My view is just the opposite. IMHO John and Bobby were members of the "system". It was a part of them: their backgrounds, their families, their friends, their education, their money, their connections, their wives. And I believe that they were proud of that, and used it to their advantage. Till the day they died, they were insiders and their families are still "insiders". And I believe, they were proud of, and loyal to, their father- and IMHO you can't be more "a part of the System" than Joe Kennedy.
I think Bobby turned to the left only to piss off LBJ. Why else would a former aide to Joe McCarthy run to the left of Hubert Humphrey?
If anyone of that time period was an outsider, it was Richard Nixon. IMHO Nixon desperately wished to be a "member" of the "System", but never was. I think it was a chip he carried on his shoulder for his entire public life.
BTW. I think JFK and RFK were great too. Only a super rich kid would come up with a strategy like the arms race (building weapons you dare never use, and racing to the moon)to drive your opponent's economy into chaos. |
