JFK, RFK Vs. Administration Hawks
Four decades after the Kennedy presidency, Salon.com founder David Talbot has written a haunting book called "Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years." It brings to life one of the most tumultuous periods in American history and examines questions that remain unanswered to this day.
"I was a campaign worker — young volunteer for Bobby Kennedy when I was 16 in Los Angeles," Talbot told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "I remember the night, of course, he was killed. So the Kennedy story was very vivid one for me. But I always wondered, 'What did Bobby think really happened to JFK in Dallas?' That was the way into this particular book. He was his brother's protector, his devoted brother, his constant watchman … his attorney general. If he suspected something, I thought that was a very important path to follow."
But Talbot said he was "reluctant to go into this labyrinth" which remains one of the deepest, darkest controversies in American history. He didn't want to do the standard book about "Who shot JFK?" and "Was it a conspiracy?" but he did want to understand what Robert Kennedy thought.
The book begins with then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover calling RFK to tell him his brother had been shot. Talbot said Hoover expressed little sympathy.
"Very cold — 'The president's been shot,' click. Almost like that," Talbot said. "He calls back later 20 minutes later — 'The president's dead' — almost with a sense of pleasure in his voice, according to Nicholas (Katzenbach), the associate attorney general under Bobby. This is what Bobby told him later. So his world caved in for Bobby at this point. He was — he was the moon that orbited around his brother. And so suddenly this — the center of his universe is gone."
Even after RFK claimed to accept the findings of the Warren Commission, the book portrays him as the first assassination conspiracy theorist. Neither Kennedy brother had a shortage of enemies. RFK relentlessly pursued the mafia and he was suspicious of the CIA for their role in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in which President Kennedy tried to overthrow Cuba's communist government. The mafia, CIA and Cuban exiles created a triumvirate that deeply concerned Robert Kennedy. Havana, after all, was a hot spot for gambling before Fidel Castro took over and the mafia was angry, Talbot said.
"They were furious with the Kennedys because Bobby was leading the most aggressive crackdown on organized crime never before seen in this country," Talbot said. "So the CIA was working with some of these cut-throat characters already. And Bobby looked at that area as the source of the plot against his brother. Because Cuba could become the Iraq of its day. That was the center of the cold war tensions — very volatile area. The Kennedys refused after the bay of pigs to invade and alienated many people within their own government as a result of this."
Talbot spent three years on the book and said it was an emotional experience because he spoke to people who devoted their lives to the Kennedy brothers and saw those two men as the way to change the world — and at least for a little while, they did, Talbot said.
"Tears would come to their eyes as we talked about those days," he said. "And, you know, I think the country misses that kind of idealism today. When you listen to a speech like JFK delivered near the end of his life, the peace speech at American University where he said, you know, we all inhabit the same small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's future and we're all mortal. Imagine American leaders saying that today about our enemy? That we can all live in peace together."
Click here to read an excerpt.
"Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years" is published by Simon & Schuster's Free Press which is owned by CBS. To read an excerpt just log on to our "Early Show" website at CBSNews.com.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. "I was a campaign worker — young volunteer for Bobby Kennedy when I was 16 in Los Angeles," Talbot told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "I remember the night, of course, he was killed. So the Kennedy story was very vivid one for me. But I always wondered, 'What did Bobby think really happened to JFK in Dallas?' That was the way into this particular book. He was his brother's protector, his devoted brother, his constant watchman … his attorney general. If he suspected something, I thought that was a very important path to follow."
But Talbot said he was "reluctant to go into this labyrinth" which remains one of the deepest, darkest controversies in American history. He didn't want to do the standard book about "Who shot JFK?" and "Was it a conspiracy?" but he did want to understand what Robert Kennedy thought.
The book begins with then FBI director J. Edgar Hoover calling RFK to tell him his brother had been shot. Talbot said Hoover expressed little sympathy.
