Lincoln: Movie critic series No. 7, story of father and son

There is a scene in the movie, in which Lincoln slapped his son’s (Robert) face.  This probably didn’t happen, but it is a dramatic way showing how frustrated and agonized Lincoln was in dealing with Robert wanting to join the army.

Lincolns lost a son in Springfield (We read in his Springfield Farewell address, “Here my children have been born, and one is buried, I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever I may return. . .”) and another son, Willie, died one year after they moved into White House.  Lincoln had no problem for Robert to join the army, but wouldn’t let him enlist knowing Mary was frightened and couldn’t bear losing another son.

Lincoln found a solution after Robert graduated from Harvard; he wrote a letter to General Grant, “Please read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but only a friend.  My son, now in his twenty-second year, having graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends. . . .”  Robert joined Grant’s staff in late February, 1865.  This arrangement alleviated much of Mary’s anxiety.  This may be another reason why Mary accompanied Lincoln on the trip visiting Grant at City Point (now Hopewell in VA) in early April 1865.

If one sees carefully there is a scene in the movie depicting the relationship between Lincoln and Robert was not a close one or at least Robert felt he was neglected, which was indeed true.  Robert came home from Boston looking for his father; Lincoln was talking to someone and had no time for him.  One should pay attention closely how Robert left the room.

Growing up rarely did Robert see Lincoln as Lincoln moved from town to town in Eighth Circuit Court, spending more than half of the time away from home.  When he was around he might be busy reading or making political speech.  Robert wrote, “During my childhood and early youth he was almost constantly away from me, attending court or making political speeches.  In 1859 when he was beginning to devote himself more to practice in his own neighborhood. . . . I went to New Hampshire (to attend Phillips Academy in Exeter) and afterwards to Harvard College & he became President.”

Robert lived to see The Lincoln Memorial dedicated in 1922.

Lincoln: Movie critic series No. 6, many irrelevant scenes included to show the life and character of Lincoln

The movie is all about the passing of Amendment 13; the last 4 months of Lincoln’s life.  But it does have many scenes, irrelevant to the passing of Amendment 13, showing the life and character of Lincoln as we know it.  One can see Lincoln was reading with Tad (Thomas, he had no hair as a baby, so Lincolns called him Tad as in tadpole) who donned his military uniform (in the movie, but not in this scene) as he was in life at the White House. By the way Daniel Day-Lewis should have put on his spectacles for this scene.  One scene showing Robert Lincoln (I never like him, that will be another post) is frustrated of not being able to enlist to fight; Tad, with his military uniform on, said he can.  I am sure this didn’t actually happen, but quite an ingenious idea.  I would give it a thumb up.  The Bard did many dramatic scenes like this in his history plays.

Lincoln & Tad in movie

Lincoln & Tad in life

Mary Lincoln took Tad to Europe 3 years after Lincoln was assassinated; they stayed for 3 years.  Tad died in Chicago shortly after they returned from Europe.  He probably died of tuberculosis, although some say pneumonia.  Mary went to France again later.  It is probably not coincidental that Jacqueline Kennedy also left the States and went to Europe (after Robert Kennedy was assassinated).  It must be heart broken to live in a country where their husbands were assassinated.

As we know Lincolns went to Ford Theater on that fateful April 14, 1865, but Grover’s Theater (which Lincoln also frequented) scene was shown in the movie as Tad went to see Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp there that night.  The arrangement was to avoid showing Lincoln was shot directly; it is still painful and traumatic for the collected American memory nearly 150 years later.

In the JFK Library and Museum one goes through a dark passage in which several very small TVs showing the car ride in Dallas November 22, 1963.

Lincoln: Movie critic series No. 5, sorry to miss Senator Charles Sumner

Before seeing the movie I was expected to see Senator Charles Sumner and was disappointed in not seeing him.  There were enough votes in the senate to pass Amendment 13, so the battle was in the House.  This is why the powerful and radical Representative (from PA) Thaddeus Stevens played a pivotal role.

Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus Stevens

Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones (Harvard educated; his room mate was Al Gore) played Stevens.  The last time I saw Tommy Lee Jones was his playing the Marshal in the Fugitive, for which he earned an Oscar in supporting role.  He has aged and put on lots of weight, but is still as good an actor.  You may see him pitching for Ameriprise (a financial advice service company) on TV these days.

