Then he died. The elaborate intellectual tapestry Beran weaves around the life of Bobby Kennedy is intriguing, but it feels flimsy. He has a similar blind spot toward the anti-poverty programs of the 1960s. He dismisses in a few lines the role of racism in exacerbating the decline of the American inner city. And yet, he finds time to ruminate on Marilyn Monroe and the Alger Hiss case.
Scant attention is paid to the civil rights movement.
It assumes Kennedy's political philosophy developed independent of his own life experiences. Then it tries to fit his actions during his final years into a political pattern that emerged after his death. He pointed out the shortcomings of the federal bureaucracy, and promptly called for its expansion. He praised private enterprise as the essential foundation of the country's greatness, and condemned businessmen and corporations as the disciples of Mammon. Beran sees these contradictions as evidence of an emerging conservatism.