Bobby Kennedy
Page 58
Bobby’s college career: Viser, “Kennedy Letters,” Boston Globe; and “Military File of Robert F. Kennedy.”
After college: Brother Within, 46–47; Robert Kennedy and His Times, 81; and Gerald Tremblay OH, January 8, 1970, 2–3, JFKL.
different with Ethel: Demerit book, Manhattanville College; “The Tower 1947,” Manhattanville College; and author interview with Nan Talese.
star-struck: Author interview with Ethel Kennedy; Gardner, Robert Kennedy in New York, 80; Ethel, 70; and William J. Brady OH, November 5, 1974, 2, JFKL.
The next challenge: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 88; Oppenheimer, Other Mrs. Kennedy, 126; and author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
a family strikingly similar: Author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
They were wed: Rogers, When I Think of Bobby, 38.
first significant interaction: Hersh, Bobby and J. Edgar, 128; Robert Kennedy: His Life, 65; and Brother Within, 100.
his first job: Bobby and J. Edgar, 129; J. Walter Yeagley OH, December 8, 1970, 44–45, JFKL.
1952 Senate race: Front Runner, 170; and Founding Father, 432.
Even more impressive: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 97; Krock, Memoirs, 338; Stein and Plimpton, American Journey, 36 and 45; McCarthy, Remarkable Kennedys, 30; and Charles Spalding OH, March 22, 1969, 31, JFKL.
a lot in common: Ross, “Joseph P. Kennedy”; and Hostage to Fortune, 664.
McCarthy played shortstop: “Campaign: Pride of the Clan,” Time.
“always and invariably”: Herman, McCarthy, 190.
biggest show in Washington: Oshinsky, “In the Heart of the Heart of Conspiracy,” New York Times; American Journey, 50; and Executive Sessions, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, vol. 1, First Session, 1953, xxvi.
“Joe’s methods”: Martin, A Hero for Our Time, 58; and author interview with Alvin Spivak.
McCarthy couldn’t say no: Brother Within, 109; and Herman, Joseph McCarthy, 211 and 359–60.
arrangement was confusing: The first payroll, for two weeks, was $220.09 for Bobby and $517.60 for Cohn (Report of Secretary of Senate, January 7, 1954); Zion, Autobiography of Roy Cohn, 87–88; and Von Hoffman, Citizen Cohn, 182.
crusade against Communism: Executive Sessions, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, xv.
Greek shipping scandal: “Control of Trade with the Soviet Bloc,” Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Part 1, 66, 130–31, 137, and 140; and Krock, “Large Trade with China,” New York Times.
worked into the nights: Lawford, Shining Hour, 45–46.
“It seems just unbelievable”: “Control of Trade with the Soviet Bloc,” Part 2, 132 and 137.
Eisenhower administration was not amused: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 104; Oshinsky, Conspiracy So Immense, 297–98; Reeves, Life and Times of Joe McCarthy, 488; and Childs, “McCarthy Letter Contents Revealed,” New York Times.
earned high marks: “Large Trade with China”; Pearson, “McCarthy Urged to Push Probe,” Washington Post; and Francis Flanagan letter to RFK, April 2, 1953, RFK Papers, Box 2.
Not everyone was impressed: Daniel, “British Defend Stand on Trade with China,” New York Times; and William David Ormsby-Gore OH, August 27, 1969, 2, JFKL.
“was so strong”: Roy Cohn OH, March 24, 1971, 3, JFKL.
Cohn was half right: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 104; and Pearson and Anderson, “Voters Must Weigh.”
letter of resignation: “R. F. Kennedy Quits,” Boston Globe; Morris, “3 Democrats Scorn Bid,” New York Times; and Theoharis, Secret Files, 262.
What really scared Bobby: Evans, Blacklisted by History, 450; author interview with Stan Evans; Executive Sessions, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, xvii; Kennedy, Enemy Within, 307; and author interview with Donald Ritchie.
“I think Roy’s homosexuality”: Author interview with Anthony Lewis.
nothing about his departure was simple: Enemy Within, 176; Life and Times of Joe McCarthy, 498; RFK letter to Senator Joseph McCarthy, July 29, 1953, RFK Papers, Box 2; “Aide to McCarthy Resigns,” New York Times; Brother Within, 112; and Reports of the Secretary of the Senate, January 7, 1954 and January 6, 1955.
Bobby’s letter: RFK letter to McCarthy, July 29, 1953; and McCarthy letter to RFK, July 31, 1953, RFK Papers, Box 2.
neither whitewashes nor sugarcoats: Author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
warmth cooled: Kelso, “3 Senators Give Praise to Kennedy,” Boston Post; Enemy Within, 176; and Brother Within, 112 and 120.
timing was just right: Hilty, Brother Protector, 82; and Autobiography of Roy Cohn, 87.
