On June 5, 1968 Bobby Kennedy was killed. On 11/22/63 his brother Jack was killed. When Bobby called Parkland Hospital in Dallas for information about the shooting, he sounded so much like Jack that Secret Svc agent Clint Hill nearly collapsed on the phone
At the time news bulletins were that the president was "injured". When the wire services, radio networks & tv confirmed his death, there were still rumors Lyndon Johnson was clutching an arm entering the hospital. Speaker McCormack feared he might soon be president
Lyndon Johnson could have assumed power at 1 p.m. Dallas time w/o taking an oath. He'd already sworn his allegiance to the Constitution on 1/20/61. In the U.S. Constitution, Article II, Sec. 1, Clause 5, in case of presidential removal, death, resignation, or inability to...
...discharge her duties or powers, the same shall fall on the VP. The founders never intended anyone become president w/o being elected. In their wording the VP should serve as acting "until another president be chosen". AG Kennedy wrote an analysis of Cons. II, I, 5 Aug. 2, 1961
Bobby concluded they meant if a POTUS dies in ofc, "merely the powers & duties devolve on the VP, & not the ofc. itself"
Madison's notes record the thinking behind the old ruling. They were published long after his death. But when WH Harrison died, Tyler wasn't aware of Madison's notes. He assumed he was entitled to "the said Office". Clay & J.Q. Adams disagreed. The Tyler assumption held...
...through Fillmore, A. Johnson, Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, Coolidge & Truman. The oath isn't mandatory. Speaker McCormack felt LBJ had to be sworn in ASAP. So did Chief Justice Warren. He said of the VP oath "But he hadn't taken it as president". Bobby felt LBJ became POTUS the...
...moment Jack died. Because JFK was to only have spent three hours in Dallas, the WH Signal Corps had no direct line to the city. They were run through a switchboard in the Hotel Texas Forth Worth. This weakening was furthered by C & P phone lines in DC being overtaxed
Those attempting to dial out got slow dial tones, & eventually dead lines. Teddy Kennedy, who'd rushed to Georgetown from The Hill, where he was speaking when he received news of the "injury", knocked on doors of row houses seeking a working line
There was a backlog of calls to & from Bobby's home in McLean. Frustrated, Teddy went to the WH. The Shrivers did the same, & Teddy & Eunice phoned Bobby (& Pat- he'd already called Hyannis). Pat had told her maid to refuse calls (she was in L.A.)
Bobby got Pat, & she booked a flight to DC. Bobby decided it was too late for a commercial flight to Dallas, but had been dressing for Texas since news of the injury. CIA Director McCone had arrived at Hickory Hill, & asked if Bobby knew how serious the wound was
"No I don't. Do you?" He put a PT boat clasp on his necktie. The WH extension on his desk rang. Bobby leaped f/ it.
"Oh, he's dead" he told Ethel & McCone
Ethel "Those poor children"
Bobby "He had the most wonderful life"
"Oh, he's dead" he told Ethel & McCone
Ethel "Those poor children"
Bobby "He had the most wonderful life"
The AG walked downstairs to the living room, where SDNY US Atty Morgenthau (for whom my grandmother used to work in NY) & others were watching tv. "He died", RFK said, & walked to the pool. He had a white phone ext. @ poolside. It rang. Hoover. "The president's dead" he snapped
Hoover hung up. RFK said Hoover was "...not quite as excited as if he were reporting the fact that he had found a Communist on the faculty of Howard University". The next nine months, Hoover never walked over fr. his own ofc. in Justice to offer his condolences
Their only contact over that period was speaking to RFK one day they happened to be entering the bdg. @ the same time, & accepting a pair of DOJ cufflinks fr. the AG as a Christmas gift. Anyway, after FBI called, RFK called Steve Smith, & Princess Lee Radziwill (London).
A parade of sympathizers poured down Chain Bridge Road to Hickory Hill- four women WH staffers, Dean Markham, Whizzer White, other aides, a priest, a Fairfax PD lieutenant w/ 12 men whom he stationed in the bushes. The French ambassador's wife
Ed Guthman said to Bobby "Maybe this will reduce hate"
RFK: "In a few months it will be forgotten"
RFK: "In a few months it will be forgotten"
In the British Embassy David Ormsby-Gore wrote Bobby a note. Bobby wasn't close to Hoover, but did order him to wiretap traveling Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
