KENNEDY WITHOUT TEARS: The Man Beneath the Myth

This short piece about Kennedy by the New York Times correspondent appeared in the June issue of Esquire in an attempt to strike at the ""legend in the first phase of its mounting evolution"" -- or before the nimbus of the Eternal flame obscured the man as he was. Actually and paradoxically, with its more realistic recognitions of fallibility in the ""sure-sell"" hero, it will be for many (even though they are not as many) more moving than much of the idolatrous claptrap that has been written. Here Kennedy is seen with that football coach (plus Honey Fitz) determination to win, and not only to win but to do well (the pursuit of excellence); with some of Melbourne's (David Oeoll's biography was his favourite book) aiming ""to set the country right while playing politics, sometimes badly, in order to do so; and in his pursuit of several imperatives-- acting, not talking being fit and courageous; and in serving as a patriot... a foreword by Arthur Krock.