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发帖数: 29846 | 1 By Paul Kengor
Another round of declassified FBI files on Senator Ted Kennedy has been
released (click here and here). Fittingly, in Kennedy's case, they are as
troubling as they are amusing, once again raising all sorts of questions,
from the moral to the political to issues of national security. And as usual
, they are also frustrating, knowing that with Kennedy's death in August
2009, and the lifelong protection of the man by a scandalously biased media,
the late senator was able to escape these questions all the way to the
grave, never needing to account for them -- at least in this lifetime and
this world.
With that strong start, allow me to first pause with a softer, sympathetic
touch. Among the documents within Kennedy's 2,200-page FBI file are
materials from the mid-1960s on various lunatics threatening to shoot the
newly elected senator, who in 1962 had filled the Senate seat vacated by his
presidential brother. Reading those pages is a sad process, particularly as
they move from not only Ted as target but to his brother Bobby as well. And
then, it all strikes home -- like a punch to the gut -- when you suddenly
happen upon a June 6, 1968 Western Union telegram, sent directly to J. Edgar
Hoover, which states simply: "PLEASE MAKE CERTAIN THAT TED KENNEDY GETS ALL
THE PROTECTION HE NEEDS WE ARE DOWN TO ONE KENNEDY THANKS."
Bobby was gone, the same manner as John before him, and now Ted was left as
a living target. I don't care how much of a legitimate beef conservatives
might have against Ted Kennedy and his actions and policies and politics;
this has got to elicit your sympathy. That telegram chills your bones.
As to the politics, however, once again we have more declassified files
producing some highly unsettling and unanswered questions. As readers of
this site know, I've reported at length, here and in two books (click here
and here), on Ted Kennedy's confidential outreach to Soviet despot Yuri
Andropov in May 1983, evidenced by a stunning memo from the head of the KGB,
Victor Chebrikov. In that memo, Kennedy made an offer to the Soviets to
undermine Ronald Reagan's defense policies and, in my view, Reagan's re-
election prospects as well. That entire document, which has since been
resealed in Russian archives, is printed in both Russian and English in
Dupes.
Do the latest FBI files produce anything at this level? Well, it's hard to
equate levels of outrage, but here are key items that jump out, with the
first again indicative of Kennedy's eagerness to reach out to hardened
communists -- for whatever motivation.
Most serious are the documents relating to a July 1961 "familiarization and
orientation tour" (in the words of the FBI officer) by Kennedy of several
Central and South American countries. Throughout this tour, the 29-year-old
expressed a curious desire to meet with "Leftists," explaining that he was
trying to figure out what made them think the way they did (this is
mentioned in at least five documents). Naturally, as the documents note,
this meant that Kennedy "met with a number of individuals known to have
communist sympathies." Kennedy asked ambassadors and State Department
officials in these countries to help arrange some of these interviews. One
official, stationed in Lima, Peru, was annoyed by Kennedy, describing him as
a "pompous and spoiled brat."
What might have set off this official? Perhaps it was a particularly Kennedy
-esque request made by the young Ted while in Peru. Among Kennedy's unique
extracurricular activities, according to two of these documents (dated
December 28, 1961 and October 20, 1964), was to make arrangements to "'rent'
a brothel for an entire night." Yes, Ted allegedly wanted an entire brothel
at his disposal -- part of the "familiarization" process. But he wasn't
completely selfish. As the documents state, Teddy charitably invited one of
the embassy chauffeurs to come inside and share in some of the pleasures.
This aspect of the files is being reported even by the liberal media in
Boston, which to this day will not dare even phone me about the KGB memo on
Kennedy. The roguish-philandering-comical Kennedy is acceptable for the
attention of the liberal media -- no harm done there. But matters of
reaching out to Soviet communists -- those get deep-sixed immediately.
Speaking of which, here is the most sobering item I saw in these latest
declassified documents: Among the Leftists that Kennedy reportedly met with |
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