PROFILE SENATOR R. KENNEDY CRAVES CHALLENGE AND OPPOSITION

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31077, 4 June 1966, Page 16

PROFILE SENATOR R. KENNEDY CRAVES CHALLENGE AND OPPOSITION

(By

SIMON KAVANAUGH)

The eyes are ice-blue, the chin is set and the face is tough. He has Irish blood and Boston charm, a pretty wife and nine children. He inherited a million pounds and his brother was President of the United States. Robert Kennedy started at the top, they say, and is working his way up.

With all his advantages, (which also include a farm in Virginia and a £24,000 flat overlooking the United Nations building) the Senator for New York is having to get there the hard way. Very soon, they joke in Washington, his enemies will even outnumber his family. One man who cannot be counted among his friends is President Johnson, but that is no deterrent to Kennedy’s ambitions, rather the reverse. For Robert Kennedy craves challenge and opposition as other men crave wealth and position—the things that Kennedy already has.

Controversial Visit

This month he is stepping into yet another storm of selfmade controversy by addressing students in South Africa’s universities on the delicate subject of apartheid, thus creating difficulties for everyone from President Johnson down to the youngest undergraduate at Witwatersrand. A student leader who helped to organise his invitation has already been placed under government restriction; a student group has withdrawn its offer to hear him speak because it considers him “a contentious person who could make rash statements.” President Johnson would agree with that. Robert Kennedy’s most-published sayings are of the order of: “Capitalism is a dirty word . . .

synonymous with selfishness,” and “the President is not speaking the truth. . . .” John F. Kennedy spoke of his brother whom he appointed Attorney-General, as the most politically gifted member of the family, and many experienced pundits outside the Kennedy clan confidently predict that he will occupy his brother’s place in the White House within ten years. Outspokenness Appals

But Robert Kennedy is perhaps too stormy a petrel in American politics to get the whole-hearted backing from the Democratic party that he needs to put him there. The author of the Civil Rights Bill, he has chosen as his platform the most controversial domestic issue there is, the colour problem, and his outspokenness sometimes appals even his supporters. He is given to picturesque symbolism: “Guidebooks do not list any place in Danville, Virginia, where a Negro may stay overnight, but a dog, accompanied by a white man, may stay in four places.” True, perhaps, but not calculated to soothe somnolent senators.

And if there is no hellraising to be done at home, he seeks out trouble abroad. He flew to Malaysia and Indonesia to investigate the possibility of a truce—and

embarrassed United States diplomats with his cheerful predictions of an end to the confrontation “very soon.” They could see no grounds for this conclusion, and in fact, a year later the war was still going on (although peace talks are now within sight). He toured South America to speak about the Alliance for Progress—and was bombarded with rotten eggs and bricks. Pressed to make a statement on the Vietnam war, he infuriated Capitol Hill by suggesting that the Viet Cong should be included in round-table peace talks. When Marines were

sent in to Dominica, Kennedy talked about a “misuse of power” and said that America’s allies should have been consulted.

“Bobby-watching”

It is little wonder that “Bobby-watching" has become a favourite pastime in Washington. But while his speeches and his actions anger the establishment, his personal stock among young Americans has never been higher. In a recent Gallup Poll he rated higher than the Vice-Presi-dent, Mr Hubert Humphrey. He represents rebellious American youth, and speaks of the things that concern them deeply; an end to war, poverty and racial discrimination. He has, critics say, a “tunnel mind" —seeing only the goals ahead. Whether one of them is the Presidency was open to doubt until recently; now he is said to have realised that only by being chief executive can he carry through his reforms. “When will you run for President?" a young student asked him recently. “When you are old enough to vote for me,” he replied. The answer may have been more precise than it appears. The Democrats will meet to nominate Presidential candidates in 1972, and today there are very few challengers of Kennedy's stature. Friends say that impulsiveness is his chief obstacle—but a Kennedy without it would be a rare bird indeed.