Where are RFK and Teddy now?

What happened to Robert F. Kennedy and his brother Edward after their elder brothers Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and John F. Kennedy were both killed in the Second World War.

(Going beyond the obvious retired [RFK at age 85] and in the grave [Ted IOTL]; filling in the years in between)
 
Well, Bobby's two terms in the WH from 1972-80 were undoubtedly the best Democratic years until President Tsongas in the 1990s. Ted made a good career for himself in the newspaper business, but they were never that close.
 
After all, it was the family money that set Ted up in the newspaper business. At least he was more successful in that venture than his five year playing career for the New York Giants football team.
 
Rougebeaver said:
Ted made a good career for himself in the newspaper business, but they were never that close.

I'm sure it became really strained when Ted's reporters were investigating that break-in at Republican National Headquarters. Then there was that whole Columbia Towers mess, although Ted did win a Pulitzer for the book he wrote about it, which proved that his brother had only found out after the fact, and cut loose the people involved. Too bad he didn't tape his meetings in the Oval Office.
 
Bobby did tape his meetings, but selectively. There are rumours that during the 1980-81 transition, many transcripts were destroyed and certain tapes demagnetized. Namely: the 1973 coup in Chile by Army Chief of Staff Roberto Souper, the 1976 RNC break-in (hardly required given that year's landslide), and surveillance of political enemies like Gov. Robert Finch of California and Sen. George H.W. Bush (R-TX), Kennedy's successor in the White House. All remaining transcripts were transferred to his personal archives, not for public consumption.
 
There were also the tapes of their strategy sessions to get rid of the Shah and that Iranian cleric who was giving the Shah such a pain. Wasn't that what RFK got the Nobel peace prize for, negotiating the peaceful transition from the Shah to a secular conscensus government in Iran? I know Ted wrote a book about that one too, but its been widely dismissed as pro-RFK propoganda.

But Ted redeemed himself when he did that expose of the Bush family misdeeds. Everybody says the 1976 RNC break-in was useless, but there was that drug freak, Liddy I think his name was (the guy who tried to set-up a narco state in Newfoundland), who said they got some personal info on the Bush family, which the Kennedy family exploited for years. Or was that a rumor?
 
No, there have been many books praising Iran. Even Ms. Coulter said that "Iran was Kennedy's greatest accomplishment", and she's not exactly a RFK apologist. I distinctly remember when he was reported to have called her the "blond bitchy bimbo" on tape.
 
True, but Coulter's criticism of RFK are rooted in her neo-Marxist philosophy, and I can understand why that irritated him. But even she couldn't deny that Iran benefitted the "oppressed classes."

Now Ronald Reagan on his show America Today, that was a true pain in RFK's backside. I remember when he had the former Shah on with his wife, and she cried about how they had been put out of their kingdom by "that Irish thug" and how Iran had really gone red under RFK.

I never will understand why they cast Reagan as Obi-won Kenobi in Star Wars. I remember Ted remarking that Darth Vader would have been a better part for him.

Still, all-iin-all it was probably best Reagan didn't go into politics as a candidate. I know there was a rumor that he might run against Governor Peck in California in 1974; but he would have been humiliated in that contest.
 
Well, he treated the press as a divide-and-conquer game. Those who were fair, or outright partisan, got inside access to the White House. Those who were "pricks" could get ignored or be the butt of a sarcastic jibe in front of their peers. Kennedy never went on Reagan's show, as Senator, President or in retirement.
 
Most people who appeared on Reagan's show wanted to flog something or other; at heart Reagan remained a pitch man. RFK on the other hand didn't need him, even without Ted he had a lot of channels open to him.

I recall that RFK could be good with the press though when he wanted to be; he gave a second string reporter from Chicago, Barrack Obama, a break once when he sat down wiht him to do four hours of interviews after he left the White House. I understand RFK thought Obama had potential. That put Obama on the fast track to the anchor spot on ABC.
 
Yes, but Obama didn't do too well at ABC, if you remember a certain incident involving President McCain cussing him out on air when he asked about the "birther" rumours surrounding McCain. Kennedy reportedly said of Obama "he plays by tennis rules in a hockey arena, and that's why everyone goes on ABC."
 
Not necessarily: RFK was the healthiest of the brothers IOTL/ITTL, and Ted was reasonably healthy for most of his life. Remember, their mother lived till 104.
 
I'd have thought Jack was the one destined for Purgatory, given his well-known libido and skepticism. But yeah, I could see Ted going to Hell.

OOC: I'm being calm, aren't I? Very calm...
 
Rouge Beaver said:
Yes, but Obama didn't do too well at ABC, if you remember a certain incident involving President McCain cussing him out on air when he asked about the "birther" rumours surrounding McCain. Kennedy reportedly said of Obama "he plays by tennis rules in a hockey arena, and that's why everyone goes on ABC."

Yes, as an interviewer Obama didn't go for the hard punches, he kept trying to build conscensus with his interview subjects.

But you can understand McCain's reaction to that line of questioning. That's when the Patriot Party majority in Congress was trying to impeach him because they determined his years of room and board in Egypt constituted receiving "material support and personal enrichment from a hostile foreign power." It came down to a question as to whether his years of free room and board at the "Cairo Hilton" constituted a taxable benefit which he had not declared on his returns, and of course there was the whole issue of his not having personally filed returns for those six years he was a "guest" of Abu Amar's regime.

Even the Patriot's first President Dennis Miller called that whole episode "disgraceful."

Ward said:
Teddy is Burning in Hell And Bobby is in purgatory

Yep, Teddy won't let him into the good party.
The Kiat said:
Where would they be now? Given their birth years, I'd say they'd both be dead by now.
Maybe yes, maybe no. IOTL Ted was 77 when he died from brain cancer last year. RFK would be 85 right now (1 year younger than Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush). Ted could be alive if his treatment had gone differently; no reason RFK couldn't have lived to be 85; he did not have the same health problems that JFK did. Several of his sisters lived into their eighties as well.
 
I think Ted would get his ass kicked by his older brother, as would any of them except Joe Jr.

@Your Holiness: as I said, Rose lived to be 104 (though incapacitated for the last twelve years of her life), so it's quite possible that both would be alive.
 
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