MAY 19, 2012
GOING NATIONWIDE II
Knoxville, Tennessee (JFK+50) Today we continue our report on Chapter 5 of the book by Kenneth P. O'Donnell & David F. Powers with Joe McCarthy. It is published by Little, Brown & Company.
The title of Chapter 5 is GOING NATIONWIDE.
Kenneth O'Donnell discusses Bobby Kennedy's service & his own assistance on the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field.
This was more commonly known as The Senate Rackets Committee.
Kenny writes that he was not personally anxious to join Robert F. Kennedy on this committee because of the work to be done for Jack in the 1958 Senate race.*
*Senator Kennedy was also a member of the committee.
But Kenny went on to serve as Bobby's assistant on the committee. JFK, however, did not know this & when he found out about it, he was not pleased.
Kenny says, however, that both Kennedy brothers "carried themselves like champions" in their service on the committee.
In regard to a part of the hearings between the United Auto Workers & the Kohler Company, Kenny says...
"The real star of the UAW-Kohler hearings, in my biased opinion, was Senator (John F.) Kennedy. Sharp & penetrating, fair & objective, he never hesitated in pinning down a piece of evidence against the company management & in favor of the union, even though he was well aware of the political risk he was taking in making such a stand."
Kenny also tells us that from that point on, JFK was seen by labor leaders as a "solid & intelligently grounded liberal."**
**Organized Labor would go on to support Senator Kennedy in his bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 1960.
Kenneth O'Donnell discusses Bobby Kennedy's service & his own assistance on the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field.
This was more commonly known as The Senate Rackets Committee.
Kenny writes that he was not personally anxious to join Robert F. Kennedy on this committee because of the work to be done for Jack in the 1958 Senate race.*
*Senator Kennedy was also a member of the committee.
But Kenny went on to serve as Bobby's assistant on the committee. JFK, however, did not know this & when he found out about it, he was not pleased.
Kenny says, however, that both Kennedy brothers "carried themselves like champions" in their service on the committee.
In regard to a part of the hearings between the United Auto Workers & the Kohler Company, Kenny says...
"The real star of the UAW-Kohler hearings, in my biased opinion, was Senator (John F.) Kennedy. Sharp & penetrating, fair & objective, he never hesitated in pinning down a piece of evidence against the company management & in favor of the union, even though he was well aware of the political risk he was taking in making such a stand."
Kenny also tells us that from that point on, JFK was seen by labor leaders as a "solid & intelligently grounded liberal."**
**Organized Labor would go on to support Senator Kennedy in his bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 1960.
