Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / "JFK - Public, Private, Secret" Author Randy Taraborrelli Joins Preston

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"JFK - Public, Private, Secret" Author Randy Taraborrelli Joins Preston · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: If I passed the hour third hour morning show with
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Preston's Guy Good Morning Show five four and ten. But
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: who's counting that would say it's Studio one A. I
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: am here in Studio one B. My guests joined me.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: When his last book was released, Jackie Public, Private, Secret,
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  Speaker 1: it was a best seller on every bestseller list that
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  Speaker 1: there was. If there is an expert on the Kennedys,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: it is this gentleman author, Randy Terra Borelli. Randy, welcome
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: back to the show.
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  Speaker 2: How are you, sir, I'm good, Preston. How you doing? Man?
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  Speaker 1: I am terrific.
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  Speaker 2: I have been.
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  Speaker 1: I have been thrilled to have this book in my
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  Speaker 1: hands for a few weeks now, and I figure we
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: might as well break it up. We got three segments
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  Speaker 1: to chat here, so let's talk Public, Private, and Secret.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: But I'm curious. JFK. By many is considered the first
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  Speaker 1: public president because he came in in the television era.
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  Speaker 1: How did you begin to find things with a man
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  Speaker 1: so public so written about that filled in the space
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  Speaker 1: for I mean, this book's huge.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Preston, I made a decision when I started this
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  Speaker 2: book two and a half years ago that if I
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: couldn't break new ground. I just wasn't going to do
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  Speaker 2: it because I know what you're saying. I'm looking on
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  Speaker 2: my bookshelf right now at about one hundred JFK books,
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  Speaker 2: and they're all really good books, you know. But what
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  Speaker 2: I do, what I specialize in is family as well
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  Speaker 2: as in politics. And you know, what I found is
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  Speaker 2: that most of the other writers were so consumed by,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: you know, the important politics at the time. And the
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  Speaker 2: politics was definitely, you know, right all at that period,
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  Speaker 2: in this period of time, with the civil rights movement, Vietnam,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: I'm Cuba, Castro Cuban missile crisis, the Bay of Pigs,
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  Speaker 2: all of which I wrote about. But I used the family,
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  Speaker 2: not only his but Jackies as a backdrop. And I
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  Speaker 2: think the death's where this book is different. For instance,
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  Speaker 2: whoever thought about writing about JFK's relationship with his mother
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  Speaker 2: in law, right, I mean, you would never think to
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  Speaker 2: do that, But man, what a powerful relationship that is.
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  Speaker 2: And that's kind of what this book lands on. My
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  Speaker 2: brand is really about family, and that's what this book
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  Speaker 2: is about.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious did Jack Kennedy have a choice in becoming
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  Speaker 1: who he became, because it seems as though boy Dad
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  Speaker 1: called a lot of the shots in that family.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, you're right. I mean, the dad was
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  Speaker 2: a very powerful figure in the family, and Joe Kennedy,
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  Speaker 2: the older brother, was really the man who was supposed
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  Speaker 2: to become president. I mean, that was the goal ever
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  Speaker 2: since Joe Kennedy entered Harvard. But then he was killed
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  Speaker 2: in the war, and next up was JFK. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: a popular sort of fallacy has been that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: JFK really didn't have much say in it, But in fact,
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  Speaker 2: he was already very invested in politics by the time
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  Speaker 2: his brother was killed. No doubt his brother would have
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  Speaker 2: been next. But then I think it would have been
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  Speaker 2: JFK's turn, because he really wanted to be a public servant,
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  Speaker 2: and he believed in he believed in his country, and
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  Speaker 2: he believed in democracy, and from a very early age
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  Speaker 2: he was very invested, and so I think he would
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  Speaker 2: have been next had his brother lived.
