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Ted Kennedy FBI Files: Documents Show Assassination Threats

by NowPublic Staff | June 14, 2010 at 12:51 pm

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FBI De-Classified Freedom Of Information Files On Former Senator Ted Kennedy Released

The late Democratic Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy political career spanned five decades many of which were conducted under a perpetual cloud of death, according to FBI documents and files.

Ted Kennedy started his career in the Senate in 1962. The released FBI files cover that time period through to 1985. The FBI clearly state the 2,200 pages released primarily concern threats against Senator Kennedy and were not the FBI investigations into the Senator from Massachusetts.

The death threats against Kennedy occurred shortly after the assassination of his brother John F. Kennedy in 1963.

These threats originated from multiple sources, including individuals, anonymous persons, and members of radical groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, “Minutemen” organizations, and the National Socialist White People’s Party. The file also contains threats from individuals angered by Kennedy’s stance on politics in Northern Ireland and allegations of an alleged Mafia plot to kill President Kennedy and Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy.

And though most of the assassination threats occurred earlier in his political career (1960s) there were threats even in the 1980s

An entry dated May 23, 1985, detailed a profanity-laced threat against Kennedy and then President Ronald Reagan.

"Brass tacks, I'm gonna kill Kennedy and Reagan and I really, really mean it," read the threat, according to the FBI file. A footnote at the bottom of the file page said: "Due to nature of the threats, consider subject armed and dangerous."

The released FBI documents are fascinating glimpse into the process by which the FBI kept records on one of the most famous politicians of our time.

In 1977, the FBI even looked into allegations that Sirhan Sirhan — the man who assassinated Robert Kennedy — had attempted to hire a fellow prisoner to kill Edward Kennedy. The prisoner, who was housed next to Sirhan for 18 months, told the FBI he was offered $1 million and a car but declined.

Edward Kennedy died in 2009 at 77 after a long battle with brain cancer.