RFK Jr.: The Next JFK or the Next LBJ?

RFK Jr.: The Next JFK or the Next LBJ?

I am writing this as someone who has long admired Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Indeed, I thought so highly of him that I dedicated my first book America’s Last President: What the World Lost When It Lost John F. Kennedy to him and wrote my second book Echoes of a Lost America: Unraveling the Murder of JFK with him partly in mind. I continue to commend him for many of his views and applaud his courage when it comes to the issues of medical freedom and corporate corruption. However, despite RFK Jr.’s claims that he is fully aligned on all issues with his uncle, I have come to the realization that when it comes to one vital matter, he is the polar opposite of John F. Kennedy. The man RFK Jr. resembles is actually Lyndon Johnson. That matter, of course, is the Middle East.

John F. Kennedy’s Middle East policies have been obscured for decades, and it is unclear if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is even aware of his uncle’s struggles in this area. Before getting into the details, it is important to preface that John F. Kennedy’s goal in the region was peace and prosperity for all—Israelis and Arabs alike. He was not pro or anti either side. He was simply pro-peace and pro-prosperity.

Despite these objectives, it is well documented that John F. Kennedy struggled immensely with Israel during his presidency. Indeed, in the words of Israeli minister Mordechai Gazit, “the US/Israeli relationship was entering a state of crisis” in the days before JFK’s assassination.[1] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has proclaimed that Israel has often offered to compromise and accommodate its Palestinian neighbors over its 75-year history. He has blamed the Arabs for the failure to achieve peace in the region.[2] But the Arabs have not been the only entity who has tried to negotiate with Israel. JFK attempted to reach an agreement on a peaceful solution with Israel as well. Based on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claim that Israel was always willing to negotiate and trade for peace, he is essentially implying that the tension in the US/Israeli relationship that existed during his uncle’s presidency was the sole fault of his uncle, and Israel bears no responsibility. If even John F. Kennedy could not manage to negotiate with Israel effectively, how can the Arabs be blamed for the same? And John F. Kennedy’s failure was not for lack of trying.

There were four significant areas of tension during JFK’s presidency that led to the “state of crisis” in relations between the U.S. and Israel: 1) JFK’s support of Palestinian right of return, 2) JFK’s desire to maintain friendly relations with the Arabs, 3) JFK’s attempts to register the American Zionist Council, a lobby group, later replaced by AIPAC, as a foreign agent, and 4) Israel’s nuclear weapons program.

Early on in his presidency, JFK committed himself, via letters to Arab leaders, to UN Resolution 194, Article 11, which called for the Palestinian right of return.[3] He initially worked with Joseph E. Johnson, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who came up with a proposal that would give each refugee a choice between repatriation (return to Israel); reparations (no return, but compensation for lost property); or resettlement, with compensation for lost property, to primarily other Arab countries or potentially non-Arab nations.[4]

Johnson believed that only approximately 10 percent of refugees would choose to return and that the rest would choose resettlement, partly because compensation was set in favor of resettlement and partly because the land they left in 1948 no longer existed. He felt the refugees understood the return would be to Israel and not Palestine. As such, the number choosing to return would remain reasonably small. Johnson, as well as US representatives, repeatedly stressed to Israel that they could pull out at any point if Johnson’s estimates were not accurate.[5] JFK even suggested going slowly, starting with small numbers, to get a better gauge of where the percentages would fall when it came to refugee choice, to make Israel feel more comfortable with the plan.[6]

In hopes of finalizing the refugee negotiations, JFK even reluctantly agreed to sell Israel defensive Hawk missiles in hopes of a quid pro quo.[7] When progress on the refugee issue failed to materialize, JFK’s frustrations were documented in an internal White House memo:

1. We have, during the past year, conscientiously sought to meet a number of Israeli concerns. We have a) assured them of our support on the Jordan Waters; b) given them a firmer statement of US interest in Israel’s well-being and security; c) agreed to provide Hawk missiles at some cost to our relations with other countries in the area; and d) provided an increased level of economic assistance.

