KENNEDY & JOHNSON

by Evelyn Lincoln ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 4, 1968

It's little wonder that the image-conscious Kennedy winced publicly at the prospect of books written about him and his by members of his personal staff; this one proves that too steamy a partisan portrait can melt the larger-than-life down to the unpretty petty. Since Mrs. Lincoln wrote My Twelve Years With John F. Kennedy, her grief-driven memories as JFK's personal secretary, she's been trotting the lecture circuit and, according to the jacket copy, her audiences kept asking her how it was between Kennedy and Johnson ""... and certainly they deserve whatever information is available...."" It becomes evident at the start that Mrs. Lincoln has gossip, her own uncharitable conclusions and mean conjectures, but very little information and less political insight to offer. She saw and tells of Kennedy stewing because his running-mate houseguest appropriated the only copy of the New York Times at breakfast, responding to Texas-style gifts after the manner of the Lace Curtain Irish, and reports that Johnson (can you imagine!) told Caroline to call him ""Uncle Lyndon,"" Johnson on the ticket was all a mistake, says Mrs. L., but her version of how he got there makes the Kennedy camp sound like grossly amateur stumblebums. It's a footling footnote to history--a torrent of trivia with a spate of spite.

Pub Date: March 4, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinchart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION