The House of Kennedy Read online

  Chapter 29

  1 Poverty note: Nicolas Lemann, “The Politics of Poverty,” Atlantic (JFK Issue), September 2013.

  2 “casting a shadow on Ted”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 680.

  3 “in the Senate, but not of it”: Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 202.

  4 “meteoric rise”: Lydia Saad, “Gallup Vault: A Look Back at Robert Kennedy,” Gallup, June 5, 2018.

  5 George Skakel Jr. 1966 plane crash: United Press International, “Kennedy In-Law Dies in Light Plane Crash,” Desert Sun, September 24, 1966.

  6 “immediately went into seclusion,” United Press International, “Kennedy In-Law Dies in Light Plane Crash.”

  7 “seems to be jinxed”: “The Things Bobby Kennedy Said,” Esquire, June 5, 2018.

  8 “unwilling to criticize it”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 616.

  9 “a big story checking out of the Holiday Inn”: John Carr, “My Brush with History: With RFK in the Delta,” American Heritage 53, no. 2 (April/May 2002).

  10 “I’ve never seen anything like this”: Larry Tye, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon (New York: Random House, 2016), 349.

  11 “waves of the nation’s poor and disinherited”: Drew Dellinger, “The Last March of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Atlantic, April 4, 2018.

  12 “Mississippi’s hungry children”: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 350.

  13 “find him growing and changing”: Ted Sorensen, “RFK Assassination: Aide Recalls Tragedy Repeated” and “Excerpt: ‘Counselor,’” Morning Edition, National Public Radio, June 5, 2008.

  14 “a petulant baseball player”: Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 13.

  15 “Somewhere in this man sits good”: Joe Scarborough, “The Metamorphosis of the Ruthless Bobby Kennedy,” Washington Post, July 22, 2016.

  16 “chances for a Kennedy dynasty”: “The Things Bobby Kennedy Said,” Esquire, June 5, 2018.

  17 “a psychic violence about him”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 804.

  18 Kennedy support declining: Saad, “Gallup Vault: A Look Back at Robert Kennedy.”

  19 “adjectives and adverbs”: Sorensen, “RFK Assassination: Aide Recalls Tragedy Repeated.”

  20 “there is enough to go around for all”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 336.

  21 “how I felt about Vietnam and poor people”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 825.

  22 “lesson of Emerson”: Jean E. Engelmayer, “The Pied Piper of Liberalism,” Crimson, May 20, 1983.

  23 “no foreseeable circumstances”: Jeff Greenfield, “When Bobby Decided to Run,” Politico, March 17, 2018.

  24 “Is my Daddy going to run for President?”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 857.

  25 “Santa Claus in ’68”: Clarke, The Last Campaign, 31.

  26 “Bobby had so much to give”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot (New York: Warner Books, 2000), 316.

  27 “My brother thinks I’m crazy”: Clarke, The Last Campaign, 37.

  28 “follows his own instincts”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 846.

  29 “For heaven’s sake, don’t marry him”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family 1968 to the Present (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2012), 12.

  30 “at least I’m at peace with myself”: Clarke, The Last Campaign, 22.

  31 “Bobby had an inferiority complex”: Thomas Maier, The Kennedys: America’s Emerald Kings (New York: Basic Books, 2003), 510.

  32 “actively reassessing the possibility”: Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 36.

  33 “day before St. Patrick’s Day”: Maier, The Kennedys: America’s Emerald Kings, 510.

  34 “he didn’t deserve to be president anyway”: Evan Thomas, “The Worst Week of 1968,” Newsweek, November 11, 2007.

  35 “The same thing that happened to Jack”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 857.

  Chapter 30

  1 “I don’t even think he heard the shot”: Bill Hutchinson, “At 86, Andrew Young Recalls Horror of Witnessing Moment Martin Luther King Jr. Was Assassinated in Memphis,” ABCNews.com, April 3, 2018.

  2 “Martin, don’t leave us now”: Gilbert Baez, “Jesse Jackson Recalls Moment MLK Was Fatally Shot,” WRAL.com, April 4, 2018.

  3 “Is this faith justified?” Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 88.

  4 “shot their spiritual leader”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 874.

  5 “When is this violence going to stop?” Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 874.

  6 “I don’t want any police going with me”: Clarke, The Last Campaign, 90.

  7 “why does he have to come here?”: Clarke, 92.

  8 “almost like a prayer”: Clarke, 90.

  9 “full of anguish”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 874.

  10 “nervous, self-deprecating jokes”: Schlesinger, 885.

  11 “I feel in my own heart”: Schlesinger Jr., 874.

  12 “every word out of his mouth was a balm”: Mary Evans, “I Was There for Robert Kennedy’s Electrifying Speech About MLK’s Murder,” History.com, April 20, 2018.

  13 “He had empathy”: Michael S. Rosenwald, “‘That Stain of Bloodshed’: After King’s Assassination, RFK Calmed an Angry Crowd with an Unforgettable Speech,” Washington Post, April 4, 2018.

  14 “sincerity of Bobby Kennedy’s words”: Liam Stack, “When Robert F. Kennedy Told an Indianapolis Crowd of King’s Assassination,” New York Times, April 4, 2018.

  15 “I’ll help in any way I can”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 876.

  16 “track down some twenty-two-year-old”: David Margolick, “Book Excerpt: After MLK Death, RFK ‘Poured His Heart Out,’” Reuters, March 29, 2018.

  17 James Earl Ray arrest: Vincent Dowd, “When Martin Luther King Jr’s Assassin Fled to London,” BBC World Service, June 8, 2016.

  18 “prophets get shot”: Clarke, The Last Campaign, 126.

  Chapter 31

  1 Roy Lichtenstein’s portrait of Bobby: Roy Lichtenstein, “Robert F. Kennedy,” Time, May 24, 1968.

  2 “cut off as much as you can”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 857.

  3 “mother of two presidents?” Rita Dallas with Jeanira Ratcliffe, The Kennedy Case (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1973), 303.

  4 “the more you can afford, the more you spend”: “How Bobby Kennedy Won the ’68 Indiana Primary,” Newsweek, May 19, 1968.

  5 “much better to win”: “How Bobby Kennedy Won the ’68 Indiana Primary.”

  6 “long time until August”: “How Bobby Kennedy Won the ’68 Indiana Primary.”

  7 “I have to be able to win in every state”: Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 228.

  8 “Cut your hair, then we’ll vote!”: Douglas Perry, “Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy Thrilled Young Voters During Epic Battle for 1968 Oregon Primary (Historic Photos),” The Oregonian/OregonLive, May 16, 2016.

  9 “dramatic victory”: Perry, “Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy Thrilled Young Voters.”

  10 “I appeal best to people who have problems”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 349.

  11 “I’m going to win one for you”: Collier and Horowitz, Th
e Kennedys, 349.

  12 “I hope Los Angeles is Resurrection City”: Clarke, The Last Campaign, 247.

  13 “Hollywood for Kennedy”: Joseph A. Palermo, “Here’s What RFK Did in California in 1968,” HuffPost, May 25, 2011.

  14 “Is Bobby Kennedy ready?” Clarke, The Last Campaign, 261.

  15 “I’m planning on shooting him”: David Margolick, “Book Excerpt: After MLK Death, RFK ‘Poured His Heart Out,’” Reuters, March 29, 2018.

  16 “If I’m ever elected president”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 902.

  17 “We’ll make a movie star of David”: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, 360.

  18 “stretched out across two chairs”: Palermo, “Here’s what RFK Did in California in 1968.”

  19 “none of us will ever get over John Kennedy”: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 913.

  20 Frankenheimer speeding: Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, 913.

  Chapter 32

  1 “Do we know enough about it yet?” “Robert Kennedy Shot, Killed in Los Angeles,” Newsweek, June 16, 1968.

  2 “shaken off the shadow of my brother”: Evan Thomas, Robert Kennedy: His Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 388–89.

  3 “Viva Kennedy!”: Tim Arango, “A Campaign, A Murder, A Legacy: Robert F. Kennedy’s California Story,” New York Times, June 5, 2018.

  4 “This Land Is Your Land”: Richard Harwood, “With Bobby Kennedy on that Last Campaign,” Washington Post, June 5, 1988.

  5 “he didn’t have any security”: Arango, “A Campaign, a Murder, a Legacy.”

  6 “nobody special”: Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 246–47.

  7 “compassionate country”: Bill Hutchinson, “50 Years After Shots Rang Out at the Ambassador Hotel, Controversy Still Surrounds RFK’s Assassination,” ABCNews.com, June 5, 2018.

  8 “Look after Ethel”: Niall O’Dowd, “Robert Kennedy’s Fatal Order to His Bodyguard on Night He Was Shot That Doomed Him,” Irish Central (UK), October 10, 2018.

  9 “there’s a madman in here”: “Robert Kennedy Shot, Killed in Los Angeles.”

  10 Sirhan Bishara Sirhan: Peter Gilstrap, “What Is It Like to Be the Brother of Robert Kennedy’s Assassin? The Life of the Other Sirhan,” Washington Post, May 31, 2018.

  11 “Get this guy off in a corner”: O’Dowd, “Robert Kennedy’s Fatal Order.”

  12 Chief Reddin transports Sirhan: Associated Press, “Thomas Reddin, 88, Former Los Angeles Police Chief, Is Dead,” New York Times, December 6, 2004.

  13 “a steady stream of blood”: Laurel Wamsley and Emily Sullivan, “Juan Romero, Busboy Who Cradled Dying RFK, Dies at 68,” National Public Radio, October 4, 2018.

  14 “Bob, Bob can you hear us?” “Robert Kennedy Shot, Killed in Los Angeles.”

  15 “she was overjoyed”: “Robert Kennedy Shot, Killed in Los Angeles.”

  16 “He’s going to live”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019), 202.

  17 “I’ve got his shoes”: Clarke, The Last Campaign, 8.

  Chapter 33

  1 “perfect autopsy”: Seth Augustein, “Case Study: The Assassination of RFK, and ‘The Perfect Autopsy,’” Forensic Magazine, June 19, 2018.

  2 “distance of one to six inches”: John M. Crewdson, “Lowenstein Says Year’s Study of Evidence Shows Sirhan Was Not Assassin of Kennedy,” New York Times, December 16, 1974.

  3 “Don’t look at him”: Interview with John Tunney by Stephen F. Knott and James Sterling Young, The Edward M. Kennedy Oral History Project, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in partnership with the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, May 3, 2007.

  4 “killing all the Kennedys”: Associated Press, “Pierre Salinger Dies at 79,” NBC News, October 17, 2004.

  5 “same kind of disaster”: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Times to Remember (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974), 475.

  6 “death of the president”: Peter S. Canellos, ed., Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2010), 137.

  7 Rumors of Joe Sr.’s death: David Margolick, “Robert F. Kennedy’s Final Flight: The Storied Journey of the Ride from California to New York,” Washington Post, June 3, 2018.

  8 “Air Force jets bear the bodies”: Margolick, “Robert F. Kennedy’s Final Flight.”

  9 “three widows”: Margolick.

  10 Bobby’s funeral: “Robert Kennedy Shot, Killed in Los Angeles,” Newsweek, June 16, 1968.

  11 “started kicking the box”: Richard Harwood, “With Bobby Kennedy on That Last Campaign,” Washington Post, June 5, 1988.

  12 Bobby’s funeral train: Thurston Clarke, The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America (New York: Henry Holt, 2008), 6.

  13 “He’s got it!”: Joe Keohane, “But the Dream Should Die,” Boston, November 30, 2009.

  14 “traumatized by Dr. King’s assassination”: Kathy Lohr, “Poor People’s Campaign: A Dream Unfulfilled,” Morning Edition, Special Series: Echoes of 1968, National Public Radio, June 19, 2008.

  15 “a great white moon”: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 916.

