by Larry Tye
“Without any hesitation, Bobby jumped”: The Kennedy Case, 137.
covering up his brother’s physical frailties: Robert Kennedy: His Life, 60; and Reeves, Question of Character, 295–96.
enable the president’s sexual deceptions: Author interview with Bobby Baker; and RFK OH, May 14, 1964, 311, JFKL.
When it came to sexual mores: Wills, Kennedy Imprisonment, 45.
But Bobby was different: Viser, “Kennedy Letters”; and Heymann, RFK: A Candid Biography, 41.
“He definitely had an eye for pretty women”: Author interviews with Gwen Gibson, John Anderson, and Richard Goodwin.
No one knows for sure: Brown, No Longer Alone, 44–51; and author interview with Joan Winmill Brown.
Bobby and Marilyn Monroe: Carroll and Tomich, “Death of Marilyn Monroe,” 29.
he was fascinated with her: Author interview with McPeck.
5. BREAKING BARRIERS
“We have a party”: Belafonte, My Song, 267.
“He had called the meeting”: Horne and Schickel, Lena, 278.
Kenneth Clark, black America’s: Band of Brothers, 220; My Song, 267; and Parting the Waters, 810.
Bobby was shocked: American Journey, 120; My Song, 268; and Eckman, Baldwin, 189.
Three hours into the evening: American Journey, 122; RFK OH, April 30, 1964, 289; and My Song, 269.
“We left convinced”: American Journey, 121.
Bobby came away: Baldwin, “Letter from a Region,” New Yorker; Robert Kennedy and His Times, 334; and RFK OH, April 30, 1964, 289–90.
Both sides had agreed: Robinson, “Robert Kennedy Fails to Sway Negroes,” New York Times; and Reston, “Nation and the Parties,” New York Times.
“I guess if I were”: Band of Brothers, 221.
“Our conclusion that we had”: American Journey, 121.
The night before: Murphy, “Robert Kennedy Was Nice but Firm,” Atlanta Constitution; RFK Law Day Exercise Speech, May 6, 1961, JFKL, 12–13; McGill, “Robt. Kennedy Gets Ovation,” Atlanta Constitution; and Bystander, 259.
A closer listen: Law Day Exercise Speech, 1, 9, and 11–12.
Instead, Bobby from the first: Doar and Landsberg, “Performance of the FBI in Investigating Violations of Federal Laws,” 13; Bystander, 250; Law Day Exercise Speech, 9.
Integrating public schools: Bystander, 252–60.
There was no doubt: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 402; Robert Kennedy and His Times, 307–8; Sherrill, Gothic Politics, 195; and “Judge Due to Rule On Suit,” New York Times.
“It would mean so much”: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 411–12.
When he left office: Kennedy Justice, 276–77.
“an effort to signal”: Katzenbach, Some of It Was Fun, 42.
In Anniston, a city: Booker and Booker, Shocking the Conscience, 190–92.
Bobby later said: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 370; Farmer, Lay Bare, 197; and Shocking the Conscience, 182–84.
face-to-face meeting: Seigenthaler OH, February 22, 1966, 444–45.
next challenge: Raines, My Soul, 103; and Robert Kennedy and His Times, 296.
crisis of the moment: Band of Brothers, 171; and Seigenthaler OH, February 22, 1966, 456–61.
Back at the Justice Department: Sidey, John F. Kennedy, President, 142; Parting the Waters, 407; and Band of Brothers, 177–78.
Bobby never entirely forgot: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 384–85; Lay Bare, 206; Bystander, 274–76; and Loftus, “U.S. Tells World,” New York Times.
testing moment for Bobby: Author interview with Patterson; and Shocking the Conscience, 203.
The night the Freedom Riders: “ ‘Freedom Riders’ Force a Test,” Newsweek.
Mississippi had looked like: “Bob Kennedy Cites Dire Need,” Chicago Daily Defender; and Robert Kennedy and His Times, 318.
Sometimes the exchange: Transcripts of phone conversation between RFK and Ross Barnett, September 25, 1962, 12:20 P.M., 6, Burke Marshall Papers, JFKL.
Two days later: Transcripts of phone conversation between RFK and Barnett, September 27, 1962, 2:50 P.M., 1–2.
As deals were made: Transcripts of phone conversations between RFK and Barnett, September 30, 1962, 12:45 P.M., 4 and 9; Press Statement by Barnett, September 30, 1962, 11:00 P.M.; and Meredith, Three Years, 194.
The folly underlying: Lord, The Past That Would Not Die, 178; and “Though the Heavens Fall,” Time.
Back in Washington: Band of Brothers, 204; and RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 485.
“The planning wasn’t that bad”: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 484.
Although President Kennedy deserved: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 479; and Lewis, “Mississippi: Broader Impact of the Crisis,” New York Times.
