Tuesday, April 22 2008
By Fay Vincent
TCPalm.com (FL)
The celebrated American novelist, now deceased, William Styron ("Sophie's Choice," etc.) has a book of memoirs out — "Havanas in Camelot."
The title derives from a day cruise off Cape Cod that he took with the then-President John F. Kennedy in summer 1963 and Kennedy offered Styron a sybaritic Cuban cigar despite the embargo on all Cuban imports.
Styron marveled that the president who had imposed the embargo was nevertheless proffering the illegal stogie, and nothing much was made of it. I can confirm that strong Kennedy affection for a Cuban cigar with my own story.
In the late 1970s, former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg had his office in our Washington law firm, and it so happened that his huge quarters were next door to my less-opulent digs. And with that proximity, there were many days when he would take a stroll down the hall and drop into my office for a brief chat.
Story continues at tcpalm.com...
© 2008 The E.W. Scripps Co.
