Book on Kerry's prep school - reviewed by Evan Thomas

[karynnj]

Success was an expectation for graduates of St. Paul's School when 14-year-old John Kerry entered the school in September 1958. WASPs still controlled the Wall Street banks and law firms, owned the best summer houses and set a certain tone. The New England church schools taught a duty to serve, by which they really meant rule. Graduates of schools like St. Paul's could be smug and complacent, or at least they seemed that way to the outside world.

In fact, these schools were possessed by an almost obsessive fear of showing weakness. Borrowing the customs (and snobbery) of English public schools like Eton and Rugby, St. Paul's meted out cold showers and required stiff upper lips. The idea was to instill manliness and Christianity—the school liked to quote Teddy Roosevelt about hitting the line hard but playing fair—but forgiveness and mercy were often missing. The ruling clique, called "the Regs" (for Regular Guys), were a kind of vicious moral and social police. They dominated by sarcasm. Boys who seemed sad or vulnerable, or who wore the wrong kind of tweed jacket, were dismissed as "spazzes" and "homos." "Only once in four years did I see a boy cry publicly," writes Geoffrey Douglas, author of "The Classmates," a memoir of the class of '62. "It happened on the soccer field. The coach ignored it; every boy nearby, including me, moved away." In "Lord of the Flies" fashion, the boys channeled their fear into bullying. The Piggy of the class of '62 was "Arthur" (not his real name), a luggish scholarship boy who was made to crawl in the mud or sit on a toilet in an open field while boys threw quarters at him.

After weakness, the second worst sin for a "Paulie" was trying too hard. That's what made Kerry unpopular; his ambition showed. When he was nominated for president in 2004, his classmates began e-mailing each other, at first about Kerry, but then about their shame over the way they had treated Arthur. Freed, at last, of their fear of the Regs, classmates began pouring out their own life stories, often anguished tales of disappointment. After the claustrophobic order of St. Paul's, the chaos of the 1960s was overwhelming to more than a few.

One who barely survived was Douglas, who became a writer after drinking and gambling away his inheritance. Douglas interviewed many of his classmates about their lives during and after St. Paul's, and the stories are often wrenching. Douglas writes in a spare, elegiac style that makes one feel he is sitting at vespers, quietly murmuring the evensong prayer while dreading the approach of a sneering, Brooks Brothers-clad Reg. Oddly, the most lifeless character in the book is Kerry, whom Douglas interviewed in his Senate office while a press secretary took notes. At school and for years after, Kerry's answer to the snobs who cut him out was to out-achieve them. He succeeded, making Skull and Bones at Yale and emerging from Vietnam as a war hero with a conscience. He was, in a way, the future: the meritocratic striver. But at his interview with Douglas, Kerry was guarded and subdued, as if he was still wary of the scorn of his classmates. Kerry wanted to be liked at St. Paul's and was not; years later, as he courted voters, they, too, sensed and rejected his stiff pride. High school has a way of haunting, especially if the school was as coldly creepy as the school portrayed in "The Classmates."http://www.newsweek.com/id/138380?from=rss

This marks at least the third time that Thomas has written of Kerry's unpopularity - once in the articles prior to the convention and then after the election. His comment that Kerry was "lifeless" may be that Kerry was simply cautious (thus having his PR person take notes) because he has a public position. Also the stories of the various screw-ups may be more dramatic than the well known life of purpose of someone good enough to have been the nominee for the Presidency. Could it be the author related better both in the 1960s and now with them rather than Kerry? - to Kerry's credit.

Here he can't see beyond his own biases. An alternative way of looking at those years is that even at 14 Kerry had enough sense of the type of person he wanted to be and the deep morality that led him to be the "war hero with a conscience". What is clear is that he did not sacrifice who he was to fit in. Isn't that what we want from our kids? That they follow their values even if the easier course to popularity is fitting in with the ruling clique. Not to mention, how "unpopular" can you be and still be asked to join a non-school band? How do you start two clubs without people wanting to be in them? Not to mention, he was able to get Jackie Kennedy's step-sister to date him. Given that he was poorer than most; a Democrat amidst Republicans; and a Catholic amidst WASPs, achieving this would seem to suggest that over time he succeeded on his own terms.