2. Yet there has been no practical progress on the refugee question. In fact, the recent conversation between [Israeli Foreign Minister] Mrs. [Golda] Meir and the secretary indicate to us that Israel is saying, for all practical purposes, it will not accept any refugees and that no progress can be made on this question in the immediate future. We cannot accept this. The president is concerned—in fact he is dissatisfied—that Israel has not been more forthcoming.

3. We cannot and will not accept the status quo on this matter. We want and expect Israeli cooperation on the basis of the formula discussed by the president and [Israeli Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion in 1961; some repatriation and plenty of resettlement.[8]

JFK foresaw his struggles with Israel as far back as 1939 when he expressed in a letter to his father that some of the Zionist leadership (Israel had not yet been established) possessed an “unfortunately arrogant, uncompromising attitude.” He also wrote, “On the Jewish side there is the desire for complete domination, with Jerusalem as the capital of their new land of milk and honey, with the right to colonize in Trans-Jordan.”[9]

The second major area of tension between John F. Kennedy and Israel was JFK’s desire to build good relations with the Arab states. He listed possible better relations with Egypt as one of the top items to explore during his presidency.[10] In early 1962, Kennedy approved a three-year, $500 million PL-480 food package for Egypt and a loan designed to stabilize the Egyptian economy. This surge in American aid led Kennedy foreign policy advisor Chester Bowles to predict Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser would take up a “key role in bringing the Middle East peacefully into our modern world.”[11] Israel, however, greatly objected to Kennedy’s approach. Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion wrote to JFK:

I am aware that financial aid granted by the United States is meant to help in the economic development of the country and to improve the conditions of life of the Egyptian people. Indeed, if Egypt were not planning the annihilation of Israel, Western financial aid could be regarded as a very positive action. However, in the present state of affairs, the aid serves, notwithstanding the good intentions of those who grant it, to set the Russian arms in motion against Israel.[12]

Kennedy was not amused by the accusations in Ben-Gurion’s letter and responded:

I continue to believe that the efforts of the United States to develop effective relations with the Arab states are in fact in the long-term interest of Israel at least as much as of the United States or the Arab countries themselves. These effective relations, in my judgement, have significantly increased our influence with Arab leaders, and this influence is always exercised on behalf of the peace of the area and with full regard for the security of Israel. Thus, I really cannot agree with the suggestion that our limited economic assistance to the United Arab Republic can be considered as a force which serves “to set the Russian arms in motion against Israel when the opportunity offers.”[13]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in multiple recent interviews, has stated that the Palestinians have been given more aid than Europe received during the Marshall Plan.[14] Perhaps if one considers 75 years of assistance in today’s dollars, that is possible. However, his uncle complained bitterly that the Congress was denying him the ability to give aid to foreign nations, and in particular, Arab nations, even though the amount he was asking for was far less than what was distributed during the Marshall Plan and was to be disbursed among far more people.[15] His uncle’s statements contradict Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claims.

In November 1963, Senator Ernest Gruening proposed an amendment—targeted at Egypt—that would deny aid to any state deemed to be engaged in or preparing for aggression against another recipient of US aid.[16]

In an internal White House memo, it was implied that JFK felt Israel may have encouraged Gruening to push the amendment to block JFK’s aid to Egypt. R. W. Komer, senior staff member of the National Security Council, responsible for Middle Eastern affairs, wrote to JFK what he had communicated to Israel:

We were expected to subsidize Israel, both privately and publicly, to support her to the hilt on every issue, to meet all of her security requirements, and to defend her if attacked. In return, we did not even know what she intended to do in such critical fields as missiles and nuclear weapons. … What kind of a relationship was this? … Couldn’t the Israeli government acknowledge just once that the U.S. had a defensible position in attempting to maintain good relations with the Arab states?[17]

