Every time you stand up for an ideal, you send forth a tiny ripple of hope.
– Robert F. Kennedy
This book is not a flattering portrait of RFK. It paints a very dim picture of the former Attorney General, senator and presidential candidate, who got involved with Marilyn Monroe, and possibly played a part in her death (murder). Interwoven with insight into Monroe’s death are the deaths of JFK and Dorothy Kilgallen.
The main thrust of the book is that Monroe knew secrets about the Kennedys (having slept with both JFK and RFK) and was killed to silence her. Kilgallen was supposedly killed because she had discovered information about who really killed JFK (gangsters). JFK was killed because RFK went after the mob while AG, even after they had helped JFK become president by stealing votes for him. So the mob killed JFK to take power away from RFK, which it did temporarily because he left the AG office to become senator from NY. And though the book goes right up until recent years, there is no mention about RFK’s own assassination and who carried that out, or how that was related to this story. Curious.
The author makes a compelling case that Monroe and Kilgallen were neither suicides or accidental overdose victims. As laid out, it is a very plausible narrative that both were killed, rather than dying by less nefarious means. The book is a vivid portrait of these two women, showing them as very fine people. Monroe, smart and savvy, not just a dumb sex symbol. Kilgallen, a devoted mother and excellent writer and crusader.
The book is very long, and the author has an annoying habit of repeating facts he has already told you several times before. A good editor could have shortened this book, and I wasn’t really sold on why it was told the way it was. Yes, the intent was to weave these 3 figures together and show how they died due to actions, directly or indirectly, taken by RFK. But in my opinion it is always best to tell things chronologically, or else the listener does get lost. As with any sprawling history, there are a vast amount of characters to keep track of.
It is impressive the author is still trying to get the justice system to investigate the death of Kilgallen. Attempts have proven fruitless, though there is reportedly a film in the works about the reporter. The narrator is very good, though one thing really rubbed me the wrong way. Calling Joe McCarthy despicable is really absurd since he has been proven over time to have been correct about communist infiltration in the government, and was clearly the victim of murder himself. Perhaps that could be this author’s next project, as that is another figure who has not received the due he deserves.