158-529: Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK , was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968, when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Like his brothers John F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy , he
316-680: A Protestant school in Concord, New Hampshire ; Portsmouth Priory , a Benedictine Catholic school in Portsmouth, Rhode Island ; then, in September 1942, to Milton Academy , a preparatory school near Boston in Milton, Massachusetts , for 11th and 12th grades. Kennedy graduated from Milton in May 1944. Kennedy later said that, during childhood, he was "going to different schools, always having to make new friends, and that I
474-635: A bachelor's degree in political science . In September 1948, he enrolled at the University of Virginia School of Law in Charlottesville . Kennedy adapted to this new environment, being elected president of the Student Legal Forum, where he successfully produced outside speakers including James M. Landis , William O. Douglas , Arthur Krock , Joseph McCarthy , and his brother John F. Kennedy. Kennedy's paper on Yalta , written during his senior year,
632-667: A basic understanding: the Soviet Union would withdraw their missiles from Cuba, subject to United Nations verification, in exchange for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also informally proposed that the Jupiter MRBMs in Turkey would be removed "within a short time after this crisis was over". On the last night of the crisis, President Kennedy was so grateful for his brother's work in averting nuclear war that he summed it up by saying, "Thank God for Bobby." Kennedy authored his account of
790-547: A closed casket, as he wanted the funeral to keep with tradition, but he changed his mind after seeing the cosmetic, waxen remains. The ten-month investigation by the Warren Commission concluded that the president had been assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald and that Oswald had acted alone. On September 27, 1964, Kennedy issued a statement through his New York campaign office: "As I said in Poland last summer, I am convinced Oswald
948-446: A collection of poetry in 1997, Cool Reflections: Poetry For The Who, What, When, Where and Especially Why of It All ( ISBN 1-57553-595-5 ). McCarthy and his wife, Abigail Quigley McCarthy , had five children, Christopher Joseph (April 30, 1946 – April 30, 1946), Ellen Anne, Mary Abigail (April 29, 1949 – July 28, 1990), Michael Benet, and Margaret Alice. In 1969, McCarthy separated from his wife after 24 years of marriage, but
1106-612: A cynical attitude toward him, largely because the lack of money in his campaign made it highly skeptical of what he could achieve, describing McCarthy as "a second-rate politician with little experience or money" in its analysis of the presidential election published in their Army Newspaper dated August 10, 1968. McCarthy returned to politics as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 , but he fared poorly in New Hampshire and Wisconsin and soon dropped out. Illinois
1264-521: A draft dodger; Roosevelt eventually did make the statement that Humphrey avoided service. Concerned that John Kennedy was going to receive the Democratic Party's nomination, some supporters of Lyndon Johnson, who was also running for the nomination, revealed to the press that John had Addison's disease , saying that he required life-sustaining cortisone treatments. Though in fact a diagnosis had been made, Robert tried to protect his brother by denying
1422-558: A general election that already promised to be a landslide. United States attorney general The United States attorney general ( AG ) is the head of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States . The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters. The attorney general
1580-479: A gifted politician with an ability to obtain compromises, tempering aggressive positions of key figures in the hawk camp. The trust the president placed in him on matters of negotiation was such that his role in the crisis is today seen as having been of vital importance in securing a blockade , which averted a full military engagement between the United States and the Soviet Union. On October 27, Kennedy secretly met with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin . They reached
1738-510: A government including Communists in South Vietnam, and that only the relocation of inner-city blacks would solve the urban problem. Kennedy pounced, portraying the former idea as soft on communism and the latter as a scheme to bus tens of thousands of ghetto residents into white, conservative Orange County . Kennedy won the California primary on June 4, but was shot after his victory speech at
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#17328526289261896-588: A graduate degree from the University of Minnesota . He served as a code breaker for the United States Department of War during World War II . McCarthy became a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (the state affiliate of the Democratic Party) and in 1948 was elected to the House of Representatives, where he served until being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1958. McCarthy was
2054-524: A junior after receiving credit for his time in the V-12 program. He worked hard to make the Harvard Crimson football team as an end ; he was a starter and scored a touchdown in the first game of his senior year before breaking his leg in practice. He earned his varsity letter when his coach sent him in wearing a cast during the last minutes of a game against Yale . Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1948 with
2212-472: A leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency by appealing to poor, African American, Hispanic , Catholic , and young voters . His main challenger in the race was Senator Eugene McCarthy . Shortly after winning the California primary around midnight on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan , a 24-year-old Palestinian, allegedly in retaliation for his support of Israel following
2370-526: A little legal experience before he goes out to practice law." Pressed by the Senate Judiciary Committee about his inexperience, Kennedy responded: "In my estimation I think that I have had invaluable experience ... I would not have given up one year of experience that I have had over the period since I graduated from law school for experience practicing law in Boston." According to Bobby Baker ,
2528-483: A meeting with Kennedy in 1966, historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. wrote: "It is evident that he believes that [the Warren Commission's report] was a poor job and will not endorse it, but that he is unwilling to criticize it and thereby reopen the whole tragic business." According to Soviet archives, William Walton was sent to the Soviet Union by Robert Kennedy in the days after the assassination of his brother. He
2686-551: A military strike that might have led to nuclear war . Allegations that the Kennedys knew of plans by the CIA to kill Fidel Castro , or approved of such plans, have been debated by historians over the years. The " Family Jewels " documents, declassified by the CIA in 2007, suggest that before the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the attorney general personally authorized one such assassination attempt. But there
2844-569: A move that was made by the chairman to limit attention to himself and allow outrage by organized labor to be directed toward Kennedy. In a famous scene, Kennedy and his brother John (also a member of the Senate Rackets Committee) squared off with Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa during the antagonistic argument that marked Hoffa's testimony. Kennedy's investigations convinced him that Hoffa had worked with mobsters, extorted money from employers, and raided Teamster pension funds. During
3002-640: A negotiated political settlement." On December 3, 1967, McCarthy addressed the Conference of Concerned Democrats in Chicago, accusing the Johnson administration of ignoring and bungling opportunities for bringing the war to a conclusion. Eight days later it was reported that he had suggested abandoning some areas of South Vietnam to the Viet Cong . On February 17, 1968, it was reported that McCarthy's campaign had raised only
3160-603: A philanthropist and socialite. He was the seventh of their nine children. Robert described his position in the family hierarchy by saying, "When you come from that far down, you have to struggle to survive." His parents were members of two prominent Irish-American families that were active in the Massachusetts Democratic Party . All four of Kennedy's grandparents were children of Irish immigrants. His eight siblings were Joseph Jr. , John , Rosemary , Kathleen , Eunice , Patricia , Jean , and Ted . Starting from
