◆ SpookStack

z — @We_pant to get these bills out of the = San labor committee,” he said. . He put down the phone. It buzzed again. _ fs The attorney genera] listened for a mom thanked the caller and punched a button on the ent phone box for a direct line to the White House. After asking for the office an aide, he inquired, : “Ig the President there? . . . Well, tell the President that the judge in New York just signed th the e Taft-Hartley injunction order. in ‘the maritime strike.” t S was Bob Kennedy in typical action. He is an ; able, dynamic young man of great integrity, the ‘scourge of the underworld end labor racketeers. He has a position vast in duties and importance, As U.S. attorney general, he must fight organized crime, enforce antitrust and labor racketeering laws. protect civil rights, interpret the Iaws to the President, and fulfill the role ‘of judge, advocate, prosecutor and defendant. The attorney general heads the mighty Justice de partment with its 30,000 employees, and its annual budg- et of $300 million dollars. ~— - Yet his influential role in the administration bas its roots in more than his official responsibilities. He is the President's closest confidant, But Bob Kennedy downgrades his widely publicized . , Tole as the No, 2 man in the government. -*T don't think that makes any sense at all,” he said. '“T have my responsibilities here in the Department of Justice. Beyond that I might be of some help or assist- ance to the President in other areas. Butgeach member : of the Cabinet has his own responsibilities and 1 don't impimge on or have any authority in any of these other | | areas 2 i’: “In the last analysis, what We are going Me do in Berlin—or any of those decisions —finally have to be made by the President personally.” = ~ “ : *" .” In conversation-with the attorney general, ‘t is du. ous he knows intimately what is going on at the White Howse. It alse becomes apparent that this blunt-spoken young man can talk bluntly to his brother on issues personalities where the President wants to hear "es eat eo oy a Tak +: walter. e ele tk — vt cae ae ee A al ll ade ala ne Why 5 eek ih a al ee i TT halle a at oe UB KENNEDY went through long and agonizing soul searching last December before he the leas of his her and accepted the place in the cab- net. Controversy swirled around the appointment. a ts that time the President-elect was asked, “Sena- | f.tio-you know any historical parallel to this?” - With customary dry humor, Jack Kennedy replied, : “No, but we are going to start one.” ‘7 Later, Jack Kennedy told ‘a friend, “In planning, getting the Tight people to work and seeing that the job ‘ig done, Bobby is the best man in the United States.” _ Perhaps it was an awareness of the terrible loneli- ness that engulfs a President of the United States. that swayed the ycunger Kennedy to take the job. “] realized,” he is reported to have said, “what an advantage it would be to have someone (in the govern- ment) he could talk to.” ——- Bob is reluctant to discuss his relationship with the ‘| White House. “Snmetimes T tatk to the President eeveral times @ day,” he says. “At ‘other times maybe once a day. It all ‘ depends’ on cases.” One of the toughest tasks which Bob is now expe- _ Yiencing—and it has a definite impact on his close rela- + tionship with the White House— ts the selection by him- self and the President of more than 100 new federal - Judges in the next year and perhaps as mnany as 200 be- fore the election in 1964. “This is why I didn't want this job,” the attorney general said “I had just come from a political job where | I had to ask people to do favors for us. .] didn’t want to ! be in a position to refuse when they came in and asked favors from me. I >. ‘“But I have to do that now. It can a be unpleasant | at times. ” epee rumpled coat, the pictures of his wife and family,’ : the picture of his son, David, with the President's ‘potation, the telephone conversations, tell a lot about Bob Kennedy—his total lack of ceremony and “airs,” his devotion to his wife, Ethel, and family, his grasp of job and his role as a iop White House adviser. i When Bob Kennedy took over the Justice dépatt- - truth ang where some of his trusted advisers might hesi- _ Sate to speak up. : sa