Is ROBERT KENNEDY / Mr. KENNEDY / KENNEDY the name being redacted from this FBI document?

[BuyingThyme]

Feel free to attack me for suggesting such a thing.

Just be sure to read the document carefully before doing so.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. No, I don't think so

Context seems to indicate to me we are talking about another African American rather than a Kennedy.

[BuyingThyme]

7. That's what I thought at first.

But every time I tried to find that person, I was led back to Kennedy.

[patrice]

10. "led back", how? nt

[BuyingThyme]

13. I kept finding Kennedy to be the one doing this kind of work.

That might just be because he's the one who gets all the attention.

Please see #4 below.

[Warpy]

2. Unlikely. It looks like they had a tame person they wanted

to replace King with, a nice Uncle Tom who would play ball and not suggest inconvenient things like garbage and transit strikes.

King obviously scared the hell out of the FBI because he was outside any group they'd managed to infiltrate, top heavy with middle class suburban white boys as they were, thanks to Hoover's fear and dread of anyone who didn't have a background or physical appearance like his.

You could pick any conservative black leader from back then and have a better candidate than Kennedy.

[BuyingThyme]

8. But was there a conservative black leader

who could have pulled off such a thing?

Or, more to the point, was there a conservative black leader whom the FBI thought could have pulled off such a thing?

[DURHAM D]

9. Senator Edward Brooke perhaps? eom

[BuyingThyme]

11. The last name is almost definitely seven letters.

[Warpy]

14. Oh, yeah, elder leaders were always being called Uncle Toms

back in those days by folks who'd waited patiently enough, thank you very much, and felt it was time to stop cooperating with Jim Crow.

The elders had their followers, too, and any one of them could have been the subject of this memo.

Because of the redaction, I'd strongly suspect the person had gone on to a career in public office and is still prominent.

[BuyingThyme]

19. It's interesting that we have this document, which is basically a throw-away,

but not the original document to which they refer.

It's as if somebody wanted to get this one out there, perhaps so an asshole like myself could draw conclusions which would make it inconvenient for the power brokers on both sides of the political equation to give James Earl Ray a fair trial.

[gateley]

3. This statement:

"...This might have the effect of increasing the stature of XXXXX who is a capable person and is ambitious."

Doesn't sound as though they're referring to RFK.

What about the document led you to think that might be who XXXXX is?

[BuyingThyme]

4. That line is where I have trouble also.

The thing that initially led me to believe that the redacted name might be that of Robert Kennedy is because it is pretty easy to tell how many letters there are in the first and last names (assuming that one first name and one last name are being used).

But more than that, the interview as discussed in this document above was conducted by Cartha DeLoach. Cartha DeLoach was the number-three guy at the FBI at the time. Moreover, DeLoach was the number-one guy at COINTELPRO at the time. (COINTELPRO was the FBI's anti-commie counterintelligence division.)

I find it very unlikely that DeLoach would have conducted an interview of this sort if not for the fact that the interview was being conducted with a VIP of the stature of Kennedy.

I also believe that this document may have been selectively released only because Kennedy was the subject of the conversation.

I also know of Kennedy's misguided interest in King.

[gateley]

5. Could you enlighten me --

"...I also know of Kennedy's misguided interest in King."

With RFK's disdain of Hoover, I'm not sure they would approach him with such a sensitive proposal, especially since they didn't want it to go any further.

[BuyingThyme]

6. The timing is interesting.

At the time of this activity, as far as I know, Kennedy had just ended his stint as Attorney General, had just been elected to the Senate, but had not yet been sworn in as Senator.

I see this as more of an exit interview than an effort by the FBI to approach Kennedy.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. RFK was used by the FBI and CIA. A little too willingly.

He backed the Civil Rights movement, but caved in to pressure by Hoover and authorized surveillance and wiretaps on Dr. King.

He also backed an assassination attempt by the CIA and Mafia on Fidel Castro.


In '68 I saw him as an opportunistic politician trying to capitalize on the anti-war sentiment that had arisen with the McCarthy candidacy. My opinion of him hasn't changed over the years.

[patrice]

15. So you've got what appears to be two names that may have the same number of letters

as those in Robert Kennedy, a total of 13 counting a space, or 7 if it's only the last name.

And you've got the assumption that DeLoach was too high a paygrade to interview anyone of lesser rank than RFK about a political gambit that was supposed to NATIONALLY REDEFINE the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT from how it was structured at that time.

Am I correct in understanding that these TWO things are your justification for saying this document is about RFK?

[BuyingThyme]

16. Those two things, plus the first name, plus the contexts as described in #4 above,

plus the timing of these activities, plus my understanding of history.

Add to that the fact I want to know the truth.

[patrice]

17. Appears quite constructed to me. You'll either have to lay out more of your case - in detail - or

allow me the opinion that you want a certain "truth".

[BuyingThyme]

18. What do you want to know?

That Kennedy suspected King of being a commie? He did.

That Kennedy wiretapped King because he suspected King of being a commie? He did.

That Kennedy was in a unique position which may have made it possible for him to carry out the deeds as described in the document above. He was.

What else?

What is there about this line of thinking that annoys you?

[ColbertWatcher]

20. It sounds more like someone who is in the FBI.

Maybe an agent or an informant or some other informal agent of sorts.

[BuyingThyme]

21. How 'bout the ex-attorney general?

[ColbertWatcher]

22. It doesn't sound like anyone high up in the agency.

It sounds like a someone on the ground, in the field.

Not someone in an office or high up in the agency.

[BuyingThyme]

23. ..

[BuyingThyme]

24. ..