3318-866: A plaintiff in the landmark case Buckley v. Valeo , 424 U.S. 1 (1976), in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that certain provisions of federal campaign finance laws were unconstitutional. McCarthy, the New York Civil Liberties Union , philanthropist Stewart Mott , the Conservative Party of New York State , the Mississippi Republican Party , and the Libertarian Party were the plaintiffs in Buckley , becoming key players in killing campaign spending limits and public financing of political campaigns. In 1980 , dismayed by what he saw as
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#17328526289263476-658: A private, backchannel connection to Soviet GRU officer Georgi Bolshakov , he relayed important diplomatic communications between the U.S. and Soviet governments. Most significantly, this connection helped the U.S. set up the Vienna Summit in June 1961, and later to defuse the tank standoff with the Soviets at Berlin's Checkpoint Charlie in October. Kennedy's visit with his wife to West Berlin in February 1962 demonstrated U.S. support for
3634-408: A professor of economics and education at St. John's, working there from 1940 to 1943. While at St. John's, he coached the hockey team for one season. In 1943, considering the contemplative life of a monk, he became a Benedictine novice at Saint John's Abbey. After nine months as a monk he left the monastery, causing a fellow novice to say, "It was like losing a 20-game winner ". He enlisted in
3792-518: A prominent opponent of Johnson's handling of the Vietnam War. After Robert F. Kennedy declined the request of a group of antiwar Democrats to challenge Johnson in the 1968 Democratic primaries , McCarthy entered the race on an antiwar platform. Though he was initially given little chance of winning, the Tet Offensive galvanized opposition to the war, and McCarthy finished in a strong second place in
3950-525: A prominent supporter of Adlai Stevenson II for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960, and was himself a candidate for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination in 1964. He co-sponsored the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 , though he later expressed regret about its impact and became a member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform . As the 1960s progressed, McCarthy emerged as
4108-548: A quarter of the funds it had hoped to raise nationally. As his volunteers (led by youth coordinator Sam Brown ) went door to door in New Hampshire, and as the media began paying more serious attention to the senator, McCarthy began to rise in the polls. When he received 42% of the vote to Johnson's 49% in the March 12 New Hampshire primary (and 20 of New Hampshire's 24 delegates to the Democratic convention), it became clear that there
4266-630: A relentless crusade against organized crime and the Mafia , sometimes disagreeing on strategy with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover . Through speeches and writing, Kennedy alerted the country to the existence of a "private government of organized crime with an annual income of billions, resting on a base of human suffering and moral corrosion". He established the first coordinated program involving all 26 federal law enforcement agencies to investigate organized crime. The Justice Department targeted prominent Mafia leaders like Carlos Marcello and Joey Aiuppa ; Marcello
4424-424: A roll-call vote. The deputy and assistant attorneys general Kennedy chose included Byron White and Nicholas Katzenbach . Author James W. Hilty concludes that Kennedy "played an unusual combination of roles—campaign director, attorney general, executive overseer, controller of patronage , chief adviser, and brother protector" and that nobody before him had had such power. To a great extent, President Kennedy sought
4582-460: A solidly middle-class family in Boston, his father amassed a fortune and established trust funds for his nine children that guaranteed lifelong financial security. Turning to politics, Joe Sr. became a leading figure in the Democratic Party and had the money and connections to play a central role in the family's political ambitions. During Robert's childhood, his father dubbed him the "runt" of
4740-699: A stronger candidate than McCarthy. On March 31, Johnson surprised the world by announcing that he would not seek reelection. After that, McCarthy won in Wisconsin , where the Kennedy campaign was still getting organized. McCarthy also won in Oregon against a well-organized Kennedy effort; it was considered his first official victory over Kennedy. McCarthy styled himself as a clean politician, but criticized his opponents. Known for his wit, when asked if Michigan Governor George Romney 's comment that Romney had been "brainwashed" about
4898-513: A teenager, Kennedy secured a clerking job at the same East Boston bank where his father had once worked. Kennedy was bored by the drudgery, though he enjoyed taking the Boston subway and encountering, for the first time, "common folk". He began to notice inequity in the wider world. On a trip to the family's home in Hyannis Port, Kennedy began questioning his father about the poverty he glimpsed from
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5056-428: A trial basis, for a month or so", Hoover extended the clearance so that his men were "unshackled" to look for evidence in any areas of King's life they deemed worthy. The wiretapping continued through June 1966 and was revealed in 1968, days before Kennedy's death. Relations between the Kennedys and civil-rights activists could be tense, partly due to the administration's decision that a number of complaints King filed with
5214-610: A very sensitive time in U.S.-Japan relations , shortly after the massive Anpo protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty had highlighted anti-American grievances. Kennedy won over a highly skeptical Japanese public and press with his cheerful, open demeanor, sincerity, and youthful energy. Most famously, Kennedy scored a public relations coup during a nationally televised speech at Waseda University in Tokyo. When radical Marxist student activists from Zengakuren attempted to shout him down, he calmly invited one of them on stage and engaged
5372-471: A vice-presidential nominee, but he came to have a total of 15 running mates in states where he was required to have one. At least eight of his running mates were women. Nationally, McCarthy received 740,460 votes, 0.91% of the total, finishing third in the election. His best showing came in Oregon , where he received 40,207 votes, 3.90% of the vote. McCarthy opposed Watergate-era campaign finance laws, becoming
5530-423: A victory over a moderate Republican ticket such as Nelson Rockefeller and George Romney , Kennedy supporters attempted to force the issue by running a draft movement during the New Hampshire primary . This movement gained momentum after Governor John W. King 's endorsement and infuriated Johnson. Kennedy received 25,094 write in votes for vice president in New Hampshire, far surpassing Senator Hubert Humphrey,
5688-399: A volunteer mission known as Operation Aphrodite . Robert was most affected by his father's reaction to his eldest son's passing. He appeared completely heartbroken, and his peer Fred Garfield commented that Kennedy developed depression and questioned his faith for a short time. After his brother's death, Robert gained more attention, moving higher up the family patriarchy. On December 15, 1945,
5846-435: A whites-only snack bar. After winning the 1960 presidential election, president-elect John F. Kennedy appointed his younger brother as U.S. attorney general . The choice was controversial, with publications including The New York Times and The New Republic calling him inexperienced and unqualified. He had no experience in any state or federal court, causing the president to joke, "I can't see that it's wrong to give him
6004-779: Is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States . Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution , the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, then appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate . The attorney general is supported by the Office of the Attorney General, which includes executive staff and several deputies. Merrick Garland has been
6162-566: Is deposited in the Law Library's Treasure Trove. He graduated from law school in June 1951, finishing 56th in a class of 125. Upon graduating from Harvard, Kennedy sailed on the RMS ; Queen Mary with a college friend for a tour of Europe and the Middle East, accredited as a correspondent for The Boston Post , filing six stories. Four of these stories, submitted from Palestine shortly before
6320-430: Is evidence to the contrary, such as that Kennedy was informed of an earlier plot involving the CIA's use of Mafia bosses Sam Giancana and John Roselli only during a briefing on May 7, 1962, and in fact directed the CIA to halt any existing efforts directed at Castro's assassination. Biographer Thomas concludes that "the Kennedys may have discussed the idea of assassination as a weapon of last resort. But they did not know
