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John-John, I kinda knew ye | page 1, 2
There were drawbacks to all this glamour, of course, as when, as Blow relates, the Amazonian model and volleyball player Gabrielle Reece met with him to discuss writing for the magazine -- only to call up later and ask if he could set up a lunch with Kennedy. As if anticipating that some readers might find his invocations of "raw power" and "dangerous" seductiveness a bit of a stretch, Blow hastens to compare George with another legendary Kennedy-centered milieu: "the group of men who were forever changed by working for John's father in the White House." Blow likens the position of editor-in-chief of George to that of president of the United States. (As an occasional freelancer for the magazine, and as someone who has visited 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. only once on a school trip, I can neither endorse nor critique Blow's analogy.) One of his objectives, Blow writes, is to argue that "George was one of the most influential magazines of the 1990s." "I know that's not a widely shared estimation," Blow adds with massive understatement, going on to argue that, compared to the likes of In Style and Maxim, George was "too smart." It was "not only ahead of its time, but good for its time." Like the Camelot of King Arthur to which he compares them, the editorial offices of George were torn asunder on account of a woman. Blow confirms that rumored dust-ups and an eventual "divorce" between Kennedy and George co-founder Michael Berman were the result of Kennedy's relationship with Carolyn Bessette. "In what may have been the most fateful moment for the future of George," he writes, "John was forced to choose between his partner and his future wife." Despite this "Behind the Music"-style teaser, Blow doesn't ever get around to explaining what Berman objected to about Bessette. He alludes to tensions in the Kennedy-Bessette marriage revolving in part around her reluctance to raise children in the fishbowl environment of New York. Though Blow maintains that the two were "passionately in love with each other," he also intimates that Bessette was uncomfortable with "John's evolution," that is, with the political career Blow suggests that Kennedy was on the verge of launching. Since Stephanopoulos stands at center stage for most of his own memoir, one may wonder where Blow will locate himself. Judging by his proposal, Blow will cast himself as Nick Carraway to Kennedy's Gatsby: "He had a little-boy-lost quality -- you wanted to forgive him everything." After comparing Kennedy to Princess Diana, Blow strikes another Fitzgeraldian note by saying that Kennedy was killed by who he was. Given that Blow describes Kennedy as "scornful" of "publicity-hungry" people like Stephanopoulos, it's only logical to wonder how Kennedy would have perceived Blow's book. (In fact, one former George contributor maintains that she was fired by Blow for speaking too freely to the press after Kennedy's death.) Blow justifies his plan by explaining that his book, unlike the disillusioned Clinton aide's, will reflect the fact that he "wound up as one of his most committed admirers -- despite his imperfections." Moreover, he adds, "thanks to congressional investigations," Stephanopoulos couldn't keep a journal. Blow, to his own good fortune, was not so constrained.
- - - - - - - - - - - - Table Talk Sound off Related Salon stories Former George editor peddles JFK Jr. memoir He fired contributors then for what he's doing now.
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