Two interesting points -
1) Thomas ignores that (from Tour of Duty) every crew Kerry had in his years in the military was described as being unusually loyal to him and in some cases it was clear that in addition to respect there was obvious love. Maybe Thomas should consider how incredibly well Kerry connected to "real" people vs the prep school phonies. This defeats Thomas' theory that high school haunts you.

2) Were Kerry's accomplishments just getting into S&B, being a war hero and speaking out in 1971. Wasn't he a successful prosecutor, DA and 4 term Senator.

As to the election, Kerry did not lose because he was unlikable - he won the nomination over the media favorites; Edwards, Dean and Clark. (Not to mention, didn't he beat Thomas' friend Weld pretty handily.) He also nearly won against a sitting President at a time of war with a 50% approval rating, a reasonable economy, and the ability to raise terror levels at will. Throw in a media that was willing to abet the Republicans in character assassination and which was completely biased. Even then had there been enough voting machines in Ohio, he would have won - mostly based on his own efforts, ideas and eloquence. Maybe because his personality includes what St Paul's purportedly lacked - forgiveness and mercy.

What is Thomas' obsession with "unpopularity" and why does he keep projecting it onto Kerry.

[Luftmensch067]

1. Wow!

Karynnj, I picked up that issue at a newsstand last night to see the articles on Obama and race and stumbled on this piece. My blood was boiling, obviously -- such a biased, limited view. But I could never have articulated it as thoroughly and beautifully as you do here. Thank you!

I thought I recognized Thomas' name as someone who'd written similar pieces about JK before, but it's interesting to learn that he is a friend of Weld's. I have to agree that it is clear that a great deal of projection is going on here; I wonder what Thomas' own high school years were like...

[karynnj]

2. Someone posted this article here

that spoke of both Weld's long term relationship with Thomas and with various Globe people as well. http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/crack4.html

All I know is that one comment in Tour of Duty said everything. Speaking of the many people Kerry wrote from Vietnam, every one saved and treasured the letters. It is amazing how persistent these frames are. All I know is that he's a man with many life long friends and relatives who clearly love and respect him. (Not to mention he beat the media's favorites at least 3 times without counting the 2004 race.)

My reaction was like yours, though in fairness this does contrast the difficulties of many of the school's graduates vs Kerry's successes. I wonder if Thomas went to a similar prep school.

[Luftmensch067]

3. Thanks for the citation!

And I agree -- all one has to do is look at Kerry's wealth of loving, loyal family, friends, crewmates and (hello!) supporters :-) to know his real worth and that, along with all his worldly achievements, he has achieved the most important success life on this earth has to offer.

Also agreed, that piece without the stupid Kerry-bashing was about a book which I suspect says a lot about how difficult it was for anyone who was not in the "in crowd" at a school like St. Paul's.

I love what you wrote about the band and the clubs, too! I also love those stories about JK going off to campaign for Teddy with loudspeakers on his VW Beetle when so many of his classmates were staunch Republicans. This is someone who was never afraid to follow his own heart and conscience. I'm sad for Thomas that he can't understand that.

[Mass]

4. Evan Thomas has never been a big fan of Kerry to start with. So, no surprise he would emphasize

an obscure book by an obscure writer (at least for me, the guy is obscure), about a rich private school, particularly if the book is bad about Kerry.

[JI7]

5. i don't know

he isn't the only one but there are some men who seem to have this obsession and feel the ned to talk about how nobody likes Kerry.

you mention he is a friend of Weld. it could be because they were never able to beat Kerry themselves so they keep pushing these ideas and trying to convincce themselves they are better than Kerry.


the examples i read about Kerry at the school all show that if people didn't like him it was because he was able to beat them. a guy they thought was not good enough for them beat them.