6478-521: Is the law. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover viewed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as an upstart troublemaker, calling him an "enemy of the state". In February 1962, Hoover presented Kennedy with allegations that some of King's close confidants and advisers were communists . Concerned about the allegations, the FBI deployed agents to monitor King in the following months. Kennedy warned King to discontinue
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6636-451: The 1956 presidential election which helped him learn how national campaigns worked, in preparation for a future run by his brother, John. Unimpressed with Stevenson, he reportedly voted for incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower . Kennedy was also a Massachusetts delegate at the 1956 Democratic National Convention , having replaced Tip O'Neil at the request of his brother John, joining in what was ultimately an unsuccessful effort to help JFK get
6794-490: The 1960 presidential election . He was appointed United States attorney general at the age of 35, one of the youngest cabinet members in American history. Kennedy served as John's closest advisor until the latter's assassination in 1963 . Kennedy's tenure is known for advocating for the civil rights movement , the fight against organized crime , and involvement in U.S. foreign policy related to Cuba . He authored his account of
6952-408: The 1970 Senate election . He sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 but fared poorly in the primaries. He ran in several more races after that but was never elected to another office. He ran as an Independent in the 1976 presidential election and won 0.9% of the popular vote. He was a plaintiff in the landmark campaign finance case Buckley v. Valeo and supported Ronald Reagan in
7110-660: The 1988 election , McCarthy appeared on the ballot as the presidential candidate of a handful of left-wing state parties, specifically the Consumer parties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the Minnesota Progressive Party in Minnesota. In his campaign, he supported trade protectionism , Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative and the abolition of the two-party system . He received 30,905 votes. In 1992, returning to
7268-720: The Cuban Missile Crisis in a book titled Thirteen Days . As attorney general, Kennedy authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to wiretap Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on a limited basis. After his brother's assassination, he remained in office during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson for several months. He left to run for the U.S. Senate from New York in 1964 and defeated Republican incumbent Kenneth Keating , overcoming criticism that he
7426-687: The Greyhound Company and demanded that it obtain a coach operator who was willing to drive a special bus for the continuance of the Freedom Ride from Birmingham to Montgomery, on the circuitous journey to Jackson, Mississippi. Later, during the attack and burning by a white mob of the First Baptist Church in Montgomery, which King and 1,500 sympathizers attended, the attorney general telephoned King to ask for his assurance that they would not leave
7584-512: The Judiciary Act of 1789 which, among other things, established the Office of the Attorney General. The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the president of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of
7742-460: The New Hampshire primary . After that, Kennedy entered the race, and Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection. McCarthy and Kennedy each won several primaries before Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968. McCarthy won the plurality of the primary vote, which at the time was non-binding, losing at the 1968 Democratic National Convention to Vice President Hubert Humphrey , Johnson's preferred candidate. McCarthy did not seek reelection in
7900-731: The New York State Assembly from Albany County , District Attorney of Albany County United States Senator from Tennessee , Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee 's 3rd district and 5th district, Chief Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals Solicitor of the United States Treasury , U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania 22nd Secretary of State of Kentucky , United States Senator from Kentucky Member of
8058-538: The Saturday Evening Post ("The Amazing Kennedys") helped raise the Kennedy profile. "Two boyish young men from Boston," wrote a Look magazine reporter, "have become hot tourist attractions in Washington." Kennedy left the committee in September 1959 in order to manage his brother's presidential campaign. The following year, Kennedy published The Enemy Within , a book which described the corrupt practices within
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#17328526289268216-617: The U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland 's 3rd district Attorney General of Pennsylvania United States Attorney for the District of Virginia , Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Richmond City 6th Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates Judge of the Eastern judicial circuit of Georgia, United States Senator from Georgia Acting United States Secretary of War , Attorney General of Maryland Member of
8374-567: The U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts 's 4th district United States Senator from Kentucky , Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives , Attorney General of Kentucky Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware 's at-large district, Member of Delaware General Assembly United States Minister to the United Kingdom , 3rd Attorney General of Maryland , Mayor of Annapolis , Member of
8532-420: The U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina 's 1st district Acting United States Minister to Belgium , 7th Attorney General of South Carolina United States Chargé d'Affaires to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland 's 4th district Eugene McCarthy Eugene Joseph McCarthy (March 29, 1916 – December 10, 2005)
8690-409: The U.S. Navy commissioned the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. , and shortly thereafter granted Kennedy's request to be released from naval-officer training to serve aboard Kennedy starting on February 1, 1946, as a seaman apprentice on the ship's shakedown cruise in the Caribbean . On May 30, 1946, he received his honorable discharge from the Navy. For his service in the Navy, Kennedy
8848-417: The United Automobile Workers (UAW), a union which typically would back Democratic office seekers. Amidst the allegations, Kennedy wrote in his journal that the two senators had "no guts" as they never addressed him directly, only through the press. Although the Rackets investigations produced few criminal prosecutions, glossy magazines began running glowing spreads: Life ("Young Man with Tough Questions") and
9006-635: The Vietnam War had ended Romney's presidential hopes, McCarthy remarked, "Well... no, not really. Anyway, I think in that case a light rinse would have been sufficient." He mocked Kennedy and his supporters. A major gaffe occurred in Oregon, when McCarthy called Kennedy supporters "less intelligent" than his own and belittled Indiana (which had by then gone for Kennedy) for lacking a poet of the stature of Robert Lowell —a friend of McCarthy's who often traveled with him. In May, Kennedy attacked McCarthy's civil rights record. Some of those who joined McCarthy's effort early on were Kennedy loyalists. Now that Kennedy
9164-403: The vice-presidential nomination . From 1957 to 1959, he made a name for himself while serving as the chief counsel to the U.S. Senate's Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management (also known as the Senate Rackets Committee) under chairman John L. McClellan . Kennedy was given authority over testimony scheduling, areas of investigation, and witness questioning by McClellan,
9322-440: The work week , came out in favor of nuclear disarmament , attacked the Internal Revenue Service , and said whom he would nominate to various Cabinet posts if elected. Mainly, however, he battled ballot access laws he deemed too restrictive and encouraged voters to reject the two-party system . His numerous legal battles during the election, along with a strong grassroots effort in friendly states, allowed him to appear on
9480-429: The 1967 Six-Day War . Kennedy died 25 hours later. Sirhan was arrested, tried, and convicted, though Kennedy's assassination, like his brother's , continues to be the subject of widespread analysis and numerous conspiracy theories . Robert Francis Kennedy was born outside Boston in Brookline, Massachusetts , on November 20, 1925, to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. , a politician and businessman, and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy ,
9638-455: The 1980 presidential election. McCarthy was born in Watkins, Minnesota . He was the son of a deeply religious Catholic woman of German ancestry, Anna Baden McCarthy, and a strong-willed man of Irish descent, Michael John McCarthy Jr., a postmaster and cattle buyer. McCarthy grew up in Watkins with his parents and three siblings. He attended St. Anthony's Catholic School in Watkins, and spent hours reading his aunt's Harvard Classics . He
