Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [154]
According to the FBI transcript, Kaye did not recall ever seeing Monica’s résumé. At the time, he had a friendly relationship with Monica’s mother and her aunt Debra. He made an informal inquiry, calling high-up contacts at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to see if they could “help in the placement of Lewinsky.” He later told the federal grand jury convened by Ken Starr that he had no doubt that his recommendation had an “important impact” on the White House decision to hire Lewinsky in light of his history of large contributions to Clinton and to the DNC. “You know,” Kaye admitted to the grand jury, “I was giving them a lot of money.”
Bernie Lewinsky, the pragmatist, could not understand why his daughter would want to fly off to an unpaid job in Washington when it was unrelated to her chosen field of psychology. Still, he recognized that it was a form of public service. He therefore gave his blessing to the decision. “I was born in El Salvador,” Bernie would later say. “I came to this country, became a citizen, and we always looked at the White House as the top of the pyramid, you know. So, to think that my daughter was going to be working there was a tremendous honor, and I was very proud of her being there, although I didn’t really understand how it was going to help her.” He added, “If she was going to be a lawyer or go into government, then I could see it.” Still, like any good divorced dad who tried to maintain a complicated relationship with his daughter, he kept his mouth shut.
The twenty-one-year-old Monica Lewinsky reported to duty in Washington during the summer of 1995 and found herself awed by the experience. Of her first day walking the halls of the executive complex, Monica recalled, “I just remember thinking there was so much energy there. There was so much movement and action. And you knew that it was proactive. And that it was resulting in things happening and affecting people. And I think that was something I didn’t expect. The first time I was in the West Wing proper or White House proper, I was completely amazed. Everything is so pristine. The hallowed halls. There is just something very magical about it.”
Monica had been assigned to work in the office of Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, helping to draft correspondence replying to citizen letters. Monica’s mother recalled that her daughter “came home happy, excited.” All in all, “her reports were positive.” Marcia, initially apprehensive about the move east, was pleased to see that her daughter was “happy that she’d made this decision and happy to be there.”
Monica saw President Bill Clinton for the first time in early July 1995, at an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House; she and her mother were attending as guests of Walter Kaye. On this occasion, she did not remember anything “clicking.” Nothing made her think that she was destined to have a relationship with this man. Her feeling was, “Oh sure, it would be fun to meet him … but everybody has an interest in meeting the president.” She later admitted, “And I think it was probably increased because I thought he was cute. But there was not a sense of, ‘Oh I want to meet him so I can flirt with him. And maybe he’ll like me.’ Never thought [that] in a million years.” In fact, she asked rhetorically, “Why would he like me?”
At a departure ceremony on August 9, just after her twenty-second birthday, Lewinsky first made direct eye contact with the president. She was