In the rich white communities: RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 342–43; and author interview with Ethel Kennedy.
“I was born here”: Fenton, “Cabots and Lowells,” New York Times.
Disabilities were not considered: Times to Remember, 153–55 and 286; Gibson and Schwarz, Rose Kennedy and Her Family, 63; and The Patriarch, 532–34.
Joe had been searching: The Patriarch, 242–64 and 537; Rose Kennedy and Her Family, 60; Times to Remember, 286; and “Amazing Kennedys.”
“the first of the tragedies”: Times to Remember, 286.
Not all the lessons: The Patriarch, 311; Robert Kennedy and His Times, 34; Hostage to Fortune, 234; and Ross, “Joseph P. Kennedy.”
Joe was always looking: Hostage to Fortune, 531 and 615–16; and Founding Father, 388.
most disturbing evidence: Hostage to Fortune, 131 and 133.
no evidence that Bobby: Frank Mankiewicz OH, June 26, 1969, 44, JFKL; author interview with Jeff Greenfield; and RFK, “Jews Have a Fine Fighting Force,” The Boston Post.
feelings about homosexuals: Vidal, Palimpsest, 393–94.
Truman Capote, another gay writer: Clarke, Capote, 411; and Peter Edelman OH, March 13, 1974, 54, JFKL.
Bobby was ahead: RFK OH, May 14, 1964, 335; and Eugene Nickerson OH, May 2, 1972, 14, JFKL.
If the Kennedy boys: Sins of the Father, 49; and Shining Hour, 56.
Bobby’s sister Jean: Shapiro, Danced, 123–24.
And while civil rights: Hostage to Fortune, 531; Robert Kennedy: His Life, 241; and author interview with and emails from Peter Edelman.
stirred a small voice: “Though the Heavens Fall”; and Band of Brothers, 205.
next chapter in that struggle: Berger, “George C. Wallace: His Life and Legacy,” Anniston Star; and Wallace “Segregation Forever” speech (youtube.com/watch?v=6C-kBVggFrs).
way to fulfill: RFK OH, December 6, 1964, 518 and 524, JFKL; and civilrights.JFKlibrary.org/Media-Assets/The-University-of-Alabama.aspx#State-vs-United-States—The-Law-is-the-Law.
trip to the Heart of Dixie: RFK OH, December 6, 1964, 520–21; and Some of It Was Fun, 113.
D-Day in Tuscaloosa: Trammel, George Wallace: The Self-Inflicted Wound, 10 and 81.
“The show is over”: Ibid., 73 and 90.
That week in June 1963: Clymer, “When Presidential Words,” New York Times; and RFK OH, December 4, 1964, 503–4.
ended on an upbeat note: Hunter, “Marchers in Capital,” New York Times; and Casey, “3000 in Peaceful Rights March,” Washington Post.
Bobby came out swinging: Marjorie McKenzie Lawson OH, November 14, 1965, 56–57, JFKL.
two steps ahead: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 349.
determined to control it: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 351; Reilly OH, October 29, 1970, 63–64; Place to Be, 117; and Parting the Waters, 876.
The march came off: Parting the Waters, 882–83; southernspaces.org/2004/television-news-and-civil-rights-struggle-views-virginia-and-mississippi#section6; RFK OH, December 22, 1964, 591, JFKL; and author interview with Jayne Kobliska.
Bobby authorized the FBI: Robert Kennedy and His Times, 352–61; Garrow, “FBI and Martin Luther King,” The Atlantic Monthly; Parti
ng the Waters, 852–59; “Negro in America,” Newsweek; and Kenworthy, “Barnett Charges Kennedys,” New York Times.
Any regrets about: Whalen and Whalen, The Longest Debate, 45; and Robert Kennedy: His Life, 260.
Bobby knew that this bill: Band of Brothers, 221; and RFK statement, Senate Commerce Committee, July 1, 1963.
naturally made enemies: Lowrey, “R. Kennedy, Others ‘Hanged’ At Rally,” Anniston Star; Sitton, “50 Hurt in Negro Rioting,” New York Times; Parting the Waters, 819; and Failing America’s Faithful, 39.
By the end of his tenure: Kennedy Justice, 109; My Song, 233; and author interview with Jack O’Dell.
6. CUBA AND BEYOND
Bobby Kennedy’s memoir: RFK, Thirteen Days, 27 and 35–36.
“We’re eyeball to eyeball”: Stewart Alsop and Charles Bartlett, “In Time of Crisis,” Saturday Evening Post.
The biggest deceit: Thirteen Days, 27; and Khrushchev, Khrushchev Remembers, 493–94.
“Exposure to danger”: Thirteen Days, 13.
seeds of the missile crisis: Wyden, Bay of Pigs, 124 (the Harvard professor was John Plank of the Government Department); and nsarchive.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html.
