# What happened to the Kennedys (Jack and Bobby)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [December 2, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547 "2006-12-02T00:13:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Becky\_G\_Supervixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky_G_Supervixen)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/1 "2006-12-02T00:13:00Z")
So my gramma saw something in the paper about a new movie about Bobby Kennedy. She was a big Kennedy fan back in the day (voted for Jack as president and even kept a Life magazine with some photos of them and their families.) We were talking about it and she said “you know we’ll never know the truth about what happened to those two.”
So what’s the word on who killed those Kennedys? My boss at work says that all this talk of plots is paranoid conspiracy lovers. But like my gramma said, do you think it’s just a coincidence that two brothers from the same family, president (and running for president), would BOTH be shot and killed in two TOTALLY UNRELATED murders?
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/2 "2006-12-02T00:26:12Z")
[QUOTE=Becky G, Supervixen!]
But like my gramma said, do you think it’s just a coincidence that two brothers from the same family, president (and running for president), would BOTH be shot and killed in two TOTALLY UNRELATED murders?
[/QUOTE]
Yep, it is weird. Two random guys from the same family just targeted for murder out of nowhere. It really is a shame and and random, pointless violence directed at average Joes really brings home the point that any one of us could be targeted in a high-profile assassination one day.
Some families have it just as bad in other ways though. I know this one family who has lost kids in everything from plane accidents to skiing accidents during a friendly family outing. Be careful out there you hear.
---
### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/3 "2006-12-02T00:26:36Z")
Since you posted this in General Questions:
Jack Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Bobby Kennedy was killed by Sirhan Sirhan.
If you want more discussion or speculation, you should have a mod move this to Great Debates.
---
### Author:  [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/4 "2006-12-02T00:30:30Z")
If there weren’t coincidences, we wouldn’t need a word for it.
---
### Author:  [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/5 "2006-12-02T01:35:08Z")
Both were high profile public figures during a tumultuous period where political assassainations were not uncommon. In the fiftteen years after the death of Jack Kennedy, a number of prominent American figures where targeted, including Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Harvey Milk, George Wallace, Larry Flynt, George Rockwell, and Gerald Ford (twice). If we add the names of political figures outside the US who were targets of assassains during that time period (Salvador Allende, Che Guevera, etc.), the fact that the Kennedy brothers were both murdered doesn’t seem like such an unusual coincidence.
---
### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/6 "2006-12-02T01:38:29Z")
Call that a coincidence? Feh. If you want a _real_ concidence, did you know that exactly enough news happens every day to fill every newspaper in the world?
Spooky.
---
### Author:  [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/7 "2006-12-02T02:09:24Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
…
Some families have it just as bad in other ways though. I know this one family who has lost kids in everything from plane accidents to skiing accidents during a friendly family outing. Be careful out there you hear.
[/QUOTE]
You are a man of subtle wit.
---
### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/8 "2006-12-02T03:05:58Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
Some families have it just as bad in other ways though. I know this one family who has lost kids in everything from plane accidents to skiing accidents during a friendly family outing. Be careful out there you hear.
[/QUOTE]
I think I’ve heard of that same family. What are the odds?
---
### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/9 "2006-12-02T06:15:59Z")
Seemingly, just good enough.
---
### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/10 "2006-12-02T06:37:59Z")
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
To answer the Op, no one knows, all guesses are conjecture. The Kennedy’s had made many enemies, the Patriarch and his sons. The times were violent and it was probably nothing more than lone crazies, but we will never know for sure.
At least with [Hinckley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley,_Jr.), he was a true crazy and there was little question of conspiracy.
Jim
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/11 "2006-12-02T07:03:13Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?]
To answer the Op, no one knows, all guesses are conjecture. The Kennedy’s had made many enemies, the Patriarch and his sons. The times were violent and it was probably nothing more than lone crazies, but we will never know for sure.
At least with [Hinckley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley,_Jr.), he was a true crazy and there was little question of conspiracy.
Jim
[/QUOTE]
Hinkley claimed he wanted to kill Ronald Reagan to attract Jodie Foster to love him. Hinkley was crazy but he didn’t initiate the plan. Ronald Reagan was a former actor and somebody should have aligned with Hollywoods goals from the beginning. It turned out to be opposite and the players started rumbling. Steven Spielberg literally into Hinkley on a sidewalk and found him clearly not all there but not useless either. He took Hinkley under his wing and let him play realistic simulations with all of his CGI toys. Hinkely loved shooting games and was a master of them. One day, Steven Spielberg pulled up a scenario to blow away Reagan as a joke and he was flawless. After Speilberg started calling his friends, the replies came out fast and strong for him to try it for real.