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#17328526289269796-420: The Administration seems to have set no limit to the price it is willing to pay for a military victory." Political experts and the news media dismissed his candidacy, and he was given little chance of making any impact against Johnson in the primaries. But public perception of him changed following the Tet Offensive (January 30 – February 23, 1968), the aftermath of which saw many Democrats grow disillusioned with
9954-442: The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and died soon afterwards. In response, McCarthy refrained from political action for several days. One aide recalled McCarthy sneering about his fallen rival, saying that Kennedy was "demagoguing to the last". Another heard McCarthy say that Kennedy had "brought it on himself"—implying that he had provoked Sirhan Sirhan , the Palestinian gunman convicted of killing him, by promising military support to
10112-809: The American people to individuals wishing to bring relatives to this country". He became a member of the Federation for American Immigration Reform 's board of advisors. McCarthy met with Marxist-Leninist revolutionary Che Guevara in New York City in 1964 to discuss repairing relations between the US and Cuba . They met in journalist Lisa Howard 's apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan. The 2008 film Che: Part One depicts this event. In 1968, Allard K. Lowenstein and his anti- Vietnam War Dump Johnson movement recruited McCarthy to run against incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson . Reportedly, Lowenstein first attempted to recruit Senator Robert F. Kennedy , who declined to run, then Senator George McGovern , who also declined (Kennedy eventually decided to run after
10270-518: The Army, serving as a code breaker for the Military Intelligence Division of the War Department in Washington, D.C. in 1944. He was then an instructor in sociology and economics at the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota , from 1946 to 1949. McCarthy became a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party . In 1948 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives with labor and Catholic support, representing Minnesota's 4th congressional district until 1959. He became
10428-570: The Communist Party. Kennedy revealed that Cohn had called the wrong Annie Lee Moss and he requested the file on Moss from the FBI. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had been forewarned by Cohn and denied him access, calling Kennedy "an arrogant whippersnapper". When Democrats gained a Senate majority in January 1955, Kennedy became chief counsel and was a background figure in the televised Army–McCarthy hearings of 1954 into McCarthy's conduct. The Moss incident turned Cohn into an enemy, which led to Kennedy assisting Democratic senators in ridiculing Cohn during
10586-524: The Democratic Party, he entered the New Hampshire presidential primary and campaigned for the Democratic nomination , but was excluded from the first televised debate. Along with other candidates who had been excluded from the 1992 Democratic debates (including two-time New Alliance Party presidential candidate Lenora Fulani , former Irvine, California mayor Larry Agran , Billy Jack actor Tom Laughlin , and others), McCarthy staged protests and took unsuccessful legal action in an attempt to be included in
10744-442: The Democratic nomination, the antiwar "New Party", which ran several candidates for president that year, listed him as its nominee on the ballot in Arizona , where he received 2,751 votes, and in Vermont, gaining 579 votes. He also appeared on the Oregon ballot as the New Party choice. He received 20,721 votes as a write-in candidate in California. Despite McCarthy's anti-Vietnam War stance, North Vietnam's Communist government had
10902-480: The Freedom Riders out of jail, but they refused, which upset him. On May 29, 1961, Kennedy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue regulations banning segregation, and the ICC subsequently decreed that by November 1, bus carriers and terminals serving interstate travel had to be integrated. Kennedy's attempts to end the Freedom Rides early were tied to an upcoming summit with Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna and Charles de Gaulle in Paris. He believed
11060-413: The Justice Department between 1961 and 1963 be handled "through negotiation between the city commission and Negro citizens". Kennedy played a large role in the response to the Freedom Riders protests. He acted after the Anniston bus bombing to protect the Riders in continuing their journey, sending John Seigenthaler , his administrative assistant, to Alabama to try to calm the situation. Kennedy called
11218-415: The Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Offenses Control Act was signed into law. Kennedy expressed the administration's commitment to civil rights during a May 6, 1961, speech at the University of Georgia School of Law : Our position is quite clear. We are upholding the law. The federal government would not be running the schools in Prince Edward County any more than it is running the University of Georgia or
11376-551: The Mafia's gambling operations. Convictions against organized crime figures rose by 800 percent during his term. Kennedy worked to shift Hoover's focus away from communism, which Hoover saw as a more serious threat, to organized crime. According to James Neff , Kennedy's success in this endeavor was due to his brother's position, giving the attorney general leverage over Hoover. Biographer Richard Hack concluded that Hoover's dislike for Kennedy came from his being unable to control him. He
11534-514: The Senate majority secretary and a protégé of Lyndon Johnson, president-elect Kennedy did not want to name his brother attorney general, but their father overruled him. At the behest of vice president-elect Johnson, Baker persuaded the influential Southern senator Richard Russell Jr. to allow a voice vote to confirm the president's brother in January 1961, as Kennedy "would have been lucky to get 40 votes" on
11692-615: The South and warned of the danger of racial tensions above the Mason–Dixon line. "In the North", he said, "I think you have had de facto segregation , which in some areas is bad or even more extreme than in the South", adding that people in "those communities, including my own state of Massachusetts, concentrated on what was happening in Birmingham, Alabama or Jackson, Mississippi, and didn't look at what
11850-483: The Teamsters and other unions that he had helped investigate. Kennedy went to work on the presidential campaign of his brother, John. In contrast to his role in his brother's previous campaign eight years prior, Kennedy gave stump speeches throughout the primary season, gaining confidence as time went on. His strategy "to win at any cost" led him to call on Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. to attack Senator Hubert Humphrey as
12008-608: The Teamsters' pension fund , and sentenced to five years in prison. Hoffa spent the next three years unsuccessfully appealing his 1964 convictions, and began serving his aggregate prison sentence of 13 years (eight years for bribery, five years for fraud) on March 7, 1967, at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. In his first press conference as attorney general in 1961, Kennedy spoke of an "alarming increase" in juvenile delinquency . In May 1961, Kennedy
12166-604: The Truman administration before a Brooklyn grand jury. On June 6, 1952, he resigned to manage his brother John's U.S. Senate campaign in Massachusetts . JFK's victory was of great importance to the Kennedys, elevating him to national prominence and turning him into a serious potential presidential candidate. John's victory was also equally important to Robert, who felt he had succeeded in eliminating his father's negative perceptions of him. In December 1952, at his father's behest, Kennedy
12324-513: The U.S. Senate in 1952 . The following year, Kennedy worked as an assistant counsel to the Senate committee chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy . He gained national attention as the chief counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee from 1957 to 1959, where he publicly challenged Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa over the union's corrupt practices. Kennedy resigned from the committee to conduct his brother's successful campaign in
12482-498: The United States attorney general since March 11, 2021. On November 21, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump named former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as his nominee to run the Justice Department. The title, "attorney general" is an example of a noun ( attorney ) followed by a postpositive adjective ( general ). "General" is a description of the type of attorney, not a title or rank in itself ( as it would be in
