LBJ vs. RFK: a case of mutual contempt - excerpt from book, 'Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud that Defined a Decade,' by Jeff Shesol

Washington Monthly, Oct, 1997 by Jeff Shesol

Although Bobby's self-justifying claims cannot be verified, they make more sense than LBJ's conspiratorial account. At conventions, as George Reedy explained, "people become extremely emotional. They have a tendency to believe things that they would never believe ... in their calmer moments." Johnson had a tendency to believe such things even in his calmer moments.

And in the distorting heat of Los Angeles, and forever afterward, LBJ was absolutely convinced that Robert Kennedy had acted alone, with premeditated spite, to destroy his political future.