AHC: RFK as McCarthy's chief counsel, 1953

No kidding. The history between Irish and Jews is not very rosy. A combustible mixture of the religious (aka "Christ killer" disowned by Vatican II) and typical minorities jockeying for socioeconomic position.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
No kidding. The history between Irish and Jews is not very rosy. A combustible mixture of the religious (aka "Christ killer" disowned by Vatican II) and typical minorities jockeying for socioeconomic position.
Exactly. He have to remember that not only were Jews highly suspect during the McCarthy era, but less then 10 years prior you still had Jewish kids having the shit kicked out of them by (predominantly Irish) Catholic children on their way to school. That's actually how Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky met, only Luciano was actually defending Lansky from other Catholic bullies.

The whole thing is sort of ironic given the fact that Ireland itself has one of the best records with regards towards the treatment of Jews.
 
Moving on, let's say that they are partially successful and RFK leaves in the spring of 1954. What next? There are a few options. 1) Run for MA AG, as was offered IOTL. 2) Safe House seat. 3) Private practice. We can eliminate 3) so let's discuss 1 and 2.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
I say he'd become the MA AG. If he's in Congress it will be tremendously difficult to shake the "McCarthy's man" label, not to mention the fact that Joe's going to be tapping him every chance he gets. And if Bobby refuses to toe the line, that's really going to...complicate relations with McCarthy, who'll likely still have the clout to ruin people.
 
Bobby doesn't need McCarthy after '54, so I don't see how that's especially relevant. The problem with MA is that it is too small a pond, and even the Dynasticrat-friendly Bay State would not have two brothers of the same party in the Senate. Also, NY is his home state, having lived there from the ages of 2-17, which many forgot in 1964.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Bobby doesn't need McCarthy after '54, so I don't see how that's especially relevant. The problem with MA is that it is too small a pond, and even the Dynasticrat-friendly Bay State would not have two brothers of the same party in the Senate. Also, NY is his home state, having lived there from the ages of 2-17, which many forgot in 1964.
It's not about Bobby needing McCarthy, it's about McCarthy pressuring Bobby to back him at all times and the fact that most people will still probably see Bobby as one of McCarthy's cronies, especially if he's as prominent in the McCarthy crusades as Roy was.
 
Good point about the cronyism perception there, though I doubt the pressure would make any difference. No one ever won a battle of wills with Bobby, as LBJ, no slouch in that field himself, found out by March 1968. ;)

So let's say he runs for MA AG. Then there are 2 options. Run for governor, which is a dead-end, or run for either Jack's vacated seat or Saltonstall's (Kerry's today) seat in 1960. If he has a full term in the Senate under his belt, there goes the "experience" half of Tricky Dick's "maturity and experience" snark when 1968 rolls around.
 

Wolfpaw

Banned
Good point about the cronyism perception there, though I doubt the pressure would make any difference. No one ever won a battle of wills with Bobby, as LBJ, no slouch in that field himself, found out by March 1968. ;)
With regards to battles of wills, LBJ looks like a pussy compared to McCarthy. The difference between McCarthy and...everyone...was that McCarthy had absolutely no idea when to stop fighting, something which ultimately destroyed him. If Bobby resits pressures from McCarthy then that relationship is going to go down in flames. And since there won't be any Army-McCarthy hearings ITTL, McCarthy may very well still have the clout to wreck Bobby. I know that Bobby was basically Iron Man when it came to a lot of things but McCarthy was a force of nature, and a completely chaotic and uncontrollable one at that.
So let's say he runs for MA AG. Then there are 2 options. Run for governor, which is a dead-end, or run for either Jack's vacated seat or Saltonstall's (Kerry's today) seat in 1960. If he has a full term in the Senate under his belt, there goes the "experience" half of Tricky Dick's "maturity and experience" snark when 1968 rolls around.
Are we sure Bobby would have won in '68?
 
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If Tricky Dick wins in '60, then it's a slam-dunk. If Jack wins in '60 then things get more complicated, but still doable. The alternative is waiting till '76, which is rather long for a presidentiable, especially such an impatient one. Another problem is that Jack will still pick him for AG no matter what, because he needs Bobby as his deputy for a variety of reasons, foremost being that he's the only person he can put absolute, 100% trust in. If Jack loses, then Bobby becomes the standard-bearer and it's a moot point.

And yes, this might be used for TL purposes down the road. :p
 
So, what happens to Cohn and Schine? I don't think they'd be particularly keen on staying, unless they want to be victims of what one might call passive-aggressive hazing. :D
 
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