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  Speaker 1: The book is JFK Public Private Secret? I'm with the
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  Speaker 1: author Randy Terra Borelli. Randy, you've written five books on
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  Speaker 1: the Kennedys. Obviously, we want to walk this fine line
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  Speaker 1: of enticing people to pick up the book, but given
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  Speaker 1: him a little bit of information and not crossing the
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  Speaker 1: line into spoiling. I'm curious what percentage of the public
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  Speaker 1: portion of this book was new to you as a
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  Speaker 1: researcher and someone that knows the Kennedy's as well as anybody.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Preston, I have to say a lot of it
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  Speaker 2: because you know, my previous Kennedy books were really focused
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  Speaker 2: on Jackie. You know, I did Jackie Ethel Joan twenty
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  Speaker 2: five years ago, which was about Jackie and her relationships
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  Speaker 2: with her sisters in law Ethel and Joe Kennedy. And
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  Speaker 2: I did Jackie Janet and Lee, which was about her
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  Speaker 2: and her mother and her sister. And I did Jackie
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  Speaker 2: Public Private Secret, which was about Jackie sort of Cradle
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  Speaker 2: the Brave. But you know, it's one thing to write
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  Speaker 2: about the wife during the Cuban missile crisis and the
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  Speaker 2: Bay of Pigs and you know, the beginnings of Vietnam.
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  Speaker 2: It's another thing to go into the Oval Office, you know,
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  Speaker 2: where Jackie wasn't and deal with JFK and his decision making.
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  Speaker 2: And a lot of this was new to me. And
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  Speaker 2: I have to say that, I think if you really
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  Speaker 2: want a primer on the Kennedy years without being sort
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  Speaker 2: of overwhelmed. You can kind of dip into this book
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  Speaker 2: and really get a sense of what was going on
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  Speaker 2: in the country at that time as I did. I
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  Speaker 2: mean for me, basically, it was homework every day for
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  Speaker 2: two and a half years as I learned about these
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  Speaker 2: the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis and
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  Speaker 2: Castro and the Berlin Wall, you know, and Kruse, Jeff
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  Speaker 2: and all of the players of that time. So I
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  Speaker 2: just a lot of it was new for me, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and I think it will be hopefully for the reader too.
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  Speaker 1: Back with you with author Randy Terraborelli the book JFK.
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  Speaker 1: Public Private Secret. Randy, I don't want to assign what
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  Speaker 1: I think, but I've got this picture of you as
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  Speaker 1: you're researching this book and the way you break it
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  Speaker 1: down with Public Private Secret. You come across these anecdotes
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  Speaker 1: and I figure you're pitching them into one of the
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  Speaker 1: three cyclos. How did you define which where a given anecdote,
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  Speaker 1: story or fact would go.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, for me, if it's well known history,
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  Speaker 2: then that's public. I mean, some things will not change, right,
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  Speaker 2: The Cuban missile crisis is always going to be exactly
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  Speaker 2: what it was, and there are very few secrets left
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  Speaker 2: to the Cuban missile crisis. People have written entire books
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  Speaker 2: about that, right and so that's public. Private is you know,
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  Speaker 2: along the lines of medical records and you know, presidential decisions,
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  Speaker 2: you know, maybe between him and his brother and his cabinet,
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  Speaker 2: and and there's a lot of that obviously. In this book.
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  Speaker 2: Secret for Me is sort of the hidden personality of JFK.
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  Speaker 2: You know, the journey of this man who was raised
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  Speaker 2: entitled and privileged and with sort of a distinct lack
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  Speaker 2: of empathy to grow into a leader and to grow
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  Speaker 2: into a man who was accountable for his actions not
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  Speaker 2: only to his wife but to the country. That's kind
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  Speaker 2: of the secret thread, if you will, in this book,
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  Speaker 2: because I found, you know, that hit and personality with
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  Speaker 2: JFK to be very very very interesting and something I
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  Speaker 2: really didn't know a lot about. I mean, I knew
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  Speaker 2: that he cheated on his wife because I wrote about
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  Speaker 2: the wife, sure, you know, but I didn't know why,
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  Speaker 2: you know. And in this book I really learned a
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  Speaker 2: lot about the whys of a JFK.
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  Speaker 1: At what point do you as a researcher and an author,
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  Speaker 1: decide that this is just too private. I don't need
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  Speaker 1: to share this.
