Bobby was a dedicated leftist. Jack was on our side, if perhaps imperfectly. It’s odd that the left idolize him, even though he was anti-communist. I am convinced that most of the fringe conspiracy theories surrounding his death have their origins among the leftists who never wanted to admit their hero got clipped by one of their own.
RFK, just out of college, got his first job, thanks to daddy, working for Joe McCarthy.
… [JFK] is a powerful speaker with an appeal to the emotions. He leaves little doubt that his idea of the “challenging new world” is one in which the Federal Government will grow bigger and do more and, of course, spend more. I know there must be some short-sighted people in the Republican Party who will advise that the Republicans should try to “out-liberal” him. In my opinion, this would be fatal. […]If JFK backtracked on his plans, it might have been only temporary.
One last thought: Shouldn’t someone tag Mr. Kennedy’s bold new imaginative program with its proper age? Under the tousled boyish haircut is still old Karl Marx — first launched a century ago. There is nothing new in the idea of a Government being Big Brother to us all. Hitler called his “State Socialism”, and way before him, it was “benevolent monarchy.” …
— Reagan to Nixon, 1960