17-01-2011, 01:16 AM
Jim:
I have now read two more of Kennedy's inner circle first person memoirs on this whole LBJ as VP subject: Powers and O'Donnell, and Salinger's.
With little variance, they back up Sorenson and Schlesinger. And I should add, it is clear that none of these three men wanted LBJ as VP.
In each case, it is clear that LBJ was the favorite and that he was the only man JFK seriously considered. There is no mention of this extension of an offer to Symington in any of these four books. And I repeat, these were the closest men to Kennedy at the time to write about the subject. For instance, Schlesinger got hold of a memo written by Phil Graham after the convention. Because it was Graham and Alsop who were pushing for LBJ--not LBJ himself.
Now unless you can come up with a credible source written by one of Kennedy's advisers from this time period, then I do not find Hersh's reliance on a con man like Raskin 35 years later to be deserving of any worth at all. Especially since nothing else in Hersh's book is worth believing either.
You can always say that all five men were involved in a conspiracy and cover up, but then you have to extend it out to Alsop, Graham and JFK himself. And recall, THe O'Donnell and Powers book was written in 1972, many years later. ANd as I said, neither they nor Salinger liked LBJ. They preferred someone else, like Freeman, Jackson, or Symington. And they still do not back up Nelson's thesis.
I have now read two more of Kennedy's inner circle first person memoirs on this whole LBJ as VP subject: Powers and O'Donnell, and Salinger's.
With little variance, they back up Sorenson and Schlesinger. And I should add, it is clear that none of these three men wanted LBJ as VP.
In each case, it is clear that LBJ was the favorite and that he was the only man JFK seriously considered. There is no mention of this extension of an offer to Symington in any of these four books. And I repeat, these were the closest men to Kennedy at the time to write about the subject. For instance, Schlesinger got hold of a memo written by Phil Graham after the convention. Because it was Graham and Alsop who were pushing for LBJ--not LBJ himself.
Now unless you can come up with a credible source written by one of Kennedy's advisers from this time period, then I do not find Hersh's reliance on a con man like Raskin 35 years later to be deserving of any worth at all. Especially since nothing else in Hersh's book is worth believing either.
You can always say that all five men were involved in a conspiracy and cover up, but then you have to extend it out to Alsop, Graham and JFK himself. And recall, THe O'Donnell and Powers book was written in 1972, many years later. ANd as I said, neither they nor Salinger liked LBJ. They preferred someone else, like Freeman, Jackson, or Symington. And they still do not back up Nelson's thesis.