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Bobby Kennedy's Unlikely Path to 'Liberal Icon'

Since his assassination in the summer of 1968, Robert F. Kennedy has been remembered in often broad and conflicting strokes. To many he was a progressive martyr who fought against racism and poverty, but to others he was a flip-flopping politician who aided Senator Joe McCarthy and had Martin Luther King Jr. wiretapped. Biographer Larry Tye deconstructs the mythos surrounding the late senator in his new book, "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon." Tye joins us to talk about Kennedy's complex contradictions, his development from untested appointee to respected politician and what we can learn from his brief life.
Michael Krasny
51:40
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy speaking to a crowd through a megaphone outside the Justice Department. (Photo: Library of Congress)

Since his assassination in the summer of 1968, Robert F. Kennedy has been remembered in often broad and conflicting strokes. To many he was a progressive martyr who fought against racism and poverty, but to others he was a flip-flopping politician who aided Senator Joe McCarthy and had Martin Luther King Jr. wiretapped. Biographer Larry Tye deconstructs the mythos surrounding the late senator in his new book, “Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon.” Tye joins us to talk about Kennedy’s complex contradictions, his development from untested appointee to respected politician and what we can learn from his brief life.

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Guests:

Larry Tye, author, "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon"; his past books include "Home Lands" and "Satchel"

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