The Presidency: Battle of the Book

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Binding Obligation. It was, everything considered, a most unseemly spat. Neither side had expected it to go so far, but it finally got out of hand. Why the Kennedys had waited so long to make their personal objections felt has not been explained; they obviously made a mistake in expecting to exert so much control at so late a date. Nonetheless, the author who agreed to their conditions was bound by them. Freedom of the press—or precise historical objectivity—was not really at issue, since Manchester willingly limited that freedom by taking on contractual obligations with the Kennedys.

From all the evidence, Manchester has compiled an invaluable source book —one of those rare books that not only report history but make it. Even so, it is not the book that the Kennedys thought they were getting. To be sure, Jacqueline and Robert Kennedy provided Manchester with the raw materials that he later used in a way that displeased them. What nobody seemed to take into account is that the assassination is still so fresh in people's memories and has left so many exposed nerve ends that any painstakingly detailed, step-by-step retelling is premature at this point. The book in no way contradicts the findings of the Warren Commission. But it is seriously flawed by the fact that its partisan portrayal of Lyndon Johnson is so hostile that it almost demeans the office itself. Manchester's Death of a President—if it ever reaches print—will surely be rated as a compelling narrative, but hardly as impartial history.