Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-Off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover that Transformed America - Softcover

Hersh, Burton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465006078 ISBN 13: 9780465006076

Publisher: Basic Books, 2008

Synopsis

In this riveting account of the explosive relationship between Robert F. Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover, renowned journalist and author Burton Hersh sets their highly publicized clashes in the context of Joe Kennedy’s ongoing manipulation of Congress and his children’s careers, and his lifelong connections to organized crime. Theirs was a unique triumvirate, marked by conflict and betrayal, and culminating in a near-Shakespearean tragedy. Based on compelling new research, and told in gripping anecdotal style, Hersh chronicles the complex relationship between the two antagonists, from their early brushes during the McCarthy years to their controversial deaths.

About this title

About the Author:

Burton Hersh has chronicled the Kennedy family for over thirty-five years. He is the author of numerous books, including the controversial and acclaimed The Old Boys: The American Elite and the Origins of the CIA and The Education of Edward Kennedy. He divides his time between New Hampshire and Florida.

From Publishers Weekly:

Starred Review. Historian and journalist Hersh (The Old Boys) might well have titled his excellent book "Collision Course," for that is exactly what J. Edgar Hoover and the Kennedys were on from as early as the 1930s. The many tensions between Bobby (as both attorney general and senator) and the power-hungry FBI director are well known. What Hersh brings to the party is important new research and intensive analysis revealing the complex background attendant to the confrontations of the 1960s. The third party to RFK's and Hoover's sparring was Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., whose long history of professional affiliations with such gangsters as Johnny Rosselli, and amorous flirtations with the likes of Gloria Swanson, swelled one of Hoover's secret files and (like JFK's peccadilloes) did much to complicate dealings with "the Director." Joe's past still overshadowed everything when in December 1961 the father was incapacitated by a stroke, leaving his boys to deal with an FBI head who secretly despised not only the father but his brood. On this stage, in a drama populated by such fascinating and contradictory characters as Roy Cohn, Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Hoffa and mob boss Carlos Marcello, Hersh reveals the ways of power, deceit and survival-of-the-fittest in Kennedy-era D.C. (June 1)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0465006078
• ISBN 13: 9780465006076
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 673