“I don’t think true empathy can be anything but human. Either you’re empathetic or you’re not.”
For more conversations like this, subscribe to “Cape Up” on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
“[Bobby Kennedy] did not feel comfortable among the aristocrats like Jack did,” Matthews said, referring to the late president in the latest episode of “Cape Up.” “All Jack’s friends were multi-generational, old-money friends. He didn’t have any even new-money friends, let alone no-money friends.” Matthews worked part-time as a Capitol Hill police officer when Kennedy was a senator from New York. “Guess who was the only liberal Democrat senator who always made a point of saying hello to the cops when he walked by,” Matthews said. “This guy [Bobby Kennedy].”
Matthews told me he didn’t think Kennedy’s empathy came from the patriarch of the family. Quite the contrary. “His father called him a runt. He ignored him, he overlooked him, he discarded him really. He paid all his attention to first Joe Jr., who was going to be president, and then Jack was going to be president,” Matthews said of Kennedy’s father. “He had no time for Bobby, and Bobby would beg him, ‘Dad, can’t you talk to me about big, important things like you do with my brothers?’”
The attention and respect Kennedy didn’t get from his father, he got in abundance from his brother the president. RFK was a power behind the success of JFK.
“It’s chilling to think about what a brother can do for a brother. [Bobby] made him president, he really did,” Matthews said. “He needed Bobby. Whenever he got in trouble, it was Bobby [who helped him].”
Listen to the podcast to hear Matthews talk about why Kennedy commanded the admiration of black and white Americans. Why Kennedy’s penchant for empathy pushed him to act during the civil rights movement. And what lessons today’s politicians can learn from Kennedy.
“I’m running him emotionally because the spirit of Bobby is what we need to remember. It’s no good to just not like Trump,” Matthews told me. “You got to remember something grander, something more hopeful. A spirit the country can actually try to make an effort, instead of what we’re doing now.”
“Cape Up” is Jonathan’s weekly podcast talking to key figures behind the news and our culture. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts.
