Years later, I asked her why she’d never wanted to be an official member, why she chose instead to remain an unofficial “consultant.” Why, I often wondered, had she exercised her zeal and determination in such forceful way and yet been reluctant to be named the leader?
“I knew that this work had to be Jack’s if it was to be successful,” she said. “He was the president and I never for a minute doubted that he made all the difference. And I always wanted this to be taken seriously by the country and never wanted people to see me and think this was just about our family.” She was looking for results, not credit, and her political judgment was as sharp as her determination. “The way to make things happen in Washington was for people to see this as an issue important to Jack. It had to be an important issue, not a family issue.”
I’m sure she was right in many ways. I’m sure she was right to think that the fight for rights and dignity should not be seen as one family’s fight but rather as a nation’s fight. And I guess she was right about another message: “I never wanted people to think that what President Kennedy was doing was about Rosemary. Then they would have dismissed it as being a personal matter. It wasn’t. It was about the outrageous neglect. It was about the outrage.”
Years later, I asked her why she’d never wanted to be an official member, why she chose instead to remain an unofficial “consultant.” Why, I often wondered, had she exercised her zeal and determination in such forceful way and yet been reluctant to be named the leader?
“I knew that this work had to be Jack’s if it was to be successful,” she said. “He was the president and I never for a minute doubted that he made all the difference. And I always wanted this to be taken seriously by the country and never wanted people to see me and think this was just about our family.” She was looking for results, not credit, and her political judgment was as sharp as her determination. “The way to make things happen in Washington was for people to see this as an issue important to Jack. It had to be an important issue, not a family issue.”
I’m sure she was right in many ways. I’m sure she was right to think that the fight for rights and dignity should not be seen as one family’s fight but rather as a nation’s fight. And I guess she was right about another message: “I never wanted people to think that what President Kennedy was doing was about Rosemary. Then they would have dismissed it as being a personal matter. It wasn’t. It was about the outrageous neglect. It was about the outrage.”