My Three Fathers

Bill Patten grew up in the heart of privileged society to American parents -- a debutante mother, a diplomatic father -- stationed in Europe. Weekends away from his English boarding school were often spent at the regal country estates of important policy makers and historical figures of the mid-twentieth century. When Bill was twelve years old, his father, William Patten, died, and his mother remarried the renowned columnist Joe Alsop. Patten was swept into Washington during the Kennedy years, w