After five decades of public silence, Robert Kennedy’s children spoke to television talk-show host Charlie Rose in Dallas, Texas about their father’s suspicions of a conspiracy in the assassination of his brother. They confirm other family members had similar doubts. These suspicions undoubtedly extend to the assassination of their own father, Robert F. Kennedy. Major news story.
‘Robert Kennedy suspected conspiracy behind John Kennedy’s killing’
January 12, 2013
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/robert-kennedy-suspected-conspiracy-behind-john-kennedys-killing/1058436/
Fifty years after the assassination of former US President John F Kennedy, which stunned the Americans, his nephew for the first time has acknowledged publicly that there was disbelief in the family that a lone gunman was responsible for the killing.
Robert F Kennedy Jr said his father (Robert Kennedy) believed that the Warren Commission report, which concluded Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president, was a “shoddy piece of craftsmanship.”
The mystery of the November 22, 1963 assassination were retouched by Kennedy and his sister Rory at a Friday night interview aired in the same city where the killing took place and come as a year of observances begins for the 50th anniversary of the president’s death.
Dallas Morning Herald quoted Robert F Kennedy Jr and his sister for the remarks while appearing on a PBS talk show hosted by Charlie Rose.
JFK’s brother, former US Attorney General Robert Kennedy had publicly supported the Warren Commission, but privately had serious reservations, his son said.
Robert said his father at the time of his uncle’s death had serious doubts about the accuracy of the Warren Report and his US Justice Department investigators looked into the allegations the assassin had received aid from the Mafia, the CIA or other organisations.
Robert, who was nine at the time of presidents death did not clarify if his father was convinced that such groups were involved. “My father thought that somebody was involved.”
He also recollected about president’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy who spent much of the five years after the assassination outside the country because she feared for her children’s safety.
RFK children speak about assassination in Dallas
By JAMIE STENGLE, Associated Press
January 12, 2013 2:48am
http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/RFK-children-speak-about-assassination-in-Dallas-4185595.php#photo-4019950
DALLAS (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is convinced that a lone gunman wasn’t solely responsible for the assassination of his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, and said his father believed the Warren Commission report was a “shoddy piece of craftsmanship.”
Kennedy and his sister, Rory, spoke about their family Friday night while being interviewed in front of an audience by Charlie Rose at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas. The event comes as a year of observances begins for the 50th anniversary of the president’s death.
Their uncle was killed on Nov. 22, 1963, while riding in a motorcade through Dallas. Five years later, their father was assassinated in a Los Angeles hotel while celebrating his win in the California Democratic presidential primary.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his father spent a year trying to come to grips with his brother’s death, reading the work of Greek philosophers, Catholic scholars, Henry David Thoreau, poets and others “trying to figure out kind of the existential implications of why a just God would allow injustice to happen of the magnitude he was seeing.”
He said his father thought the Warren Commission, which concluded Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president, was a “shoddy piece of craftsmanship.” He said that he, too, questioned the report.
“The evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman,” he said, but he didn’t say what he believed may have happened.
Rose asked if he believed his father, the U.S. attorney general at the time of his brother’s death, felt “some sense of guilt because he thought there might have been a link between his very aggressive efforts against organized crime.”
Kennedy replied: “I think that’s true. He talked about that. He publicly supported the Warren Commission report but privately he was dismissive of it.”
He said his father had investigators do research into the assassination and found that phone records of Oswald and nightclub owner Jack Ruby, who killed Oswald two days after the president’s assassination, “were like an inventory” of mafia leaders the government had been investigating.
He said his father, later elected U.S. senator in New York, was “fairly convinced” that others were involved.
The attorney and well-known environmentalist also told the audience light-hearted stories Friday about memories of his uncle. As a young child with an interest in the environment, he said, he made an appointment with his uncle to speak with him in the Oval Office about pollution.
He’d even caught a salamander to present to the president, which unfortunately died before the meeting.
“He kept saying to me, ‘It doesn’t look well,'” he recalled.
Rory Kennedy, a documentary filmmaker whose recent film “Ethel” looks at the life of her mother, also focused on the happier memories. She said she and her siblings grew up in a culture where it was important to give back.
“In all of the tragedy and challenge, when you try to make sense of it and understand it, it’s very difficult to fully make sense of it,” she said. “But I do feel that in everything that I’ve experienced that has been difficult and that has been hard and that has been loss, that I’ve gained something in it.”
“We were kind of lucky because we lost our members of our family when they were involved in a great endeavor,” her brother added. “And that endeavor is to make this country live up to her ideals.”
RFK children speak about assassination in Dallas
AP / January 11, 2013
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2013/01/11/rfk-children-speak-family-legacy-dallas/Hz5dNt45fyfivQExYeijvI/story.html
DALLAS (AP) — Two children of the late Robert F. Kennedy spoke in Dallas as a year of observances begins for the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his sister, Rory, were interviewed Friday night in front of an audience in downtown Dallas.
Robert Kennedy says his father spent a year trying to come to grips with his brother’s death after the assassination.
He says his father believed the Warren Commission, which concluded Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president, was a ‘‘shoddy piece of workmanship.’’ Kennedy says evidence is convincing it wasn’t a lone gunman.
His uncle was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Five years later, his father was assassinated in a Los Angeles hotel during his primary victory celebration.
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