“but Bob broke in”: O’Brien, Final Victories, 45–46.
“That was the period”: American Journey, 48.
raising the stakes: Rovere, Senator Joe McCarthy, 206–7.
won the first round: Roberts, “Dr. Irving Peress,” New York Times; and Conspiracy So Immense, 372.
bastion of the U.S. military: Conspiracy So Immense, 392 and 399.
investigating Annie Lee Moss: Friedman, “Strange Career of Annie Lee Moss,” Journal of American History; and “Cohn Scored When Woman Denies,” New York Times.
their strained introduction: RFK FBI file, Part 1 of 9, 54; and RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 417.
an unlikely ally: Dallek, Camelot’s Court, 45–46.
Army-McCarthy Hearings: Herman, McCarthy, 256; and Army-McCarthy hearings transcript (historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6444/).
simmering animosities: Rovere, McCarthy, 194; and Lawrence, “Cohn Threatens,” New York Times.
reasons to despise: Hilty, Brother Protector, 88; and Cohn OH, 3–4.
Bobby threw his punches: Ruth Watt OH, September 21, 1979, 123–24, US Senate Historical Office; and Ritchie, Landis, 169.
Senate rendered a decisive verdict: Rovere, McCarthy, 231.
enemies have unfairly: Lasky, Myth and the Man, 79; Ritchie email to author; and Roberts, Biography of a Compulsive Politician, 28–29.
It is unclear where: Author interviews with Ethel Kennedy and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Bobby’s defenders: American Journey, 49; Bobby and J. Edgar, 128; Robert Kennedy: His Life, 65; and author interviews with Barrett Prettyman and Sam Adams.
more nuanced justifications: Guthman, Band of Brothers, 25; Edward Kennedy, True Compass, 104; and author interview with Kerry Kennedy.
Bobby himself: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 173; and Stewart Alsop, “Robert Kennedy and the Liberals,” Saturday Evening Post.
“They had us ten”: Author interview with Ernest Hollings.
When he got word: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 173; and Drury, “M’Carthy Rites Held,” New York Times.
Bobby retreated slightly: Meet the Press, October 18, 1964; and Kaiser, 1968, 14.
bully and a con man: Rovere, McCarthy, 8.
“I liked him”: Brother Within, 121.
2. CRUSADING
“Cheyfitz kept telling”: Martin, “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part One,” Saturday Evening Post.
Hoffa greeted Kennedy: Enemy Within, 41; and “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part One.”
Ethel telephoned for Bobby: Enemy Within, 40–44; and Mollenhoff, Tentacles of Power, 148–49.
Hoffa’s renderings: “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part One”; and Hoffa and Rogers, Trials of Jimmy Hoffa, 150.
Five years later: Hoffa, Real Story, 95–98.
McClellan grew close: Laymon, Fearless, 122; author interview with Bobby Baker; Baker interviews, June 1, 2009–May 4, 2010, U.S. Senate Historical Office; and John McClellan letter to JPK, September 11, 1954, JPK Papers, Box 230.
first order of business: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 116.
case of Air Force secretary: American Journey, 54; and Robert Kennedy and His Times, 117–18.
Rose Kennedy was surprised: Hostage to Fortune, 666; JPK letter to Ethel Kennedy, July 20, 1955, JPK Papers, Box 4.
But some witnesses: Baker, “U.S. Woman Aide Testifies on Gifts,” New York Times; a
nd de Toledano, Man Who Would Be President, 69.
Bobby never denied: Martin, It Seems like Only Yesterday, 173; O’Neill, Man of the House, 83; and RFK letter to Robert Harriss, January 31, 1955, RFK Papers.
Such ferocity: Phillips, “McClellan-Kennedy Investigating Team,” New York Times; and Tentacles of Power, 40. It was dramatic, as Mollenhoff wrote, but it wasn’t nine years, just five and a half.
Nobody started out: William O. Douglas OH, November 9, 1967, 17, JFKL; Douglas, Court Years, 305–6; and Schlesinger notes on interview with Mercedes Douglas, April 26, 1975, JFKL.
he met Douglas: Court Years, 306–7.
The interlude itself: Hostage to Fortune, 669–70; JPK letter to Edward Dunn, July 30, 1955, JPK Papers, Box 218.
Joe got all: RFK, “Soviet Brand of Colonialism,” New York Times; “Interview with Robert F. Kennedy,” U.S. News & World Report; and RFK, Georgetown University lecture, October 10, 1955, JFKL.
Justice Douglas, not surprisingly: Court Years, 306–7.