This leads us to the third source of tension between John F. Kennedy and Israel: his attempt to register the American Zionist Council, a lobby group, as a foreign agent. According to Judge Simon Rifkind [representing AZC], the request for registration “would eventually destroy the Zionist movement”.[18] JFK, nonetheless, persisted. During his campaign announcement speech, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proclaimed that those who cannot afford lobbies need the Kennedys, and those are the people he will help as president.[19] Indeed, those are the people his uncle helped when he requested that the American Zionist Council register as a foreign agent for the Palestinians have no lobby. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., however, sounds like an AIPAC spokesman every time the subject of Israel arises. He long ago abdicated his own campaign promise. Some campaign rhetoric is always expected, and indeed, JFK himself spoke at the Zionists for America convention while campaigning in 1960. But even in that speech, he spoke of the need for Israel to build a peaceful and cooperative relationship with its neighbors and the need to resolve the refugee problem.[20]

The last, and arguably greatest, source of tension between John F. Kennedy and Israel was Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Throughout the spring of 1963, JFK sent multiple requests to Israel asking for thorough semi-annual inspections of their nuclear facility at Dimona. After numerous attempts to dodge Kennedy’s demands, Ben-Gurion finally replied to JFK regarding inspections on May 29, 1963, and suggested an inspection either at the end of the year or early 1964.[21]

Kennedy responded on June 15, 1963, just a few days after his famous American University “Peace Speech,” in which he called for a nuclear test ban treaty as the first step to potential disarmament. In his letter responding to Ben-Gurion, JFK requested more detailed, more frequent inspections, starting immediately, during the early summer of 1963, not at the end of the year, otherwise: “This government’s commitment to and support of Israel could be seriously jeopardized if it should be thought that we are unable to obtain reliable information on a subject as vital to peace as the question of the character of Israel’s effort in the nuclear field.”[22]

On July 22, 2023, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. condemned US Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz for supporting Congresswoman Ilan Omar’s “appointment to the Foreign Relations Committee despite Omar’s advocacy of a boycott of Israel.”[23] If one applies RFK Jr.’s logic to 1963, RFK Jr. is implying that his uncle deserved to be removed from office as anyone who seeks to withhold funding from Israel is apparently unworthy of representing the American people. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sent a letter to the Israeli ambassador in Washington in which he stated of JFK’s support for the Palestinian right of return, “Israel will regard this plan as a more serious danger to her existence than all the threats of the Arab dictators and kings, than all the Arab armies, than all of Nasser’s missiles and his Soviet MIGs. … Israel will fight against this implementation down to the last man.”[24] RFK Jr. has repeatedly claimed that Israel needs to be tough with its Palestinian neighbors because those neighbors are a threat to Israel’s security.[25] But according to Israel’s founding prime minister, JFK’s stance was more dangerous to Israel than the collective threat of all the Arab states. Following RFK Jr.’s logic, does that imply that any action was permissible to achieve a change in JFK’s policies?

As JFK’s letter outlining his ultimatum arrived in Israel on June 16, 1963, Ben-Gurion resigned, never accepting receipt of the letter.[26] By Ben-Gurion resigning, Israel was able to get a six-month delay on JFK’s demands for immediate inspections. JFK reluctantly agreed to wait until the end of the year, as the new prime minister, Levi Eshkol, needed time to get his bearings. However, JFK made it clear he wanted inspections to occur before the nuclear reactor went critical, as once the reactor was critical, much of it would be radioactive and closed off.[27] JFK, however, never made it to the end of the year. He was assassinated. Annual cursory inspections did occur under Johnson, but they were limited in nature, and the first inspection did not occur until early 1964 after the reactor had already gone critical. According to historian Stephen Green, Lyndon Johnson’s White House “saw no Dimona, heard no Dimona, and spoke no Dimona when the reactor went critical in early 1964.”[28] Lyndon Johnson himself proclaimed in a declassified phone conversation, “I spent a lot of time with him [Ben-Gurion] back when they were in real problems, and they were getting ready to sanction [in 1963 over Dimona]. I just came down here and said, ‘Hell no. That can’t be.’ And I stopped it.”[29]

