I didn't single YOU out. If you would follow the rules and quote
properly people could see to whom I directed my remark.
And I was especially thinking about the SUBORDINATE who decorated
Jackie's room at the hospital.
Steven Levingston
Steven Levingston
Nonfiction editor, The Washington Post
GET UPDATES FROM Steven Levingston
Like
'Five Thousand Dollars for That!' An Excerpt from The Kennedy Baby: The
Loss That Transformed JFK
Jackie had announced her intention of leaving Hyannis Port in late
August to deliver her baby by Caesarean section at Walter Reed Army
Hospital in Washington. "From the security standpoint," United Press
International reported, "the White House prefers that Mrs. Kennedy go to
Walter Reed where she would have more privacy in the Presidential Suite
on the fourth floor." But her past troubled pregnancies -- and Joan's
unexpected misfortune -- set in motion a search for a suitable backup
location on Cape Cod, should it be required. Her obstetrician, Dr. John
Walsh, had taken up residence on the Cape for the summer to be near his
most famous patient. Walsh, a former Army surgeon in World War II, had
delivered John-John in 1960. Caught in the media crush that accompanied
John-John's arrival, Walsh said he preferred to perform his job rather
than sit in the celebrity spotlight. As he told the press after the
birth, "I was sure nervous with so many newspapermen, cameras and
microphones around. I was far more at ease in the operating room." In
the summer of 1963, he was vacationing on Cape Cod but was also on the
job. A professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Georgetown University
Medical School, he turned over his practice in Washington and suburban
Maryland to another physician so he could attend to Jackie, and he
showed up at Brambletyde almost daily to check on her. Well-acquainted
with Jackie's medical history, he also toured three facilities on the
Cape, along with White House physician Janet Travell, in search of an
emergency delivery room.
While stressing that Jackie fully expected to give birth at Walter Reed,
the doctors agreed that the best secondary site was the hospital at Otis
Air Force Base, a 12-minute ride by car from Squaw Island -- and less by
helicopter. Jackie's pregnancy was progressing normally so far, and the
White House went out of its way to play down the attention given to
Otis. The New York Times reported that the project was only
"precautionary." White House press secretary Pierre Salinger assured the
public that "no special arrangements for the delivery were being made at
any hospital but Walter Reed."
That didn't stop the Air Force from sprucing up a wing at the hospital
for Jackie's use in an emergency. Building 3703 was a one-story wooden
structure connected to the delivery room by a 100-foot breezeway. It had
six bedrooms, two lounges, a kitchen and a nursery. Jackie's room was
outfitted with a standard hospital bed and chairs, a dresser and color
television. There was also a room for the President that had rugs, a
bedside table with phone and an adjoining mahogany-paneled sitting room
with American southwest-style furniture. Air-conditioning was installed
-- making this wing the only one at the hospital with the cooling
devices -- and an electric dishwasher and garbage disposal unit added
the latest in modern amenities.
But Air Force apparently went too far. On July 25, the President was
alarmed to see a press photo of a smiling officer standing next to
Jackie's bed in the spruced-up wing. In another shot, the President
gazed upon a handsome bureau and lamp on a side table. The wing's
upgrade, JFK learned, cost about $5,000 (about $40,000 in today's
dollars), and he was livid. The military's profligate expenditures on
behalf of the President's wife were a public relations disaster. Kennedy
phoned his Assistant Secretary of Defense Arthur Sylvester and railed
about out-of-control military spending.
"Five thousand dollars for that!" he cried. "Let's cut their budget
another hundred million."
Sylvester explained that he told the Air Force to keep the press out of
the hospital -- under no circumstances were reporters or photographers
to see the upgrade. But, he informed the President, "They went ahead on
their own."
The President was fixated on the captain in charge of the refurbishing
and on the furniture in the photograph -- attractive pieces from Jordan
Marsh department store in downtown Boston. He wanted to know what the
items cost and if the bills had already been paid. "I'd just like to
send that goddamn furniture back," he said. "I'd love to send it right
back to Jordan Marsh in an Air Force truck this afternoon with that
captain on it." His aide laughed and the President joined him: "Now,
what about transferring his ass out of here in about a month? ...For
incompetence, not for screwing us ...And that silly fellow who had his
picture taken next to the bed, have him go up to Alaska."
Next, the President got Air Force General Godfrey McHugh on the phone.
"See that fellow's picture by the bed," he began. "Yes, sir," replied
the general in a meek tone. Kennedy lacerated him, his sharp voice
unrelenting. "And did you see that furniture they bought from Jordan
Marsh? What the hell did they let the reporters in there for? Are they
crazy up there? Now you know what that's gonna do? Any congressman is
going to get up and say, 'Christ, if they can throw $5000 away on this,
let's cut 'em another billion dollars.' You just sank the Air Force
budget! You're crazy up there! Are they crazy? That silly bastard with
his picture next to the bed?"
Almost in a mumble, the general said: "Sir, I'm appalled but..."
"Well, I'm appalled too." Kennedy cut him off. "I mean, he's a silly
bastard. I wouldn't have him running a cathouse! ...Christ, they're all
incompetents!"
The penitent general tried to explain: "Why, sir, this is obviously..."
"Well, this is obviously a f*ckup!" the President roared, and the
conversation was over. The President's press secretary Pierre Salinger
was sent out to quell the controversy.
In his morning briefing, he told reporters that the Air Force had not
informed the President of its refurbishing plan. "We had never heard
about it until we read it in the newspaper," he said. The Washington
Post reported that an anonymous Defense Department spokesman had
confirmed the $5,000 expenditure but insisted that the money went only
toward standard upgrades for the room and did not include any purchases
of furniture. But the Post story contained an admission by an anonymous
Jordan Marsh spokesman that the store had supplied the furnishings. The
store's merchandising manager of home furnishings clarified: "We have
definite instructions not to give out any information on any work we
have done for that family." And when asked if he meant the First Family,
he said, "Yes."
As heated as the President got, his concern turned out to be misplaced.
The storm blew over quickly. The press scarcely pursued the story, and
the White House and the military sidestepped any fallout.
Excerpt from The Kennedy Baby: The Loss That Transformed JFK (Diversion
Books, � 2013 by The Washington Post)