KGB kept tabs: Fursenko and Naftali, One Hell of a Gamble, 115.
detailed journal entries: RFK diary from Soviet Union, 1955, Pre-Administration Personal Files, JFKL; and “Soviet Brand of Colonialism.”
filled his journals: RFK diary from Soviet Union.
revise his opinion: Court Years, 307; and Schlesinger notes, Mercedes Douglas.
Ethel was less worried: Schlesinger notes, Mercedes Douglas.
Ethel had displayed: Ethel, 50; and author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
Bobby had obsessed: Robert Kennedy: His Life, 70; Buck, Kennedy Women, 117–19; Roberta Greene OH, November 4, 1981, 5, JFKL; and Brother Within, 82.
Their married life: Ethel, 56–57.
Eleanor McPeck: Author interview with Eleanor McPeck.
“We were driving”: Spalding OH, 13.
a more sprawling setting: When I Think of Bobby, 10.
this perfect setting: David, “My Father, Robert Kennedy,” McCall’s; and author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
children at Hickory Hill: Author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
Kennedy was initially skeptical: Tentacles of Power, 124.
deepest and broadest congressional inquiries: Tentacles of Power, 129–33.
To gear up: Finding Aid for the Records of the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, 1957–1960; and “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part Three.”
Pierre Salinger went to work: Salinger, With Kennedy, 19; and “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part One.”
Rackets Committee’s first target: “Senators Hear Beck Made Profit,” New York Times; and Enemy Within, 33.
Beck was a warm-up: Only Yesterday, 178–81; and Neff, Vendetta, 48–49.
opening salvo: “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part One”; and Vendetta, 61–62.
Hoffa’s trial: Thomas, Man to See, 105; Real Story, 112; Enemy Within, 58–60.
Kennedy-Hoffa battle was joined: “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part Three.”
unusual arrangement: “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part Three”; and Enemy Within, 106.
Hoffa’s selling out: Ibid., 128–31.
typical for Hoffa: Enemy Within, 72; Real Story, 107; and Trials of Jimmy Hoffa, 163.
combatants made their case: Only Yesterday, 182.
first time Hoffa showed up: Vendetta, 92–93; and ebooksread.com/authors-eng/united-states-congress-Senate-select-committee/investigation-of-improper-activities-in-the-labor-or-management-field-hearings–tin-487/1.
He and Bobby: Real Story, 105; Sheridan, Fall and Rise of Jimmy Hoffa, 46–47; Clay, Hoffa! 110; and Myth and the Man, 107–8.
record number: Enemy Within, 147 and 317.
typical exchange: Rackets Committee hearing transcript, March 12, 1959 (archive.org/stream/investigationofi49unit/investigationofi49unit_djvu.txt).
Kennedy’s objective: Trials of Jimmy Hoffa, 148; Clay, Hoffa! 85–88; and With Kennedy, 22.
more national attention: Martin, Seeds of Destruction, 217.
it took a toll: “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Part Four”; and author interview with James P. Hoffa.
Kennedy “received anonymous threats”: “R. F. Kennedy Family Threatened,” New York Times; Townsend, Failing America’s Faithful, 47; author interview with Ethel Kennedy; and Paul Fay OH, November 11, 1970, 230–32, JFKL.
no illusions about Hoffa: Enemy Within, 75 and 161.
indulged themselves: Vendetta, 128; Making of a Folk Hero, 93–94; Robert Kennedy: His Life, 88; and Brother Within, 195.
Other cases: Enemy Within, 8.
The committee investigated: Ibid., 297–99.
management as well as labor: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 417–18; and Enemy Within, 252.
The final verdict: Trials of Jimmy Hoffa, 194.
Ironically, all that probing: Emery, “Why the Teamsters Union Elected Jimmy Hoffa,” National Guardian; and “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Conclusion.”
honey-tongued Teamsters lawyer: Jacobs, “Extracurricular Activities,” California Law Review, 297–98.
Liberals over the years: Stone, “Why I Would Not Vote for Bobby Kennedy,” I. F. Stone’s Weekly; and “Extracurricular Activities,” 310.
conservative Barry Goldwater: Mahoney, Kennedy Brothers, 26. One reason the outgoing Eisenhower Justice Department didn’t get tougher with Hoffa, it later became clear, was that the Teamsters boss had promised in return to back Vice President Nixon in his presidential bid against Jack Kennedy. Both kept their promises to the best of their ability (Vendetta, 187–88 and 203–4; and Pearson, “Nixon figured in Hoffa Delay,” Washington Post).
Bobby tipped his hat: “Struggle to Get Hoffa: Conclusion.”
an apt postscript: Enemy Within, 162. Teapot Dome was a bribery scandal in the early 1920s, during the administration of President Warren G. Harding.
