but to
name just two, how about IBM and Eastern Airlines. I won't
enumerate the overseas holdings of the family but, suffice it to
say, the Kennedys weren't in the same league in that category.
JFK knew this. As Mort Sahl relates, before the 1960 election, he
liked to kid Kennedy about being the scion of a multimillionaire.
Kennedy cornered him once on this topic and asked him point blank
how much he thought his family was worth. Sahl replied, "Probably
about three or four hundred million." Kennedy then asked him how
much he thought the Rockefellers were worth. Sahl said he had no
idea. Kennedy replied sharply, "Try about four billion." JFK let
the number sink in and then added, "Now that's money, Mort."
Throughout the book, Davis tries to convey the feeling of a
destined royalty assuming power. So, according to Davis, Kennedy
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' methodo