The Dark Side of Camelot - Softcover

Seymour Hersh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 000653077X ISBN 13: 9780006530770

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1998

Synopsis

Sex, the Kennedys, Monroe and the Mafia; the controversial American bestseller -- 'Hersh has found more muck in this particular Augean stable than most people want to acknowledge' Gore Vidal / Jack Kennedy had it all. And he used it all -- his father's fortune, and his own beauty, wit and power -- with a heedless, reckless daring. There was no tomorrow, and there was no secret that money and charm could not hide. / In this groundbreaking book, award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh shows us a John F Kennedy we have never seen before, a man insulated from the normal consequences of behaviour long before he entered the White House. Kennedys could do exactly what they wanted, and could evade any charge brought against them. Kennedys wrote their own moral code. / And Kennedys trusted only Kennedys. Jack appointed his brother Bobby keeper of the secrets -- the family debt to organized crime, the real state of Jack's health, the sources of his election victories, the plots to murder foreign leaders, and the President's intentions in Vietnam. As Jack's closest confident and chief enforcer, Bobby attacked any potential family enemy with a savagery he was supposed to reserve for the criminals he was sworn to prosecute -- the very criminals their father had enlisted. / The brothers prided themselves on another trait inherited from their father -- a voracious appetite for women -- and indulged it with a daily abandon deeply disturbing to the Secret Service agents who witnessed it. These men speak for the first time about their amazement at what they saw and the powerlessness they felt to protect the leader of their country. Now Seymour Hersh tells us the real story of those risks, in the hands of a crisis-driven president who maintained a facade of cool toughness while negotiating private compromises unknown to even his closest advisers.

About this title

Review:

If the Kennedys are America's royal family, then John F. Kennedy was the nation's crown prince. Magnetic, handsome, and charismatic, his perfectly coifed image overshadowed the successes and failures of his presidency, and his assassination cemented his near-mythological status in American culture and politics. Struck down in his prime, he represented the best and the brightest of America's future, and when he died, part of the nation's promise and innocence went with him. That, at least, is the public version of the story.

The private version, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour M. Hersh, is quite different. His meticulous investigation of Kennedy has revealed a wealth of indiscretions and malfeasance, ranging from frequent liaisons with prostitutes and mistresses to the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro to involvement in organized crime. Though scandals in the White House are nothing new, Hersh maintains that Kennedy's activities went beyond minor abuses of power and personal indulgences: they threatened the security of the nation--particularly in the realm of foreign policy--and the integrity of the office. Hersh believes it was only a matter of time before Kennedy's dealings were exposed, and only his popularity and charm, compounded by his premature death, spared such an investigation for so long. Exposure was further stalled by Bobby Kennedy's involvement in nefarious dealings, enabling him to bury any investigation of his brother and--by extension--himself.

Based on interviews with former Kennedy administration officials, former Secret Service agents, and hundreds of Kennedy's personal friends and associates, The Dark Side of Camelot rewrites the history of John F. Kennedy and his presidency.

About the Author:

Seymour Hersch is one of America's premier investigative reporters. In 1969 he wrote the first account of the My Lai massacre in South Vietnam. In the 1970s he worked at the New York Times in Washington and New York. He has won more than a dozen major journalism prizes, including the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting and four George Polk Awards.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 000653077X
• ISBN 13: 9780006530770
• Binding: Paperback