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  Speaker 2: That's such a good question, And no one ever asked
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  Speaker 2: me that question. And I got to think about that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think for me, and I believe me,
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot like that. A lot comes across my
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  Speaker 2: desk and I'm like, you know what, no, not really,
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  Speaker 2: let's let's not do this. And and a lot of
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  Speaker 2: it has to do pressing with the act, with the
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  Speaker 2: feeling that there's not enough context. You know, it's because
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  Speaker 2: I wasn't there, and and and that might be a
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  Speaker 2: decision that was made to do something that I really
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  Speaker 2: think is was not a great decision. But I don't
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  Speaker 2: know all the reasons why the decision was made. And
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  Speaker 2: I always tell my researchers. I have a staff of
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  Speaker 2: people who helped me with my books. Just because something
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  Speaker 2: is true doesn't mean it needs to be in the books.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it needs to move the story forward in
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  Speaker 2: a way that is empathetic and dignified. If it's just
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  Speaker 2: going to be something that's in there for titillation purposes
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  Speaker 2: or or because maybe it might sell books, now, that's
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  Speaker 2: not what I do you know, and so I guess
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  Speaker 2: really to answer your question, it's my own moral compass
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  Speaker 2: and the way that I was raised and how I
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  Speaker 2: feel about people and wanting to just be fair. You know,
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  Speaker 2: as a biographer and as an historian, you know, being
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  Speaker 2: fair really matters.
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  Speaker 1: We got one segment left with me, Randy Terri Borelli,
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  Speaker 1: author JFK Public Private Secret. Well, you know what's left.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to talk about secret here in the Morning
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  Speaker 1: Show with Preston Scott. Twenty three plus years of doing
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  Speaker 1: this show, I probably interviewed eight nine thousand folks, and
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  Speaker 1: I can tell you with all honesty, Randy Terri Borelli
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  Speaker 1: is the only author that's given me three perfect segments.
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  Speaker 2: Well two so far. So let's wait and see how
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  Speaker 2: that works out.
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  Speaker 1: No, listen, you can't make it up. JFK. The book
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  Speaker 1: is JFK Public Private Secret. When we get to the
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  Speaker 1: sea secret portion of this, how much of the secret
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  Speaker 1: is his personal private life? How much of it is
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  Speaker 1: his work as a member of Congress or President of
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  Speaker 1: the United States.
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  Speaker 2: Well, President, the secret really is a private life, you know.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it really does have to deal with the
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  Speaker 2: private decision making. And you know what it was that
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  Speaker 2: led him to be, you know, such a terrible husband
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  Speaker 2: to his wife. And you know, throughout history, it's always
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  Speaker 2: been blamed on the father, you know, it's the common
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  Speaker 2: sort of trope has always been, you know, the father
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  Speaker 2: Joe Kennedy cheated on the mother, Ruis Kennedy, and so
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  Speaker 2: JFK then cheated on Jackie. And I always thought that
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  Speaker 2: it is such an easy leap and such a sort
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  Speaker 2: of you know, not really smart way of looking at it,
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  Speaker 2: but sort of like the way of looking at.
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  Speaker 1: It that's a cop out.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, And so I did a lot of research, and
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  Speaker 2: I found that it's partly true, but it's not entirely true,
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  Speaker 2: because the rest of it is the mother. It's the
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  Speaker 2: mother's sort of complicity and the father's cheating, and even
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  Speaker 2: more than that, the mother and father hiring somebody to
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  Speaker 2: live in the house with them. Joe and Rose hired
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  Speaker 2: a woman named Janet de Rose. She was twenty four
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  Speaker 2: to live in the house with them to service the
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  Speaker 2: father not only sexually but also emotionally, because Rose didn't
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  Speaker 2: want a lot to do with him. And so I
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  Speaker 2: interviewed this woman, Janet de Rose. She was one hundred
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  Speaker 2: years old, when I interviewed her a two years ago,
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  Speaker 2: A great woman, a great memory, and she told me
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  Speaker 2: the story of how she was brought into the family
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  Speaker 2: as sort of Joe's secretary, but also somebody to service
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  Speaker 2: him actually, and also to be somebody to do to
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  Speaker 2: traffic in emotionally, because the whole point was for Rose
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  Speaker 2: Kennedy to distance herself and travel the world. She could
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  Speaker 2: not leave her marriage because of their religion, you know,
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  Speaker 2: being Catholic, divorce was out of the question. So this
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  Speaker 2: was a way that they figured out a way forward
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  Speaker 2: by bringing Janet into the family. And I think that
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  Speaker 2: this is a long way of saying that if you're
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  Speaker 2: raised in a family where this is going on, then
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  Speaker 2: how are you supposed to be a husband to you know,
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  Speaker 2: to a wife. No if that, if your influence was this,
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  Speaker 2: you know, your parents hired somebody to live in the
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  Speaker 2: family sleep right down the hall, to serve with your father.
