I
Family Weekly J May IS,
1963
Does the President Have
a Right to Privacy?
By LESTER DAVID
Prying eyes have driven
the Kennedys out of
Hyannis Port; ugly
publicity has made the
First Lady dread the
day Caroline learns to
read; it's a situation
that makes thoughtful
Americans wonder
The Kennedys on a Florida holiday didn't
know a telephoto lent was trained on them.
During a trip to Italy, Mrs. Kennedy and Caroline
seldom escaped that country's aggressive cameramen.
family Wklw, Mnv It, 19M
Anew f ieldstone-and-wood house
stands in a lonely, hilly region of
Virginia, miles from, any sizable settle
ment The family who will use the one
story, seven-bedroom home as a week
end retreat chose the spot with care.
It had to be close enough to the husband's job;
it had to provide the kind of recreation his wife
preferred but most of all, the place had to offer
the occupants a maximum of privacy.
The new family in the neighborhood, of course,
are the John F. Kennedys, and their house atop
Rattlesnake Mountain meets their three specifi
cations. It's less than 45 miles from Washington,
it's in the middle of Jackie Kennedy's beloved
fox-hunting country, and it permits them a few
blessed moments out of the goldfish bowl in which
they live virtually every moment of every day.
This is not the first time the President has
sought seclusion for himself and his family. Last
year they abandoned their home at Hyannis Port,
Mass., as a summer White House because even
a new stockade fence didn't protect them from
prying eyes. Their moving into tenor Morton
Downey's house on a tourist-free island off the
mainland was a sacrifice for the President, who
prefers to be close to his brothers and parents
but be had no choice.
Certainly such developments should make
thoughtful Americans ask: are we invading the
privacy of the President and his family too
much? Have we exceeded the bounds of good
taste in our eagerness to know as much as we
can about him? Are we actually hindering him
by forcing him to live constantly in the blinding
spotlight of publicity? s.
Lack of privacy is a fact of life every Presi
dent had to face, but Mr. Kennedy and his fam
ily are being subjected to unprecedented pub
lic attention. There is an insatiable demand to
see them, hear them, know all about their every
doing. The prying eye of the television camera
follows them wherever it can. Magazine articles
"reveal" so-called sensational facts about the
First Lady, her children, and her background.
The Kennedys are lampooned via tv, records,
coloring books, and parlor games.
Matters have progressed to the point where
many observers are shocked and dismayed. As
one high official told me: "The intrusion into
their private lives is almost intolerable."
And things are not about to improve. Such an
astute observer of the political scene as James
A. Farley, former postmaster general in Frank
lin D. Roosevelt's cabinet, told me: "The situa
tion is bound to worsen for the President as time
goes on. The spotlight will shine even more
brightly, and Mr. Kennedy's successor in the
White House will find himself with even less pri
vacy, if that is conceivable."
Where Ho does, He's the Show
The Presidential family has had little personal
privacy since 1960. Recently, for example, Mr.
Kennedy went to New York for a weekend with
his family. When he attended the theater, he was
the show. When he went to a restaurant, what he
and the First Lady ate was duly recorded as
was the news that the President was a $10 tipper.
On Sunday morning, Mr. Kennedy decided to
take a stroll in Central Park 'with, his five-year-old
daughter Caroline and her young cousin. As
soon as he stepped from the apartment house
where he was staying, crowds bore down on him.
The President took one look and retreated into
the building with the children. "Why are we
going back, Daddy?" Caroline wanted to know.
The President's reply was not heard, but he
could have been thinking of the time last sum
mer when he was mobbed by bikini-clad bathers
at Santa Monica, Calif. While visiting his brother-in-law,
movie actor Peter Lawford, the Presi-
dent decided to go for a swim in the Pacific. He
strode through the gate of the Lawford home
and onto a public beach where hundreds of
bathers nearly piled on top of him. Mr. Kennedy
swam for 15 minutes, then emerged to be
mobbed once more.
How does the President feel about all this?