[beachmom]

6. Here is another article:

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080601/FRONTPAGE/806010331&template=page2

Douglas's path was more tortuous. After being dropped from St. Paul's the year before graduation and finishing at a different school, he drifted from college to college, job to job, drinking and gambling away his inheritance. "I realized (as I was working on the book) that the path I was following was heavily influenced by the sort of nothingness of that time," said Douglas, who nervously sent an early copy of the book to the school and will sign copies on campus during reunion ceremonies today. "It took me a lot of years to kind of get that straight."

Douglas remembers seeing John Kerry on TV one night during those years of nothingness, sitting in a Senate hearing room talking about the disastrous effects of the war.

"By the time he had finished - with a vow to 'search out and destroy the last vestige of this barbaric war, to pacify our own hearts, to conquer the hate and fear that has divided this country these last 10 years and more' - I felt the smallness of my days as I had rarely felt it before," Douglas writes.

Douglas wishes he had shared that moment with Kerry when he finally met with him eight months after he'd lost the presidential election. The interview was short and impersonal, with Kerry offering little but stiff responses and, unlike the others, sounding exactly like the boy Douglas had remembered.

"John Kerry was a very disappointing part of the book for me," said Douglas, who dined and chatted at length with many of his other classmates, meeting their families, flipping through their photo albums, becoming friends. "I don't think I could have written the book and not included him. . . . But he just didn't interest me on a human level. He had a very difficult time taking off his politician hat."

I think it's Douglas who has the problem. And Kerry, knowing this, smartly kept his guard up. Of course, Douglas didn't bother to tell Kerry how he felt, so it sounds like he was cautious, too.

[karynnj]

7. That is a more interesting article

I agree with you. He was lucky that Kerry even gave him any time at all. He likely was busier than anyone else and likely was less interested in reliving high school than many of the others. Judging from the description of Douglas, I think it highly unlikely that he and Kerry even had any relationship much less friendship in the 1960s. There is nothing wrong in Kerry sounding like the boy he remembered. As to it being impersonal, in contrast to some other meetings with classmates, it is likely that the others were his old buddies and Kerry wasn't. Kerry was added because he was the biggest name and was needed for the book.

I wonder what would have happened had Douglas commented about his reaction to Kerry's testimony. The funny thing about his comment here is that his refection was not on the meanings of Kerry's words or Vietnam, but that it made him see his own smallness. Douglas was then still in the high school mode, realizing that Kerry was more significant than he was - an amazingly self-centered comment. He likely didn't tell Kerry as that would be conceding that he had been impressed. I would bet he likely ignored that even after losing, Kerry was still among the most important people in the country -- and he wasn't.

[Democrafty]

8. Agreed.

I think it's terribly selfish for an author to expect every person he meets in his lifetime to transform into a character. I'm glad JK didn't feel the need to perform for this guy.

[beachmom]

9. Okay, I have decided this description of what it is like for a politician

when they lose an election is as reason enough why Kerry would be guarded with this guy, and not really want to deal that much with his old high school years:

"I knew in my bones I was going to lose. Each morning from that point forward I awoke with a vague sense of dread, realizing that I would have to spend the day smiling and shaking hands and pretending that everything was going according to plan... I am not suggesting that politicians are unique in suffering such disappointments. It's that unlike most people, who have the luxury of licking their wounds in private, the politician's loss is on public display. There's the cheerful concession speech you have to make to a half-empty ballroom, the brave face you put on as you comfort staff and supporters, the thank-you calls to those who helped, and the awkward requests for further help in retiring the debt.

You perform these tasks as best you can, and yet no matter how hard you tell yourself differently -- no matter how convincingly you attribute the loss to bad timing or bad luck or lack of money -- it's impossible not to feel at some level as if you have been personally repudiated by the entire community, and that everywhere you go that word "loser" is flashing through people's minds. They're the sorts of feelings that most people haven't experienced since high school, when some girl you'd been pining over dismissed you with a joke in front of her friends, or you missed a pair of free throws with the big game on the line -- the kinds of feelings that most adults wisely organize their lives to avoid."

By the way, Kerry endorsed the author of these lines in January.