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Bobby Kennedy: A
Raging Spirit
by Chris Matthews
c.2017, Simon & Schuster
$28.99 / $38.99 Canada
397 pages
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Truth Contributor
You have other plans.
That’s your excuse for trying to get out of doing something
you don’t want to do, but good luck with that. Sometimes,
fate just steps in and changes things. Sometimes, your plans
are weaker than your duty. Or sometimes, as in the new book
Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews,
you may have been born to it.
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Known by his mother as a “vulnerable,” devout, compassionate
boy, Robert Kennedy grew up with a handicap: his father’s
disdain and dismissal. Kennedy was his parents’ third son,
but he was preceded by several sisters and overshadowed by
his big brothers, who were clearly Joseph Kennedy’s
favorites; being ignored by his father colored Bobby’s life
forever.
Even so, he adored his brothers, Jack and Joe, Jr., and he
always wanted to be with them. “He wasn’t clever or bookish
like Jack,” says Matthews, and he wasn’t as “well-rounded”
as was Joe, Jr., but what Bobby lacked in charm and
smoothness, he made up in morals and steadfastness. At
private schools – and he attended several of them over the
years – Bobby was known as a trustworthy guy.
Years later, after Joe, Jr. was killed in a plane crash,
after Jack fell ill and received last rites multiple times,
and after Bobby had learned to “handle” his father, he
proved his loyalty once again by giving up a growing career
to work to put Jack into office. Doing so also required
internal sacrifices: by design, Bobby became the “bad guy”
to preserve the good-natured reputation that Jack had
cultivated. Bobby was the deliverer of bad news. He was the
guy who had to say “no” when “no” needed saying.
And it worked, but barely. By just a few thousand votes,
John Kennedy became President of the United States and he
appointed Bobby, his attorney general. For the rest of
Jack’s life, Bobby continued to be Jack’s most faithful
bad-news bearer, but his compassionate nature ran strong: on
issues of poverty and civil rights, Bobby’s eyes and mind
were opened…
Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit
is a big book – almost as big as its subject.
Truly, it’s impossible to write a biography about a
historical figure without including the influential people
who surrounded him so, in addition to background on Bobby
Kennedy, you’ll also read about others, politically-minded
and not, who were in his sphere. Books about JFK are legion
but here, readers see what drove Bobby before the
1960 election and afterward, how he was essential to JFK’s
win in 1960, and why he turned his attention to poverty and
equality after Jack’s death. Author and MSNBC Chris Matthews
also adds personal notes and, with relevance and good
storytelling, re-introduces a few important players to
history and shares fresh anecdotes about a time that still
holds meaning.
This April will be the 50th anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s
assassination, so there’s time to get this book and get
filled in. If past-current events is important to you,
Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit should be in your plans.
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