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Interview With David Brinkley
Aired May 13, 2003 - 15:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Douglas Brinkley is a presidential scholar and professor of history at the University of New Orleans. He's with us to talk more about some of these issues, raised in a new Kennedy biography. Well, professor, we'll start with the...
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He's out with a new book.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Oh, we have to plug the new book.
O'BRIEN: "Wheels for the World." No, we don't have to. We want to. "Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, the Century of Progress." One I'm dying to read as a Detroiter. Anyway, how is it doing so far?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, HISTORIAN: It's doing very well. Thanks for having me on. I've been touring a couple of weeks on the Henry Ford book and talking about the centennial of the company. So it came out the same time at Bob Dallek's Kennedy book, which is really a superb read.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll start talking about that, and then professor, I promise we'll book you at a later time to talk about your new book. Is that a deal?
BRINKLEY: That sounds good. That's a deal. I'm going to hold you to it.
PHILLIPS: You got it. From the smut to the spectacular. We have got to start with the smut, and that is the talk about this intern. OK, the question is, will she ever come forward? You know, every reporter in town, especially the tabloids, will be chasing this 73-year-old woman. Do we want to hear from her?
BRINKLEY: I'm not sure if we want to hear from her, but I think people are going to try to find her name now that this has come out. I might to add, there's a cottage industry of books on the Kennedys and Camelot. A lot of them in recent years have been trying to track John F. Kennedy's relationships with women. What makes this book different is Robert Dallek. He's one of America's premier historians. He had unprecedented access to the archives at Columbia Point outside of Boston at the Kennedy library. And this revelation of the intern, as Mr. Karl rightly said, it's just one or a couple of lines, really, in the book of a book filled with new revelations, but it's one that's titillating our imaginations due to the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky connection.
O'BRIEN: What is it, though, about the enduring interest in the Camelot era? I mean, is this because we don't have royalty here and a royal family? In the absence of that we focus on the Kennedys?
BRINKLEY: Well, they are a fascinating family. Just look at the cover of Dallek's book and you see this incredibly handsome man, very young and dapper sitting in a chair. It seemed like they had everything, yet there's all this dysfunctionalism. So just as people tune into soap operas or dramas like "ER" or something, there's always something to shock you and grab you in the Kennedy saga.
But besides that, there was this extraordinary turning point where he became president. Dwight Eisenhower gave an amazing farewell address to the country about the industrial military complex. It was filmed in black and white. A few days later, there was Kennedy's inaugural in color. So there was something about that turning there in early '61, and then the briefness of it, 1,000 days and an assassination in Dallas, with -- along with 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, one of those days everybody remembers where they were. The legend of Jackie Onassis, John Kennedy Jr. killed in a plane crash. So the drama is there so people want more and more and more.
What Dallek does, which I think is important, is he shows the accomplishments of John F. Kennedy, how he dealt with the Berlin crisis and the Cuban crisis and trade relations with Europe, and how he was dealing with the Vietnam situation and civil rights. So there's a lot of rich history in those 1,000 days.
PHILLIPS: What about dealing with a medical condition? This was fascinating reading. He wanted to serve in the military, yet he had these medical conditions that at one point he was ministered his last rights because of how ill he was. Why didn't we ever know about this?
BRINKLEY: It's amazing -- if there is something shocking it's been Dallek's -- some of this got out earlier in an "Atlantic Monthly" article back in December. But it is mind-boggling. I mean, we do know Franklin Roosevelt had polio and he had to move along in these heavy braces, and yet photographers never showed him in the wheelchair. Jack Kennedy had all sorts of illnesses, Addison's disease being just one. But he was being injected and popping pills, and he had Dr. Feelgood surrounding him. But due to the climate of the days, people felt that somebody's personal life was private. So even though many Washington insider journalists knew about some of this, they all kept quiet. And what Dallek did was get the access to the medical files and one's eyes just pop open when you see how many drugs he was on.
On the other hand, when one listens to the Kennedy White House tapes, one doesn't see how these drugs affected him in a negative fashion. We don't hear somebody slurring or mentally incapacitated from the medication. So it seems like, as Dallek claims, it was actually enhancing him, helping him actually stay afloat.
O'BRIEN: All right, this is a tough question. But as you reflect back on the Dallek book, does he rewrite history? Is there some revision to history? Is there one thing that comes to mind which changes the way we should view John F. Kennedy and his 1,000 days?
BRINKLEY: Well, you know, he had written that book, "Profiles in Courage," John F. Kennedy, about all these people in our history, won a Pulitzer, and some people don't see Kennedy today as a courageous figure due to the veil of secrecy. But what Dallek in his biography tells us is my gosh, this guy was in a lot of pain and was all the time putting the country first. It is embarrassing reading about these interns and some of the sexual maneuverings of Kennedy. But what really leaps forward from this book is a man that feels like, as your report said, only could live a day at a time, thought he might die at any moment and hence was trying to live life to the fullest. He's almost a Shakespearian kind of figure, and I think the myth and the reality of John F. Kennedy is going to live on for a long, long time, and every year -- every other year we're going to get new revelations as they leak out of the Kennedy library and from other sources.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's not forget, too, within those medical conditions, this was a man who fought to serve for his country. He did get into the Navy and he served after failing a couple of exams. And with one phone call happened to pass the third. So it's pretty amazing, a story of courage, definitely, within some of the other details.
O'BRIEN: All right. And for those of you who caught us on our math: The intern is not 73 now living in Washington. That's actually the source of this story. It was another White House staffer. We're sorry about that mistake. Professor Brinkley, always a pleasure to talk to you.
