TABLE TALK
The party's over?
DENIS BROGAN
1 had better begin by saying that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, I have never exchanged a word or a line with Senator Edward Kennedy. We have one or two close friends in common (outside the Kennedy clan). I have seen the youngest of the Kennedy sons at political gatherings and in the Senate. That is all. But, although I don't think that Edward Kennedy will quit the political arena, I doubt very much if he can be a serious candidate for the presidency in 1972. What people most ad- mired in John Kennedy was his keeping his cool, notably in 1962; what they most ad- mired (or detested) in Robert Kennedy was his combination of political judgment and passion. The youngest brother of this haunted family has now not shown 'grace under pressure', as he has admitted.
Of course, there will be a great deal of hypocritical sniggering; of course there will be a great deal of Schadenfreittle and gloat- ing, especially from the South where many will rejoice in the posthumous discrediting of the legend of Robert Kennedy. Of course there will be some ironic comment from some other great Irish-American dynasties. 'The Irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another' as Dr Johnson observed. But for the moment, Camelot is like Tara's Halls. Rebuilding will take time.
And the kind of scandal counts. For if it is true that there was next to no drinking and no sex, the American public is condi- tioned to ask 'how come?' rather than say 'how nice!' I am surprised that no one has so far pointed out that, as usual, nature is imitating art. For how like the main plot of The Great Gatsby is the story of the weekend party on Martha's Vineyard! But where is Jay Gatsby? It is possible to point a censorious finger at Buchanan types, but where is the ingenuous and ingenious Gatsby? I don't know.
Just as I don't know Edward Kennedy, I don't know Martha's Vineyard. But I know the world of parties on Long Island and along the Sound, in the opulent world around Washington, in California north of Sausalito, and 'down the Peninsula'. And experience has told me a lot about the dangers of going on parties in these exotic zones. There is the simple danger of drunken driving. This is a risk in England, even in Scotland, but it is a bigger weekend risk in America. The postmortem has shown that the unfortunate young woman had drunk very little and there is no evidence that the rest of the party were loaded. There seems no evidence either (except that rumour-mongering in which the Americans excel even the French) that this was a 'wild party'. But the news brought back memo- ries of other parties: of one which lasted a whole Fourth of July weekend just before the war when what finally sobered the very strayed revellers was my calm announce- ment that I would drive my hosts home.
1 can remember, too, a hair-raising ride from Washington to New York when my driver was a bearer of one of the greatest Russian names who needed only one more conviction for exceeding the speed limit to be banned for life. For, more and more. American law cracks down on speeders.
drunken drivers, etc. The present Senator Ribicoff of Connecticut made his position as governor impregnable when he grounded hundreds of the richest and worst drivers in the Nutmeg State. It infuriated the country clubs but it won the support of mothers at all economic levels.
Labor Day deaths are noted with a grim pride; even bigger slaughter than last year!
New Year's Eve parties, even Christmas Eve parties are hazardous. Indeed, I have made it a rule that if I am invited to a party at the festive season, my host must
agree to put me up for the night or guaran- tee a taxi driver of indisputable sobriety.
There are more than linear accelerators around Stanford University and a return trip from a Long Island weekend, if you are being driven by a fellow guest who is a very successful engineer who was once a Wobbly and has never lost his hostility to the Fuzz, can turn the hair grey and drive one to drink the moment one touches home base.
Of course, it is not only the rich who defy the laws of God, man and gravity.
But their misdemeanours get more publicity.
(They also lead to bigger damage suits and more hard swearing.) Both houses of Con- gress have now, as in the past, well-known 'lushes' and if it is true that 'a Senator's wife never gets a ticket', that is only for minor offences not involving death or the danger of death. The cause of the first slump in the popularity of President John son in 1964 was his exhibition of Texa. driving in a manner tolerable in a Senator but not in a President. It was perhap• knowledge of how intolerant and unjus American public opinion can be that des- troyed Edward Kennedy's judgment. Per- haps the prejudice against even very rich Americans being driven by hired hands (except when the car is really an office) has a lot to answer for. And so, perhaps, has the terrible driving pace of the working week and the even more terrible relaxation of the weekends. Again, I know nothing of this too famous weekend, but I think of how many rich, brilliant, laborious Amer- ican executives are now saying 'there but for the grace of God'—and swearing off till next month.
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