THE JFK TAPES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303190022-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: February 9, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/27 :CIA-RDP90-005528000303190022-3
STAT
Ai. i I C~l~ .~s'F.~RED
Ohl P 4G
THE WASHINGTOP! POST
9 February 1982
Carl ~'. ,~ouan
~ ~s
.~
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and his- The reputations of both John and Ro-
family obviously .were embarrassed by Bert Kennedy have ;town because of the
prey revelations that John F. Kennedy circumstances under which the men died.
had played that sordid little game of se- This is a common development' in this
cretly recording his conversations with society. JFK is viewed as the liberal
his top advisers and other Americans. ' ? `; ::#.knight who:improved on FDR and made
r ?_ In what he surely oorL9iders an. act of =. Americans~beGeve that they were on the
' "openness," Ted Kengecly called for-'re--" .,verge of a glorious Camelot Does anyone
lease. to the. publie:of the tran9ciipts.of `;: really' want to hear tapes which reveal
those tapes at the soonest possible.time:: ,:; ?-, that JFK"could out-cure Richard Nixon,
-'- There may be more bravery than. wis-~'- `=' was more? interested in hearing aboutthe-
dom in this suggestion, because those mistress of the president of F'mland than
tapes will make bitter enemies of a lot of ~ about U:S~'problems in Finland, was out
living people, inducting- powerful Demo- _-~~~to~murrle-the press, especially insofar as
crass, and they may serve most to tarnish, ""it stood. in the way of his hawkish ideas
the reputations of John and Robert Ken- ,~ ~ regarding Indahina? -
Wady, who have beoome~ larger in death ' ~': Does the Kennedy family want to let
than they everwere iti~life:: ~-'' ..: ~; ,
r '.`~;:-jai. ~J?-Americans,.>especially the Kehnedy-
1v1ytime atthe United Nations, during haters, hear selected conversations sug-
the Cuban missile crisis, convinced me gesting that Bobby Kennedy ~lidn,:t.
that Adlai Stevenson was probably the really give a damn about blacks atiil
~reakest, moat indec~ive man ever~ts: Aside from-love of gossip, prurient in?
'trusted the Kennedya He was sure that tei?ests and ~ political opportunism; the{
Bobby Kennedy was bugging and: wires : ~ Tapes do offer Americans a chance' to see
tapping eveq the places where Johnson: ;how theprnsidene~reallyoperates:~~+_~-
', vacationed, trying to?compite evidenceoF ;';,`?: ;.Those to es will reveal that Kati-~
-sexual and. other .ttar~?gress'ans that ~ nedv was as much a sucker for? an
" would give JFI~~ an excuse to pick an:: victim o , Qus "into lioence star' i
other running mate in 1964. But does the about ietnam as was Johnson. Ken.;
Kennedy family really tvant? to release ne y, t erefore, was as ewer to pour jii~
tapes revealing that. President, Kennedy more military "advisers" who would'
spoke of Johnson as a crass and crooked , ,teach the South .Vietnamese hoi~'td.
puGtician who, at all co9ts, had to be kept "bloody the' noses" of the "aggtec~srsj i
out of contact with ~nior Rifssians? from the north." ._ ;
A lot more is involved.than JFK's pa~.~ ,`.: ; ,The historians will call ,these taPea.~
vale views of Stevenson;'`Johrison, hrs `gold+ mirte.~~ Those ~vhaye. repuiatitx_is?
secretary of state, Dean Rusk. or a lot. of _, ,.,are tarnished will see a sewer. ,,~ `
other people. Release of aII these~tapes -' :' - If~'presidents ~ insist on recor'dingl
" carries great dangers ta?the reputations- .-- everything-fo_r hist6ry, they ought at3 j
? of the late president and his brother; Ro- ? ? :least felt the other party that whaC hey i
Bert--urilesaDan H. Ferro Jr. and otliers`.::~ or she says is being recorded...:.- ;: ?~' ~ n' ~
at the Kennedy Library in Boston. drop...:; ; .,They'll get. fat:more cautious. advice:>~~
a few 18-minute segments out of some o~ ' "But that' isn't alt bad. ~ :,._;??-?~
the tapes This is possible ; : : ; ;:; Y :,9198$ FIeYt Encerprfxey, [nc.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/27 :CIA-RDP90-005528000303190022-3