RFK Jr. proclaimed that he has no issues with Israel possessing nuclear weapons as “Israel will never use them.”[30] He fails to understand the broader geopolitical implications of Israel being a nuclear state as explained by his uncle: “We are concerned with the disturbing effects on world stability which would accompany the development of a nuclear weapons capability by Israel. … Development of a nuclear weapons capability by Israel would almost certainly lead other countries that have so far refrained from such development to feel that they must follow suit.”[31]

After JFK’s assassination, Lyndon Johnson reversed all of Kennedy’s policies toward Israel. Had JFK lived, it is questionable whether Israel would have nuclear weapons today and whether AIPAC would have the influence it has. The refugee issue may very well have been resolved, and the 1967 Six-Day War, which led to the occupation of the Palestinian territories, almost certainly would not have happened. Neither would the USS Liberty attack have occurred.

John F. Kennedy spoke of how America’s first president, George Washington, had warned Americans about passionate attachments to other nations. JFK proclaimed, “Washington told our forefathers in this country to reject permanent, inveterate, antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others and said any nation failing in this is to some degree a slave. He warned against foreign influences, which seek to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion.”[32]

Based on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s statements over the last few years, I would argue that he has failed to heed his uncle’s warnings. He has indeed developed a passionate attachment to a nation other than the one for which he ran to be president, even going as far as proclaiming that as president, his support of Israel would be “unconditional.”[33] His uncle believed that people who thought issues were simple and that answers were obvious were dangerous people.[34] RFK Jr.’s passionate attachment to a foreign nation has caused him to oversimplify the problems in the Middle East. It has caused him to lay all blame on one party and no blame on the other. Indeed, it has caused him to fail to learn yet another lesson from his uncle: peace is a process, a way of solving problems. According to John F. Kennedy, to achieve peace, one must look inward at the role of one’s own actions in contributing to the conflict. One must also put themselves in the shoes of their adversary.[35] How can one possibly achieve peace if one is incapable of criticizing one of the two sides? If one is unwilling to follow the process of peace, how can one ever expect an outcome of peace?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may claim to have run for president as an independent, but he is not acting as such. When I first heard that he was running for president, I thought to myself, if he wins, I will happily change the title of my book. Unfortunately, it has become evident that even if RFK Jr. had won, the title of my book, America’s Last President, would still have applied to John F. Kennedy. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked at the bottom of his campaign emails, “Donate today to put a Kennedy back in the White House.” He failed to understand that the last name Kennedy is not what made his uncle special. It was his uncle’s actions that made him the great man that he was. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may share his uncle’s last name, but his actions are those of Lyndon Johnson, the man who reversed all of John F. Kennedy’s Middle East policies, gave blind and unconditional—and some would argue treasonous—support and allegiance to a foreign nation, and solidified the US/Israeli relationship that persists until today.

My intention in writing this was not to attack RFK Jr.—he still embodies many traits I greatly admire—but to emphasize how poorly JFK’s policies are understood, even by those who hold him in high regard and see themselves as continuing his work. Perhaps one day, RFK Jr. will still follow in his uncle’s footsteps.

---

[1] John F. Kennedy Administration: Memorandum on Palestinian Refugee Item in UN, Relations with Arabs (November 21, 1963), Jewish Virtual Library, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/memorandum-on-palestinian-refugee-item-in-un-relations-with-arabs-november-1963.

[2] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Interview, Fox News, October 10, 2023,

[3] Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files. Countries. United Arab Republic: Subjects: Nasser correspondence, 1961: May-July. JFKNSF-169-004. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKNSF/169/JFKNSF-169-004.

[4] Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files. Robert W. Komer Files. Arab Refugees, 1961-1963 (3 of 3 folders). JFKNSF-408-003. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKNSF/408/JFKNSF-408-003.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files. Robert W. Komer Files. Arab Refugees, 1961-1963 (2 of 3 folders). JFKNSF-408-002. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKNSF/408/JFKNSF-408-002.

[7] John F. Kennedy Administration: Memorandum Responding to Israeli Security Guarantee Requests (May 16, 1963), Jewish Virtual Library, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/memorandum-responding-to-israeli-security-guarantee-requests-may-1963.