From the scene of Lincoln talking to Stevens one can tell Lincoln was not as radical as Stevens when it came to abolishing the slavery and that Lincoln is a more practical and shrewd a politician.

Senator Charles Sumner is one of the “Americans in Paris” in David McCullough’s The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. Paris was the intellectual center in 19^th century.  It was also the center of medicine, and one can read Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes’ story in the book.  In fact, the title of the New York Times Sunday Book Review of this book is “How Paris created America”.

Lincoln: Movie critic series No. 4, no need to defend Mary Lincoln

Mary Lincoln is one of the most mistreated or even vilified women in history; I never lost chance defending her.  However, I found nothing to defend her in the movie.  It was said that Sally Field (20 years her senior to her age in 1865) had to put on 25 pounds to match her “exterior”; she was indeed chubby with “exuberance of flesh”.  Mary would scream had she heard this.

Mary Lincoln was a well-bred upper class aristocrat, vivacious and witty, but was also sharp tongued with quick temper, prone to get jealous and tempestuous outbursts.

At the end of movie Lincolns visited General Grant at City Point, VA.  Mary and Mrs. Grant were late for a military review but arrived in time to see an attractive lady (wife of General Ord) riding beside her husband.  Mary threw a fit calling Mrs. Ord “vile names in the presence of officers”.  Mrs. Ord burst into tears and inquired what she had done.

Many serious historians wrote about this episode, including Carl Sandburg.  Fortunately the scene was not seen in the movie; otherwise it would be difficult to defend what was the indefensible.

I read Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage a few years ago and became more of a staunch defender of Mary.  Not all her outbursts were her fault.  Walking to his Springfield (Illinois) office one day, Lincoln was pulling Tad (the younger son in the movie) in a wagon with one hand while reading a book with the other.  The baby fell out of the wagon and Lincoln continued to walk and read, oblivious to Tad’s crying until Mary came, scooping up the baby and gave her husband a “tongue-lashing” that still could be heard to this day.

Lincoln: Movie critic series No. 3, an invented scene at the House

The movie has scenes showing Mary Lincoln and her confidant, Elizabeth Keckley were in the House watching the debates of Amendment 13.  I think this scene was invented for dramatic purpose.  I didn’t read this in Doris Goodwin’s book, nor in Carl Sandburg’s.  I read a book “Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley” a few years ago, and never came across this.  It must be felt that having an African American present while a bill to forever abolish slavery of her race is “touching”.  The motive is excusable; I wonder what would be Goodwin’s view.

I recall reading Mary Lincoln and Keckley went to New York City, after Lincoln’s assassination, to sell off Mary’s stuff to pay off her debt.  Their relationship is purely that of a close and personal one, not political or noble that was concerned about an important bill.

I also saw Robert Lincoln sitting behind Mary Lincoln and Keckley in the House.  I doubt that ever happened.

Lincoln: Movie critic series No. 2, Honest Abe !?

In order to better enjoy Shakespeare’s history plays, I read history of England focusing from Henry IV (1399-1413) to Henry VII (1485-1509); I call it “parallel reading”.  I came to appreciate how the Bard dramatized and yet faithfully followed the history (or at least to the material he used).  Movie with historical drama, such as Lincoln, like history play, is not history, but dramatizes it.

Spielberg’s Lincoln is all about the passing of the Amendment 13, an act for the constitutional amendment for the abolishment of slavery that was passed on January 31, 1865.  There are 6 volumes (2 for The Prairie Years, 4 for The War Years) in Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln, the 4^th volume of The War Years begins with Chapter 61, “Forever Free — the Thirteenth Amendment”.  The story is only a fraction of the life of Lincoln, so to call it Lincoln may be a bit misleading.

The movie depicts Lincoln is willing to buy votes (we see the money falling off the folders in Congress).  Two votes were needed to make a two-thirds in the House.  Carl Sandburg wrote how this happened (according to Representative John B. Alley.)