The actually shooting didn’t go as well as hoped but it made a point. The Jodie Foster obsession angle was thrown in as an afterthought after post-assasination marketing teams got together to see what they could get out of it, It wasn’t a real assassination so they suggested that Hinkley be totally obsessed with Jody Foster (a rising young star at the time) to get her name out immediately and have it stick
That part worked fairly well so you can’t rule out that assissnation/marketting combos won;t come back in vogue some day.
---
### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/12 "2006-12-02T07:07:10Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
Hinkley claimed he wanted to kill Ronald Reagan to attract Jodie Foster to love him. Hinkley was crazy but he didn’t initiate the plan. Ronald Reagan was a former actor and somebody should have aligned with Hollywoods goals from the beginning. It turned out to be opposite and the players started rumbling. Steven Spielberg literally into Hinkley on a sidewalk and found him clearly not all there but not useless either. He took Hinkley under his wing and let him play realistic simulations with all of his CGI toys. Hinkely loved shooting games and was a master of them. One day, Steven Spielberg pulled up a scenario to blow away Reagan as a joke and he was flawless. After Speilberg started calling his friends, the replies came out fast and strong for him to try it for real.
The actually shooting didn’t go as well as hoped but it made a point. The Jodie Foster obsession angle was thrown in as an afterthought after post-assasination marketing teams got together to see what they could get out of it, It wasn’t a real assassination so they suggested that Hinkley be totally obsessed with Jody Foster (a rising young star at the time) to get her name out immediately and have it stick
That part worked fairly well so you can’t rule out that assissnation/marketting combos won;t come back in vogue some day.
[/QUOTE]
That was one masterfully twisted and crafted Tinfoil cap you made there. I salute your skills, especially at this time of night.
Jim
---
### Author:  [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/13 "2006-12-02T13:11:38Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]
Call that a coincidence? Feh. If you want a _real_ concidence, did you know that exactly enough news happens every day to fill every newspaper in the world?
Spooky.
[/QUOTE]
Read the obituaries. People die in alphabetical order! 😃
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/14 "2006-12-02T13:15:26Z")
[QUOTE=AWB]
Read the obituaries. People die in alphabetical order! 😃
[/QUOTE]
No, even worse - the **important people die first** , and then the regular folks die off alphabetically! :eek:
---
### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/15 "2006-12-02T14:37:32Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty]
Hinkley claimed he wanted to kill Ronald Reagan to attract Jodie Foster to love him.
[/QUOTE]
Rather well known is that he got the idea from the movie “Taxi Driver.”
Lesser well known is that that part of “Taxi Driver” was itself based on the attempted assassination of George Wallace (guy doing it to try to impress young girl, that is).
---
### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/16 "2006-12-02T21:35:55Z")
And do you want to know who really killed John Lennon?
---
### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/17 "2006-12-02T21:50:00Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas]
And do you want to know who really killed John Lennon?
[/QUOTE]
Okay, I carefully put on my tinfoil hat. I ran my white noise generator and psionically shielded myself. I still have to say, “Stephen King, WTF?”
Jim
---
### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/18 "2006-12-03T00:00:34Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers]
Call that a coincidence? Feh. If you want a _real_ concidence, did you know that exactly enough news happens every day to fill every newspaper in the world?
[/QUOTE]
This is a common misconception. The truth is that sometimes a newspaper editor will find that he does _not_ have enough news to fill the paper, and not even enough advertising to fill the blank space! When this happens, and they get desperate enough, they fill in the blank space with an advertisement for themselves, such as solitication of new subscriptions.
The amazing coincidence is that those ads are of the perfect size and shape to fill the empty space!
---
### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/19 "2006-12-03T01:56:58Z")
Keeve:
> [@](#):
>
> This is a common misconception. The truth is that sometimes a newspaper editor will find that he does not have enough news to fill the paper, and not even enough advertising to fill the blank space! When this happens, and they get desperate enough, they fill in the blank space with an advertisement for themselves, such as solitication of new subscriptions.
>
> The amazing coincidence is that those ads are of the perfect size and shape to fill the empty space!
About fifteen years ago, I did word processing to create the journal for a certain charity dinner. The smallest available “ad” was a quarter-pager. We finished with 3 for the last page, so I wrote the last ad as “dedicated to all those who were certain we’d get quarter-page ads in exact multiples of four.”
---
### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547/20 "2006-12-03T02:23:27Z")
Moved to GD.
- **xash**
General Questions Moderator
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-kennedys-jack-and-bobby/382547.md?page=2)