Official and Confidential_ The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover - Anthony Summers [249]
Chapter 25
1. Johnson’s biographer Robert Caro concluded in 1990 that it was ‘blindingly clear’ there was ballot-rigging, as did the early exhaustive study by Mary Kahl. (The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent, by Robert Caro, NY, Alfred Knopf, 1990, pp. xxxi, 384, Ballot Box 13, by Mary Kahl, Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1983, pp. 231, 241, int. Madeleine Brown, 1989, People, Aug. 3, 1987.)
2. The accepted wisdom on why Kennedy picked Johnson has been the reconstruction of events by historian and former Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger. Drawing on talks with Robert Kennedy, he established that John at first invited Johnson onto the ticket merely as a ploy to unite the party – not dreaming he would accept. He was chagrined when Johnson did accept, a move Schlesinger surmised was because Johnson felt it was his last chance to become a national figure. Had he been free to do so, Robert recalled, ‘Jack … wanted to get rid of’ Johnson. Yet when he tried to palm Johnson off with the chairmanship of the party, the Texan turned him down flat. ‘I want the vice presidency and intend to get it,’ he was quoted as saying. (See sources for ‘Convention’ for this chapter.)
3. Lincoln’s diary, covering most of the Kennedy service, remained locked in a deposit box as this book was written.
4. On August 18, 1960, Hoover sent an FBI report about Kennedy to his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon. Though heavily censored as released, it apparently concerned Kennedy’s womanizing. (SAC Washington to H, Aug. 18, 1960, FBI 94–37374, int. Herve Alphand, 1988, A Hero for Our Time, by Ralph Martin, NY, Macmillan, 1983, p. 342, L’Etonnement d’Etre, by Herve Alphand, Paris, Fayard, 1977, p. 382.)
Chapter 26
1. See Chapter 6.
Chapter 27
1. Giancana’s half brother, Chuck, offered an equally startling and wholly unsubstantiated explanation. By his account, some of the packages contained copies of FBI reports on organized crime – reports that allowed Giancana to think he was getting vital insights into FBI operations against the mob. Soon, however, the mobster realized that there were great gaps in the intelligence he was sent – that the President was withholding key information. From then on, supposedly, his rage against Kennedy knew no bounds. (Double Cross, by Sam and Chuck Giancana, NY, Warner, 1992, p. 296, and int. Sam Giancana, 1992.)
2. A communication in Hoover’s Official and Confidential file, dated March 30, 1962, advised him that the dismantling of the alleged marriage involved a Reno divorce, followed by another in New Jersey when the first was invalidated. A papal annulment was granted in 1953, the writer claimed, following pressure from Cardinal Cushing. (OC 13.2.)
3. See Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe, by Anthony Summers, NY, New American Library, 1986, for a full account of the surveillance and of the actress’ death.
4. The phone logs, however, record several calls after August 1962, some with the word ‘No’ by them, and others without it.
5. The only such photograph ever published was taken by a photographer affiliated with the White House, and it was withheld until 1987, when it appeared in the June issue of Life.
Chapter 28
1. Hoover responded by planting press leaks to discredit Yarmolinsky. (See Yarmolinsky entry in sourcing for this chapter.)
2. Yevgeny Ivanov, the Soviet Naval Attache at the center of the Profumo scandal, was in reality a GRU (military intelligence) agent. He said in 1992 that Moscow advised him it indeed had an interest in Novotny. Ivanov himself talked with her in London. (The Naked Spy, by Yevgeny Ivanov, London, John Blake, 1992, pp. 144ff.)
3. The FBI used Mollenhoff in the early sixties as a go-between to pass Bureau information to members of Congress. In 1970,