Famous Disputes: Lyndon B. Johnson vs. Robert F. Kennedy
Source: Wikimedia
After John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, a rather open political rivalry sprang up between the two most likely candidates – his brother and Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, and his Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson had a long history of hostility toward the Kennedys, having accused JFK’s father, Joe, of being a communist, dirty politician and also having campaigned against JFK for the Democratic seat.
But his feud with Robert Kennedy first garnered attention when they had a chance encounter in the Senate cafeteria. Johnson extended a hand to shake, and Robert Kennedy thoroughly rebuked it. Despite the bad blood between the opposing sides, JFK—in a strategic move that came to the chagrin of his brother, Robert—named LBJ his vice president. When JFK was assassinated and the future of the country’s presidential leadership was somewhat uncertain, the conflict reared its ugly head again.
While both men worked alongside each other directly following JFK’s death, the feud continued, and harsh words began to fly. While the two remained relatively reticent in directly accusing one another for problems, their supporters did, and neither Johnson nor Kennedy did anything to quell rumors. Kennedy supporters vocally and openly blamed Johnson for having urged President Kennedy to take the disastrous trip to Dallas, while Johnson supporters lambasted JFK and RFK for their dire mistakes in Cuba. The following year, Kennedy decided to run for a Senate seat and Johnson, growing paranoid about Kennedy’s political ploys, began to destroy Kennedy’s bills and reintroduced his own.
By the 1968 election, Kennedy did indeed decide to run against president Johnson in the primaries. In a surprising turn of events, Johnson dropped out of the race and Kennedy was declared the frontrunner. Unfortunately, he could not escape the so-called Kennedy curse and was assassinated not soon after.