3. BROTHER’S KEEPER
The moment, Ike said: Lewis, “Protest Over Dr. King’s Arrest,” New York Times.
Bobby’s schooling in running a campaign: Robert Kennedy: His Life, 48; Dallek, Unfinished Life, 126; and Fay, Pleasure of His Company, 156–57. Jack probably didn’t know that Bobby had made a sacrifice for the campaign even before he joined it, going AWOL from the Navy for nearly two days so he could be there for the campaign’s kickoff. The stunt earned himself a fine and a ten-day restriction aboard his ship, but it didn’t compromise his honorable discharge a month later (Vendetta, 30).
It was a quintessential case: Pleasure of His Company, 157–58; RFK OH, July 20, 1967, 638; and Martin, Front Runner, 141.
“Lodge was the major figure”: RFK OH, July 20, 1967, 647.
the reluctant brother: Unfinished Life, 172; Goodwin, Fitzgeralds and Kennedys, 760–61; and American Journey, 41.
To drive home those contrasts: Brother Protector, 68; Tanzer, Kennedy Circle, 197; and O’Brien, No Final Victories, 30.
a merchandising plan: Founding Father, 432; and O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, 86.
“Yes, Dad”: Brother Protector, 67.
Newspaper endorsements: RFK OH, July 20, 1967, 652; Hero for Our Time, 53; Founding Father, 425; and Burns, John Kennedy, 107.
Joe Kennedy’s generosity: Ross, “Joseph P. Kennedy.”
uncompromising declarations: Kennedy Circle, 197.
“I know you’re an important man”: Founding Father, 421.
the label that stuck: Kennedy Circle, 207; and “Little Brother Is Watching,” Time.
“It was those damned tea parties”: Founding Father, 433–34.
Bobby was less confident: RFK OH, July 20, 1967, 653 and 655.
“The Ambassador’s blue language”: O’Donnell and Powers, Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, 122.
“This is the luckiest thing”: Kennedy Circle, 201.
hardheaded lessons: White, Making of the President, 1960, 160; RFK OH, December 7, 1966, 7, Box 1, John Bartlow Martin Collection, Princeton
University; and Martin, Adlai Stevenson and the World, 235.
“Bobby had come along”: Salisbury, Heroes of My Time, 14.
“All this business about Jack and Bobby”: Laing, Next Kennedy, 128–29.
include his younger brother: Camelot’s Court, 41; RFK OH, July 20, 1967, 643–45; and O’Brien, John F. Kennedy, 236.
“They were kind of twin spirits”: Author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
“Jack has always been”: Schaap, R.F.K., 50.
singularities were easy to spot: Harold Ulen OH, June 2, 1964, 2 and 5, JFKL; and Collier and Horowitz, American Drama, 179.
construct a brotherly alliance: Next Kennedy, 129; Stewart Alsop, “Kennedy’s Magic Formula,” Saturday Evening Post; and McGrory, “Sizeups Begin,” Boston Globe.
roles belied their characters: Robert Kennedy and His Times, xiii; and Robert Kennedy: His Life, 91.
Jackie saw the tender promise: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 98 and 133; Thayer, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, 104; and Onassis and Schlesinger, Historic Conversations, 192.
softer side was his faith: Failing America’s Faithful, 38–39; and Kerry Kennedy, Being Catholic Now, xviii–xxi.
“The priests couldn’t believe”: Author interview with James Tolan.
the faith’s divinity and its hierarchy: Savadove, “Father Feeney, Rebel from Church,” Harvard Crimson; author interview with Sander Vanocur; Ethel, 111; author interviews with RFK Jr. and Susie Wilson; and Failing America’s Faithful, 49.
the family vacation retreats: Brother Within, 65–66; and Harris, Does People Do It?: A Memoir, 158.
“There is no one in the entire family”: Pleasure of His Company, 10–11.
Kennedys had a rulebook: Knebel, “Bobby Kennedy: He Hates to Be Second,” Look; “Robert Kennedy and the 1968 Campaign,” Kennedy Library Forum, March 16, 2008; and Pleasure of His Company, 40.
rules so confused: Dinneen, Kennedy Family, 169–71.
“You’re not going to let”: Ethel, 79–80.
Kennedys knew from the first: Caro, Passage of Power, 71; Shesol, Mutual Contempt, 10; and Vanden Heuvel and Gwirtzman, On His Own, 246.
private Kennedy polls: Krock, “Ban on ‘Unfair’ Primary,” New York Times.
Humphrey might have had a shot: Making of the President, 1960, 100–14; Humphrey, Education of a Public Man, 151.