“Two members of the House were sent for and Mr. Lincoln said that those two votes must be procured.  When asked, “How?” he remarked” “I am President of the United States, clothed with great power. The abolition of slavery by constitutional provision settles the fate, for all coming time, not only for the millions now in bondage, but of unborn millions to come . . . that I leave it to you to determine how it should be done; but remember that I am the President of the United States, clothed with immense power, and I expect you to procure those votes.”  It is safe to say that Lincoln wanted to get these two votes at all costs (不擇手段).  It was a high drama when Daniel Day-Lewis said these words in movie.

The movie is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals; the same is also said in Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln lived a life of high morality and that leads people to say that this couldn’t have happened. But let’s not forget that Lincoln is also a shrewd political genius.  What he did is similar to that of lobbyists in our time.

I read the following in Carl Sandburg’s Abraham Lincoln, showing how moral Lincoln was.

She [Mary Lincoln] spoke to Mrs. Keckley of an “unprincipled set” of politicians with whom she was having dealings in 1864 toward the reelection of the President in the coming campaign.  “Does Mr. Lincoln know what your purpose is?” asked Mrs. Keckley [An African American, an ex-slave, Mary’s dresser and confidant, who played a role in the movie.  This part deviates from history—another post.]

“God, no! he would never sanction such proceedings, so I keep him in the dark, and will tell him of it when it is all over.  He is too honest to take the proper care of his own interests, so I feel it my duty to electioneer for him.”

Lincoln: Movie critic series No. 1

We went to see Steven Spielberg’s movie Lincoln the other day; the first time we stepped into the Crown Center Hollywood Theater at Washington, PA.  So I am not a ‘veteran’ movie critic, but I know the man of interest, or so I thought.

There are talks that this movie will teach the movie goers American history.  They must be kidding; with 15,000 books about Lincoln out there, how much one can learn about Abe (by the way, Lincoln didn’t like to be called Abe) in two and half hours?  Some say this may spurt the interest of reading Lincoln for the young men and women.  But, I didn’t see the young people in the theater; for the thirty some people in the theater, we seemed to be the “youngest”.

The movie opened on November 16 (it opened in 11 theaters on Nov. 9).  We went to see it December 1; in the beginning of the third week.  Let’s hope most young people have seen it.  As pf December 3 the box office sale was $83.6 million in the U.S. and Canada—a decent number for the historical drama—but certainly not quite a blockbuster.

Janice often reminds me not to write anything longer than a page, which is the limit most people can endure.  I’ll write a series of Lincoln in the name of movie critic.

Katy’s report at World Journal (世界日報): Pitt Cathedral of Learning reflects Immigrant culture of Pittsburgh

Katy’s dispatch to the World Journal (世界日報) reporting the open house of the annual Christmas celebration of the Nationality Rooms at the Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh.  As Eleanor Maxine Bruhns (Director of Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Program) said in the opening ceremony that through the Nationality Rooms students understand the importance of preserving Pittsburgh’s immigrant cultures.

You may read directly online.

http://www.worldjournal.com/view/wjnjpanews/21022288/article-%E5%8C%B9%E5%A4%A7%E8%81%96%E8%AA%95%E7%AF%80%E6%85%B6-%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E6%95%99%E5%AE%A4%E4%BA%BA%E6%BD%AE%E4%B8%8D%E6%96%B7?instance=nj2 

The following is Katy’s report that was published today (December 5),
 

匹大聖誕節慶 中國教室人潮不斷

【賓州匹茲堡訊】

December 5, 2012  06:00 AM世界新聞網 北美華文新聞、華商資訊

匹茲堡大學的學習寶樓（Cathedral of Learning）國際課室（Nationality Rooms） 聖誕裝飾季2日正式開幕，將展覽至明年1月18曰止。

國際課室執行長瑪欣博（Ms. Eleanor Maxine Bruhns） 在揭幕式上致詞表示， 匹大學生應該藉國際課室，明白匹茲堡乃是世界移民城，並須保持世界各國文化特質。

匹大這項國際教室聖誕裝飾活動，傳統以來固定在每年12月第一個周日揭幕。匹大學習寶樓有27間國際課室。每年感恩節後，每間課室都布置了聖誕節氣；但中國與日本的教室是例外，以慶祝新年為主題。

