By Ann Connery Frantz
Worcester native Kenneth O'Donnell Sr. was well-known during
the 1950s and '60s for his unique position in John F. Kennedy's
campaigns and, later, as a key presidential adviser.
Lesser-known is the crucial role Worcester
played in Kennedy's ascent to power. O'Donnell was responsible for it.
He suspected Worcester would be critical to JFK's 1952 Senate victory
(while no one else even considered the overlooked city) and pushed to
focus there. After JFK beat Henry Cabot Lodge in a huge upset victory,
he remarked to O'Donnell: "You are either a political genius or the
luckiest SOB on the planet." Kenny told him it was the latter.
Helen O'Donnell, Kenny's daughter, tells that
story as part of "The Irish Brotherhood: John F. Kennedy, His Inner
Circle, and the Improbable Rise to the Presidency," her just-published
history. It's based on lengthy tapes with O'Donnell, presented to her by
broadcast journalist Sander Vanocur.
She provides a fascinating glimpse into the
Kennedy campaigns and the people dedicated to steering JFK into the
White House by 1960. Helen was drawn into historical writing by those
who sought to tap her father's recollections, like political pundit
Chris Matthews (host of "Hardball"), with whom she worked in the writing
of his "Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero." Before she finished transcribing
Vanocur's extensive interviews, Helen had learned much more about her
father's relationship to the Kennedy family.
"A Common Good: The Friendship of Robert F.
Kennedy and Kenneth P. O'Donnell" became her first book. In March,
Counterpoint Press released her second, "The Irish Brotherhood," which
details campaigns between 1952 and 1958, up through 1960 and the early
days of JFK's tenure as president. It is a story that divulges Robert F.
Kennedy's importance to the JFK campaigns as well, revealing Bobby's
character in equal depth. But mostly it is a book about the roots of
modern-day campaign handling.
"You think you know all these stories, know
what happened … but I really didn't," she said. "It's really a great —
what they say in Hollywood — a great backstory. It was much grittier and
more hard work than they ever let on to get him into the White House."
She recounts the amazing rise to power of John
Kennedy, assisted by a dedicated, unpredictable, bull-headed but
politically savvy group of hand-picked staff members, many of them World
War II veterans, like JFK. He trusted their strategies, though his
brilliance often put him ahead of them.
They weren't the predictable campaigners of
old, she writes; they were a new breed, and their efforts yielded an
entirely new kind of campaigning. They set a new standard for political
handlers, using blue-collar roots and know-how to fight an upward battle
in a political world suspicious of Irish Catholics— especially one
whose father was Joseph Kennedy.
Kenny O'Donnell ate it up. "Dad was all about
politics, but he saw his job as getting Jack Kennedy across the finish
line," Helen said.
The brotherhood — O'Donnell, Larry O'Brien,
Dave Power and Bobby — learned how to climb the political ladder,
pulling and squeezing where they needed to, and working around the clock
for a candidate with one big count against him: his religion. Few
Catholics who had risen to powerful positions were about to jeopardize
their well-being for an upstart politician. Striving to overcome
perception and political cowardice were people like O'Donnell, whose
hard-nosed, aggressive campaigning meshed well with this "Irish mafia."
The book is not for those seeking another JFK
biography. It is, instead, a fascinating look into the pioneering roles
of media handlers, whose existence today is taken for granted in
political campaigns. Their ploys, their struggles and their overriding
dedication to Kennedy made new men of O'Donnell, O'Brien, Bobby and
their associates, as they moved every political boulder they could to
facilitate the path JFK had chosen. (Bobby alone, it seemed, had a
dedication as well to social justice, and would pursue that in his own
way.)
Kennedy would have had a much harder time
achieving the presidency without this group. O'Donnell was a loving
father and husband, but in his work, he pursued the group's goals with a
dogged aggression — he was brazen, with the ability to learn quickly
from mistakes — there were plenty — and alter their course.
The campaign, improbably, took off in Worcester, where O'Donnell urged Kennedy to campaign hard before his 1952 election date.
"They (the Kennedys, Larry O'Brien) would have
overlooked it, but he understood the changing demographics of that
time, and how important Worcester was to the state. They never
considered Worcester the key element that it was. Part of that was their
sense of Worcester; it was not a small town, but people sort of
perceived it that way. My dad and mother were from Worcester. They
understood the politics of the city, and how much of the city's voters
would be JFK voters if he were just exposed to them.