Jack proved him right: President Kennedy speech, Cincinnati, October 6, 1960.
While it was fair: nsarchive.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html; JFK speech, Johnstown, Penn., October 15, 1960 (presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=74041); and JFK statement, October 20, 1960 (presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=74127).
Their hard line: nsarchive.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html; and Fontova, “Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs,” TheBlaze.
President Kennedy read the situation: Wyden, Bay of Pigs, 264; nsarchive.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html; and “Bay of Pigs,” a short history, JFKL (JFKlibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx).
the Kennedys’ problem: nsarchive.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html.
As for Bobby: JFK speech, Democratic Dinner, October 6, 1960; June 1, 1961 RFK memo as reported in Robert Kennedy and His Times, 444–45; John F. Kennedy, President, 109–11; Band of Brothers, 111; and Wyden, Bay of Pigs, 269.
protect his brother’s flank: RFK OH, February 29/March 1, 1964, 76–77; John F. Kennedy, President, 125; Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1961–1963, vol. X, April 22, 1961, 314; and Rostow, Diffusion of Power, 211.
ensure the mistakes weren’t repeated: June 1, 1961 RFK memo, Robert Kennedy and His Times, 447; and “RFK Notes and Memos: Cuban Crisis,” Attorney General Papers, Box 215, JFKL.
Taylor worried that: Maxwell Taylor OH, October 22, 1969, 2, JFKL; Taylor letter to JFK, June 13, 1961, JFKL; June 1, 1961 RFK memo, Robert Kennedy and His Times, 446; RFK OH, February 29/March 1, 1964, 58; and author interview with and emails from James Hershberg.
Soviet leader had “savaged me”: Stacks, Scotty, 4.
curious new friend Georgi: Fursenko and Naftali, One Hell of a Gamble, 380.
different message than Jack: Michael Forrestal, who worked for National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, said Bobby invented the term counterinsurgency, which was both credible and romantic enough that it was repeated over the years; RFK, Seek a Newer World, 117; and Kennedys & Kings, 386.
no doubt what he had in mind: January 19, 1962 CIA memo on meeting with RFK re: Cuba, JFKL.
Bobby got what he asked: William Craig memo to Edward Lansdale, February 2, 1962, National Security Archive—George Washington University; and Bohning, Castro Obsession, 102.
embraced by the CIA: Branch and Crile, “Kennedy Vendetta”; and Helms, Over My Shoulder, 202–3.
Bobby pushed ahead: Blight and Kornbluh, Politics of Illusion, 117; and Over My Shoulder, 205.
it wasn’t just Cuba: Halberstam, Best and the Brightest, 69–70; Kennedys & Kings, 372–73; and FRUS, 1961–1963, American Republics, vol. XII, 1996.
Instead of learning: Author interview with Richard Goodwin; and Over My Shoulder, 202.
eliminate Fidel Castro: “Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders,” Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations, 72–108; and “CIA Inspector General’s Report on Plots to Assassinate Fidel Castro.”
did Bobby Kennedy issue an order: “Alleged Assassination Plots,” 275–76; Over My Shoulder, 201; author interviews with Adam Walinsky, Frank Mankiewicz, and Richard Goodwin; and RFK OH, April 30, 1964, 281.
attorney general never wavered: Edward Lansdale memo to members of Caribbean Survey Group, January 20, 1962, National Security Archive; “Kennedy Vendetta”; and author interview with Richard Goodwin.
legacy that long outlived: Castro Obsession, 258; and Kennedys & Kings, 386.
Cuba wasn’t the only place: Halberstam, “Ivory Coast Gets American Hello,” New York Times.
Bobby’s Africa trip: Halberstam, “Africans Answered by Robert Kennedy,” New York Times.
a whirlwind: Grove, Behind Embassy Walls, 73–74; and author interview with Brandon Grove.
back on a plane: Lind, “When Camelot Went,” National Interest.
a novelty to the Japanese: Lewis, “Robert Kennedy Tours Hamlets,” New York Times; Lewis, “Kennedy on the Road,” New York Times; Lewis, “Robert Kennedy Turns a Bar,” New York Times; Rosenthal, “His Brother’s Voice,” New York Times; and RFK, Just Friends, 50–51.
demonstrate his tough side: Rosenthal, “Robert Kennedy Debates Leftists,” New York Times; UPI. “Robert Kennedy’s Temper Flares,” Bristol Daily Courier; Lewis, “Kennedy on the Road,” New York Times; Rosenthal, “Leftists Heckle Robert Kennedy,” New York Times; Robert Kennedy and His Times, 564–65; and RFK OH, April 13, 1964, 169–70.
scope out a future adversary: “Robert Kennedy Assures Vietnam,” New York Times; and Best and the Brightest, 274.
