I think the hardest thing for him, and to me the sweetest thing in the book was his evolution on Joe McCarthy. On how public figures can change in public And I think it just came more to life after was gone and after the old man was out of action. There's all kinds of evidence of Bobby Kennedy being a liberal - in the best sense of that word. He insisted that the great African-American statesman get to speak to an integrated audience at when he was in charge of a lecture series down there. When Father Feeney said 'no salvation outside the Catholic Church,' railed against that, which was so extraordinary in that very Catholic family. As a kid he hung around all the time with African-American kids - those were his playmates. And only when he was tough did the old man respect him.Īnd I think when his father became incapacitated, Bob began to resort to who he was as a kid. Then becoming this enforcer for his brother - that's what won finally the attention of the old man.

was a formidable but, I think, menacing figure in his life, who took a sweet, young, seventh-born - who he had called a 'runt' - and encouraged him to become tough and ruthless first a jock at Harvard, getting his letter with a broken leg. I think that shook him deep to his soul, but I think the other thing that happened was his father's stroke. I think this is something we really need today: unity.

Bobby Kennedy by Chris Matthews