[8] Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files. Robert W. Komer Files. Arab Refugees, 1961-1963 (2 of 3 folders). JFKNSF-408-002. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKNSF/408/JFKNSF-408-002.

[9] Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files. Special Events Through the Years. Letter written to his father following trip to Palestine, 1939, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/135/JFKPOF-135-001.

[10] Schlesinger, A Thousand Days, 566.

[11] Muehlenbeck, Betting on the Africans, 128.

[12] Prime Minister Ben-Gurion to President Kennedy, 12 May 1963, with State Department memo attached, 14 May 1963, Secret, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18718-national-security-archive-doc-19-prime-minister.

[13] State Department telegram 780 to U.S. Embassy, Israel [transmitting letter from President Kennedy to Prime Minister Ben-Gurion], 4 May 1963, with State Department memo attached, Secret, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18719-national-security-archive-doc-20-state.

[14] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Interview, Breaking Points, December 15, 2023,

[15] News Conference 64, November 14, 1963, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-press-conferences/news-conference-64 and Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President's Office Files. Speech Files. Remarks to Protestant Council of the City of New York on receiving Family of Man award, 8 November 1963, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkwha-237-005.

[16] Rakove, Kennedy, Johnson, and the Nonaligned World, 189.

[17] John F. Kennedy Administration: Memorandum on Palestinian Refugee Item in UN, Relations with Arabs (November 21, 1963), Jewish Virtual Library, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/memorandum-on-palestinian-refugee-item-in-un-relations-with-arabs-november-1963.

[18] October 17, 1963, DOJ memo on AZC, The Israel Lobby Archive, https://www.israellobby.org/azcdoj/P6100028-29azcobligate/default.asp.

[19] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Announces Presidential Campaign, https://www.c-span.org/video/?527511-1/robert-kennedy-jr-announces-2024-presidential-campaign.

[20] Papers of John F. Kennedy. Pre-Presidential Papers. Presidential Campaign Files, 1960. Speeches and the Press. Speeches, Statements, and Sections, 1958-1960. Foreign affairs: America’s Leadership for Peace in the Middle East, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKCAMP1960/1030/JFKCAMP1960-1030-003.

[21] U.S. Embassy Israel Airgram A-746 to State Department, “Visits to Dimona; Prime Minister Ben-Gurion’s Letter of May 27 to President Kennedy,” 29 May 1963, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18729-national-security-archive-doc-30-u-s-embassy.

[22] State Department telegram 938 to U.S. Embassy Israel, 15 June 1963, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18732-national-security-archive-doc-33-state.

[23] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tweet, July 22, 2022,

https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1682794525587275776.

[24] George W. Ball and Douglas B. Ball, The Passionate Attachment (New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co., 1992), 51.

[25] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Interview, Breaking Points, December 15, 2023,

[26] Ibid.

[27] Memorandum of Conversation, “McCloy’s Near East Arms Limitation Probe; Security Guarantee for Israel,” July 23, 1963, National Security Archive, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18736-national-security-archive-doc-37-memorandum.

[28] Guyénot, The Unspoken Kennedy Truth, 38, and Green, Taking Sides: America’s Secret Relations with Militant Israel, 166.

[29] Telephone Conversation #6862, Lyndon Johnson and Abe Feinberg, February 20, 1965, https://www.discoverlbj.org/item/tel-06862.

[30] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Interview, Fighting Antisemitism and Champagning Israel, July 27, 2023,

[31] Department of State telegram 835 to U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, 18 May 1963, National

Security Archive, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/18727-national-security-archiv

e-doc-28-department.

[32] Remarks at a Reception Marking African Freedom Day, April 15, 1961, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkwha-023-002.

[33] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tweet, July 19, 2023,

https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/status/1681746133427658754.

[34] Harlech, Lord (William David Ormsby-Gore) Oral History Interview – JFK #1, 03/12/1965, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKOH/Harlech%2C%20Lord%20%28William%20David%20Ormsby-Gore%29/JFKOH-LWH-01/JFKOH-LWH-01.

[35] Commencement Address at American University, June 10, 1963, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/jfkwha-190-002.

---