12640-428: The abject failure of Jimmy Carter 's presidency (he later said that "he was the worst president we ever had"), he appeared in a campaign ad for Libertarian candidate Ed Clark and wrote the introduction to Clark's campaign book. He eventually endorsed Ronald Reagan for president. In 1982, McCarthy ran for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota but lost the Democratic primary to businessman Mark Dayton , 69% to 24%. In
12798-419: The admittance of the institution's first African American student, James Meredith . The attorney general had hoped that legal means, along with the escort of federal officers, would be enough to force Governor Ross Barnett to allow Meredith's admission. He also was very concerned there might be a "mini-civil war" between federal troops and armed protesters. President Kennedy reluctantly sent federal troops after
12956-420: The allegation, saying that John had never had "an ailment described classically as Addison's disease." After securing the nomination, John Kennedy nonetheless chose Johnson as his vice-presidential nominee. Robert, who favored labor leader Walter Reuther, tried unsuccessfully to convince Johnson to turn down the offer, leading him to view Robert with contempt afterward. Robert had already disliked Johnson prior to
13114-411: The ballot in 30 states and eased ballot access for later third-party candidates. His party affiliation was variously listed on ballots as "Independent," "McCarthy '76," "Non-Partisan," "Nom. Petition," "Nomination," "Not Designated," and "Court Order". Although he was not on the California and Wyoming ballots, he was recognized as a write-in candidate in those states. In many states, he did not run with
13272-558: The building until the U.S. Marshals and National Guard he sent had secured the area. King proceeded to berate Kennedy for "allowing the situation to continue". King later publicly thanked him for dispatching the forces to break up the attack that might otherwise have ended his life. Kennedy then negotiated the safe passage of the Freedom Riders from the First Baptist Church to Jackson, where they were arrested. He offered to bail
13430-581: The city and helped repair the strained relationship between the administration and its special envoy in Berlin, Lucius D. Clay . As his brother's confidant, Kennedy oversaw the CIA 's anti- Castro activities after the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba , which included covert operations that targeted Cuban civilians . He also helped develop the strategy during the Cuban Missile Crisis to blockade Cuba instead of initiating
13588-476: The confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court . Along with Ted Kennedy , McCarthy was one of the original co-sponsors of the Immigration Act of 1965 . He later regretted this, noting that "unrecognized by virtually all of the bill's supporters were provisions which would eventually lead to unprecedented growth in numbers and the transfer of policy control from the elected representatives of
13746-522: The continued international publicity of race riots would tarnish the president heading into international negotiations. This attempt to curtail the Freedom Rides alienated many civil rights leaders who, at the time, perceived him as intolerant and narrow-minded. Historian David Halberstam wrote that the race question was for a long time a minor ethnic political issue in Massachusetts where the Kennedy brothers came from, and had they been from another part of
13904-650: The convention that concluded the Treaty of Peace with Japan . In 1951, Kennedy was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar . That November, he started work as a lawyer in the Internal Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice , which prosecuted espionage and subversive-activity cases. In February 1952, he was transferred to the Criminal Division to help prepare fraud cases against former officials of
14062-586: The counsel of his younger brother, with Robert being the president's closest adviser and confidant. Kennedy exercised widespread authority over every cabinet department, leading the Associated Press to dub him "Bobby—Washington's No. 2-man." The president once remarked about his brother, "If I want something done and done immediately I rely on the Attorney General. He is very much the doer in this administration, and has an organizational gift I have rarely if ever seen surpassed." As attorney general, Kennedy pursued
14220-507: The country, "they might have been more immediately sensitive to the complexities and depth of black feelings". In an attempt to better understand and improve race relations, Kennedy held a private meeting on May 24, 1963, in New York City with a black delegation coordinated by prominent author James Baldwin . The meeting became antagonistic, and the group reached no consensus. The black delegation generally felt that Kennedy did not understand
14378-415: The crisis in a book titled Thirteen Days (posthumously published in 1969). At a summit meeting with Japanese prime minister Hayato Ikeda in Washington D.C. in 1961, President Kennedy promised to make a reciprocal visit to Japan in 1962, but the decision to resume atmospheric nuclear testing forced him to postpone such a visit, and he sent Robert in his stead. Kennedy arrived in Tokyo in February 1962 at
14536-410: The debates. Unlike the other excluded candidates, McCarthy was a longstanding national figure and had mounted credible campaigns for president in previous elections. He won 108,679 votes in the 1992 primaries. In his campaign for the Democratic nomination, McCarthy proposed the use of import fees to help Japan and Western Europe pay for military security and raise taxes on the wealthy in order to eliminate
14694-508: The departments". Some of these duties have since been transferred to the United States solicitor general and the White House counsel . The Department of Justice was established in 1870 to support the attorneys general in the discharge of their responsibilities. The secretary of state , the secretary of the treasury , the secretary of defense , and the attorney general are regarded as
14852-453: The director "in a way that he couldn't lie to me, and they [the CIA] hadn't". An hour after the president was shot, Robert Kennedy received a phone call from the newly ascended President Johnson before Johnson boarded Air Force One . RFK remembered their conversation starting with Johnson demonstrating sympathy before the president stated his belief that he should be sworn in immediately; RFK opposed
15010-563: The end of the British Mandate , provided a first-hand view of the tensions in the land. He was critical of British policy on Palestine and praised the Jewish people he met there, calling them "hardy and tough." Kennedy predicted that "before too long," the United States and Great Britain would be looking for a Jewish state to preserve a "toehold" of democracy in the region. He held out some hope after seeing Arabs and Jews working side by side but, in
15168-506: The end, feared that the hatred between the groups was too strong and would lead to a war. In June 1948, Kennedy reported on the Berlin Blockade . He wrote home about the experience: "It is a very moving and disturbing sight to see plane after plane take off amidst a torrent of rain particularly when I was aboard one." In September 1951, a few months after Kennedy graduated from law school, The Boston Post sent him to San Francisco to cover
15326-463: The eventual vice-presidential nominee. The potential need for a Johnson–Kennedy ticket was ultimately eliminated by the Republican nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater . With Goldwater as his opponent, Johnson's choice of vice president was all but irrelevant; opinion polls had revealed that, while Kennedy was an overwhelming first choice among Democrats, any choice made less than a 2% difference in
15484-528: The family and wrote him off; focusing greater attention on his two eldest sons, Joseph Jr., and John. His parents involved their children in discussions of history and current affairs at the family dinner table. "I can hardly remember a mealtime," Kennedy reflected, "when the conversation was not dominated by what Franklin D. Roosevelt was doing or what was happening in the world...Since public affairs had dominated so much of our actions and discussions, public life seemed really an extension of family life." Kennedy
15642-460: The four most important Cabinet officials in the United States because of the size and importance of their respective departments. Attorney General is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule , thus earning a salary of US$ 221,400, as of January 2021. It is the practice for the attorney general, along with the other Cabinet secretaries and high-level political appointees of
15800-490: The four-year period since the 2004 Convention displayed on a large screen. During McCarthy's tribute, the screen displaying his photograph mistakenly left off his first name but included his middle name, calling him "Senator Joseph McCarthy"; Joseph McCarthy was a notable Republican Senator from Wisconsin famous for his anti-Communist campaigning and sparring with journalist Edward R. Murrow . In 2009, his alma mater, St. John's University, honored McCarthy by establishing
