Posted on 07/13/2002 12:33:26 PM PDT by Temple Owl
Institute of government studies University of California public affairs report
Vol. 41, No. 3, May 2000
Adam Clymer on Writing About Ted Kennedy
When I came back to Washington to be The Times' chief congressional correspondent in 1991, I was looking for a book subject, and Ted Kennedy stood out for two reasons. First, he wasn't particularly well known for his accomplishments. When we went to sell the prospectus, the reaction from a lot of publishers was, "A book about Kennedy that isn't largely about sex, what else could there be?" Second, there hadn't been a serious book written about him in perhaps 20 years, since before he ran for president in 1980.
I thought writing about somebody current would be a little closer to what I'm used to doing. In the end, of course, I went to all the libraries I could think of to look for papers, but the strength of the book was probably the 400-odd interviews that I did, including maybe 20 with Kennedy.
It started out with a sense that this was somebody who had accomplished a lot in the Senate and had been an important figure in party politics. And relatively little of what I put in the prospectus on the book really changed. Obviously, you learn a lot more, you get deeper into things.
As you're doing it, one of the things you come on frequently is the sense of "Gee, if only I'd known that I could have led the paper." In June of 1980 Kennedy had been badgering Carter to debate him for months and Carter had steadfastly refused. Kennedy said in the late spring primaries that if Carter debated him before the convention, Kennedy, would release his delegates. A couple of days later, after the last primary, Carter came down for a regular political lunch with his staff and told them he'd decided to debate Kennedy. They were delighted, because they thought Carter would do better than people thought; and they believed that Kennedy would release his delegates; and, finally, Carter was rusty. He had stayed in the Rose Garden, he had done no campaigning except for one visit to Ohio where he said the economy was about to shape up the day before the leading indicators came out and were worse than ever. If I'd known that at the time I could have led the paper. Two days later when Mondale talked Carter out of it, I could have led it again.
I am kind of surprised that the Kennedy-hating press hasn't picked up on the explanation for his annulment that's in the book. A source close to Joan Kennedy told me he never really intended to be faithful in the first place when he took his marriage vows. I was hoping that would get modest circulation from The National Enquirer at least.
Another thing that's quite different in writing a book as a practicing newspaperman is that if you look at what you've written the next morning and you think you didn't get it quite right, you can fix it. You also end up writing a lot faster than the normal book editors believe you can.
John Kennedy, Jr.'s accident occurred over a weekend, and it was clear by Monday or Tuesday that he was dead. On Tuesday, my editor called. The manuscript was already in galleys, and he said, "Even so, I think we need to get a little bit in on this." I said, "Sure." But I thought we ought to wait until that Friday when Kennedy was going to speak at a memorial service. He asked, "Then how long would it take you to get something done?" And I said, "Would Monday be all right?" He said, "Sure." And I said, "Henry, I do this for a living. I could get it to you Saturday if you really needed it, but let's go for Monday."
Adam ClymerHaving said that, I tried to write what I think is a very traditional biography, a story of a public man and his effect on other people's lives, the politics and the spirit of his time. Chappaquiddick is here, Palm Beach, getting thrown out of Harvard for cheating. None of them truly fascinated me because it never occurred to me that there was any prospect of learning anything more about them.
Ted Kennedy is the only person alive who might know more than we do about Chappaquiddick, and he may not. As for the others, they're pretty well open scandals. But they're in the book because they affect his political life, they affect his ability to do things, and they give you some measure of who he is. We didn't do a formal interview on Chappaquiddick, he didn't want to. But I believe him when he says that it's with him every day of his life.
One of the few things I learned that I had no sense of was how important his religion was to him. The first question I asked him in the first interview, was something to the effect of, "How did a rich, privileged guy like you get so interested in the poor and the sick and the downtrodden?" He said it was probably from his mother reading the Sermon on the Mount to them and teaching them their prayers.
There's a verse in Luke that he put into a book of Jack Kennedy's, Words Jack Loved. He called it one of Jack's favorite readings on faith, but I think it's a family reading. "For unto whom much is given, of him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
That's something that really characterizes all of the Kennedys in one way or another, from Eunice in the Special Olympics, to Jean going off to be an ambassador at 66 to a tough, dangerous country, as well as of the boys of whom we know more.
People ask what's the news of this book? Aside from the minor "I could have led the paper" things, and some diplomatic history from his visits to Moscow and China and South Africa and Chile, on which I have classified documents that bear on U.S. relations in those countries, the book is what I would call a conceptual scoop.
When you look at his record in terms of legislation passed—from cheaper airline fares, to a variety of civil rights bills, perhaps the civil rights things most of all, to a long span of pieces of health legislation, of minimum wage increases, of old people getting Meals on Wheels. There are Americans on all levels whose lives have been affected by Ted Kennedy.
No, we never got national health insurance passed and almost certainly never will. On the other hand, roughly 13 or 14 million Americans every year get health care through a community health center. That program was
dreamed up by a couple of doctors working for the Office of Economic Opportunity. But it's the first piece of legislation he ever got through. And it got through in about 60 days, in a way that nothing could get through these days, and didn't cost much.
It's a book about a master of the ways of the Senate. He is impatient, which at first glance doesn't fit the Senate. But he pushes it as hard as he can, and he's willing to settle for a slice if he can't get a half a loaf, and he'll be back next year for more.
He managed single-handedly to delay FDA reauthorization for about four months while he chipped away at provisions he didn't like. He's got a talent for working with Republicans. One senator can stop anything from happening in the Senate, but to get anything done you've got to get more than just one side. I think every piece of legislation I've talked of and all the ones in the book, except for some of the minimum wage bills, depend on an alliance with one or more important Republicans. Frequently, Republicans ended up with more credit than he did. But it didn't matter; they got things done. He has an instinct for the Senate, maybe it comes from being the youngest of nine children, an ability to get on and learn from your elders, which he showed from the first time he got into the Senate in '63.
It is, as I've said, an old-fashioned biography about an important life in the history of politics in the last third of the century. And it is a book that tells something about the Senate, which I don't think people pay much attention to these days. When many of us at this table, current graduate students to the contrary, were children, we were brought up to think that senators were pretty important. I don't think high school students these days think of them that way, for a variety of reasons. But the Senate and Congress can have a great effect on our lives, and this is a book that tells how one leading senator did it.
Adam Clymer spoke at a recent IGS American Political History Seminar. o
I thought it would be appropriate to share it with fellow Freepers who have an interest in the Fat Boy's escapades
July 18, should be a national holiday known as Mary Jo Kopecne Day.This poor girl's life was not wasted. If Teddy had not drowned her, on July 18, 1969, he would have been elected President of the United States. That could have been a bigger catasthrope than Willian Jefferson Clinton. Let's have a moment of silence for Mary Jo on Thursday.
Kennedy-hating press? They love the oversexed drunk.
Well, now isn't that special? He didn't want to.
I can picture it. Rosie has a bottle of boot-leg booze in her hand slurring the words to the Sermon on the Mount.
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