活動期間，平時國際課室酌收參觀門票，大人四元，兒童兩元。2日揭幕當天免費，一樓大廳還設了20多個攤位，提供各國餐飲與展售該國手工藝品，並表演各國民族舞蹈節目。

中國教室由慈濟陳靈芬精心布置，窗台放春花與大橘盤飾，牆貼蛇年燙金象形字，桌擺過年吉祥飾品，並擺放了新春舞獅與遊行的兩幅大照片。

 

 

身穿藍袍的大衛西蒙（David Fitzs Simmons)， 負責向觀眾導覽中國教室。 他的開場白， 就是用中文說「歡迎」。

西蒙解說，該教室是模仿故宮的藻井。中磐金龍，併列龍鳳圖騰，圓桌的太師椅背有「諄諄善誘」四字，是老師專用椅。其他椅背都有教誠教信等中文字。他請觀眾離開時，記得去摸摸門內石獅的頭，增加好運。

今年共有九國移民獻演歌舞。由日本開幕，愛爾蘭的踢踏舞、克羅西亞的手弦琴、泰國輕慢舞、波蘭的變化舞、瑞士的合唱、希臘特別歌舞、印度急舞、精采節目輪番上陣，引爆掌聲。中國則被安排為壓軸，由慈濟人文學校校長杜榮華帶領學生表演，包括舞獅迎吉、扯鈴、中華民族舞蹈彩帶舞與扇子舞等，贏得最多掌聲。

匹茲堡台灣同鄉會副會長陳梅君，現場為洋人用毛筆寫中文名字書籤；陳靈芬做了許多中國結飾物捐贈義賣；匹茲堡慈濟辦事處負責人李大立與美華協會的陳家興、余月紅等人，負責販售「露露麵店」捐贈的中國炒飯、炒麵、炒米粉與春捲。

中國攤位人潮不斷。全部所得捐給中國教室委員會，由會長余月紅存成獎學金基金，作為資助學生到中港台學習中文與中國文化。

今年三樓324號日本教室有穿和服的日本歌謠表演，轟動熱鬧。緊鄰美國早期文化的32號小木室也不惶多讓，因年前匹茲堡郵報（Post-Gazette） 曾報導此室鬧鬼， 今年開幕式特把住該屋的見鬼白貓抱來讓小孩撫摸。結果，該間小木室當天被觀眾擠到爆。（張瓊月)

A boy is boy; a girl is girl

These photos show a boy is boy; a girl is girl!

Feeding the body and mind all at the same time

When Katy was back in Taiwan visiting her parents my most enjoyable moment is on the dinner table at home as I can read and eat, feeding the body and mind all at the same time.  The photos show Gabby was doing her art work at the breakfast table.  If Gabby is allowed to do it, so am I.

Christmas comes earlier every year

We came to Michigan to see Ben and Gabby for Thanksgiving, and as they say Christmas comes earlier every year, Jo and kids set up the Christmas tree so we can have an early Christmas. I'll be working during the Christmas holiday season this year.

Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy

Both Lincoln and JFK had a vice president having a name of Johnson.  Lincoln took his Presidency in 1861, JFK 1961, 100 years apart.  Both wives were well versed and fluent in French.

Mary Lincoln was a good conversationalist, using with equal fluency the French and English. Carl Sandburg wrote, “she had partaken often of dinners in which only talk in French was permitted, and read French classics of literature in the original.”

Once she was not satisfied with a translation of speech made by Victor Hugo on capital punishment, published in the Southern Literary Messenger. She got hold the speech in French, and told Henry Rankin [who worked in Lincoln's law office], “the better to show the strength of Hugo's oratory and the difficulty of translating into English a French oration of such intense feeling so as to preserve the true Hugo fire and force.”

Lincolns received diplomatic corps at White House on 3/7/1861, the minister from Portugal made a speech in French, which Mary understood without the translation that her husband needed.

Jacqueline Kennedy stole the thunder from JFK on their 1961 visit to France and that led JFK to say he was known as the husband of Jackie.  She knew very well the French history and literature. Before the state visit she asked   “could I meet André Malraux? Do you think I could even sit next to him at some thing?”

André Malraux was an art historian, novelist and heroic leader of the French Resistance during WWII, de Gaulle appointed him as the minister of culture after the war.  Jackie read many of his work.  About four days before the visit the tragedy struck—both his sons were killed in a car accident.  Jackie sent word that Malraux need not bother with her, but he insisted to be his host in his grief, thus began a beautiful friendship.  Jackie invited him to visit the White House in early 1962 (see photos).  Malraux dedicated his autobiography, Anti-Memoirs (now on my to-read list), to Jacqueline in 1968.

