07.47: Difference between revisions

''Journals: 1952-2000'', by [[w:Arthur Schlesinger Jr.|Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]] New York: Penguin. {{NM}} met Schlesinger in the early 1950s, when they were on a panel about the 1930s with [[w:Norman Podhoretz|Norman Podhoretz]] and [[w:Mary McCarthy (author)|Mary McCarthy]] at Columbia University, and they remained friends. In the 80s and 90s, he and [[Norris]] often socialized with the Schlesingers. In July 1960, Schlesinger was at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis when Mailer interviewed Kennedy, and he provides context for their meeting. He also reports that Bill Walton, a close friend of the Kennedys, told him that Mrs. Kennedy agreed with Mailer’s unflattering description of her in ''Esquire'' (see [[62.12]]) when she gave a February 1962 tour of the White House in on national television. Schlesinger also reports being at a 60th birthday party for Mailer hosted by J.F.K.’s sister, [[w:Patricia Kennedy Lawford|Pat Lawford Kennedy]], and a January 1990 dinner at which Mailer described J.F.K. as “the most priapic President.” At that dinner, Mailer went on to discuss [[w:Thomas Pynchon|Thomas Pynchon]] (“I haven’t been able to finish a Pynchon novel”); his tolerance for [[w:Roy Cohn|Roy Cohn]]; and his admiration for [[w:Henry Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]] (“the kind of man I would go to for intelligent advice”). Schlesinger also reports a conversation he had with Norris about Mailer’s affair with Carol Mallory, and how it almost destroyed their marriage. Norris: “I told him that, if he ever does anything like this again, I will leave him at once and forever.” There are several more entries concerning, all of interest.