Kennedy, E. M.(2009) True Compass New York: 12 Hachette Book Group

In the wispy summer of 1941, the entire Kennedy family was all still alive. Then came the end of the safe harbor of

an historic family. Joe died in the war, and  Kathleen was lost in an air traffic incident. Rosemary was lobotomized out of reality and spent the rest of her life in a Roman Catholic retreat in Wisconsin. Within Senator Kennedy’s life Jack, then David, followed by Bobby, and Michael, then Stephen Smith, Eunice, and Peter Lawford, and JFK Jr. moved on to the ages. Those names not remembered are accounted for in True Compass.

Much of the early part of the book reads like his mother’s memoirs from years earlier. It is not the 60’s that the book ends rather the later years are the most interesting.

As having read many Kennedy and anti-Kennedy books,

this one at least acknowledges his many foibles that are there but euphemized. He drank heavily and womanized.

Although an intervention is not mentioned, he did stop and he met someone unlike his first shy and introspective wife, Joan. Vicki was his equal and both shared the same interest.

That is the time or approximate time, that the  Senator ‘s life  changed. Because of the length of the book, a few observations should be noted.

He makes no mention of his father’s political history relative to World War II or the division between his parents. Chappaquiddick is discussed,  but you may read another version from BBC in Wikipedia. In a unbelievable twist of history, he didn’t leave Mary Jo Kopeckni to die. Rather, discovered her demise the next morning. He perjured, but did not kill by neglect.

He liked LBJ, was distant with Nixon but admired his intellectual talent. Ford is only mentioned briefly but warmly, but Carter is described with a great deal of

ambivalence. Reagan was genial, but had a terrible time staying on topic and would drift to other mental venues.

He needed a working agenda in terms of what to do when he was given an itinerary in the morning. Most was written by his wife.

Bush 41 he found a colleague, but was distant to Bush 43’s when Leave No Child Behind passed, but was unfunded by 43’s administration.

Clinton and Obama were like brothers. His death and

funeral mass got heavy coverage, probably because he was the third brother of a famous family. However, there were other reasons. He authored thousands of bills of which hundreds were passed even though he was a Liberal in winter. He worked both  sides of the isle. If he became close to a Republican he offered to become part of an advertisement saying how bad but effective this person was in the senate or house. Or, if the reverse  was needed then he would do that. Of course he was very generous to his own party members.

Further, when someone in the house or senate lost a loved one, he sent flowers, but often went to their homes and if Catholic gave a gift of rosary beads, and if of some other persuasion, he had something to give.

Finally, he stayed out of trouble and made many contacts for various causes and legislation. He finally found his True Compass, although he had to stumble to get on the

path to end a very busy and resourceful life. Ron Powers is given acknowledgements to the final drafts. Many will

enjoy this book in academia and in the general public.

Prof. Joel Snell

Kirkwood College