midst of one of the greatest turmoils in modern politics and economics.

Jackie Kennedy once quoted JFK describing himself as "an idealist without illusions" and it is truly fascinating to observe his mind in action as he judges his Senate colleagues and the state of the political arena and decides -- with hardly a trace of vanity -- that the time is HIS TIME.

Of course we now strongly suspect that JFK DID suffer from illusions, and they concerned some of the people around him who plotted that untimely end to his brilliant career.

Thank you, NBC and especially Brian Williams, for telling us this story, and for telling it so well.

Brian Williams is such a square, but he is the favorite of my children's generation.

Barack Obama also asked me to convey his thanks to NBC for this timely boost to ALL the Democratic candidates in this election.