Guest Opinion Guest Opinion (June 25, 2004)

Robert Kennedy and Ronald Reagan

By Matt Neely and Mark Lindberg

Robert Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were two men of character, coincidence, and especially original ideas. Each demonstrated leadership by "thinking outside the box."

They were from different political parties with careers peaking decades apart. However, each shared many values and would not tolerate the status quo for the burning issues of the day. Americans, yearning for similar leaders, are grateful for each in their time.

Robert Kennedy "should have" done so much more to change history and Ronald Reagan "did so much more" than anybody could have assumed.

Robert Kennedy died too young from an assassination. Ronald Reagan died too old after a decade of Alzheimer's and an earlier assassination attempt.

Each was demonized by opponents after challenging existing political and global thinking. Robert Kennedy was disgusted with and would have stopped the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Ronald Reagan was disgusted with a 40-year Cold War based on "peaceful coexistence" (and set about to stop the tyranny of the Soviet Union over hundreds of millions of people).

Robert Kennedy as John F. Kennedy's Attorney General took on the Mafia and organized crime syndicates that might have supported his brother in Illinois, Los Angeles and Texas. Ronald Reagan took on the air controllers who had supported him but then violated their contract. Those not reporting for work in 48 hours were fired.

Robert Kennedy was shot and died in Ronald Reagan's home state of California. Ronald Reagan was shot and survived in Robert Kennedy's home area of the District of Columbia.

Robert Kennedy challenged the infrastructure of the Democratic Party and helped stop President Lyndon Baines Johnson from running for re-election. Ronald Reagan challenged Gerald Ford in 1976 and came within a sliver of winning the nomination from that sitting GOP president.

Both Robert Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were fervent anti-Communists. Robert Kennedy used the CIA in Cuba against Fidel Castro in the early 1960s. Ronald Reagan used the CIA to support Afghanistan fighters in the 1980s against a Soviet invasion.

Robert Kennedy helped avoid what might have been a nuclear confrontation in 1962 over the Cuban missiles with careful diplomacy. A quarantine instead of the invasion suggested by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led to a peaceful resolution. Ronald Reagan scared the striped suits of the State Department and called the Soviet Union an "Evil Empire." Then began a military competition that forced a new Soviet leadership to abandon the tyranny of Soviet communism. The potential for nuclear war ended with a similar peaceful resolution.

Robert Kennedy's favorite saying was "If not now, when." Ronald Reagan expressed a similar theme with the Soviet leader Mikail Gorbachev when he said "... tear down this wall."

While Robert Kennedy came from privilege and wealth, he died pursuing his principles of public service in 1968. Ronald Reagan came from poverty and after achieving privilege and wealth also devoted his golden years to public service -- running for President at the ripe old age of 68.

The two men died in Southern California on a June day: Robert Kennedy on June 6 from an assassination at age 43; Ronald Reagan on June 5 after almost a decade with Alzheimer's disease and 50 years older at age 93.

Matt Neely and Mark Lindberg are next-door neighbors on Cypress Point Drive in Mountain View. Matt Neely has a "John Kerry for President" sign in his window and Mark Lindberg has a "Re-elect Bush-Cheney" sign in his window.

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