part of the “State,” which has “an oligopolized,nprivately controlled corporateneconomy.” This corporate command hasnan “intimate ally, the bureaucratic nationalnsecurity state.”nJournalists—but not the sympatheticnones, I assume—are tools of the State.nThey work within structures calledn”frames”: “principles of selection, emphasis,nand presentation composed ofnlittle tacit theories about what exists,nwhat happens, and what matters.”nFrames are constructed by “politicalnand economic elites” who at times “intervenendirectly in journalistic routine,nattempting to keep journalists withinnharness.” But in most cases, “Simply byndoing their jobs, journalists tend tonserve the- political and economic elitendefinitions of reality.” That’s becausenthey are “socialized from childhood, andnthen trained, recruited, assigned, edited,nrewarded, and promoted on the job . ..”nYes, Gitlin is writing about contemporarynAmerican journalists, not animalsnbeing raised and trained by a Skinnerian.nAll The Whole World is WatchingnFDR and His lagonMichael R. Beschloss: Kennedy andnRoosevelt: The Uneasy Alliance;nW. W. Norton & Co.; New York.nby Otto J. Scottn”atrick Kennedy, his father, rosenfrom saloonkeeper to ward boss in EastnBoston, to state representative and senator,nan insider in the powerful MassachusettsnIrish-Democratic machine, ansuccessful businessman who considerednHoney Fitz “an insufferable clown.” Hensent young Joseph Kennedy to parochialnschool for the elementary grades, butnlater to Boston Latin and Harvard. AtnBoston Latin, Joseph was captain of thenMr. Scott, a frequent contributor tonthese pages, is researching a hook onnthe Wilson period.nIGMMMHHMHMInChronicles of CttUurenamounts to (ignoring, for a moment,nthe late-show horror movie aspect) isnnothing more than a turgid and tediousnrestatement of the Marxist line aboutnhow the observer is conditioned by hisneconomic status and cannot see thingsnas they really are—unless, of course,nhe happens to be a Marxist, in whichncase everything is pellucid. The reportersncould not, would not, accept the SDSnview of society which Gitlin insistsn—with all the self-righteousness of anjunior-high-schooler—they should have.nThe journalists’ sins are^manifold. Theyninclude: not paying attention to thenfledgling SDS; paying attention but notnto the right things; not talking to SDSnpersonnel; making celebrities out ofnSDS personnel. At best, in Gitlin’s view,nthe journalists mollified the Movement,nparticularly after the Tet offensive inn1968. This, he says, resulted from thenelite’s going antiwar. However, it appearsnmore clear (but not from Gitlin’snbook) that the media didn’t just mollifynthe radicals, but, in many cases, workednto mollycoddle them. Dnbaseball team, manager of the basketballnteam, class president. These activitiesnimpeded his scholarship: he had to staynan extra year to graduate. At Harvardnhe was an indifferent student but annactive athlete. He was elected to HastynPudding, and admitted (late) to DeltanUpsilon. During the summers he lednsightseeing tours and made largenamounts of extra money. Later he marriednRose, the daughter of Honey Fitz.nThe ceremony was performed by CardinalnO’Connor.nIn 1917 he was assistant managernof the Fore River shipyard: he considerednit a good way to meet “people likenthe Saltonstalls.” The yard was expandingnunder Charley Schwab, head ofnBethlehem Steel, who was impressednby young Joseph Kennedy. Schwab instructednKennedy to go to Washingtonnnnand tell Assistant Secretary of the NavynFranklin D. Roosevelt that the yardnwould not release some completed Argentinennaval vessels until the Argentinesnpaid their bill. The tall, arrogantnRoosevelt greeted the information withnsmiling scorn. If the ships were not released,nhe told Kennedy, he would sendnsome sailors and tugs to Fore River andnrelease the ships by governmental force.nKennedy did not believe him: he reportednto Schwab that Roosevelt wasn”a smiling four-flusher.” Not long afterwardnthe tugs and sailors arrived. Navalnrifles and bayonets guarded Argentinencrews, who boarded the vessels. Thatnwas the first encounter between JoenKermedy and Franklin Roosevelt, andnit set a pattern that was to mark allntheir later interactions. In these Kennedynwas always conscious of economicnmatters and Roosevelt always consciousnof the realities of governmental power.nThis anecdote and many more arenprovided by Beschloss in a book he developednfrom an undergraduate thesis.nThere is a foreword by Roosevelt-idolaternJames MacGregor Burns and therenare interviews with Roosevelt-Kennedynpropagandist Arthur M. Schlesinger,nJr., professional Roosevelt-follower JosephnP. Lash and a covey of other deeplyncommitted Democratic academics, journalistsnand drum-beaters. The recruitmentnof Michael R. Beschloss to thesenranks must be considered the beginningnof the second generation of Rooseveltiannhistoricism. This genre is devotednto excusing all that was done in thenname of progress under Roosevelt, similarnin manner to the hagiography creatednaround Woodrow Wilson.nMuch as Wilson is forgiven for betrayingnthe big-city bosses who helpednhim climb, Roosevelt is apt to be forgivennfor his tendency to demean hisnservitors. To take this attitude towardnRoosevelt’s behavior with Joe Kennedynfits, of course, both this fashion andncontemporary morals. Joe Kennedy isnnot regarded as an admirable figure;nanything done to him was well worthndoing—or so it is assumed. Kennedyn
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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