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American Morning

Talk with Author Edward Klein

Aired July 09, 2003 - 07:22   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He claims to have the real story behind the marriage of John Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette and it is no fairy tale. When they were married, the couple appeared to have it all.
But author Edward Klein says their dream became a nightmare of infidelity, drugs and domestic violence. Klein's new book is called "The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years."

And earlier, I spoke with him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDWARD KLEIN, AUTHOR, "THE KENNEDY CURSE": I felt that John Kennedy was a very special person, that he had such great promise. He might have gone on to do very great things and this accident at first seemed so unnecessary, so tragic. And I was curious why did he die? And it started me to thinking about the Kennedy curse and about how many other Kennedys had been unnecessarily killed, maimed and otherwise had met misfortune.

O'BRIEN: What makes you think it's a curse as opposed to a very large family that had a series of just terrible misfortunes in their lives?

KLEIN: You know, as far I could look, as hard as I could look, I couldn't find a single family that had suffered as many calamities as the Kennedys, unless you go all the way back to Greek mythology and the House of Atrius. Since John Kennedy, the president, was assassinated in 1963, Kennedys and those associated with them have been dying at the rate of one every two years.

O'BRIEN: Many friends of the family have disputed a lot of what you say, as you well know. Your book is very controversial. You say, for example, that Carolyn Bessette was a drug addict. And you say that the marriage was crumbling. And you say that it was an abusive marriage where Carolyn was actually inflicting the abuse on John. And yet in virtually every case none of your sources are named.

How do you -- did you find that in all of your interviews, not one person would speak on the record with the number of people that you clearly talked to?

KLEIN: Yes, well, you know, I've done three Kennedy books over the past 15 years. I've interviewed several hundred people. There were 140 people on the record in this book, far more than the anonymous sources. And...

O'BRIEN: But when it comes to the salacious material, actually they're not quoted.

KLEIN: Well, a lot of people don't want to be quoted. But keep in mind that Bob Woodward did all of his Watergate reporting with anonymous sources and we know how that turned out.

O'BRIEN: Did you think at all when you were writing this book about how a family that lost two daughters, Carolyn Bessette's family, would feel reading what you've written about their daughter?

KLEIN: I thought about Mrs. Freeman, as she is now known, a good deal during the composition of this book. And I felt that a historian's first obligation, as hard as this is, is to the truth and not to the people he writes about.

O'BRIEN: You were friends with Jackie O. She was, you were a confidante of hers for many years.

Do you feel to some degree you're betraying that friendship by what you write? I mean she was a very private person. Everyone knows that. Are you betraying that friendship and that relationship by all that you write about the family?

KLEIN: Well, you know, she's dead. He's dead, John. They had no children. They were so important to our life that when John and Carolyn went missing, the president of the United States sent the United States Navy and Coast Guard to try to find them. When their bodies were found, they ended up on the cover of "Time" magazine, "Newsweek" magazine, "People" magazine. These were hugely important people in our national life and I think they deserve to be written about.

O'BRIEN: Any second thoughts? I mean obviously it's going to be a very hurtful book if Carolyn and Lauren Bessette's parents ever take a look at it. Any second thoughts about writing it?

KLEIN: Not at all. I'm happy I wrote it. I think it was a book that needed to be written because, after all, this book is not just about John and Carolyn. It's about a saga. It's a saga of 150 years of Kennedy suffering and an explanation of why this one family has gone through so many tragedies for so long.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: CNN contacted the Kennedy and Bessette families and they declined to comment on Klein's book.

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 July 9, 2003 - 07:22   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He claims to have the real story behind the marriage of John Kennedy, Jr. and Carolyn Bessette and it is no fairy tale. When they were married, the couple appeared to have it all.
But author Edward Klein says their dream became a nightmare of infidelity, drugs and domestic violence. Klein's new book is called "The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First Family for 150 Years."

And earlier, I spoke with him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EDWARD KLEIN, AUTHOR, "THE KENNEDY CURSE": I felt that John Kennedy was a very special person, that he had such great promise. He might have gone on to do very great things and this accident at first seemed so unnecessary, so tragic. And I was curious why did he die? And it started me to thinking about the Kennedy curse and about how many other Kennedys had been unnecessarily killed, maimed and otherwise had met misfortune.

O'BRIEN: What makes you think it's a curse as opposed to a very large family that had a series of just terrible misfortunes in their lives?

KLEIN: You know, as far I could look, as hard as I could look, I couldn't find a single family that had suffered as many calamities as the Kennedys, unless you go all the way back to Greek mythology and the House of Atrius. Since John Kennedy, the president, was assassinated in 1963, Kennedys and those associated with them have been dying at the rate of one every two years.

O'BRIEN: Many friends of the family have disputed a lot of what you say, as you well know. Your book is very controversial. You say, for example, that Carolyn Bessette was a drug addict. And you say that the marriage was crumbling. And you say that it was an abusive marriage where Carolyn was actually inflicting the abuse on John. And yet in virtually every case none of your sources are named.

How do you -- did you find that in all of your interviews, not one person would speak on the record with the number of people that you clearly talked to?

KLEIN: Yes, well, you know, I've done three Kennedy books over the past 15 years. I've interviewed several hundred people. There were 140 people on the record in this book, far more than the anonymous sources. And...

O'BRIEN: But when it comes to the salacious material, actually they're not quoted.

KLEIN: Well, a lot of people don't want to be quoted. But keep in mind that Bob Woodward did all of his Watergate reporting with anonymous sources and we know how that turned out.

O'BRIEN: Did you think at all when you were writing this book about how a family that lost two daughters, Carolyn Bessette's family, would feel reading what you've written about their daughter?

KLEIN: I thought about Mrs. Freeman, as she is now known, a good deal during the composition of this book. And I felt that a historian's first obligation, as hard as this is, is to the truth and not to the people he writes about.

O'BRIEN: You were friends with Jackie O. She was, you were a confidante of hers for many years.

Do you feel to some degree you're betraying that friendship by what you write? I mean she was a very private person. Everyone knows that. Are you betraying that friendship and that relationship by all that you write about the family?

KLEIN: Well, you know, she's dead. He's dead, John. They had no children. They were so important to our life that when John and Carolyn went missing, the president of the United States sent the United States Navy and Coast Guard to try to find them. When their bodies were found, they ended up on the cover of "Time" magazine, "Newsweek" magazine, "People" magazine. These were hugely important people in our national life and I think they deserve to be written about.

O'BRIEN: Any second thoughts? I mean obviously it's going to be a very hurtful book if Carolyn and Lauren Bessette's parents ever take a look at it. Any second thoughts about writing it?

KLEIN: Not at all. I'm happy I wrote it. I think it was a book that needed to be written because, after all, this book is not just about John and Carolyn. It's about a saga. It's a saga of 150 years of Kennedy suffering and an explanation of why this one family has gone through so many tragedies for so long.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: CNN contacted the Kennedy and Bessette families and they declined to comment on Klein's book.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com