Part 1: Creation and revelation
βThe biographer becomes the subjectβs closest ally, and bitterest enemyβ - Paula R. Backscheider in Reflections on Biography
βAfter the introduction, I wanted him [Schlesinger] hanged. After the conclusion, I regretted ever thinking that my Father should be president of the United Statesβ- Robert Kennedy, of-the-record interview taken in 1968, published in 1982
In the field of biographical writing, the goal of any author is invaritably to get at the heart of the subject and reach an understanding him or her, before then conveying that truth into the writing. In this process, however, many biographers begins to feel something akin to a relationship with their subject. Doris Kearns Goodwin describes her main criteria for determining is subject as someone "you can wake up every morning." Yet when such a relationship is formed, as the biographer digs deeper into their subject's life, the act of writing about starts to feel like a betrayal. But in the entire history of biographical writing, that truth was never seen as explicitly as it was for Arthur Schlesinger Jr, author of the Pultzier Prize winning Joseph Kennedy and the Fall of America. Schlesinger was not just familiar with the Kennedy family, he had been with John Kennedy throughout his entire political career. His speech writing skills for Jack Kennedy had been a major asset for the then-Vice President, helping him stand out as a shining beacon in an increasingly corrupt Nixon administration. Few in politics held as close of a relationship as Schlesinger and Kennedy, which the course of Schlesinger's career as a biographer and historian all the more suprising.
The story goes that, as Jack Kennedy's term was coming to an end, Schlesinger floating the idea to Kennedy on him writing a book on Kennedy's time as President, after Kennedy had already decided not to seek re-election early on. Schlesinger's reported title was 700 Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, a name that he did end up using for his other award winning book on a Kennedy administration, but written almost two decades after. At this initial meeting however, John reportedly rebuffed the idea, and instead proposed a different one. βDuring my entire time in the Executive Branch, I feel that I only made two real mistake,β Kennedy later told the Boston Globe βI did not kick Dick [Nixon] out sooner, and I told Arthur to write about my father instead.β
Schlesinger was given access to pra
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PS: Sorry if this post is a little meta and complicated. :P