"Very cold — 'The president's been shot,' click. Almost like that," Talbot said. "He calls back later 20 minutes later — 'The president's dead' — almost with a sense of pleasure in his voice, according to Nicholas (Katzenbach), the associate attorney general under Bobby. This is what Bobby told him later. So his world caved in for Bobby at this point. He was — he was the moon that orbited around his brother. And so suddenly this — the center of his universe is gone."
Even after RFK claimed to accept the findings of the Warren Commission, the book portrays him as the first assassination conspiracy theorist. Neither Kennedy brother had a shortage of enemies. RFK relentlessly pursued the mafia and he was suspicious of the CIA for their role in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in which President Kennedy tried to overthrow Cuba's communist government. The mafia, CIA and Cuban exiles created a triumvirate that deeply concerned Robert Kennedy. Havana, after all, was a hot spot for gambling before Fidel Castro took over and the mafia was angry, Talbot said.
"They were furious with the Kennedys because Bobby was leading the most aggressive crackdown on organized crime never before seen in this country," Talbot said. "So the CIA was working with some of these cut-throat characters already. And Bobby looked at that area as the source of the plot against his brother. Because Cuba could become the Iraq of its day. That was the center of the cold war tensions — very volatile area. The Kennedys refused after the bay of pigs to invade and alienated many people within their own government as a result of this."
Talbot spent three years on the book and said it was an emotional experience because he spoke to people who devoted their lives to the Kennedy brothers and saw those two men as the way to change the world — and at least for a little while, they did, Talbot said.
"Tears would come to their eyes as we talked about those days," he said. "And, you know, I think the country misses that kind of idealism today. When you listen to a speech like JFK delivered near the end of his life, the peace speech at American University where he said, you know, we all inhabit the same small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children's future and we're all mortal. Imagine American leaders saying that today about our enemy? That we can all live in peace together."
Click here to read an excerpt.
"Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years" is published by Simon & Schuster's Free Press which is owned by CBS. To read an excerpt just log on to our "Early Show" website at CBSNews.com.
Only by swearing off violence as method to a solution, will we break the cycle of violence that you are helping to perpetuate.
Freedom can only be achieved once the violence stops. Until then, people who glamorize violence as the only working solution are only adding fuel to the fire and enciting and antagonizing the rest of the world to attack us.
Congratulations on being a traitor to the human race. No labels needed- the posters here know your warmongering kind for what it is, and we will no longer tolerate it. Just as we would slap down a misbehaving child who doesn't know any better, so shall we with you. Those who violently act out and/or promote violence as solution are those who society needs to prevent from advocating their message of hatered and loating to our young, and (unfortunately) need to be prevented from spreading their message of hatered and intolerance.
Freedom can only be achieved once the violence stops. Until then, people such as yourselves who glamorize violence as the only working solution, are only adding fuel to the fire and enciting and antagonizing the rest of the world to attack us.
Congratulations on being a traitor to the human race. No labels needed- the posters here know your warmongering kind for what it is, and we will no longer tolerate it. Just as we would slap down a misbehaving child who doesn't know any better, so shall we with you.
Freedom can only be achieved once the violence stops. Until then, people such as yourselves who glamorize violence as the only working solution, are only adding fuel to the fire and enciting and antagonizing the rest of the world to attack us.
Congratulations on being a traitor to the human race. No labels needed- the posters here know your warmongering kind for what it is, and we will no longer tolerate it. Just as we would slap down a misbehaving child who doesn't know any better, so shall we with you.
And seeing as how every time humans have engaged in war terrorism and a represeed society result, clearly the kill all who disagree with me so I have no enemies left plan has not been working, because we are still going to war.
Only a fool like bbailey642 who appears to be more concerned about calling people names and such, willingly ignores millemium of historical precedents and advocates for a violent solution instead of a peaceful co-existing one. These are the true criminals of our society and species that must be purged and re-educated so we can all live without the spectre of war over our heads. The true terrorists are those who are mentally damaged like bbailey642. They are the ones who must be stopped.