Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit (2017) By Chris Matthews

 

Despite my interest in politics, I did not rush to read Chris Matthews’ biography of Bobby Kennedy when it was published on the 50-year anniversary of the Senator’s assassination. I felt at the time Matthews was too close to the Kennedy family to be objective.  On reflection, I realized John Kennedy, with brother Bobby as his campaign manager, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1952, the year before I was born. The Kennedy clan has been in the headlines my entire life, as any American my age can attest, it can be said we are all “too close” to be objective.

Without meaning, my first political act (at age 7) involved John Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. One of my classmate’s Aunt was a precinct captain working the polling place at Crisman Elementary School where I was in second grade. When my classmates and I went out for recess Aunt Honey taught us to serenade voters with: "Kennedy, Kennedy, he’s our man. Nixon belongs in the garbage can."  A few years later, JFK’s assassination, when I was in fifth grade, was the first significant world event in my life I can recall, and like most people at the time, I can recall it in great detail.

By the time I hit high school I was a confirmed current events junkie, and what a tumultuous time it was: Freedom Marches & police dogs across the South. White flight to the suburbs across the North. The USS Pueblo. The crushing of Prague Spring when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. The Vietnam War with its patently racist draft policy. The TET offensive. The massive anti-war demonstrations which divided the country at the family level. The New Hampshire primary where Gene McCarthy garnered nearly half the vote against an incumbent President, prompting LBJ's famous “I will not seek, nor will I accept” statement. The delayed entry of Bobby Kennedy into the Presidential race. The emergence of segregationist Governor George Wallace as a political force. The assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, followed by riots across the country. The assassination of Bobby Kennedy after his decisive win in the California Primary, and the ensuing collective grief of a nation in shock. And then the Democratic National Convention riots in Chicago. All of this mind you in one horrendous year, 1968, which climaxed the exhaustive backstory of Chris Matthew’s book. 

My concern about the author being too close to the Kennedy family proved to be overstated.  That closeness allowed for many insights on the family. The Kennedys were not angels, far from, neither on the policy front, nor the political front -- they definitely weren't classic liberals. Clearly, Bobby excelled at the “toughness” that is a requirement of American politics.  He held a grudge and had a vindictive streak in him.  There is a reason he was known as JFK’s enforcer.  Yet, Bobby also had a philosopher's vision of America and the World, the way it could be.

A Tiny Ripple of Hope

The book ends with Bobby’s burial. It includes excerpts from Bobby’s most famous speech, A Tiny Ripple of Hope,  given to the National Union of South African Students at the University of Cape Town exactly two years prior to his assassination. The speech provided hope and a historical perspective to problems that then plagued the world, and still do. 

Recommendation: Yes, enough time has passed. It is also a good choice for younger readers who may not quite understand America's enduring fascination with the Kennedys.