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Kleinâs book explores the Kennedy âcurseâ (review)
In the infamous words of our man Fred: People, donât let me down. Edited for length.I am interested in the title Edward Klein put on his new book "The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted Americaâs First Family for 150 Years." Is there any reason to believe such a thing -- a curse? Writer Kleinâs reputation has suffered from the sensation caused by his book. An excerpt in Vanity Fair on what he calls the faltering wedlock of John Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette put him on the firing line of those who feel heâs being unfair because the dead canât defend themselves. The pain of this coupleâs tragic end brings sympathy and heaps scorn on Klein. This is often what happens when the press seizes on and overemphasizes one part of the whole. Ummmm.... like every time one of them puts their fingers on a keyboard? The rest of Kleinâs book is fascinating. I read it in tandem with the serious, scholarly "An Unfinished Life" by Robert Dallek. The latter has won critical raves, delving into JFKâs illnesses and psychoanalyzing his super sex drive. Together, these books are an in-depth look at Americaâs most famous family. I donât see how anyone could resist both, but everyone isnât a pop-culture/history junkie. Or a big fan of overblown, lying, adulterous "liberal" egomaniacs Writer Evan Thomas noted that Bobby discovered "fate" and "hubris," and wondered if his family overreached, dared too greatly. He said Bobby had underlined this quote: " âAll arrogance will reap a harvest rich in tears. God calls men to a heavy reckoning for overweening prideâ ... the Kennedys were the House of Atreus, noble and doomed, and RFK began to see himself as Agamemnon." After Ted Kennedyâs 1964 plane crash, Bobby said, "Somebody up there doesnât like us." In 1968, Bobby was killed. His son Michael later said: "It was as if fate had turned against us. There was now a pattern that could not be ignored." A year later, Ted Kennedy used the word "curse" in public. After Chappaquiddick, he wondered "whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys?" This thought came from speechwriter Ted Sorensen, approved by advisers and family members. Or, Teddy, you might simply be an irresponsible drunk.... Naw, has to be the gods punnishing his family for their classic hubris. Or trying to steal fire from Olympus or something. So long as eagles tear at his liver, Iâm none to picky myself. Klein writes, "And so it was the Kennedys themselves -- not their detractors -- who were the first true believers in the curse." Comes with the territory of being self important.Time magazine commented that the Kennedy deaths were "commensurate with the drama and weight of their public life ... when their children die prematurely, it can seem almost as if fate were picking them off for sport." Naw, it was the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (tm). Now that weâre done with them, itâs time for the Clintons! Klein, who claims a long friendship with Jackie Onassis, says she was convinced that John and Caroline -- indeed, all the Kennedys -- were hapless victims of some inexplicable, malignant fate. Itâs inexplicable! Well, except for the adultery, the alcoholism, the drug use, the smuggling, the power hungry egomania.... Posted by: Secret Master 2003-07-21 |
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