Final_Judgment

[36] Final Judgment 97
with $500,000 on Kennedy's behalf. According to Feinberg: "I called him
right away. His voice broke. He got emotional" with gratitude. 69
KENNEDY'S 'OUTRAGE'
However, there was much more to the story according to author
Seymour Hersh who has investigated Kennedy's relations with Israel and its
American lobby:
"Kennedy was anything but grateful the next morning in describing the
session to Charles L. Bartlett, a newspaper columnist and close friend. He
had driven to Bartlett's home in northwest Washington and dragged his
friend on a walk, where he recounted a much different version of the meeting
the night before.
"`As an American citizen he was outraged,' Bartlett recalled, "to have a
Zionist group come to him and say: 'We know your campaign is in trouble.
We're willing to pay your bills if you'll let us have control of your Middle
East policy.' Kennedy, as a presidential candidate, also resented the crudity
with which he'd been approached. `They wanted control.' he angrily told
Bartlett.
"Bartlett further recalled Kennedy promising to himself that `if he ever
did get to be President, he was going to do something about it.'" 70 —that is,
special interest lobbies—particularly foreign pressure groups—dictating
American election campaigns and foreign policy through their financial and
political clout.
PARTIALITY 'DANGEROUS'
In a private letter to Jewish American historian Alfred Lilienthal,
himself a vocal critic of Israel, Kennedy did, however, reveal his feelings
toward the Middle East conflict. The letter, written on September 30, 1960,
read in part: "I wholly agree with you that American partiality in the Arab-
Israeli conflict is dangerous both to the U.S. and the Free World" 71 In
Lilienthal's judgment, Kennedy's comment was "one of the most significant
and perspicacious Middle East statements" ever made by any American
political figure. 72
But Kennedy had already cut his deals. Not only organized crime—but
the Israeli lobby (of which Meyer Lansky was a critical supporter)—had
their claims on John F. Kennedy.
After the election, they expected Kennedy to pay up. In the general
election, it was a narrow Kennedy victory over the Republican candidate,
Vice President Richard M. Nixon.
The role of the Chicago Democratic political machine (under the thumb
of Mafia boss Sam Giancana) in stealing Illinois votes on behalf of the
Kennedy-Johnson ticket is now well known and a widely accepted part of
American political history.