Arthur Schlesinger asked Jackie about their visit to France in 1961, she said,

Yeah, Because I’d ask him [de Gaulle] things of history—or all the things I wanted to know, like who did Louis XVI’s daughter marry, the Duke of Angoulême, did she have any children, and this or that.  Then he leaned across the table to Jack [JFK] at lunch and said in French, “Mrs. Kennedy knows more French history than most Frenchwomen.” So Jack said, “My God, that would be like me sitting next to Madame de Gaulle and her asking me all about Henry Clay!”

Lincoln was a great admirer of Henry Clay.

英雄難過美人關 (Even a hero can be seduced by a beauty)

(I am somewhat reluctant to use this Chinese idiom for the title of this post as it may give too much credit for their appearance)

Jo asked me who is the twin sister of “that girl” (of course, sophisticated and intrigued like this ‘heart affair', there are two “that girls”); this proves she hasn’t kept up-to-date with our national affair.  I always pay attention to the current events, especially when our national security is at stake.

Now I know not all West Point women are “Porcelain on Steel: Women of West Point’s Long Gray Line” (the book Janice introduced me and I dutifully read).  Both Petraeus and Broadwell are West Point graduates; Petraeus also got a Ph.D. from Princeton whereas Broadwell got a master from Harvard Kennedy School and I believe, she turned her dissertation into a book of “All In”.  It will be “All Out” when the dust has settled.  Not everything is teachable, even in Ivy League schools.

A Wall Street Journal editorial ends with “What a pity that his service should come to a premature end through the collision of personal error and a zero-tolerance culture that doesn’t always serve this country well”, insinuating the behavior like this should be tolerated.  This is why I always say I am more conservative than the New York Time and more liberal than the Wall Street Journal.

If you Google search “Petraeus and Shakespeare”, Maureen Dow’s (the NY Time’s columnist, the intellectual feminist) “Petraeus’s love affair becomes tangled, Shakespearean web” will pop up.  She uses Macbeth and Othello as the two examples.  This is another reason one has to pay attention to the national affair like this; one may learn a thing or two about the Bard.

A few months ago I read Omar Bradley’s A Soldier’s Story, fighting the WWII in the European theater with him.  I bought the book after finishing reading the one from library.  It is a Must Have book.  This is why I always found my heroes more in the past.  They don’t make the generals the way they used to.

Shortly before German army surrendered, Ike telephoned Bradley for a situation report, Bradley suggested Ike have a plane prepared to fly them to their thirtieth class reunion at West Point the first week of June [1945].  Gen.  Patton graduated from West Point 6 or 7 years earlier.  These are the golden days of West Point.

The Notable & Quotable at the Wall Street Journal a few days ago was a speech Gen. Douglas MacArthur made at West Point in 1962, “Duty-Honor-Country.  Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be . . . ”  A timely quotation

Visiting JFK Library and Museum in Boston

JFK’s hiding of his multiple medical problems led some people to raise “question of character” and see him as less than honest.  But, listening to Jackie Kennedy’s conversation with Arthur Schlesinger, one may understand JFK genuinely hated to talk about his medical problems, including to his families.

In talking about JFK’s back problem, Schlesinger [JFK’s special assistant at the White House] said, “Yet I never—from what I saw of him, it was total stoicism about this.  Did he ever mention it?

To which Jackie responded,

“He was never—when you think how many people are hypochondriacs, or complain, he never liked you to ask him how he felt.  You could tell when he wasn’t feeling well—you’d take care of him and put him to bed or something—but he was never irritable—he never liked to discuss it and he made a conscious effort to get his mind off it by having friends for dinner or talking about—you know, or going to see a movie, or—just to not let himself be sitting there having a pain.”

We all know his PT-109 boat was sunk by the Japanese destroyer but few knew that he used family connection so the Navy wouldn’t know his extensive medical history including admissions at Mayo Clinic (I think the diagnosis of Addison disease was made there) and let him get into Navy.