  16 “the Kennedys draw the lightning”: Larry Tye, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon (New York: Random House, 2016), 442.

  Chapter 34

  1 “crippled kids running around”: Eileen McNamara, “Eunice Kennedy Shriver: The Hidden Kennedy Powerhouse,” Saturday Evening Post, February 19, 2019.

  2 “full judgment of the Kennedy legacy”: Carla Baranauckas, “Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Influential Founder of Social Olympics, Dies at 88,” New York Times, August 11, 2009.

  3 “I like Teddy”: Peter S. Canellos, ed., Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2010), 127.

  4 “I wouldn’t support your brother”: Transcript of Interview with Robert Healy by Stephen F. Knott, “Robert Healy Oral History, Journalist, the Boston Globe,” Presidential Oral Histories—Edward M. Kennedy Histories, Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, August 10, 2005.

  5 “your own unique quality”: Jean Kennedy Smith, The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy (New York: HarperCollins, 2016), 109.

  6 “My little pet”: Larry Tye, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon (New York: Random House, 2016), 13.

  7 “It is so very difficult”: Barbara Perry, Rose Kennedy: The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch (New York: W.W. Norton, 2013), 299.

  8 “Had Bobby lived”: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 442.

  9 “what I had gone through five years earlier”: Ted Sorensen, “RFK Assassination: Aide Recalls Tragedy Repeated,” Morning Edition, National Public Radio, June 5, 2008.

  10 “much better man for knowing him”: Tye, Bobby Kennedy, 443.

  11 “If he hadn’t stopped to shake your hand”: Laurel Wamsley and Emily Sullivan, “Juan Romero, Busboy Who Cradled Dying RFK, Dies at 68,” National Public Radio, October 4, 2018.

  12 “able to go through this awful experience with such dignity”: Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, fortieth anniversary edition (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018), 915.

  13 “I’m telling you here and now”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot (New York: Warner Books, 2000), 357.

  14 “if anything happens to this baby”: Taraborrelli, Jackie, Ethel, Joan, 376.

  15 “this new Kennedy can’t miss”: Taraborrelli, 377.

  16 Bringing Rory to Bobby’s grave: Taraborrelli, 378.

  PART SIX

  The Senator: Edward Moore Kennedy

  Chapter 35

  1 “you’re all we’ve got”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 364.

 
2 Lowenstein suggesting Ted for 1968: Justin N. Feldman, recorded interview by Roberta W. Greene, February 4, 1970, Robert F. Kennedy Oral History Program of the John F. Kennedy Library.

  3 “do it to that family a third time”: David Oshinsky, “One Person Made a Difference,” New York Times, November 7, 1993.

  4 “no record in public life strong enough”: Adam Clymer, Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography (New York: William Morrow, 1999), 121.

  5 “My babies were rocked to political lullabies”: John M. Broder, “Edward M. Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Is Dead at 77,” New York Times, August 26, 2009.

  6 “work out plans to make people happy”: Clymer, Edward M. Kennedy, 12.

  7 “serious about serious things”: Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Times to Remember (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974), 111.

  8 “loved his esprit”: Interview with John Tunney (2007), The Edward M. Kennedy Oral History Project, Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in partnership with the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, 2016.

  9 “youngest and reputedly stupidest”: Hendrik Hertzberg, “Ted and Harvard, 1962,” The New Yorker, August 27, 2009.

  10 “such a fatty”: Peter S. Canellos, ed., Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy (New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2010), 26.

  11 “two boys instead of one”: Canellos, Last Lion, 26.

  12 “such a bad student”: Canellos, 27.

  13 “permission to paddle”: Fitzgerald Kennedy, Times to Remember, 116.

  14 “seemed fat as ever”: James W. Graham, Victura: The Kennedys, a Sailboat, and the Sea (Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2014), 183.

  15 “strong as hell”: Transcript of Interview with Robert Healy by Stephen F. Knott, “Robert Healy Oral History, Journalist, the Boston Globe,” Presidential Oral Histories—Edward M. Kennedy Histories, Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, August 10, 2005.