"He (Kenny) took a gamble, based on his
knowledge of the city. It was critical for him, because he and Larry
both knew they were going to be short on the numbers in '52 and they
needed that Worcester voting block to push him over the edge. They were
right. They took a hell of a gamble, but they won."
That win launched JFK into the rare thin air of national campaigning, proving himself a viable candidate for higher office.
O'Donnell lived on Clinton Street — "1301, at
Tatnuck Square," Helen said. "The house is still there. He grew up there
and maintained connections with a lot of Worcester people for years. He
loved it."
Kenny worked by JFK's side from 1952 until his
death in 1963, and knew family members well. They trusted him. He knew
them for who and what they were, respected that, and kept confidences to
himself. He adored Jackie Kennedy, who was cut from a different cloth.
There's an interesting quote in the book, reflecting her father's
understanding of the family: "The Kennedys always think of themselves
first." That may seem callous, but it's candid.
"My father was sort of cold and practical
about that; it was one of the reasons he insisted Bobby come run the
campaign in 1952," Helen said. "He said to Bobby, you need to come to
campaign because only a Kennedy can tell a Kennedy no. There was a line
beyond which only another Kennedy could take across Jack or Bobby." That
relationship served them well in crises.
"They were raised that way, and I think it's
still true today. Anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish," Helen said.
"They were raised to win the race. It's kind of an ethic of theirs."
The brothers were a good pairing, she said.
"Bobby had a reputation for being the tough guy, ruthless, but in
reality, my father said on the tapes, Jack was much tougher. Jack had
steel that came from his own battle with survival all his life. When
Jack Kennedy said 'no' or this guy's gonna go (from the campaign staff),
that was it. Whereas, he said, Bobby would try to find a million
reasons to save the guy before he'd drop the ax on him. Public
perception is one thing, but the reality was different."
O'Donnell has not stopped writing; she has 200
taped interviews to draw from, most of which she has already
transcribed. She's also writing a short book between Kennedy works. This
will be about Frank Sinatra and Jack Kennedy; their friendship drew the
nation's notice. "It's a small book, a novel, because I found out these
great stories in Los Angeles that I couldn't use in either book. So I'm
working on that right now."
"The Irish Brotherhood" will be succeeded by a
book on the next segment of the Kennedy era, 1960-1963 — when the
president was assassinated and Lyndon B. Johnson took the reins of
office.
"I always loved to write," she said. "I was
raised with news and history with my dad, but never thought that much
about (doing) it. I was working in D.C., and Michael Kennedy (Bobby's
son) asked me to write something for him — I assumed he had a speech to
give. I had worked for Ted Kennedy, and sometimes Kennedys will do that
when they need information. Then he called and said it was so good that
he'd sent it to an agent and sold it for a first book. I told him I'd
never written a book! And he said "You're smart, you'll figure it out."
That was around 1998."
She lives in Washington, D.C., now, and visits the Cape when she's able.
Her father was, literally, in it to win it.
"He did love it all. My mother was all in for Jack Kennedy too; she
believed in what my dad was doing, but he never appreciated what she
sacrificed. He was gone from home all the time. He'd been gone for
years. When they finally won, and my mother was in that hotel in
Hyannis, she was thinking he's 'finally' home. Then she learns he's
going to the White House — right away. Dad and Jack had Bobby call my
mother and tell her!"
He stayed in Washington for some time. "His
last year at the White House he was executive director of the Democratic
National Committee, trying to build up the modern DNC. I think he'd be
pleased by how it's turned out. He was a political specialist listening
to Lyndon Johnson. That was a complicated relationship, but Johnson
trusted him."
Kenny O'Donnell passed away in 1977, when she
was only 13 or 14. "He was really my hero. There was a lot of sadness
around that time," she said. "One of the things I try to do with my
writing is focus on the good times; there's a lot of tragedy, but these
guys had a hell of a good time."
He died at 53, of heart and liver failure. But
perhaps heartache as well, she said. "He just never recovered after
Bobby's death. And my Uncle Warren was shot in a robbery in Worcester,
and didn't live long. That devastated my dad; he never quite recovered
from all that."