Every stop posed: “Pope Receives R. F. Kennedys,” New York Times; Grove email to author; Susan Wilson, “Guide to Traveling”; and Just Friends, 153.
another Cold War flash point: Robert Kennedy: His Life, 294; and Just Friends, 120 and 124.
The way he traveled: Grove email.
arrived back in Washington: “Having Wonderful Time…Bobby,” Mary McGrory, America; and John Lindsay letter to Dean Rusk, February 5, 1962, JFKL.
using a public megaphone: “Text of Address by Attorney General Kennedy Calling on Americans,” New York Times; and “Robert Kennedy Urges Students,” New York Times.
the difference he was making: “Visit of Attorney General to Japan,” American Embassy Tokyo to State Department, February 28, 1962, National Archives.
He was growing personally: Behind Embassy Walls, 93–94; author interview with and emails from Grove.
Khrushchev affirmed: Khrushchev letter and Kennedy statement (microsites.JFKlibrary.org/cmc/oct28/).
“one chance in five”: RFK OH, February 29/March 1, 1964, 100; and RFK OH, February 13, 1965, 33, JFKL.
Bobby emboldened his commander: Thirteen Days, 68 and 70.
he wanted everyone to know: Ibid., 31 and 108.
not completely honest: “In Time of Crisis”; and May and Zelikow, Kennedy Tapes, 66 and 68.
he began to waver: Kennedy Tapes, 130, 261, and 400.
picked up by microphones: Naftali, “Origins of ‘Thirteen Days,’ ” Miller Center Report.
Bobby emphasized to the Soviet ambassador: Dobrynin, In Confidence. The ambassador also described that conversation in a cable to his Foreign Ministry on October 27, 1962, during the crisis itself, although its contents did not become public for decades (Hershberg, “Anatomy of a Controversy,” Cold War International History Project Bulletin). Philip Zelikow, an expert on the missile crisis and the Kennedy tapes, says that “JFK is recorded privately telling Admiral Anderson that, on Saturday, the decision had been made to proceed with a strike on Tuesday, October 30. When, on October 30, Max Frankel published a NYT article saying that, in fact, no strike had been imminent, JFK explodes privately to his
intimates, saying that Frankel’s assertion ‘is untrue!’ ” (Zelikow email to author.)
to come clean: “Anatomy of a Controversy.”
another self-interested untruth: Thirteen Days, 27–28; “Blank Spot in Cuban Picture,” Washington Post; RFK OH, April 30, 1964, 224; Stern, Averting ‘The Final Failure,’ 30–31; Eyeball to Eyeball, 223; and RFK memo to JFK, April 19, 1961, FRUS, 1961–1963, vol. X.
undermine his enemies: Thirteen Days, 34, 46, 50, and 120; Kennedy Tapes, 82 and 388–89; RFK OH, February 27, 1965, 605–6; RFK OH, February 13, 1965, 22; Stern, Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory, 69–70; RFK OH, May 14, 1964, 322; Bundy, Danger and Survival, 431; and Eyeball to Eyeball, 318. The Cuba-Turkey deal “had been suggested earlier on Oct 27 in a telegram from Raymond Hare, the US ambassador to Turkey, and then picked up and pressed by Dean Rusk,” says Philip Zelikow (Zelikow email).
“In our negotiations”: Khrushchev Remembers, 500.
Nobody worked harder: Band of Brothers, 122 and 126; Eyeball to Eyeball, 224; and Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye, 283.
“Don’t put it in writing”: RFK note to John McCone, May 2, 1962, Attorney General Series, Box 88, JFKL.
Bobby reimagined: Thirteen Days, 16; author interview with Dan Fenn; and Eyeball to Eyeball, 570.
by the time it was uttered: Dobbs, “Price of a 50-Year Myth,” New York Times.
Getting that wrong: Cuban Missile Crisis in American Memory, 153; and Joseph Alsop, “Gaining the Objective,” Washington Post.
got one thing right: Book sales figure is from W. W. Norton, Bobby’s publisher, which says Thirteen Days was a bestseller and that total sales likely were even higher but not all records are available; and Khrushchev Remembers, 500.
even more puzzling: Memo of Mongoose meeting with RFK, October 16, 1962, National Security Archive; and Hershberg email to author.
Once the crisis had passed: Mark J. White, Kennedys and Cuba, 320; Over My Shoulder, 225; and RFK OH, April 30, 1964, 277.
Bay of Pigs prisoners: Band of Brothers, 132; and Some of It Was Fun, 94.
Operation Habeas Corpus: Ottenberg, “Behind the Rescue,” Washington Star; Oral histories Richard Cull, Richard French, Mario Noto, and Robert Schoenenberg, December 17, 1970, JFKL; and Johnson, The Bay of Pigs: The Leaders’ Story, 333.