New book 'Ask Not' attacks Kennedy family misogyny

[Robert Morrow]

6 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

What is the evidence that JFK despised Lyndon Johnson?

From everything I have read, and its a lot, Kennedy treated Johnson with respect both in the senate and as VP.  

The stuff that went on prior to the convention, Kennedy understood that as pure politics in a  political race. 

Kennedy understood that as a northeast Catholic liberal, LBJ would balance out the ticket in every way, geographically, religiously and politically.  

So it just made the most political sense.  I repeat, Sorenson's first list had Johnson at the top.  (Kennedy, p. 184) Sorenson then adds, "He had strong voter appeal in areas where Kennedy had little or none.. He was a protestant with a capital P. Above all, Kennedy respected him..."

Clark Clifford was managing Symington's campaign. When Kennedy approached him to feel him out, Clifford replied that Symington was not interested, he was playing for a second ballot.  (Schlesinger,  A Thousand Days, p. 40)

 

You mentioned Clark Clifford; here is what was really going on at the 1960 Democratic convention. I should also add the journalists Charles Bartlett and John Siegenthaler were very good friends with the Kennedys and I don't think the Kennedys would be leaking garbage to them.

JFK had already selected Stuart Symington for Vice President, then LBJ moved in for a hostile takeover of the Vice Presidency

QUOTE

          Clifford and the six Symingtons talked far into the night. In a separate interview Jim Symington remembered that he and his brother discouraged their father. “We told him, ‘You don’t want to go and carry another guy’s water for him. Go back to the Senate where you can make a difference.’ He said, ‘Thanks, boys.’”

          Clifford was ultimately persuasive in convincing Symington to give his assent to second place on the Democratic ticket on the grounds that he could do more for Missouri as vice president than as senator.

          They all went to bed waiting word from Kennedy.

          At the top of the Kennedy high command, a similar belief prevailed about Symington’s imminent selection. According to Dick Donahue, who spent time with Larry O’Brien and Ken O’Donnell after a brief period of celebration, “We were satisfied it was Stuart Symington. You know, that was it, and there wasn’t any doubt about it.”

          The choice of Symington had actually leaked into public print hours before Kennedy won the nomination. Both Charles Bartlett and John Seigenthaler filed stories for Wednesday  citing unnamed sources who confirmed Symington’s selection. (Jack and Robert Kennedy were later identified, respectively, as the unnamed sources.) Then all hell broke loose.

[Thomas Oliphant & Curtis Wilkie, The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK’s Five-Year Campaign, p. 259-260]

Joe Alsop on how he supported LBJ for Vice President and how many Kennedy insiders were vehemently opposed to LBJ and instead favored Sen. Stuart Symington

QUOTE

        I had concluded that Kennedy would make a bad mistake if he did not offer the second spot on his ticket to Lyndon Johnson. By the longest possible chalk, Johnson was, after Kennedy himself, the biggest figure in the Democratic party. To pass him over would be dangerous for that reason alone but also would imply abandonment of all hope for southern votes in the electoral college. After a little research, I had concluded that substantial numbers of Kennedy’s closest advisors were advising him passionately to avoid any sort of offer to Johnson. (Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri was the alternate choice most often mentioned.) So I laid conclusions before Phil Graham. He agreed with me on every point. I, therefore, suggested that we go to Kennedy’s suite at the Biltmore to give the candidate our advice - for what it might be worth.

UNQUOTE

[Joseph Alsop, “I’ve Seen the Best of It,” pp. 426-427]

Pierre Salinger was convinced that Lyndon Johnson blackmailed his way onto the 1960 Democratic ticket

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17218&st=75&gopid=218292&

Robert Kennedy to Pierre Salinger on why in the world John Kennedy would pick the despised Lyndon Johnson to be his VP running mate in 1960: "The whole story will never be known. And it's just as well that it won't be." RFK said this to Salinger just a few days after the 1960 Democratic convention.

John Simkin:

"One of Kennedy’s most important advisers, Hyman Raskin, claims that Kennedy had a meeting with Johnson and Rayburn early on the morning after his nomination. According to all other sources, at this time, these two men were strongly opposed to the idea of Johnson becoming Kennedy’s running-mate. However, Kennedy told Raskin a different story. Johnson was very keen to join the ticket and “made an offer he could not refuse”. Raskin took this to mean that Kennedy was blackmailed into offering Johnson the post. (16)

This view is supported by another of Kennedy’s close advisers. Pierre Salinger was opposed to the idea of Johnson being Kennedy’s running-mate. He believed that the decision would lose more votes than it would gain. Salinger believed that Kennedy would lose the support of blacks and trade unionists if Johnson became the vice-presidential candidate. Although Johnson would deliver Texas his place on the ticket would mean Kennedy would lose California. A few days after the decision had been made, Salinger asked Kennedy why? He replied, "The whole story will never be known. And it's just as well that it won't be." Salinger also got the impression that Kennedy had been blackmailed into accepting Johnson. (17)" 

Robert Kennedy said that Stuart Symington was the final pick for Vice President for JFK

(That is … until LBJ and Sam Rayburn threatened/blackmailed JFK in the AM July 14, 1960)

John Simkin: “In an interview with John Bartlow Martin for the Kennedy Oral History Project on 1st March 1964, Robert Kennedy claims that "the only people who were involved in the discussions (about who should join JFK on the ticket) were Jack and myself. Nobody else was involved in it". "We thought either (Scoop) Jackson or (Stuart) Symington". Robert goes on to say they eventually settled on Symington. Unfortunately, he does not explain why LBJ became the final choice.”