TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2010


KLMNO POLITICS THE NATION & FBI: Ted Kennedy faced constant threats CALIFORNIA


AGENCY ALSO SPIED ON FAMILY


Senator was closely monitored, papers show


by Jerry Markon


Even as the FBI was investigat- ing repeated threats on the life of Edward M. Kennedy, it was also monitoring what agents viewed as his possible connections to Lat- in American radicals and Soviet spy rings, according to a trove of FBI files on the late senator re- leased Monday. The more than 2,200 pages show that the Massachusetts Democrat was constantly under threat in the years after two of his brothers were assassinated and that Sirhan Sirhan, who fatally shot Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, offered a fellow inmate $1 million to kill Edward Ken- nedy. The FBI investigated the threats, and longtime agency di- rector J. Edgar Hoover displayed a personal kindness toward Ken- nedy, the documents say. But the files — disclosed in re- sponse to requests from news or- ganizations after Kennedy’s death in August — show that Hoover’s legacy of spying on Americans ex- tended to President John F. Ken- nedy’s kid brother. The FBI mon- itored Edward Kennedy’s fact- finding trip to Latin America in 1961, tracked his meetings with what agents called “leftists” and communist sympathizers, and even recovered — and read — Kennedy’s diary of the journey af- ter he left it on an airplane. Agents noted that year that


Kennedy “had recently dined with” a former White House aide to President Franklin D. Roose- velt “whose name had been men- tioned in Washington investiga- tions of Soviet spy rings,” the documents say. Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962. In a statement accompanying the records, the FBI officials said that “at no point” do they suggest Kennedy had been investigated “for a criminal violation or as a se-


Teacher gets life term in girl’s murder


A Sunday school teacher who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering a neighbor girl in Northern California was sen- tenced to prison Monday for the rest of her life. The sentence for Melissa Huck-


aby, 29, was part of a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. Huckaby offered no motive for the killing last year of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu of Tracy, Calif. The victim was a playmate of Huckaby’s daughter; her body was found in a suitcase pulled from an irrigation pond. — Associated Press


WEATHER FBI In 1968, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover sought to ensure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s protection.


“They killed Jack and they killed Bobby, and now they’re


trying to kill me.” — Edward Kennedy in 1969


curity threat” and that “given the Bureau’s long interest in the influ- ence of Central American revolu- tionaries and communists on American radicals, the Bureau took an interest in Kennedy’s travels.” The Kennedy family was shown the files beforehand, an FBI spokesman said, adding that doing so is a courtesy when a prominent person is involved. Historians said the documents contain no startling revelations but shed light on the pressures Kennedy faced over concerns about his safety and his family’s relationship with Hoover’s FBI. Kennedy’s father, Joseph P. Ken- nedy, was friendly with the direc- tor, but Hoover clashed with Rob- ert Kennedy when Kennedy over- saw the FBI as attorney general. Thomas Whalen, a Boston Uni-


versity professor who has written about President Kennedy, said


Hoover’s monitoring of Edward Kennedy’s Latin America trip “was remarkable. He wasn’t ex- actly a fifth column. He was the president’s brother, and they wanted to know exactly who he was talking to.” The bulk of the material covers


FBI investigations of threats of vio- lence and extortion against Ken- nedy. Often in the form of news- paper clippings with scrawled writ- ings, they escalated when he ran for president in 1980. One woman called the FBI’s Miami office in 1979 to say that Kennedy’s body should be dismembered and parts of it “dropped over various South American countries.” Kennedy was acutely aware of such threats but rarely spoke of them publicly. His fears surfaced on an airplane in 1969, less than a year after Robert Kennedy’s death. Then-Sen. Walter F. Mon- dale said that Kennedy, operating on little sleep or food, burst out loud enough for everyone aboard to hear: “They killed Jack and they killed Bobby, and now they’re trying to kill me. . . . They’re trying to kill me!” Kennedy waited 12 years after


Robert’s assassination before running for president, largely be- cause of his family’s concerns


Deal set on campaign spending bill


House could vote this week on measure that would exempt NRA


by Dan Eggen


House Democrats reached a compromise that would exempt the National Rifle Association and other large organizations from proposed campaign finance disclosure rules aimed primarily at large corporations, sources said Monday.


