03 Oct 2012 19:25:06
Franky, regards Bobby Kennedy the tragedy is, and bear in mind this is off what i've read and seen, and some of it may be skewed by the Kenendy family anyway to protect the legacy, but:
Most things i've ever seen is that Bobby wasn't really interested in the politics side of things like Jack and their dad Joe. He would have preferred to practice law and raise kids with Ethel.
Joe Kennedy got him to run Jack's 1952 senate campaign which he won, under a deal which would let Bobby go back to the law. Joe however got him onto a couple of senate committes as a legal advisor. He further served on adlai stevenson unsuccessful Presidential campaign in 1956 but this was just prep work to learn how to run a campaign for Jack in the future.
1960 saw Bobby run a very good campaign, although questions of mob influence and what Joe got upto with Sinatra as a go between the Kennedy's and the mob are mostly in the public.
Jack appointed Bobby as attorney general and he went after the mob. Largely why the mob were involved in the assassination of Jack, along with Cuba.
9 months after Dallas Bobby ran for the Senate for New York, and in '68 after LBJ announced he would not seek re-election it boosted Bobby's own candidancy.
I feel that Bobby only entered the Senate in order to stand for the Presidency in opposition to Johnson, and he only planned on that in order to carry on Jack's work, to continue the legacy. If he'd never gone near the Presidency he wouldn't have been seen as threat and assassinated. To me thats the tragedy, Bobby was never really into the politics preferring the law but was corrupted by Joe Kennedy and a sense of duty to Jack and wouldn't have ran if not for what happened to Jack. Really wasteful in the sense that it only happened because of events in Dallas.
Others may know more or have different opinions.
Mort
Also does anyone buy the lone gunman stuff for Bobby's assassination?
I always thought it was a bit dodgy, Sirhan saying it was for RFK's support for Israel during the 6 day war a year earlier.
I mean he was Senator for New York, city with the i think the largest Jewish population in America, 100's of voters and a heck of a lot of campaign cash for a Presidential campaign, so he was always going to suck upto the pro-Israel lobby.
And to wait a whole year before making a try? And its complete random chance that he happened to be in not only the exact same building, but also right where RFK was walking through? Sorry to me that means advance knowledge. Unless i'm misisng something. Also the FBI bodyguard advised him not to go through the kitchen as well.
Mort
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Hey mort good topic,my take on bobby Kennedy being a bigger tragedy than jfk is debatable,my take on bobby Kennedy is he piss+d off a lot of people that was part of jfks assassination,and maybe the sense of guilt made him try to get elected ,a few things i have read about bobby k was out of the two brothers he was the hothead while jfk was more subtle and he was signing hes own death warrant going for presidency,as for the Kennedys as a family i agree jfk was hoping to change the world for the better but even hes farther was no angel and not to be trusted.
frankyscouse
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Franky I think Jack made plenty of enemies what with Cuba/ Vietnam and thats the main reason for killing him. It was easier for the cia to use their mafia contacts to do most of the dirty work as it wouldn't come back to cia it would sit on the mob instead. And more people would believe it was the mafia than anyone else. Look at the Oliver Stone film when kevin Costner's Jim Garrison has a row with one of his deputies over it when he says it was the govt and the bloke can't accept it and insists they look to the mob connection instead. I know the mafia stood to gain out of JFK's death but they are almost as big a patsy as Oswald, as in reality they gained zip.
Regards Bobby, i don't think it was a sens eof guilt, more a sense of duty. Bobby was always described as the more loyal of all the family, he was the one that was always there for Jack. He is descrbied as hotheaded, but he is also described as very organised and generous. I think Bobby was a more complicated individual than Jack.
I agree he signed his own death warrent in standing in '68. But the point i was making, and why his was the bigger tragedy is that he didn't need to. It was so unecessary, but acting out of a sense of loyalty and duty to his dead brother, it got him killed as well, very possibly by the same people. That to me is more tragic, if not for the events of Dallas, he wouldn't have ever gone for president. The plotters in Dallas effectively killed both brothers that day.
Mort
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The whole Kennedy saga is a genuine conspiracy which we will never find out why and who killed them both,but i am not buying in to they were the saviors of the world, agreed he was the best out the lot of them but to me all politicians are corrupt ,joe kennedy proves the point and he was a overpowering farther who told hes son to go in to politics ,my point is jfk and bk were shocking and a coverup it does not mean they were any more corrupt than any other politician ,i think our judgement is clouded by people dying before there time.
frankyscouse
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Was he anywhere near a bridge when he was shot?
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