was thinking of the Senate when he was first elected to the
House. Then, from his first day in the Senate, he was thinking of
the Vice-Presidency (p. 147). Epitomizing this idea, Davis
relates a personal vignette about the Kennedy family wake after
JFK's funeral. Davis, a cousin of Jackie Kennedy, was leaving the
hall and paused to shake hands with Rose Kennedy to offer his
condolences (p. 450). Mother Kennedy surprised him by saying in a
cool, controlled manner: "Oh, thank you Mr. Davis, but don't
worry. Everything will be all right. You'll see. Now it's Bobby's
turn." Such coolness differs greatly from what is revealed in the
recently declassified LBJ tapes in which, after the
assassination, Rose could not even speak two sentences to the
Johnsons without dissolving into tears. But the portrait is in
keeping with the ruthless monarchy that Davis takes great pains
to portray.
As I said above, the main focus is Kennedy's short-lived
"dynastic" presidency. And this is where some real questions
about Davis' methodology and intent arise. As he does in his
assassination book Mafia Kingfish, Davis proffers a long
bibliography to create the impression of immense s