Over my career as a correspondent, individuals have stood
out in my mind more than events. The Kennedys––Bob and
Jack––especially stood out for me. I had known them for a
good long time because of my coverage of the Senate Labor
Rackets Committee, when Bob was the Chief Counsel for
the committee and Jack was a member of the Senate. They
inspired hope in people and appealed to the better side of our
nature. I had spent a good deal of time with them both
personally and professionally so maybe I was biased.
Bob Kennedy would be my personal hero. He was softhearted
but hard-headed. He had an extraordinary quality of
caring and a deep commitment to make the world a better
place. At times he could be a brass knuckle political street
fighter and at times a rash romantic. Bob and Jack shared the
same unrelenting competitiveness, but their styles were
vividly different. Bob was more emotional, more intense,
more impatient. Jack loved to gossip, Bob loved to argue.
Jack was a pragmatist, Bob was an idealist.
I went with Bob on a campaign train in California a couple
of days before his assassination and did one of the last long
TV interviews that he gave. It was a challenging interview
because he was in a very meditative mood. He was a fatalist
and, with a sigh, he told me, “Look, fate is so fickle... life is
a risk. You deal with what you have. You do what you can.
But most of all you must try.”
Anecdote courtesy of Knowlton Nash, former anchor of the National and journalist for over 60 days.
reprinted with permission from Surviving Adversity--living with Parkinson's disease
