Free Listening In by Ted Widmer Page B

Convention—the only loss of his career—Kennedy declared, “From now on I’m going to be the total politician.” He courted old-school political bosses and new-school television executives; he built relationships around the country and became a formidable presidential candidate in 1960. Despite his earlier claim, in his 1960 dinner-party tape, to be temperamentally challenged, he clearly relished politics, in defiance of a rising 1950s sensibility that disdained backroom deals as a regrettable price to pay for democracy. President Eisenhower once said, “The word ‘politics,’ I have no great liking for that.” Kennedy responded, “I do have a great liking for the word ‘politics.’ It’s the way a president gets things done.”
    It was in pursuit of politics that Kennedy took to the phones with the zeal that he did. He conducted a great deal of business by telephone; congratulating governors, senators, and representatives when their fortunes were high; comforting them when they were low; and cajoling them for their help when he needed something done. This last he did often, as he drove forward the agenda of the New Frontier, often in the face of fierce headwinds. Even after winning the presidency and a Democratic majority in 1960, he had to deal with an obstructionist Congress that included Republicans and conservative Democrats, among them the “boll weevils” (Southern conservatives), who tied up most of the important committees. Many of these calls reveal democracy in action, as a president does what he can to nudge a bill forward, alternating between charm and political hardball. Despite the obstacles, the Kennedy administration proposed 653 pieces of legislation in its first two years, almost twice Eisenhower’s rate, and 304 became law.
    If politics was changing because of Kennedy, it was also changing in spite of him; or more specifically, because the change that he represented encouraged many others to alter the status quo, in ways that did not always advance his political fortunes. An enormous number of voters would leave the Democratic Party because of its position on Civil Rights, or simply because they had moved out to the suburbs and had new priorities. But Kennedy’s adroit command of the issues, savvy use of television, frequent press conferences, and nimble outreach ensured that his popularity remained high.

CALL TO GOVERNOR EDMUND BROWN, NOVEMBER 7, 1962

    The Democrats held their own in the midterm election of 1962, picking up two seats in the Senate and losing four in the House. A notable loss for the Republicans occurred in California, where Richard Nixon, fresh from his presidential defeat in 1960, lost in the gubernatorial race to Edmund “Pat” Brown by nearly 300,000 votes, despite leading in the polls before election day. JFK called in his congratulations to Governor Brown, and midway through the conversation, spoke to the governor’s son, Edmund “Jerry” Brown. Jerry Brown succeeded his father as the governor of California, winning election in 1974 and again in 2010.

    MEETING WITH GOVERNOR EDMUND “PAT” BROWN OF CALIFORNIA, APRIL 20, 1961
    OPERATOR: Mr. President?
    JFK: Yeah.
    OPERATOR: He’s in a conference room down on the fifth floor. They’ll send for him.
    JFK: OK. No hurry.
    OPERATOR: Thank you.
    JFK: [skips] to it in ’60. Hell, I’d gotten them all in shape, so that [skips] huh?
    PAT BROWN: Well, let me just tell you this …
    JFK: I’ll tell you this, you reduced him to the nuthouse.
    PAT BROWN: Listen, but you gave me instructions and I follow your orders …
    JFK: [chuckling] I understand. But God, that last farewell speech of his … 1
    PAT BROWN: Wasn’t that terrible?
    JFK: Well, no, but it shows [skips] what’s going to happen [skips] out there?
    PAT BROWN: I don’t see how he can ever recover. [skips] the leaders.
    JFK: Yeah.
    PAT BROWN: Knight 2 walked out on him, [unclear] told me [skips]. This is a peculiar fellow. [skips] I really think he’s