The Kennedy Men_ 1901-1963 - Laurence Leamer [89]
In August 1939, the Soviets and Nazis signed a pact, making allies of the two great totalitarian powers. While Nazi troops surreptitiously massed at the Polish border, the American ambassador was off in southern France on what he considered a much-needed vacation. From Cannes, Joe wrote a letter to the president, replying in part to Roosevelt’s letter. If ever there was a time for the ambassador to step back from all the tedious minutiae of the diplomatic life and impart all the precious insight he had gained during his tenure in London, that time was here. But he had no deep thoughts, no telling perspicacity, and no warning call of the events to follow.
Joe wrote from Cannes that “the chief thing I have noticed in the South of France, on the part of caddies, waiters and residents, is a very strong anti-Semitic feeling. Beyond that … I can contribute nothing to an understanding of the international state of affairs.”
Caddies and waiters did not pop off with anti-Semitic cracks unless they felt the remarks would be well received. That aside, it was a curious state of affairs indeed when the ambassador to the Court of St. James’s believed that his sole insight into European affairs was the mindless gossip that he picked up around the golf course and the dinner table.
As he swam at Hotel du Cap Eden Roc and dined on the Riviera, Joe was full of pathetic self-pity. “About my position in England my only thought was to wonder whether my experience and knowledge were not being completely wasted,” he continued in his letter to the president. He nonetheless assured FDR that he would stay where he was asked to stay. He told Roosevelt that as a boy his father had “taught me two principles: gratitude and loyalty. He said 90% of people seem to forget favors and kindnesses done them. Of the second principle, he said, no matter how you may fail in ability you can make it up by being unfailingly loyal to your friends. I have tried to live up to those two principles and, to you personally, I owe a debt on both counts.”
Joe’s father had indeed acted on those principles, and he was a revered soul. Joe had honored his father’s ideals by mouthing the words and acting the opposite. He had no deep gratitude toward the president, but a mounting anger at the man’s refusal to heed his despairing messages. As for loyalty, he had talked so loudly behind the president’s back that Roosevelt had long since heard his rude imprecations and taken his subordinate’s measure. Roosevelt knew, however, that at this crucial time he had to keep Joe at his post; back home in the United States he would be an articulate critic and a natural leader of American isolationists.
During those long August days, Joe had opportunity to spend hours with his family, who had all convened at the villa Domaine de Ranguin near Cannes. His sons were the measure of the man, and he took pleasure in twenty-four-year-old Joe Jr., with his stories of the fall of Spain, and twenty-two-year-old Jack, a Harvard senior. At thirteen, Bobby was still too young to join in the spirited discussions on war and peace, and little Teddy was still little more than a family mascot.
During the day Rose took the family to Hotel du Cap Eden Roc to swim. High above the water stood a cliff that only the most daring made their diving platform. Joe Jr. and Jack dove off again and again while the rest of the Kennedys watched in awed admiration.
Then the brothers called upon seven-year-old Teddy to join them in diving thirty feet into the water. If Joe Jr. and Jack believed that Teddy would rush fearlessly up to that high perch, willing to do anything to impress them, they did not know their little brother. He walked up the stone steps, but he did it leaden of feet