A common good

by Helen O'Donnell

Kenny O'Donnell was an integral part of Camelot, from the time he and Robert Kennedy first met at Harvard in 1947 to the dream's violent end with Bobby's untimely death in 1968. Together, they were personally involved in such monumental events as John F. Kennedy's rise to the presidency, after which Kenny was selected to be JFK's top aide; Bobby's short stint working with the controversial senator Joe McCarthy, as well as his intense and dangerous period as chief counsel for the Rackets Committee; Bobby's tenure as attorney general, fighting for civil rights and locking horns with J. Edgar Hoover and Jimmy Hoffa; the assassination of JFK in Dallas; and eventually the loss of Bobby as well, in Los Angeles. Because Helen O'Donnell was granted access to closed Kennedy archives, much of the material in this penetrating memoir is new. Through the eyes and words of her father, O'Donnell imparts a personal and highly poignant account of one of the most fascinating periods in American history.