On pages 232-233 of Kennedy & Nixon, Chris Matthews tells the following story:
“While Kennedy had gotten past his earlier political contests with
Lodge to the point of plotting a deadly coup with him, his differences
with Nixon remained personal. With the exception of their meeting after
the Bay of Pigs, the ex-vice president was persona non grata.
Their early friendship had been a casualty of electoral war. ‘I like
him, too,’ Kennedy said when told by author Theodore White that a
prospective 1964 challenger, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, held a
warm regard for him. ‘But that’s not important. He’ll get to hate
me. That’s inevitable.’”
It’s interesting how bonds between people are forged and broken.
Circumstances play a key role in this. Sometimes, when I think about
certain people with whom I’ve not gotten along, I’ve wondered if we
could have been friends had the circumstances been different, or had I
behaved differently. I can’t entirely rule that out, but, to be honest,
I just can’t envision myself clicking with certain personalities,
whatever the circumstances.