No Final Victories

When I checked Larry O'Brien's autobiography out of the library, I expected to flip through the book relatively quickly. I did read the 300+ pages quickly, but not because I was just flipping through it but because it was so absorbing. Larry O'Brien was best known by me as a Kennedy man who served as Postmaster General and chair of the Democratic National Committee. I had no idea how involved he was in major events of the Democratic Party throughout the 1960s and early 1970s or how independent a career he had from Kennedy. Unlike other Kennedy men such as Steve Smith, Sarge Shriver or Ken O'Donnell, O'Brien was not connected by family and had no personal relationship with the Kennedys outside of politics. In that way, O'Brien is more like Ted Sorenson who joined Kennedy after he was in the Senate. O'Brien and Kennedy met earlier, when Kennedy wanted to tap O'Brien's political network in western Massachusetts to prepare for a state run as either governor or senator in 1952. O'Brien had already done a tour in Washington with a local Congressman and did not go back until Kennedy was elected president, despite helping Kennedy with his 1958 Senate reelection. O'Brien thrived in Washington during the Kennedy presidency, becoming the point person for Congressional affairs. Unlike many Kennedy men who departed the White House after Johnson was reelected in 1964, O'Brien stayed and became Postmaster General and later Chairman of the DNC. He was so prevalent in Democratic politics during that period, he was even considered by George McGovern as a replacement Vice President in 1972 (of course, lots of people were on that list). The book ends before Nixon's resignation or O'Brien's appointment as commissioner of the National Basketball Association, his third love after politics and his family. O'Brien occasionally delves into policies he believes in, mostly the New Frontier/Great Society platform, but he is really an organizational man who believes in political parties. O'Brien does a good job going through his career and hitting historical high points as well as sharing his personal stories of time with politicians. He has especially kind things to say about Hubert Humphrey, who he maintained a good relationship with besides working against him for two Kennedy brothers. During the section on his DNC chairmanship and the 1972 election, O'Brien really focuses on the big shift in how political parties select their presidential nominees. He oversaw the changes that, overtime, led to the primaries and caucuses having more sway than political bosses. The book's publication in the mid-1970s made O'Brien focus much of the conclusion on Watergate, though the hindsight of history makes O'Brien's role relatively irrelevant. Watergate turned out to be much bigger than a break-in to the Democratic HQ housed in that building. The book offers good insights on the Kennedy and Johnson presidencies from a different perspective than we usually find and good