He accepts and enjoys much of it. Indeed, he
often gives his Secret Service bodyguards scary
moments when he strides into crowds to shake
hands and swap greetings. However, the Ken
nedy temper can flash occasionally.
Once, while he was staying at Hyannis Port,
a bunch of neighborhood youngsters gathered
noisily near the grounds. Dawn was barely break
ing, and the President wanted to relax before
taking off for Vienna that day for a crucial meet
ing with Premier Khrushchev. When the babble
became unendurable, Kennedy flung open his
bedroom window, leaned out, and bellowed : "Hey,
out there! Knock it off!" The kids did.
Jacqueline Kennedy is far more concerned than
her husband about the effects of a goldfish-bowl
existence upon Caroline and John, Jr. She talkB
wistfully about not being able to take Caroline
to such places as the circus, because the public
attention would disrupt the show. Her main goal
is to provide her children with "normal and pri
vate" lives in the all-important formative years,
but she finds it hard going.
No Togetherness for Caroline
Speaking of Caroline, she said, "Someday she
will have to go to school, and if she is in the
papers all the time, that will affect her classmates,
and they -will treat her differently."
In his book, Portrait of a President, William
Manchester makes a remarkable, and somehow
very sad, point. "Most mothers," he asserts,
"look forward to the day their first child will be
able to read. This mother dreads it, for hers will
be reading about herself." That time is coming
(Continued on page 6)
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A welcome-home embrace is shared by President Ken
nedy, the First Lady and a host of photographers.
Police keep the crowd back as the Kennedys leave a
church in Hyannis Port where they attended Mass.
Points of View
Andrew Hatcher, White House press
aide:
"The public should be informed about
the activities of the President, and if s my
job to provide this information. Of course,
I can always say 'no comment' when ques
tions from the press reach the point of
saturation, and this point is reached at
' times. We should understand, however,
that when a man runs for public office, he
accepts these hazards of intrusion upon
his privacy."
William Benton, former U. S. Senator
from Connecticut:
"The President does indeed need pri
vacy and a Jot more of it. In England it
is possible for the Queen to notify the press
that her activities are to be private when
she is off on a venture that does not in
volve official duties. Can't we develop a
tradition of this kind, in which the press
and tv would respect such wishes of the
President or his wifet"
Sen. Birch E. Bavh, Jr. (D. Indiana):
"Anyone who runs for public office gives
up a certain degree of personal privacy,
but I feel we are pushing this to the maxi
mum in the case of President Kennedy.
In fact, we may even have reached the
maximum. Of course, it's difficult to exer
cise restraint. We don't mob the President
intentionally, but we do like to associate
ourselves with him and to be near him. I
know I do. But we tend to forget that, by
so doing, we may be causing him and his
family a real hardship."
-6 0
on Presidential Privacy
James C. Hacehty, former press secre
tary to President Eisenhower, now an
American Broadcasting Company vice
president:
"I believe a President is entitled to
some privacy and that his family is en
titled to much more, particularly the chil
dren. He should be able to 'get away from
it all' for brief periods of relaxation in
a fish stream as President Hoover loved
to do, or in a boat as Presidents Roosevelt
and Truman did, or on the golf course as
President Eisenhower did. These precious
few hours of relaxation are vitally im
portant to'a Chief Executive and afford
him an opportunity to refresh himself
with a change of pace from his awesome
duties. But the job of the Presidency is
not conducive to very much privacy."
Rep. Robert Taft, Jr. (R. Ohio) :
"The President is certainly entitled to
privacy as it relates to family matters,
and I hope that we recognize this need. Up
to now, it is rather apparent that we have
not been recognizing this need as well as
we might."
James A. Farley, former postmaster gen
eral and Democratic National Committee
chairman:
"President Kennedy likes people and
loves to show his appreciation to them for
electing him to the country's highest office.
But the job is enormously taxing, and we
should not make excessive and unnecessary
demands upon him. We should permit him
the time and the opportunity to unwind
from the strains in private."
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