Leonard Bernstein: An American Musician (Jewish Lives)

by Allen Shawn

Bernstein’s ascent to prominence coincided with the rise of John F. Kennedy (who may well have removed a barrier to Bernstein’s conducting career back in 1956), creating a subliminal connection in the public consciousness between these two glamorous American leaders in their forties, at their peak of popularity and influence, both Bostonians and Harvard graduates, one a Catholic, the other a Jew. One could argue that there were distinct parallels between the personalities of the two men. Both had extraordinary magnetism, a need to have people around them, and the capacity to have many different kinds of relationships. Both combined complexity and high intelligence with a kind of personal directness. Both led extraordinarily public lives and projected an aura of fearlessness. Yet each man remained in some ways private; each was highly compartmentalized; each had sexual secrets. In an archival interview about the president from July 1965, the conductor described Kennedy as having a “remarkable combination of informality and stateliness—that’s not precisely the word—casualness and majesty. . . . It’s very hard to come by—that combination; I don’t know many people who have it. Utter informality, great readiness to laughter, very quick perception, immediate understanding of anything you say, even if it’s veiled or is only suggested, not actually stated, and yet an ability to juggle various matters in his mind simultaneously.”