Mr. Halberstam's book had been singled out by Russell Baker as a rare thing, a book on a Kennedy that was free of "sycophantic cant"; Mr. Toledano had written a book that was so far from sycophantic as to get him accused of being a John Bircher. A lively conversation at a time, six months before Chappaquiddick, when Teddy Kennedy was seen as his brothers' successor in presidential politics. DH: "Well, I think the Kennedys have been sort of particularly attractive, and romantic--you used the word romantic ... and somehow, there might be a new kind of idealism and a new sort of fresh spirit in America. This sort of myth, I think, began to build, and it has continued. I don't think there's any doubt that there's a fascination about the Kennedys, that they are somehow bigger than life. They are handsome, they are star-crossed, they achieve all and yet can be struck down...." WFB: "And this is something to which, in your judgment, they primarily contribute, or do you find it an expression of the public's hunger for these attributes which they instantly see realized in the Kennedys?" DH: "Well, I think it's probably a combination of both. I think, you know, the Kennedys are very smart politicians, and I think that they, if they see that they have a mystique working for them, that they would probably work on it rather skillfully."