Ted Kennedy Goes Behind Ronald Reagan’s Back to the KGB

We have another Quisling on our hands.

Much information is being revealed, or should I say re-revealed, about the life and times of Ted Kennedy, now deceased.  As someone who grew up in the 1980s there were many policy decisions made which, at the time, I did not either follow or understand because I was too young.  The basic outline is that Ronald Reagan hated the Soviet Union (he called them the “Evil Empire”) and refused to bow to their demands as Jimmy Carter did.  Reagan put nuclear-tipped missiles in Europe over the objections of many Europeans and Democrats in the U.S., he walked out of the 1986 Reykjavik summit with Soviet Premier Gorbachev rather than put SDI on the negotiating table, and he just generally played hardball with the Russians.  At the time he was called Ronnie Raygun because many on the Left found him to be too militaristic which they found amusing because he never served in the military.

Irregardless of Reagan’s position and people’s opinion of him, history proved his beliefs, his actions, and his results to be correct.

In a book titled The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, author Paul Kengor dug up a request made by U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy to Soviet Premier Yuri Andropov offering his “assistance” in helping to prevent President Ronald Reagan from putting nukes into Europe.  When I first read about this I was flabergasted to say the least.  In the middle of a Cold War between superpowers we have a politician actively working against a sitting president in the area of foreign policy.

If we examine the U.S. Constitution we find this in Article II:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States[...]

Clearly, putting nukes in various American bases falls under the military part of Article II.

So what did Senator Ted Kennedy say in his proposal (bolding for emphasis)?  To read the entire thing you may click here.

Special Importance
Committee on State Security of the USSR
14.05. 1983 No. 1029 Ch/OV
Moscow

Regarding Senator Kennedy’s request to the General Secretary of the Communist Party Comrade Y.V. Andropov

Comrade Y.V. Andropov

On 9-10 May of this year, Senator Edward Kennedy’s close friend and trusted confidant J. Tunney was in Moscow. The senator charged Tunney to convey the following message, through confidential contacts, to the General Secretary of the Center Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Y. Andropov.

Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations. Events are developing such that this relationship coupled with the general state of global affairs will make the situation even more dangerous. The main reason for this is Reagan’s belligerence, and his firm commitment to deploy new American middle range nuclear weapons within Western Europe.

According to Kennedy, the current threat is due to the President’s refusal to engage any modification on his politics. He feels that his domestic standing has been strengthened because of the well publicized improvement of the economy: inflation has been greatly reduced, production levels are increasing as is overall business activity. For these reasons, interest rates will continue to decline. The White House has portrayed this in the media as the “success of Reaganomics.”

Naturally, not everything in the province of economics has gone according to Reagan’s plan. A few well known economists and members of financial circles, particularly from the north-eastern states, foresee certain hidden tendencies that many bring about a new economic crisis in the USA. This could bring about the fall of the presidential campaign of 1984, which would benefit the Democratic party. Nevertheless, there are no secure assurances this will indeed develop.

The only real threats to Reagan are problems of war and peace and Soviet-American relations. These issues, according to the senator, will without a doubt become the most important of the election campaign. The movement advocating a freeze on nuclear arsenals of both countries continues to gain strength in the United States. The movement is also willing to accept preparations, particularly from Kennedy, for its continued growth. In political and influential circles of the country, including within Congress, the resistance to growing military expenditures is gaining strength.

However, according to Kennedy, the opposition to Reagan is still very weak. Reagan’s adversaries are divided and the presentations they make are not fully effective. Meanwhile, Reagan has the capabilities to effectively counter any propaganda. In order to neutralize criticism that the talks between the USA and the USSR are non-constructive, Reagan will grandiose, but subjectively propagandistic. At the same time, Soviet officials who speak about disarmament will be quoted out of context, silenced or groundlessly and whimsically discounted. Although arguments and statements by officials of the USSR do appear in the press, it is important to note the majority of Americans do not read serious newspapers or periodicals.

Kennedy believes that, given the current state of affairs, and in the interest of peace, it would be prudent and timely to undertake the following steps to counter the militaristic politics of Reagan and his campaign to psychologically burden the American people. In this regard, he offers the following proposals to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Y.V. Andropov[...]

Yuri Andropov, friend of Ted's?

Pretty unbelieveable stuff, isn’t it?  In my book, this is high treason… making overtures to a sworn enemy of the United States and trying to brainstorm ways to sabotage the foreign policy of America.  There are several proposals but here is the most damning one:

Kennedy believes that in order to influence Americans it would be important to organize in August-September of this year, televised interviews with Y.V. Andropov in the USA. A direct appeal by the General Secretary to the American people will, without a doubt, attract a great deal of attention and interest in the country. The senator is convinced this would receive the maximum resonance in so far as television is the most effective method of mass media and information.

This is the part that gets me:

If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y.V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the president of the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.

Notice the wording here… “seen as coming from the American side.”  Of course, this is veiled language which truly indicates that, of course, it would be nothing more than a facade to allow Soviet propogranda to be broadcast on American television networks, thereby undercutting a U.S. president!

In a series of unbelieveable revelations this is the most incredible:

Because he formally refused to partake in the election campaign of 1984, his speeches would be taken without prejudice as they are not tied to any campaign promises. Tunney remarked that the senator wants to run for president in 1988. At that time, he will be 56 and his personal problems, which could hinder his standing, will be resolved (Kennedy has just completed a divorce and plans to remarry in the near future).

Is the letter authentic?  The author of the book has this to say:

In my book, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, I presented a rather eye-opening May 14, 1983 KGB document on Ted Kennedy. The entire document, unedited, unabridged, is printed in the book, as well as all the documentation affirming its authenticity. Even with that, today, almost 25 years later, it seems to have largely remained a secret.

It was a May 14, 1983 letter from the head of the KGB, Viktor Chebrikov, to the head of the USSR, the odious Yuri Andropov, with the highest level of classification.

It comes from the Central Committee archives of the former USSR. Once Boris Yeltsin took over Russia in 1991, he immediately began opening the Soviet archives, which led to a rush on the archives by Western researchers. One of them, Tim Sebastian of the London Times and BBC, found the Kennedy document and reported it in the February 2, 1992 edition of the Times, in an article titled, “Teddy, the KGB and the top secret file.”

Whose side was he on?

Paul Kengor then says this about the document:

But this electrifying revelation stopped there; it went no further. Never made it across the Atlantic. Not a single American news organization, from what I can tell, picked up the story. Apparently, it just wasn’t interesting enough, nor newsworthy.

Is it really surprising it wasn’t reported?  Being part of the Kennedy Dynasty such revelations would have spoiled the press-created myth about Ted Kennedy… would have exposed him as not being the “Lion of the Senate” but more like the Weasel of the Senate.

Just imagine that such a letter was written today by Mitt Romney to the leader of Iran offering to figure out a way to allow them to develop nuclear weapons without any reaction by the United States.  Can you just imagine the firestorm?

In the United States we have a term for people like this… Benedict Arnold.  In Europe they have a different term… a Quisling.  Clearly, Ted Kennedy could be called either one.

I leave it to you to judge for yourself how Ted Kennedy should be remembered.

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