15958-428: The full extent of racism in the United States, and only alienated the group more when he tried to compare his family's experience with discrimination as Irish Catholics to the racial injustice faced by African Americans. In September 1962, Kennedy sent a force of U.S. Marshals, U.S. Border Patrol agents, and deputized federal prison guards to the University of Mississippi , to enforce a federal court order allowing
16116-563: The hearings, Kennedy received criticism from liberal critics and other commentators both for his outburst of impassioned anger and doubts about the innocence of those who invoked the Fifth Amendment . Senators Barry Goldwater and Karl Mundt wrote to each other and complained about "the Kennedy boys" having hijacked the McClellan Committee by their focus on Hoffa and the Teamsters. They believed Kennedy covered for Walter Reuther and
16274-620: The hearings. The animosity grew to the point where Cohn had to be restrained after asking Kennedy if he wanted to fight him. For his work on the McCarthy committee, Kennedy was included in a list of Ten Outstanding Young Men of 1954, created by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. His father had arranged the nomination, his first national award. In 1955, Kennedy was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court . Kennedy went on to work as an aide to Adlai Stevenson II during
16432-471: The idea since he felt "it would be nice" for President Kennedy's body to return to Washington with the deceased president still being the incumbent. Eventually, the two concluded that the best course of action would be for Johnson to take the oath of office before returning to Washington. In his 1971 book We Band of Brothers , aide Edwin O. Guthman recounted Kennedy admitting to him an hour after receiving word of his brother's death that he thought he would be
16590-575: The leader of young liberals, predominately from the Midwest, called "McCarthy's Marauders". In 1952 he engaged Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy (no relation) in a nationally televised debate in which he parodied the Senator's arguments to "prove" that General Douglas MacArthur had been a communist pawn. In 1958 he was elected to the U.S. Senate. He served as a member of (among other committees)
16748-563: The long-haired, counterculture appearance of hippies chose to cut their long hair and shave off their beards in order to campaign for McCarthy door-to-door, a phenomenon that led to the informal slogan "Get clean for Gene". McCarthy's decision to run arose partly as an outcome of Oregon Senator Wayne Morse 's opposition to the war. Morse was one of two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of August 1964. He gave speeches denouncing
16906-402: The military ). Even though the attorney general (and the similarly titled solicitor general ) is occasionally referred to as "General" or "General [last name]" by senior government officials, this is considered incorrect in standard American English usage. For the same reason, the correct American English plural form is "attorneys general" rather than "attorney generals". Congress passed
17064-416: The national debt. After leaving the Senate in 1971, McCarthy became a senior editor at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishing and a syndicated newspaper columnist. In the 1960s he began writing poetry, and his increased political prominence led to increased interest in his work. "If any of you are secret poets, the best way to break into print is to run for the presidency", he wrote in 1968. He published
17222-637: The news. Shortly after the call from Hoover, Kennedy phoned McGeorge Bundy at the White House, instructing him to change the locks on the president's files. He ordered the Secret Service to dismantle the hidden taping system in the Oval Office and cabinet room. He scheduled a meeting with CIA director John McCone and asked if the CIA had any involvement in his brother's death. McCone denied it, with Kennedy later telling investigator Walter Sheridan that he asked
17380-450: The nomination through popular support in the primaries. McCarthy and Kennedy squared off in California, knowing that the result there would be decisive. They both campaigned vigorously up and down the state, with many polls showing them neck-and-neck, and a few predicting a McCarthy victory. A televised debate between them began to tilt undecided voters away from McCarthy. He made two statements many found ill-considered: that he would accept
17538-407: The one "they would get" as opposed to his brother. In the days following the assassination, he wrote letters to his two eldest children, Kathleen and Joseph, saying that as the oldest Kennedy family members of their generation, they had a special responsibility to remember what their uncle had started and to love and serve their country. He was originally opposed to Jacqueline Kennedy's decision to have
17696-739: The particulars of the Harvey -Rosselli operation – or want to." Concurrently, Kennedy served as the president's personal representative in Operation Mongoose , the post–Bay of Pigs covert operations program the president established in November 1961. Mongoose was meant to incite revolution in Cuba that would result in Castro's downfall. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, Kennedy proved himself to be
17854-508: The powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee . McCarthy became known to a larger audience in 1960 when he supported twice-defeated presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson for the Democratic nomination. He pleaded during his speech nominating Stevenson, "Do not reject this man who made us all proud to be called Democrats!" He joked about his own merits as a candidate, "I'm twice as liberal as Hubert Humphrey , twice as intelligent as Stuart Symington , and twice as Catholic as Jack Kennedy ." He
18012-437: The presidency, with the office of vice president now vacant, Kennedy was viewed favorably as a potential candidate for the position in the 1964 presidential election. Johnson faced pressure from some within the Democratic Party to name Kennedy as his running mate, which Johnson staffers referred to internally as the "Bobby problem." It was an open secret that they disliked each other, and Johnson had no intention of remaining in
18170-608: The president , to tender a resignation with effect on the Inauguration Day (January 20) of a new president. The deputy attorney general is also expected to tender a resignation, but is commonly requested to stay on and act as the attorney general pending the confirmation by the Senate of the new attorney general. For example, upon the inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch left her position, so then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates , who had also tendered her resignation,
18328-409: The president's direction, Kennedy used the power of federal agencies to influence U.S. Steel not to institute a price increase, and announced a grand jury probe to investigate possible collusion and price fixing by U.S. Steel in collaboration with other major steel manufacturers. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the administration had set prices of steel "by naked power, by threats, by agents of
18486-462: The presidential campaign, seeing him as a threat to his brother's ambitions. In October, just a few weeks before the election, Kennedy was involved in securing the release of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. from a jail in Atlanta . He spoke with Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver and later Judge Oscar Mitchell, after the judge had sentenced King for violating his probation when he protested at
18644-604: The previous few years. Former President Bill Clinton gave his eulogy. Following his death the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University renamed their Public Policy Center the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy . The Democratic party memorialized his death during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, on August 28, 2008. The memorial included pictures of several prominent Democrats who had died during
18802-599: The primary on March 16, 1968, and McGovern also later briefly entered the race). McCarthy entered and almost defeated Johnson in the New Hampshire Democratic primary , with the intention of influencing the federal government —then controlled by Democrats —to curtail its involvement in the Vietnam War . A number of antiwar college students and other activists from around the country traveled to New Hampshire to support McCarthy's campaign. Some antiwar students who had
18960-440: The race after Johnson withdrew) and gaining the nomination. Humphrey, long a champion of labor unions and of civil rights , entered the race with the support of the party "establishment", including most members of Congress, mayors, governors and labor union leaders. He entered too late to compete in any primaries, but had the support of Johnson and many Democratic insiders. Kennedy, like his brother John in 1960, planned to win
