P. S.: A Memoir

by Pierre Salinger

Book Overview

From Kennedy to Khrushchev, from Castro to Onassis by way of Mitterand and Bardot, Begin and Arafat, Pierre Salinger has known them all. In this guided tour through modern American history, a man who... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031215187X
• ISBN13: 9780312151874
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating Tale

This book details the life of Pierre Salinger, journalist, politician, and businessman. Salinger grew up in California during the 1930s. After service in the Navy during World War II, he became a journalist (following in his French mother's footsteps). After a few early successes in investigative journalism involving the California prison system, he was assigned to cover the corruption and possible mob involvement in the Teamsters' Union during the 1950s. When he heard that Robert Kennedy was leading a government investigation of the Teamsters' Union, he approached Kennedy with an offer to compare notes and join forces. This began a lifelong relationship between Salinger and the Kennedy family. When John Kennedy decided to run for president, he asked Salinger to help with his campaign, and following Kennedy's electoral victory, Salinger became his White House press secretary. Salinger was also involved in Robert Kennedy's and George McGovern's presidential campaigns. He spent five months in the Senate after he was appointed to fill the term of a friend who had died. When he lost his own bid for the Senate, he departed the US for Europe, where he had a twenty year career as a journalist. Salinger begins the book by telling us he once considered running for president himself, but decided that the lack of respect today's journalists show for the private lives of public figures would be too daunting for his family. Four times married, Salinger readily admits to marital infidelities in the past. In this book, he juxtaposes the successes in his public life with the shambles of his private life, but he notes that he seems to finally have gotten things straight by his fifth decade. The Kennedy years were very exciting for Salinger. He had a deep respect for both John and Robert Kennedy based on his observations of how they tackled the nation's problems. Salinger was present when John Kennedy struggled with the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs debacle, and noted how Kennedy seemed to learn from the experience. He was also present during the deliberations between Kennedy and his cabinet over how to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis. These experiences were to give Salinger a unique perspective many years later, as he covered the build-up to the first Gulf War as a journalist. During the Missile Crisis, Kennedy made it clear to the Soviets that continuing their offensive program would result in armed conflict. In contrast, the first Bush administration went out of their way not to send such a message to Saddam Hussein, not to warn him that the consequences of invading Kuwait would be war. Had George Bush Sr. gotten Hussein to settle his differences with Kuwait without an invasion, both Gulf Wars could have been avoided. In Salinger's analysis, Bush Sr. stood to gain popularity points back home by leading the country to battle instead of heading off the battle. Salinger goes on to point out how Bush's decisions degraded our relations with th

A man with a full and unusual life

I did not know a great deal about the author until I read his book. I knew he had been JFK's press secretary, but that was about it. Pierre Salinger never set out to be a press secretary, serving in World War II, then becoming a journalist along the way.Salinger's interesting experiences on the Senate investigation of the Teamsters, and his later involvement with the Kennedys is very interesting, as are the anecdotes he provides about the days of the Kennedy administration. Following those years, he expands again into other ventures, even more surprising, leaving him with a life closer to Forrest Gump than many will ever have.For information on the inner workings of the JFK campaign and White House, this book is invaluable, but is unfortunately too short. The book itself is not long, and can be read by a persistent reader in no time.