Review: Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy by Kenneth P. O'Donnell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I recently watched the documentary The Kennedys' Irish Mafia (2016) and it prompted me to finally get to this Kennedy memoir written by two of the insiders: O'Donnell, David Powers with journalist Joe McCarthy. I saw complaints about this being a whitewash and expected as much, but, honestly, I have had plenty of revelations and conspiracies. With a peek into Camelot, there is also some interesting history: Dave Powers "who was watching the president and Connally carefully during the shooting" thinks there were four shots at the assassination being three hits and a miss. Also, "Kennedy had made up his mind not to involve any American combat troops or planes in this fight [Bay of Pigs Invasion] between two Cuban political factions even though the rebels had his approval and the support and direction of his government's Central Intelligence Agency. When the reports of failure came from the beachhead, he refused to give in to his military advisers, who had accepted his earlier order against any American participation in the invasion, but now argued that we had to change the plan and send in American reinforcements to beat Castro and save the prestige of the United States. Kennedy firmly disagreed. As sorry as he felt for the stranded rebels on the beaches, he preferred the embarrassment of defeat to the use of American military force against a small and independent nation."

On a lighter note, I appreciate his love for poetry, both reading and reciting it, including this excerpt from a poem by Domingo Ortega:

Bullfight critics ranked in rows
Crowd the enormous Plaza full;
But he’s the only one who knows—
And he’s the man who fights the bull.

The penultimate chapter tracking the life up to the assassination feels like Kennedy was crossing off a bucket list as if he knew subconsciously of his pending demise: tips with no political or negative political value for pure enjoyment to Ireland and Rome and making such potentially politically harmful decisions as a draw down of troops in Vietnam and his Kennedy's 'yes' to Wheat For Russia.

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