While visiting his museum and library, Janice and I heard him talking about the Civil Right movement; he was talking about finishing the job Lincoln started.  A great man, indeed.  Like JFK, I found my heroes more in the past; I apparently do not need to look too further in the past.

Design garden with signature planting: forward and hope

Paula is home visiting her mom.  Seeing we’re planting hyacinth, tulip and daffodil bulbs, etc., she asked “how many?” I said “you mean how many hundreds?”

Emily Dickinson wrote her garden “perished with beautiful reluctance”, but seeing the garden “sank from color, scent, and liveliness into decay” evokes melancholic mood.  Planting in November for next spring is therapeutic, it connects this season to the next; it makes one feel the garden hasn’t died; life goes on.  These sleeping beauties will hibernate when the winter comes.  If the winter comes, can spring be far behind?

So our garden moves “forward” and there is “hope” (I am using Obama’s winning campaign slogans).  With hundreds of bulbs to plant, we have to be creative.  You can see KATY’s tulips.  Planting this way is a gamble, as KATY may not be fully shown unless all bulbs planted emerge next spring.  But, then again this is “the Audacity of Hope”.

Jackie Kennedy resented JFK’s back surgery

Being a history buff, I rarely read JFK, thinking he was my contemporary, not yet a historical figure.  Visiting his library and museum with Katy, my two daughters and Edwin at Boston last month changed my view.  I put down Paul Murray Kendall’s Richard the Third (a 1955 book) and began to listen and read Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy (an interview with Arthur Schlesinger). 

Jackie is very articulate (one meaning of articulate is 咬字清晰), it is a pleasure listening to the CD, but reading the book version is quite helpful to get the full story as it comes with lots of annotations of the people and events of interest.

This post focuses on JFK’s back surgery.  The right choice of management (surgery vs. non-surgical approach) for the herniated disc or spinal stenosis of spines remains elusive in many cases; the unpredictable outcome remains true in select cases to this day.  JFK didn’t have the good outcome and Jackie resented it bitterly; she even used the term of “criminal” in criticizing the surgeon’s decision. 

The following is from the CD.

“Yeah, with the back. It had just gotten worse and worse.  I mean, the year before we were married, when he’d take me out, half the time it was on clutches.  You know, when I went to watch him campaign, before we were married, he was on clutches.  I can remember him on clutches more than not.  And then, in our marriage, he’d be off it a lot, and then something would go wrong.  It was really—I mean, the problem everyone found later—he didn’t even need the operation.  It was that he’d had a bad back since college, and then the war, and he’d had a disk operation that he never needed, so all those muscles had gotten weak, and gone into spasm, and that was what was giving him pain—the muscles.  And so, then he’d go—I think if he went on crutches for four days, you know, he’d get everything better, but again that was only weakening it.  And it wasn’t until after his back operation that the poor doctor who’d been his medical man, Ephraim Shorr [a New York Hospital endocrinologist], said to him, “Now I think I am at liberty to tell you something which I wanted to tell you before, but I didn’t think it was correct to do that to Dr. Wilson [the surgeon, who was a Harvard classmate of JFK’s father],” who was the back surgeon.  This made me so mad how doctors just let people suffer, and don’t say anything to hurt the other eminent physicians’ feelings. . .after a year of surgery and a year out, his back was weaker than ever. . . .”

 [What Dr. Shorr said could be a hindsight 20-20, though.]

Schleisinger asked: “In other words, the operation of 1955 was not necessary?” to which Jackie responded,

“It was no more necessary than it is for you to have one this minute.  And it was just criminal.  But, you know, all those bone surgeons look at X rays—you see, Jack was being driven so crazy by this pain. They even said to him before it, “We can’t tell if it will help or not.”  I remember his father and I and he talking, and he said, “I don’t care.  I can’t go on like this.”  It was, you know, one chance in a million, but he was going to take it.”

Jackie’s knowledge about JFK’s back problem might not be 100% correct, thus her resentment might not be fully justified.  Robert Kennedy wrote an introduction for the memorial edition of his brother’s book, Profiles in Courage, published in 1964, in which he wrote, “half his [JFK’s] days on this earth spent in pain.”

There is a lengthy article about JFK’s medical problems in the December 2002 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, which is an excerpt from Robert Dallek’s An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy,

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/12/the-medical-ordeals-of-jfk/305572/1/