This was brought up before in USMB thread: http://www.usmessageboard.com/polit...undermine-us-policy-in-1980-a.html#post499268
The link provided in the above post does not still work; below I provide another source for the letter, not from Kennedy but from President of the committee V. Chebrikov to "Comrade Y.V. Andropov" is in the middle of the text quoting Chebrikov's letter document to Andropov.
The date on the document is 14.05.1983 which I take as May 14, 1983 because of concurring text in the letter; as follows: On 9-10 May of this year, Senator Edward Kennedys close friend and trusted confidant J. Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov: <SNIP> "
Click here to read full TEXT OF KGB LETTER ON SENATOR TED KENNEDY
Excerpts ...The senator underscored that he eagerly awaits a reply to his appeal, the answer to which may be delivered through Tunney. ...<SNIP>
"Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988. At that time, he will be 56 and his personal problems, which could hinder his standing, will be resolved (Kennedy has just completed a divorce and plans to remarry in the near future). Taken together, Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president. This would explain why he is convinced that none of the candidates today have a real chance at defeating Reagan.
We await instructions.
President of the committee V. Chebrikov"
Later, It was the summer of 1985, a year after the second Reagan landslide, and there was a particular speech coming up that was important to the president and first lady. It was a fund-raiser for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which at the time was relatively new and the only presidential library that didnt have an endowment. The event was at Ted Kennedys house. The senator had asked the Reagans to help out. ....
The above paragraph is from this article by Peggy Noonan: Peggy Noonan: The Reagans and the Kennedys - WSJ.com
And this is a part of what Ronald Reagan said of John F. Kennedy, on a warm dark night in the floodlit garden of Ted Kennedy's home in McLean, Va.:
"As a leader, as a president, he seemed to have a good, hard, unillusioned understanding of man and his political choices. He had written a book as a very young man about why the world slept as Hitler marched on, and he understood the tension between good and evil in the history of manunderstood, indeed, that much of the history of man can be seen in the constant working out of that tension.
"He was a patriot who summoned patriotism from the heart of a sated country. It is a matter of pride to me that so many young men and women who were inspired by his bracing vision and moved by his call to 'Ask not' serve now in the White House doing the business of government.
"Which is not to say I supported John Kennedy when he ran for president, because I didn't. I was for the other fellow. But you know, it's true: When the battle's over and the ground is cooled, well, it's then that you see the opposing general's valor.
"He would have understood. He was fiercely, happily partisan, and his political fights were tough, no quarter asked and none given. But he gave as good as he got, and you could see that he loved the battle.
Wednesday, the day after Ted Kennedy died, Nancy Reagan said "We were close," she said of their friendship, "and it didn't make any difference to Ronnie or to Ted that one was a Republican and one a Democrat." "I'll miss him very much," she said. "I'm sure we'll all miss him."
It may not have mattered to Reagan that Kennedy was a Democrat, but to Kennedy it did matter that Reagan was a Republican - except when he needed Reagans help. It also helps to realize that Ted Kennedy was not a whole lot like his brother.
Edward Moore Kennedy, 1932-2009, rest in peace.
The link provided in the above post does not still work; below I provide another source for the letter, not from Kennedy but from President of the committee V. Chebrikov to "Comrade Y.V. Andropov" is in the middle of the text quoting Chebrikov's letter document to Andropov.
The date on the document is 14.05.1983 which I take as May 14, 1983 because of concurring text in the letter; as follows: On 9-10 May of this year, Senator Edward Kennedys close friend and trusted confidant J. Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov: <SNIP> "
Click here to read full TEXT OF KGB LETTER ON SENATOR TED KENNEDY
Excerpts ...The senator underscored that he eagerly awaits a reply to his appeal, the answer to which may be delivered through Tunney. ...<SNIP>
"Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988. At that time, he will be 56 and his personal problems, which could hinder his standing, will be resolved (Kennedy has just completed a divorce and plans to remarry in the near future). Taken together, Kennedy does not discount that during the 1984 campaign, the Democratic party may officially turn to him to lead the fight against the Republicans and elect their candidate president. This would explain why he is convinced that none of the candidates today have a real chance at defeating Reagan.
We await instructions.
President of the committee V. Chebrikov"
Later, It was the summer of 1985, a year after the second Reagan landslide, and there was a particular speech coming up that was important to the president and first lady. It was a fund-raiser for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, which at the time was relatively new and the only presidential library that didnt have an endowment. The event was at Ted Kennedys house. The senator had asked the Reagans to help out. ....
The above paragraph is from this article by Peggy Noonan: Peggy Noonan: The Reagans and the Kennedys - WSJ.com
And this is a part of what Ronald Reagan said of John F. Kennedy, on a warm dark night in the floodlit garden of Ted Kennedy's home in McLean, Va.:
"As a leader, as a president, he seemed to have a good, hard, unillusioned understanding of man and his political choices. He had written a book as a very young man about why the world slept as Hitler marched on, and he understood the tension between good and evil in the history of manunderstood, indeed, that much of the history of man can be seen in the constant working out of that tension.
"He was a patriot who summoned patriotism from the heart of a sated country. It is a matter of pride to me that so many young men and women who were inspired by his bracing vision and moved by his call to 'Ask not' serve now in the White House doing the business of government.
"Which is not to say I supported John Kennedy when he ran for president, because I didn't. I was for the other fellow. But you know, it's true: When the battle's over and the ground is cooled, well, it's then that you see the opposing general's valor.
"He would have understood. He was fiercely, happily partisan, and his political fights were tough, no quarter asked and none given. But he gave as good as he got, and you could see that he loved the battle.
Wednesday, the day after Ted Kennedy died, Nancy Reagan said "We were close," she said of their friendship, "and it didn't make any difference to Ronnie or to Ted that one was a Republican and one a Democrat." "I'll miss him very much," she said. "I'm sure we'll all miss him."
It may not have mattered to Reagan that Kennedy was a Democrat, but to Kennedy it did matter that Reagan was a Republican - except when he needed Reagans help. It also helps to realize that Ted Kennedy was not a whole lot like his brother.
Edward Moore Kennedy, 1932-2009, rest in peace.
