498
pages, Little Brown & Co., ISBN-13: 978-0316359559
Books
about John F. Kennedy usually fall into one of two groups: the scholarly,
mostly admiring “serious” books which concentrate on the issues Kennedy dealt
with as President and look only briefly at his many personal flaws; and the
so-called “sensationalist” books that focus primarily on JFK’s wild private
life and only briefly examine the major historical events of his term of
office. With The Dark Side of Camelot,
Seymour M. Hersh has written a kind of hybrid account of the Kennedy
Presidency, and while I think that many of Hersh’s allegations are true and
there’s little doubt (as many other books and sources have since confirmed
Hersh’s allegations) that JFK was anything but a saint in his private life, I'm
still not convinced that his private behavior had much effect on his judgments
and decisions in the historical moments of his brief Presidency.
Hersh
does a workmanlike job illustrating the apparently undeniable fact that Kennedy
had medical, integrity, and personal problems that the country would
probably not have tolerated in a president. This book appears to be well-researched
and well-documented and does not present a flattering portrayal of Kennedy –
nor does it intend to. Hersh goes into depressing detail as to his theme that
JFK’s marriage was a sham; according to Hersh, JFK never missed an opportunity
to philander whenever Jackie Kennedy was away (and sometimes when she wasn’t).
Much of JFK’s inner circle conspired with him in this regards (according to
Hersh) to a degree that is hard to imagine. Hersh further speculates that part of
Kennedy's abnormal libido was induced by various drugs he took for his Addison’s
condition, and develops this theme further in his discussion of the Cuban
Missile Crisis and speculates that the cocktail of steroids and other drugs
that Kennedy evidently needed to get through the day affected his judgment and
his willingness to take risks. This in turn may have caused him to be more
prone to the kind of brinksmanship that Hersh claims characterized Kennedy's
handling of the Missile Crisis.
Personally,
I’m not so sure: despite the fact that the US had an overwhelming nuclear and
overall military superiority over Soviets in 1962, Kennedy did not bomb the
missiles out but instead negotiated their removal, although from a position of weakness. Here I felt Hersh was unfair to Kennedy: the record seems clear that Kennedy was acutely aware that the world was on the
brink of a nuclear confrontation and he was determined to avoid a holocaust
while forcing the removal of the missiles. On the other hand, it seems clear
that Kennedy’s marriage was a sham and his image of youthful vigor was a
brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed BS campaign. Hersh is convincing
that Kennedy could not get through the day without a battery of probably
illegal and unhealthy drugs. Kennedy was suffering from Addison’s disease, along
with a host other health issues – including the famous back problem which
couldn’t have been helped by all of the tail he was getting – which put him in
constant pain. All of this must have affected his deliberating powers on some level...but to what extant?
This
is not a balanced study of the Kennedy administration, but rather the work of
an investigative reporter to put names, dates and facts to the rumors and
stories that began to circulate in the years after Kennedy’s death. How these
things remained secret for so long amazes me – how the standards of the press
have changed! – and the overall view presented here is very bleak; if one takes
this book as the whole story, one would believe that Kennedy was the most
despicable sort of politician, with little regard for the law, no moral sense,
and no interest in policy, especially domestic policy. Certainly this book is a
legitimate contribution to the history of the era, but only one piece of the
puzzle, and a much-needed remedy to the constant hagiography
of a slain, flawed President.
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