BRINKLEY: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 13, 2003 - 15:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Douglas Brinkley is a presidential scholar and professor of history at the University of New Orleans. He's with us to talk more about some of these issues, raised in a new Kennedy biography. Well, professor, we'll start with the...
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He's out with a new book.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: Oh, we have to plug the new book.
O'BRIEN: "Wheels for the World." No, we don't have to. We want to. "Wheels for the World: Henry Ford, His Company, the Century of Progress." One I'm dying to read as a Detroiter. Anyway, how is it doing so far?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, HISTORIAN: It's doing very well. Thanks for having me on. I've been touring a couple of weeks on the Henry Ford book and talking about the centennial of the company. So it came out the same time at Bob Dallek's Kennedy book, which is really a superb read.
PHILLIPS: All right, we'll start talking about that, and then professor, I promise we'll book you at a later time to talk about your new book. Is that a deal?
BRINKLEY: That sounds good. That's a deal. I'm going to hold you to it.
PHILLIPS: You got it. From the smut to the spectacular. We have got to start with the smut, and that is the talk about this intern. OK, the question is, will she ever come forward? You know, every reporter in town, especially the tabloids, will be chasing this 73-year-old woman. Do we want to hear from her?
BRINKLEY: I'm not sure if we want to hear from her, but I think people are going to try to find her name now that this has come out. I might to add, there's a cottage industry of books on the Kennedys and Camelot. A lot of them in recent years have been trying to track John F. Kennedy's relationships with women. What makes this book different is Robert Dallek. He's one of America's premier historians. He had unprecedented access to the archives at Columbia Point outside of Boston at the Kennedy library. And this revelation of the intern, as Mr. Karl rightly said, it's just one or a couple of lines, really, in the book of a book filled with new revelations, but it's one that's titillating our imaginations due to the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky connection.
O'BRIEN: What is it, though, about the enduring interest in the Camelot era? I mean, is this because we don't have royalty here and a royal family? In the absence of that we focus on the Kennedys?
BRINKLEY: Well, they are a fascinating family. Just look at the cover of Dallek's book and you see this incredibly handsome man, very young and dapper sitting in a chair. It seemed like they had everything, yet there's all this dysfunctionalism. So just as people tune into soap operas or dramas like "ER" or something, there's always something to shock you and grab you in the Kennedy saga.
But besides that, there was this extraordinary turning point where he became president. Dwight Eisenhower gave an amazing farewell address to the country about the industrial military complex. It was filmed in black and white. A few days later, there was Kennedy's inaugural in color. So there was something about that turning there in early '61, and then the briefness of it, 1,000 days and an assassination in Dallas, with -- along with 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, one of those days everybody remembers where they were. The legend of Jackie Onassis, John Kennedy Jr. killed in a plane crash. So the drama is there so people want more and more and more.
What Dallek does, which I think is important, is he shows the accomplishments of John F. Kennedy, how he dealt with the Berlin crisis and the Cuban crisis and trade relations with Europe, and how he was dealing with the Vietnam situation and civil rights. So there's a lot of rich history in those 1,000 days.
PHILLIPS: What about dealing with a medical condition? This was fascinating reading. He wanted to serve in the military, yet he had these medical conditions that at one point he was ministered his last rights because of how ill he was. Why didn't we ever know about this?
BRINKLEY: It's amazing -- if there is something shocking it's been Dallek's -- some of this got out earlier in an "Atlantic Monthly" article back in December. But it is mind-boggling. I mean, we do know Franklin Roosevelt had polio and he had to move along in these heavy braces, and yet photographers never showed him in the wheelchair. Jack Kennedy had all sorts of illnesses, Addison's disease being just one. But he was being injected and popping pills, and he had Dr. Feelgood surrounding him. But due to the climate of the days, people felt that somebody's personal life was private. So even though many Washington insider journalists knew about some of this, they all kept quiet. And what Dallek did was get the access to the medical files and one's eyes just pop open when you see how many drugs he was on.
On the other hand, when one listens to the Kennedy White House tapes, one doesn't see how these drugs affected him in a negative fashion. We don't hear somebody slurring or mentally incapacitated from the medication. So it seems like, as Dallek claims, it was actually enhancing him, helping him actually stay afloat.
O'BRIEN: All right, this is a tough question. But as you reflect back on the Dallek book, does he rewrite history? Is there some revision to history? Is there one thing that comes to mind which changes the way we should view John F. Kennedy and his 1,000 days?
BRINKLEY: Well, you know, he had written that book, "Profiles in Courage," John F. Kennedy, about all these people in our history, won a Pulitzer, and some people don't see Kennedy today as a courageous figure due to the veil of secrecy. But what Dallek in his biography tells us is my gosh, this guy was in a lot of pain and was all the time putting the country first. It is embarrassing reading about these interns and some of the sexual maneuverings of Kennedy. But what really leaps forward from this book is a man that feels like, as your report said, only could live a day at a time, thought he might die at any moment and hence was trying to live life to the fullest. He's almost a Shakespearian kind of figure, and I think the myth and the reality of John F. Kennedy is going to live on for a long, long time, and every year -- every other year we're going to get new revelations as they leak out of the Kennedy library and from other sources.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's not forget, too, within those medical conditions, this was a man who fought to serve for his country. He did get into the Navy and he served after failing a couple of exams. And with one phone call happened to pass the third. So it's pretty amazing, a story of courage, definitely, within some of the other details.
O'BRIEN: All right. And for those of you who caught us on our math: The intern is not 73 now living in Washington. That's actually the source of this story. It was another White House staffer. We're sorry about that mistake. Professor Brinkley, always a pleasure to talk to you.
BRINKLEY: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
