Kennedy Delivers Eulogy for Salinger
Kennedy Delivers Eulogy for Salinger
LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
Caption: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) holds hands with his wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, (L), while walking to a memorial service for Pierre Salinger at Holy Trinity Church in Washington October 21, 2004. Salinger, 79, died October 16 in Paris, and was a former press secretary for President John F. Kennedy. REUTERS/Shaun Heasley
WASHINGTON - Former presidential press secretary and journalist Pierre Salinger was remembered Thursday as brilliant reporter and a critical messenger for John F. Kennedy's New Frontier.
Salinger, who died Saturday in France, started his career as a print journalist, served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and went on to a career as a television reporter, including work in Paris and London.
"I'm sure Jack and Jackie and Bobby are in seventh heaven right now because they're so glad to be reunited with Pierre at last," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who delivered the eulogy for his family's loyal, longtime friend. "They'd be the first to tell you they couldn't have had the New Frontier without him."
Political and media notables were among the 300 to 400 mourners at the Holy Trinity Church, where John Kennedy used to attend Mass. They included former presidential hopefuls George McGovern and Gary Hart, and President Lyndon Johnson's daughter, Linda Johnson Robb, as well as newsmen Ben Bradlee, Ted Koppel, Sam Donaldson, Art Buchwald and Chris Matthews.
Salinger died of heart failure at a hospital near his home in Le Thon, France, where he had moved to escape the presidency of George W. Bush, according to his wife, Nicole Salinger. He had undergone surgery earlier in the week to implant a pacemaker.
He was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery.
Kennedy, D-Mass., recalled when Salinger first met the Kennedy brothers, eventually working on John Kennedy's Senate staff, then later as his campaign press secretary. After the president's death, Salinger remained close friends with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Edward Kennedy described Salinger as an accomplished pianist who used to play at a Nantucket, Mass., restaurant while he and the Kennedys waited for a table. Early on, Kennedy remembered, guests would leave their tables sooner so they could listen to the music in the next room, freeing up a table. But as time went on, he said, customers lingered over coffee because they realized that the music stopped when Salinger got a table.
"It's hard to say goodbye to a dear, dear friend like Pierre. He made us feel like family, too," said Kennedy. "Now he'll have an honored place in Arlington Cemetery, close by the president and the senator he served so well and who loved him so much.