19118-458: The schools in my home state of Massachusetts. In this case, in all cases, I say to you today that if the orders of the court are circumvented, the Department of Justice will act. We will not stand by or be aloof—we will move. I happen to believe that the 1954 decision was right. But my belief does not matter. It is now the law. Some of you may believe the decision was wrong. That does not matter. It
19276-563: The shadow of another Kennedy. At the time, Johnson privately said of Kennedy, "I don't need that little runt to win", while Kennedy privately said of Johnson that he was "mean, bitter, vicious—an animal in many ways." An April 1964 Gallup poll reported Kennedy as the vice-presidential choice of 47 percent of Democratic voters. Coming in a distant second and third were Adlai Stevenson with 18 percent and Hubert Humphrey with 10 percent. Although Johnson confided to aides on several occasions that he might be forced to accept Kennedy in order to secure
19434-447: The situation on campus turned violent. The ensuing Ole Miss riot of 1962 resulted in 300 injuries and two deaths, but Kennedy remained adamant that black students had the right to the benefits of all levels of the educational system. Kennedy saw voting as the key to racial justice and collaborated with Presidents Kennedy and Johnson to create the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which helped bring an end to Jim Crow laws . Throughout
19592-517: The spring of 1964, Kennedy worked alongside Senator Hubert Humphrey and Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen in search of language that could work for the Republican caucus and overwhelm the Southern Democrats' filibuster . In May, a deal was secured that could obtain a two-thirds majority in the Senate—enough to end debate. Kennedy did not see the civil rights bill as simply directed at
19750-497: The state of Israel. Despite strong showings in several primaries—he won more votes than any other Democratic candidate—McCarthy garnered only 23% of the delegates at the 1968 Democratic National Convention , largely due to the control of state-party organizations over the delegate-selection process. After Kennedy's assassination, many Kennedy delegates, remembering his bitter war of words with McCarthy, chose to support George McGovern rather than McCarthy. Moreover, although Humphrey
19908-555: The state security police". Yale law professor Charles Reich wrote in The New Republic that the Justice Department had violated civil liberties by calling a federal grand jury to indict U.S. Steel so quickly, then disbanding it after the price increase did not occur. As one of the president's closest White House advisers, Kennedy played a crucial role in the events surrounding the Berlin Crisis of 1961 . Operating mainly through
20066-703: The student in an impromptu debate. Kennedy's calmness under fire and willingness to take the student's questions seriously won many admirers in Japan and praise from the Japanese media, both for himself and on his brother's behalf. When President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963, Robert Kennedy was at home with aides from the Justice Department. J. Edgar Hoover called and told him his brother had been shot. Hoover then hung up before he could ask any questions. Kennedy later said he thought Hoover had enjoyed telling him
20224-568: The suspected associations. In response, King agreed to ask suspected communist Jack O'Dell to resign from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), but he refused to heed to the request to ask Stanley Levison , whom he regarded as a trusted advisor, to resign. In October 1963, Kennedy issued a written directive authorizing the FBI to wiretap King and other leaders of the SCLC, King's civil rights organization. Although Kennedy only gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's phones "on
20382-652: The train window. "Couldn't something be done about the poor people living in those bleak tenements?" he asked. Six weeks before his 18th birthday in 1943, Kennedy enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve as a seaman apprentice . He was released from active duty in March 1944, when he left Milton Academy early to report to the V-12 Navy College Training Program at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts from March to November 1944. He
20540-505: The two never divorced. The children stayed with their mother after the separation. According to McCarthy biographer Dominic Sandbrook , McCarthy was involved in a romantic relationship with CBS News correspondent Marya McLaughlin that lasted until McLaughlin's death in 1998. McCarthy died of complications from Parkinson's disease at age 89 on December 10, 2005, in a retirement home in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. , where he had lived for
20698-481: The two of them as "misfits", a commonality that drew him to Kennedy, along with an unwillingness to conform to how others acted even if doing so meant not being accepted. He had an early sense of virtue; he disliked dirty jokes and bullying, once stepping in when an upperclassman tried bothering a younger student. The headmaster at Milton would later summarize that he was a "very intelligent boy, quiet and shy, but not outstanding, and he left no special mark on Milton". As
20856-475: The war before it had entered most Americans' awareness. Thereafter, several politically active Oregon Democrats asked Kennedy to run as an antiwar candidate. McCarthy also encouraged Kennedy to run. After Kennedy refused, the group asked McCarthy to run, and he responded favorably. After Kennedy entered the race and Johnson withdrew, however, McCarthy shifted his focus toward Kennedy. McCarthy declared his candidacy on November 30, 1967, saying, "I am concerned that
21014-511: The war, and quite a few interested in an alternative to Johnson. McCarthy said, "My decision to challenge the President's position and the administration's position has been strengthened by recent announcements out of the administration. The evident intention to escalate and to intensify the war in Vietnam, and on the other hand, the absence of any positive indication or suggestion for a compromise or for
21172-602: Was a " carpetbagger " from Massachusetts . In office, Kennedy opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and raised awareness of poverty by sponsoring legislation designed to lure private business to blighted communities (i.e., Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration project ). He was an advocate for issues related to human rights and social justice by traveling abroad to eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Africa , and formed working relationships with Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez , and Walter Reuther . In 1968 , Kennedy became
21330-580: Was a prominent member of the Democratic Party and is considered an icon of modern American liberalism . Born into the prominent Kennedy family in Brookline, Massachusetts , Kennedy attended Harvard University , and later received his law degree from the University of Virginia . He began his career as a correspondent for The Boston Post and as a lawyer at the Justice Department , but later resigned to manage his brother John's successful campaign for
21488-587: Was adrift while trying to prove himself to his family. Kenneth O'Donnell and Larry O'Brien (who worked on John's congressional campaigns) urged Kennedy to consider running for Massachusetts Attorney General in 1954, but he declined. After a period as an assistant to his father on the Hoover Commission , Kennedy rejoined the Senate committee staff as chief counsel for the Democratic minority in February 1954. That month, McCarthy's chief counsel Roy Cohn subpoenaed Annie Lee Moss , accusing her of membership in
21646-609: Was an American politician, writer, and academic from Minnesota . He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1949 to 1959 and the United States Senate from 1959 to 1971. McCarthy sought the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1968 election , challenging incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson on an anti- Vietnam War platform. McCarthy unsuccessfully ran for U.S. president four more times. Born in Watkins, Minnesota , McCarthy became an economics professor after earning
21804-484: Was appointed by family friend Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy as one of 15 assistant counsel to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations . Kennedy disapproved of McCarthy's aggressive methods of garnering intelligence on suspected communists. He resigned in July 1953, but "retained a fondness for McCarthy". The period of July 1953 to January 1954 saw him at "a professional and personal nadir", feeling that he
