THE KENNEDYS: Dynasty and Disaster, 1848-1983

by John H. Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 4, 1984

Yet another vast agglomeration (768 pp.) of Kennedy muck--mostly Kennedy/Campbell/CIA/Mafia/Castro muck. What makes the whole thing marketable--and especially distasteful--is the author's identity: Davis (The Bouviers, The Guggenheims) is a cousin of Jackie O. The book starts by speculating innocuously on immigrant-progenitor Patrick Kennedy. With little digs (at, notably, successive Kennedys' profits from other people's drinking), Davis roughs-in the family's rise: Joe Kennedy's pursuit of a fortune, quest for social standing, political ambitions for his sons; the ""making"" of war hero Jack; the death of Joe, Jr. (""in a vain and rash quest to outdo his younger brother's heroics and reconquer his position of preeminence in a family whose members were driven to insane recklessness by the competitive code [Joe] had instilled in them""); and the ""selling"" of unlikely candidate Jack. Once JFK is a Senator ""with his sights on higher office,"" he has to stop playing around and find a wife. We then have cool, offhand Jack cannily ensnared by infatuated ""cousin Jacqueline""--who plays hard-to-get, pretends she's an heiress, conceals her part-Irish ancestry--plus the long-running feud between her divorced parents and their respective families (which climaxes with a plaintive, only-slightly-soused Jack Bouvier barred from giving away his favorite daughter by an adamant Janet Auchincloss). Davis, who considers the pair mismatched (though not unattached), contends that, from Inauguration Day (the only apparent occasion he saw them together), he didn't believe in ""the mythical kingdom."" But: ""the Kennedys were the greatest masters of myth and illusion American politics had ever known, and one pricked their balloons at some personal risk."" There follows: what J. Edgar Hoover already had on the Kennedys (Inga Arvad, RFK's alleged payoff of a JFK fiancÉe); the brothers' possible complicity in CIA schemes to assassinate Castro; Hoover's knowledge of the Judith Campbell liaison--and her Mafia connections; JFK's possible knowledge that her Mafia boyfriends Giancana and Rosselli were involved in the assassination plot; their resentment that, despite JFK-campaign contributions (through Joe) and JFK's friendship with Frank Sinatra, RFK was pursuing them--all of which made the Kennedys vulnerable to blackmail and murder-targets. . . , made the CIA and FBI disinclined to uncover a conspiracy (for which each might be blamed), and made the Kennedy family reluctant to press for an investigation. ""Robert Kennedy's sense of guilt must have been overwhelming."" (Davis also alleges that Rose Kennedy responded to his condolences: ""Everything will be all right. You'll see. Now it's Bobby's turn."") Then comes: the political transformation of RFK--and, in Davis' (not unreasonable) view, his political murder by Palestinian-Arab Sirhan; the 1970s Kennedy de-glorification; Ted's 1980 political collapse; and a last little hint that something's coming soon on Chappaquiddick. For the assassination-conspiracy readership, or at least the Kennedy ghouls in its midst.

Pub Date: June 4, 1984

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1984

Categories: NONFICTION