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The Kennedy Men has a great deal of new material in it largely because many people put great trust in its author. For the eleven years that Evelyn Lincoln served as John F. Kennedy’s secretary, she kept a secret archive, including many documents that were to have been destroyed. She willed these papers to Robert White. Interspersed through much of this book, they are by far the most important private trove of Kennedy documents in the world. White, a prominent collector, has generously given me first-time use of all these documents.

Patricia Coughlan has given me the material that Robert Coughlan, her husband, accumulated while he was writing Rose Kennedy’s autobiography, Times to Remember. These materials include many hours of taped interviews with Kennedy family members that are among the most intimate, candid interviews they have ever given. I would like to thank the late Jim Connor and his widow, Pat, for their friendship and support. Mary Lou and Kerry McCarthy gave me the first-time use of many unique photos from the Loretta Kennedy Connelly Collection.

I must also especially thank Gunilla Von Post for allowing me the first-time use of the letters that John F. Kennedy wrote her during their love affair. I had these letters verified by an expert, but it is common knowledge among those close to the Kennedys that Von Post’s story is true. Janet Fontaine, who was Joseph P. Kennedy’s mistress for a decade, also cooperated with me. Her only request was that I treat her story with dignity, a promise that I hope I have kept. During the West Virginia primaries, when candidate Kennedy was losing his voice, Fontaine was the stewardess on his plane. Kennedy communicated by writing messages on sheets of paper, many of which Fontaine saved. I thank Mrs. Fontaine and the Forbes Magazine Collection, the current owner of the documents, for permission to use the notes. Profesor James MacGregor Burns has graciously given me permission to quote from his revealing 1959 interview with the then Senator John F. Kennedy.

Although we live in a culture of mistrust, I was extremely blessed by the people who talked to me. Some of these sources spoke with me for the first time, and most of them spoke with compelling candor and depth. This is not in any way an authorized book, and I am especially grateful to the various Kennedys I have interviewed during the writing of my books on their family: Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Joan Kennedy, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, Jean Kennedy Smith, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert Kennedy Jr., Christopher Kennedy, Douglas Kennedy, Timothy Shriver, Mark Shriver, Anthony Shriver, Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, and Rory Kennedy.

I am not including in these acknowledgments the names of people I interviewed for volume 2 of this work, The Kennedy Men, 1963—2003. Those people I have interviewed about the Kennedys over the years about the period through 1963, or who have helped me in other ways, include: Sam Adams, Kristina Rebelo Anderson, Andrew, Duke of Devonshire, Manuel Angulo, Carl Anthony, Bradley Earl Ayers, Bobby Baker, Larry Baker, Charles Bartlett, Dr. David Becker, Ed Becker, Edward Behr, Arnold Beichman, Kai Bird, Brad Blank, Marvin Blank, Joseph Boccehir, Ben Bradlee, Ham Brown, Joan Winmill Brown, Dino Brugioni, Robert Bunshaft, Nina Burleigh, Dan Burns, John Burns, Fox Butterfield, William C. Chapman, Blair Clark, Adam Clymer, Fred Cohen, Jeanne Conway, Alan K. Corsair, Pat Coughlin, Archibald Cox, John Henry Cutler, Mark Dalton, Zel Davis, Cartha DeLoach, Ann Denove, Ahmed Desouky, Frank Dillow, Dr. Mauro G. Di Pasquale, Joe Dolan, Janet Donovan, Luella Hennessey Donovan, William Douglas-Home, Robert Duffy, Milt Ebbins, Luis Estevez, Paul B. Fay Jr., Myer Feldman, Bob Filardi, Tom Finneran, Carey Fisher, Benedict Fitzgerald, Patrick Flynn, Wally Flynn, Janet Des Rosiers Fontaine, Harry Fowler, Alan Gage, John Kenneth Galbraith, Patty McGinty Gallagher, Barbara Gamarekian, Nancy Gardiner, Joe Gargan, Wilson Gathings, Chuck Glynn,