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  Speaker 2: Of course you're not going to be the best husband
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  Speaker 2: in your own marriage. And so JFK, you know, had
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  Speaker 2: a lot to work through, and so did Jackie in
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  Speaker 2: their marriage to sort of overcome this really really bad influence.
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  Speaker 2: Not only as I said of the father's influence. But
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  Speaker 2: the mom who you know, who allowed this? When Joe
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  Speaker 2: hired Janet wrote, said what do I get out of it?
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  Speaker 2: And Joe's response was freedom? And Rose said, fine, let's
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  Speaker 2: bring her in and that's what they did.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious. I mean, I think I know the answer
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  Speaker 1: to this. But but JFK and Jackie that that relationship
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  Speaker 1: would never have survived in this era, would it.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you're absolutely right, because women today are a different
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  Speaker 2: breed of powerment right number one, when most women would
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  Speaker 2: not put up with this, right and number two, in
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  Speaker 2: the public eye, this would have this would have been
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  Speaker 2: all over TMZ, right. I mean, there's no way that
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  Speaker 2: you know, JFK would have been able to get away
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  Speaker 2: with the infidelity that he got away with as a
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  Speaker 2: public figure. Today today, there would be no way it
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: would be all over the newspapers. And back then in
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  Speaker 2: the nineteen sixties, there was sort of a gentleman's agreement
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  Speaker 2: with the press, you know, that you don't write about
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  Speaker 2: a person's private life. And that all changed with Watergate
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: in the seventies. Yeah, you know, and Richard Nixon and
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  Speaker 2: people started really thinking, okay, you know, does character matter?
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  Speaker 2: You know, by the time Richard Nixon was impeached, people
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  Speaker 2: were wondering, Okay, now let's think about this in a
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  Speaker 2: different way. And I'm not saying that character matters even
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: today in politics. I'm not saying that do.
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  Speaker 1: We know better.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just saying that people at least are wondering about it.
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  Speaker 2: Right back in the sixties, we didn't even wonder about it.
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  Speaker 2: We just let it go. You know, there was a
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: time in our country, believe it or not, when people
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: really don't care what the president was doing. He just
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: kind of assumed he was doing the right thing because
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: he was the president. Right.
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  Speaker 1: Well, how much you were well, let me just ask you.
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  Speaker 1: We've got about a minute left here. How much of
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: this at that time? Was the media looking the other way?
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: They kind of they had to know something was going on.
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  Speaker 1: They look the other way because the media largely loved JFK.
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  Speaker 1: They loved him, and the public loved him because of
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: the whole Camelot thing.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a lot of that going on, Kristin. But also,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: you know, Republicans weren't that crazy about JFK. You know,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, they love him now they would have. So,
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, I just think that the climate of the
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Times was that we don't really get in we don't
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: get into this, you know, no matter what your political affiliation,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: let's just stay away from this. And you know, and
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: it worked to JFK's vantage because I don't know that
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: he would have been able to even get into office
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: of a lot of the had been known.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Randy, great stuff. I can't wait to get through the
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: rest of the book. I appreciate your time this morning,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: and best of success.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it very much.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Randy. Terri Borelli is the author of the
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: book JFK Public Private Secret. It is a big, hefty read,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: and the chapters are broken down in a way that
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: makes this a really good nightstand book because you can
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: go through and then put it down, then pick it
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: right back up, and it really is well done, as
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: was the book Jackie and all of his books. And
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: appreciate having him on the program. Twenty eight minutes past
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the hour