Friday night, Jan. 12, 2013, two of Bobby Kennedy’s children were in Dallas to be interviewed by Charlie Rose. Their appearance was the beginning of the commemorative events in honor of the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made some very exciting remarks about his late father’s previously unheard opinions about the assassination.
For those historians, conspiracy theorists, and Kennedy-ites who continue to seek answers in this American tragedy, there has always been hope that the 50th year would bring some facts to light that had been long buried. If tonight is any clue to what the year will bring, it will be very exciting.
The Houston Chronicle covered the interview held in Dallas at the Winspear Opera House. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. explained that his father was gravely affected by his brother John F. Kennedy’s death and spent a year contemplating the “why” and seeking understanding through reading. He did confirm that his father, Bobby Kennedy, did not think that a lone gunman killed JFK.
He said his father thought the Warren Commission, which concluded Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president, was a "shoddy piece of craftsmanship." He said that he, too, questioned the report.
"The evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman," he said, but he didn't say what he believed may have happened.
Charlie Rose asked him about Bobby Kennedy’s aggressive work against organized crime and whether he thought his father felt a sense of guilt about that.
Kennedy replied: "I think that's true. He talked about that. He publicly supported the Warren Commission report but privately he was dismissive of it."
He said his father had investigators do research into the assassination and found that phone records of Oswald and nightclub owner Jack Ruby, who killed Oswald two days after the president's assassination, "were like an inventory" of mafia leaders the government had been investigating.
He said his father, later elected U.S. senator in New York, was "fairly convinced" that others were involved.
Rory Kennedy focused her remarks on happier memories of her uncle and the life of her mother, about which she is involved in producing a documentary film.
This is just a few weeks into the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and there are already Kennedy family members starting to loosen up and talk. This year could prove to be very interesting.
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