The Kennedy Men_ 1901-1963 - Laurence Leamer [185]
Eisenhower looking very fit … Attacked those who criticized those who attacked settlements made during war. Said he was merely fighting a war. Had very little to do with them. States that he asked Truman at Potsdam not to beg Russians to come into war…. He mentioned that only one conversation he had had of importance at Potsdam and Truman mentioned there about supporting him for Pres in 1945 and had done so several times since…. Said $64 question was whether Kremlin leaders were fanatics—doctrinaires—or just ruthless men—determined to hold on to power—If first—chances of peace are much less than 2nd…. He talked well—with a lot of god damns—completely different type than MacArthur, seems somewhat verbose as does Mac. Does not believe Russ can be frightened into aggressive war by the limited forces we are building up.
In Israel both Jack and Bobby kept extensive diaries, and there is scarcely any overlap in their accounts. Jack stood back from the accusations and hatreds and emotions and sought to understand. One of the burning questions of his life was whether a man who stood at such a psychological distance from the world could help to change it. These pages suggest that in this world detachment was a burning and necessary gift. “You can feel sense of dedication—especially in young people—willingness to endure hardship—essential,” he wrote, celebrating the strengths of the Israelis. That did not mean he was any less understanding of the plight of the Arab refugees whom the Israelis refused to take back, saying that “during war [they] went on own accord.” The Arabs refused resettlement elsewhere, however, because “Arabs don’t want to say ok for internal reasons.” As always with Jack, the omnipresent threat in the world lay in the Soviet empire. “We must convince Arab and Jews threat not each other but from the north,” he wrote.
One evening in Jerusalem, Jack and Bobby went to the modest home of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion for dinner. Jack celebrated leaders who shaped history, and in helping to create the Israeli state out of the Palestinian desert, Ben-Gurion had surely done that. Jack was an observer of men, and by the evidence of his diary, he did not impose himself on this evening as much as take his measure of those around him, including the American ambassador, Monnett Davis, several other Israeli ministers, and New York Congressman Franklin Roosevelt Jr. The late president’s son was a large, handsome, and verbose political gentleman. Like his mother, he was considered a friend of Israel. FDR’s namesake was the center of this evening, not Jack, whose father’s reputation always went before him. “It was almost as if we weren’t there,” Bobby recalled of their time in Israel with the former president’s son.
Roosevelt asked the inevitable question: Could there be a real peace between Arab and Jew? “It depended on the recognition of the liberal elements, responsive to the peoples wishes,” the prime minister said. “Present gov[ernment] not concerned with peace but protecting own action.” In this spirit of candor, Ambassador Davis boldly told Ben-Gurion that the Arab states were afraid of Israel. “How could Egypt with its large population be frightened” Ben-Gurion replied, with rhetorical flourish. “We wouldn’t want to go back to Egypt again. We had enough the first time.”
As the evening grew late, his hosts led FDR Jr. up onto the roof, where he and others looked out on the ancient city. The Jewish sections were all lit up, while the Arab sections were as dark as the night, a distinction that said more about the differences between these two peoples’ lives and their conditions and the chances of peace than anything that had been said that evening.
This was Jack’s last night in Israel. After writing in his diary about the dinner, he ended with a few lines of poetry. He kept his love of poetry private. Indeed, a few years later, when he