The deal paves the way for a


House vote as soon as this week on the legislation, which is aimed at pushing back against a Su- preme Court ruling this year that freed corporations, unions and nonprofit groups to spend unlim- ited amounts in support of or against political candidates. The legislation would require companies and organizations to identify themselves when they pay for ads, disclose information about such expenditures to share- holders and the public, and stand by the message of any ads through


statements from a chief executive or other top official, much as po- litical candidates must do. Some interest groups had ob-


jected to some of the disclosure requirements, saying they were overly intrusive. Under the House compromise, groups such as the NRA would be exempt from the requirements if they are more than 10 years old, have at least 1million members and receive 15 percent or less of their funding from corporations, a Democratic aide said.


eggend@washpost.com


about such threats, said Robert Shrum, a longtime aide. “You took precautions,” Shrum said in a 2008 interview. “We had a doctor with us everywhere we went. We had ambulances in most places. The memory was there. But you just lived with it.” Some of the threats detailed in


the documents released Monday related to the most controversial episode of Kennedy’s life: the drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne when he drove his car off a bridge on Massachusetts’s Chappaquid- dick Island in 1969. The files con- tain little about Chappaquiddick, but one document informed Hoo- ver of the accident and said Ken- nedy’s role as the driver “is not be- ing revealed to anyone.” Hoover is depicted as wishing


Kennedy well after he was injured in a 1964 plane crash and cheer- fully agreeing to write an essay with recollections about Ken- nedy’s father, who had suffered a stroke three years earlier. The FBI document evaluating


Kennedy’s request for the essay noted that Joseph Kennedy was known to Hoover “on a first-name basis” and that “on numerous oc- casions he has expressed a great admiration for Mr. Hoover and the work of the FBI.” It said that even the senior Kennedy had been investigated by the FBI, in 1951, because of his tenure as owner of Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. The inquiry was dropped. markonj@washpost.com


ALONZO ADAMS/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Staff writer Vincent P. Bzdek contributed to this report.


After a deluge Monday, many Oklahoma City streets were closed, and about 50 people were rescued from rushing water.


Arkansas flash flood claims 20th victim Crews in rural Arkansas found


a 20th victim Monday of a flash flood that swept through a camp- ground, but they continued searching because authorities didn’t know whether the body was that of the last person thought to be missing.


Dozens of people were feared missing after the flood Friday, but authorities narrowed their search Sunday to one person known to have been at the Albert Pike Recreation Area. — Associated Press


Flooding swamps Oklahoma City roads


Crews rescued at least 50 mo- DIGEST


torists and residents Monday af- ter flash flooding washed out roads and inundated neighbor- hoods in the Oklahoma City area. A boat carrying rescuers sank


in swift-moving floodwaters on the city’s north side. No injuries were reported. The area was hit with showers and thunderstorms Monday morning.


— Associated Press NEW YORK


Campaign aide to Bloomberg indicted A Republican operative was in-


dicted Monday on charges that he exploited his political reputation to swindle $1.1 million from New York Mayor Michael R. Bloom- berg. John Haggerty duped Bloom- berg (I) and his political advisers into giving the money to the state Independence Party to help with ballot security during the mayor’s campaign for a third term, Dis- trict Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said. Haggerty laundered the money and used it to buy a house, Vance said. Haggerty pleaded not guilty


Monday. — Associated Press


S.C. Senate candidate protests his loss: Former South Carolina lawmaker Vic Rawl formally pro- tested the results of the U.S. Sen- ate primary he lost last week to Alvin Greene. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) has said he thinks someone put Greene up as a shell candidate to embarrass the Democratic Party. — From news services


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