Robert Kennedy in Jerusalem, 1948.
I am a Jew from Brooklyn, New York. Thus, like virtually all baby boom Jews, I was reared as a lever-pulling Democrat. We were told that Democrats were for the poor and Israel and Republicans were rich people who hated Jews.
It was that simple, that simple-minded.
I don’t think I met a Republican until well into my 20′s when a Jewish movie producer with whom I worked let slip that he belonged to the Republican party. I smugly told myself that that made sense since this producer didn’t even go to synagogue on Yom Kippur and was quite wealthy. But as I got to know him, his ideology came into focus and I realized that his arguments were far superior to mine. In fact, I sounded like an uninformed, petulant child.
The Democrat party of my childhood, the party of John and Robert Kennedy no longer exists. If you read their speeches they sound like Conservative Republicans.
The Democrats destroyed families and enslaved the American poor via Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. It is Republicans who labor to break the shackles of dependancy and entitlements.
Further, the love and support for Israel embodied in such towering Democrat intellectuals as Daniel P. Moynihan and Henry “Scoop” Jackson are now extinct among Democrats. It is Republicans who champion Israel and recognize Islamic terrorism as the major threat to freedom across the globe. Democrats are preoccupied with so-called global warming/climate change/green energy, all false flag operations whose real purpose is to increase taxes, regulations and diminish America’s sovereignty. In fact, a good part of the Democrat party are anti-Israel who have hitched their fates to J street, an Obama front financed in large part by George Soros.
My friend Carl in Jerusalem who runs the fine blog Israel Matzav has a fascinating story about Robert Kennedy’s passionate Zionism and his subsequent assassination by Palestinian terrorist Sirhan Sirhan, a reminder that Democrats once proudly stood with the Jewish State.
Many of you may recognize the street scene between the King David Hotel and the David’s Citadel Hotel. Some of you may even recognize the man in the picture – Robert F. Kennedy – who was assassinated by a ‘Palestinian’ terrorist and died 44 years ago today, June 6. But this picture is much older. It’s from 1948, and Bobby Kennedy had ridden in a Haganah convoy to get to besieged Jerusalem where the picture was taken. He had suffered the wrath of his father for coming here (Joe Kennedy was a notorious anti-Semite), and his fiancee broke their engagement over the trip (he married her sister Ethel instead).
To read the full story, please go to Israel Matzav.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
19 Comments
Robert, I was raised in a union household with a picture of JFK in the living room so I looked at Republicans the same way you did until Jimmy Carter was president. 1976 was the first and last time I voted for a Democrat and surveying the party today it is beyond my imagination I will ever vote for one again.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
5 
0
Johnny:
My Bar Mitzvah took place the day after John Kennedy was assasinated. Mine was the gloomiest Bar Mitzvah celebration ever to take place in America.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
I’ll match that with my son’s bar mitzvah, which took place a day or two after 9/11.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
I was always conservative, meaning an FDR Democrat. I knew as it was happening that presidential term limits were a mistake. In any case in the early 1960s I picked up a copy of Concience Of A Conservative and recognized myself. All of my friends and acquaintances self described themselves as liberals or pragmatists. I thought there was something wrong with them. Still do. Early onset lack of character perhaps. And, by the way, the movie star friend I’ve mentioned from time to time, Louis Hayward, also an FDR Democrat. But a member of the U.S. Marine Corp. A veteran of Tarawa and decorated appropriately. Bronze Star, Presidential Unit Citation. Different people in those days.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Barry:
I just saw Louis Hayward starring opposite Hedy Lamarr in “The Strange Woman.” He is very good. I believe Eddie Albert also served on Tarawa. Indeed, they were a different breed of actor.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
Robert:
The Strange Woman was produced by Lamarr and successful. She cross financed it with Dishonered Lady and didn’t come out so well the second time. For Louis it marked the first of three films for Edgar Ulmer, his closest friend. Louis and Eddie Albert ran into one another at Tarawa. Different actors, but both pretty good guys. There is a superb book, Tarawa — Hell of Way To Die by Derrick Wright detailing this nightmare.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Robert – in some ways how you got to conservatism is more noble than my path. I have never been anything else – even at age 14 working for the Goldwater campaign as a precinct worker (as an aside with history did he say anything that was wrong?)
You started out at the other end and though reflection and a willingness to consider other ideas – changed. Most people cannot do that.
And I remember the day after he was assassinated – CA had an unseasonable rain.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Bill:
I remember thinking that Goldwater was crazy.Now I know he was a lucid and eloquent Conservative.
My friend Michael Medved was also a Democrat. He worked for Bobby Kennedy’s presidential campaign and was there the night of the assassination.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
I’d love to know who that Republican producer was, Robert. But I certainly understand why you might not want to reveal his identity in public.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
kbudge:
That producer is no longer in the movie business. He retired to a quiet life of golf. I once told him that he had a huge influence on my life via his politics. He was stunned but pleased.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Yes sir, yes sir. This is the proper context to evaluate the American political scene at this time. An aside. Last evening, CNN and the Wolfman continued, despite the graphic being run, to call the Wisconsin gubernatorial assasination election as close, based on their exit polling. Exit polling isn’t news. At best no more than a guideline for commentary. The result is also not anti-labor, nor anti the working men and women who hold a vairiey of pulbic sector jobs. It is, of course, anti-gangsterism. Now, if we could move some of that into Illinois…
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
4 
0
and California!
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Barry:
CNN was very funny last night. When it was clear that Walker was in they switched to England and the Queen’s Jubilee.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Yes, Robert, but funny is not entirely appropriate.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
can anyone say ‘Schadenfreude” for CNN?
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
I URGE you to read Robert Caro’s latest book about LBJ. In it, he details how RFK became a supporter of Israel in spite of his father’s very blatant and searing anti-Semitism.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
4 
0
Jake:
Ordered a copy. Thanks so much.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Dear Robert: In 1968, everybody called it what it was, ARAB terrorism.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
6 
0
Miranda:
Yup.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0