21962-612: Was asked to stay on to serve as the acting attorney general until the confirmation of the new attorney general Jeff Sessions , who had been nominated for the office in November 2016 by then- President-elect Donald Trump. Federalist (4) Democratic-Republican (5) Democratic (34) Whig (4) Republican (40) 7th Governor of Virginia Attorney General of Pennsylvania Acting United States Secretary of State Acting United States Secretary of State , 7th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts , Member of
22120-572: Was considered as a possible running mate for Lyndon Johnson in 1964, only to see fellow Minnesota Senator Humphrey chosen for that position. McCarthy voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 , the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , and the Medicare program. He did not vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1968 or on
22278-659: Was convicted in Chattanooga, Tennessee , of attempted bribery of a grand juror during his 1962 conspiracy trial in Nashville and sentenced to eight years in prison and a $ 10,000 fine. After learning of Hoffa's conviction by telephone, Kennedy issued congratulatory messages to the three prosecutors. While on bail during his appeal, Hoffa was convicted in a second trial held in Chicago , on July 26, 1964, on one count of conspiracy and three counts of mail and wire fraud for improper use of
22436-623: Was deep division among Democrats about the war. By this time, Johnson had become inextricably defined by Vietnam , and this demonstration of divided support within his party meant his reelection (only four years after winning the highest percentage of the popular vote in modern history ) seemed unlikely. The folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary released a record "Eugene McCarthy For President (If You Love Your Country)", endorsing McCarthy, who they said had stood alone against Johnson over "more timid men" now echoing him. On March 16, Robert F. Kennedy announced that he would run; many Democrats saw Kennedy as
22594-466: Was deported to Guatemala , while Aiuppa was convicted of violating of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 . In 1961, Kennedy worked to secure the passage of anti-racketeering legislation (Wire Act, Travel Act, and Interstate Transportation of Paraphernalia Act) to prohibit interstate gambling. The Federal Wire Act specifically targeted the use of wire communications and sought to disrupt
22752-544: Was eligible for the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal . Throughout 1946, Kennedy became active in his brother John's campaign for the U.S. House seat vacated by James Michael Curley ; he joined the campaign full-time after his naval discharge. Schlesinger wrote that the election served as an entry into politics for both Robert and John. In September, Kennedy entered Harvard as
22910-417: Was in the race, many of them jumped ship, urging McCarthy to drop out and support Kennedy. McCarthy resented that Kennedy had let him do the "dirty work" of challenging Johnson and entered the race only when it became apparent that Johnson was vulnerable. As a result, while he initially entered the campaign with few illusions of winning, McCarthy now devoted himself to beating Kennedy (and Humphrey, who entered
23068-502: Was influenced by the monks at nearby St. John's Abbey and University in Collegeville, Minnesota , and attended school there, at Saint John's Preparatory School , from which he graduated in 1932. He also went to college at Saint John's University , graduating in 1935. McCarthy earned his master's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1939. He taught in public schools in Minnesota and North Dakota from 1935 to 1940, when he became
23226-418: Was judged as having a profound impact on Kennedy. Michael Beran assesses the assassination as having moved Kennedy away from reliance on the political system and to become more questioning. Larry Tye views Kennedy following the death of his brother as "more fatalistic, having seen how fast he could lose what he cherished the most." In the wake of the assassination of his brother and Lyndon Johnson's ascension to
23384-590: Was named chairman of the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Crime (PCJD), with lifelong friend David Hackett as director. After visits to blighted communities, Kennedy and Hackett concluded that delinquency was the result of racial discrimination and lack of opportunities. The committee held that government must not impose solutions but empower the poor to develop their own. The PCJD provided comprehensive services (education, employment, and job training) that encouraged self-sufficiency. In September 1961,
23542-431: Was needed to be done in our home, our own town, or our own city." The ultimate solution "is a truly major effort at the local level to deal with the racial problem—Negroes and whites working together, within the structure of the law, obedience to the law, and respect for the law." Between December 1961 and December 1963, Kennedy also expanded the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division by 60 percent. At
23700-498: Was not clearly an antiwar candidate, some antiwar Democrats hoped that as president he might succeed where Johnson had failed and extricate the United States from Vietnam. On June 23, 1968, Hubert Humphrey defeated McCarthy, securing significant delegates in their shared home state of Minnesota. Before election day, McCarthy confirmed that he would personally vote for Humphrey, but said that he would go no further than that, stopping short of endorsing him. Although McCarthy did not win
23858-765: Was raised at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts ; La Querida in Palm Beach, Florida ; and Bronxville, New York ; as well as London , where his father served as the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St James's from 1938 to 1940. When the Kennedy family returned to the United States just before the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Robert was shipped off to an assortment of boarding schools in New England : St. Paul's ,
24016-442: Was reelected to the Teamsters presidency, RFK told reporters the government's case against Hoffa had not been changed by what he called "a small group of teamsters" supporting him. The following year, it was leaked that Hoffa had claimed to a Teamster local that Kennedy had been "bodily" removed from his office, the statement being confirmed by a Teamster press agent and Hoffa saying Kennedy had only been ejected. On March 4, 1964, Hoffa
24174-422: Was relentless in his pursuit of Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa, due to Hoffa's known corruption in financial and electoral matters, both personally and organizationally, creating a so-called "Get Hoffa" squad of prosecutors and investigators. The enmity between the two men was intense, with accusations of a personal vendetta—what Hoffa called a "blood feud"—exchanged between them. On July 7, 1961, after Hoffa
24332-522: Was relocated to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine from November 1944 to June 1945, where he received a specialized V-12-degree along with 15 others. During the college's winter carnival , Robert built a snow replica of a Navy boat. He returned to Harvard in June 1945, completing his post-training requirements in January 1946. Kennedy's oldest brother Joseph Jr. died in August 1944, when his bomber exploded during
24490-436: Was solely responsible for what happened and that he did not have any outside help or assistance. He was a malcontent who could not get along here or in the Soviet Union." He added, "I have not read the report, nor do I intend to. But I have been briefed on it and I am completely satisfied that the Commission investigated every lead and examined every piece of evidence. The Commission's inquiry was thorough and conscientious." After
24648-441: Was the only primary in which McCarthy actively participated. He got 38% of the vote to the then leading contender Edmund Muskie 's 59%, but the media ignored McCarthy's Illinois campaign. After his 1972 campaign, McCarthy left the Democratic Party, and ran as an Independent candidate for president in 1976 . During that campaign, he took a libertarian stance on civil liberties , promised to create full employment by shortening
24806-413: Was to go there for the purposes of cultural diplomacy but was also told to meet with Russian diplomat Georgi Bolshakov and deliver a message. Walton told Bolshakov that Robert and Jackie Kennedy believed there was a conspiracy involved in the killing of President Kennedy and informed him that Robert Kennedy shared the views of his brother in his approach to peace with the Soviet Union. The assassination
24964-414: Was very awkward ... [a]nd I was pretty quiet most of the time. And I didn't mind being alone." At Milton Academy, Kennedy met and became friends with David Hackett . Hackett admired Kennedy's determination to bypass his shortcomings, and remembered him redoubling his efforts whenever something did not come easy to him, which included athletics, studies, success with girls, and popularity. Hackett remembered
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