From JFK to Jagger, Arthur Schlesinger memoir dishes 'em all
Over the past half century, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. wrote more than 20 books and thousands of essays, served in the administration of President John F. Kennedy, consulted numerous leading Democrats and befriended countless artists and fellow historians.
He also kept a journal. . .
Schlesinger's fame was such that he found himself invited to parties by people with whom he seemed only to have fame in common. In a December 1983 entry, he records with obvious surprise that he had attended a get-together thrown by Mick Jagger at the rock star's Upper West Side brownstone.
''We expected a packed house with a lot of drinking, cocaine, noise, etc.,'' Schlesinger writes. ''Instead, it was a party of only moderate size and, so far as we could see ? entirely seemly.''
Jagger, a former student at the London School of Economics who considered running for Parliament in the late 1960s, impressed the historian. The singer emerged from ''some upstairs retreat'' and chatted briefly about politics with Schlesinger, who found Jagger ''alert, funny, intelligent ? and interested in public affairs.''
''He speaks in a rather impenetrable cockney accent, with much expression and vivacity,'' Schlesinger reported. ''Very graceful in body movements when he danced.
''As we were putting on our coats to go, he suddenly reappeared to say goodbye. Well mannered. I liked him. But I still could not understand why we were there.''
