Torbert
Hart Macdonald was born in Everett, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
on 6th June, 1917. He attended Medford High School, and Phillips Academy.
He met John
F. Kennedy while
Harvard University and this became a
life-time friendship.
Macdonald
served in the U.S. Navy during the Second
World War as a PT boat commander in the Pacific (1942-44) and
was awarded the Silver Star Combat Award.
After
the war he worked as a lawyer in Boston.
A member of the Democratic Party he
was a member of the National Labor Relations Board for New England
area (1948-1952). He was also delegate
to the Democratic National Convention in 1960, 1964 and 1968. He also
represented Massachusetts, 1955-76 (8th District 1955-63, 7th District
1963-76).
Torbert
Hart Macdonald died
in Bethesda on 21st May, 1976.
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(1)
Seymour
Hersh, The Dark
Side of Camelot (1997)
The final player in the Diem saga in the fall of 1963 was Torbert
Macdonald, Jack Kennedy's roommate from college and one of his closest
friends. Macdonald, a member of Congress from Massachusetts, died
in 1976; he is one of those mystery men who played a major role in
Kennedy's life about whom very little can be learned. He was not mentioned
in Arthur Schlesinger's memoir, and was mentioned only casually by
Ted Sorensen. Macdonald's oral interview with the Kennedy Library
was originally sealed; upon being opened in 1995 it turned out to
be innocuous. His collected papers from his ten terms in Congress
say nothing about his relationship with Jack Kennedy. Bobby Kennedy,
in his oral history for the Kennedy Library, did not mention Macdonald.
What
could be learned during reporting for this book was that Macdonald
was one of Jack Kennedy's playpals - a regular at the afternoon White
House pool parties and a partner in many of Kennedy's escapades, especially
in Hollywood. He was trusted, a trust that he validated after Kennedy's
assassination. Macdonald remained in the Congress until his death
- he became an increasingly effective legislator - and he never talked.
Joe Croken, a Boston politician who long worked as Macdonald's administrative
assistant, told me in a 1997 interview for this book that there were
many secrets between Macdonald and Jack Kennedy - "certain things
they didn't talk to anybody about."
(2)
Evelyn
Lincoln,
Kennedy & Johnson (1968)
Just four days after he had arrived in Palm Beach for a rest, and
eight days after the election, Mr. Kennedy was off to the LBJ Ranch.
Possibly for moral support, he took with him his house guest and former
Harvard roommate, Congressman Torbert Macdonald. When they returned
back the next evening both were exhausted. "We'll fill you in
tomorrow," Torb said, "but right now we need some sleep."
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