Some History Involving RFK Jr., his father, and, um, Joe McCarthy...THAT McCarthy. [View all]

In my opinion, the greatest Democrat of the 20th century was Eleanor Roosevelt, followed, closely in 2nd place, her husband, FDR, the only man to have been elected President 4 times, and generally ranked by historians as the second or third greatest President, after #1 Lincoln, swapping places in poll to poll with George Washington between #2 and #3.

(Washington's rank is surely connected with his decision to leave office, to retire; watch Joe Biden's ranking in the future.)

My wife and I have made, in recent times, a few pilgrimages to Springwood, the FDR historical site in Hyde Park NY, and I will always remember for the rest of my life, a tour we took of Valkill, Ms. Roosevelt's private home after the death of her husband. It's a relatively cozy place, relatively small rooms that would not be out of place in any slightly upscale (certainly not hugely upscale) suburban home.

In the corner of the largest room to be seen on the tour, a "family room" sits a small round table, where the guide told us that John F. Kennedy sat, practically begging, trying to convince Ms. Roosevelt, who addressed correspondence with JFK using the salutation
"My Dear Boy...," not to oppose either his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination, and then, to support him in the campaign for President, which she did, albeit reluctantly.

During the tour of Valkill, when the guide told the story of JFK sitting at the table, I piped in with some stories I recalled from Beschloss's fabulous book on the Kennedy/Roosevelt relationship, Kennedy and Roosevelt, an Uneasy Alliance, in particular about the time when FDR asked Eleanor to kick JFK's father, Joe Kennedy out of the house, (Springwood), telling her to make him a sandwich and put him on the train, because "I never want to see that sonofabitch again." (Eleanor did so, but was mortified.)

To get Joe Kennedy out of the country in 1940, this to prevent him from endorsing Roosevelt's election opponent, Wendell Wilke, and thus endangering the "Irish Vote," Roosevelt appointed Joe Kennedy as Ambassador to England, where Kennedy argued against giving aid to Britain in the then single handed war against Hitler. After election to his 4th term, FDR was done with Joe Kennedy; he would never need his support again.

There are a lot of people here, I guess, who hold a high opinion of Joe Kennedy's children, JFK and his brother RFK. I am not among them. Personally I consider JFK to be the worst Democratic President of the 20th century, having almost stumbled - by appearing to be a lightweight in the presence of Khrushchev (who was after all a survivor of Stalinism) at the Vienna summit, someone who could be pushed around. (The half has never been told.) Thus the planet was nearly incinerated. Were I an adult in 1960, like Ms. Roosevelt, I would have voted for JFK not because I hold a high opinion of him, but rather because he was the Democratic nominee, and his opponent, after all, was none other than Richard Nixon. Like Ms. Roosevelt, I would have been disappointed that Kennedy, and not some more worthy Democrat, was President.

In general, I have no use for the famous Kennedys, with the possible exception of Ted, and then only in his later life when he left his family's Cold Warrior mentality to become truly liberal. His decision to primary Jimmy Carter in 1980 may have contributed to the rise of Reaganism, a huge scar on American history.

We have, at DU, some RFK senior worshipping going on, as if RFK Sr. was a great guy and the delusional idiot RFK Jr. is betrarying his father.

I'm not in the set of people who believes that RFK was a great man, considering where and how he got his political start, and considering as well, what political figures gave him his start.

I quote from Joseph McCarthy, Robert Kennedy, and the Greek Shipping Crisis: A Study of Foreign Policy Rhetoric, Presidential Studies Quarterly , Winter, 1994, Vol. 24, No. 1, Domestic Goals and Foreign Policy Objectives (Winter, 1994), pp. 93-104.