FBI files show Edward Kennedy's life was constantly threatened

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 15, 2010;

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy lived with constant threats on his life after the assassinations of his brothers and was monitored by the FBI for his possible ties to communist radicals in Latin America, according to a trove of FBI files on the late senator released Monday.

The more than 2,200 pages, disclosed in response to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by news organizations, cover the FBI's relationship with the Massachusetts Democrat from 1961 to 1985. Kennedy died of cancer in August.

The bulk of the material covers FBI investigations of threats of violence and extortion against Kennedy and other public figures, including Kennedy's political rival President Ronald Reagan. One anonymous letter sent in October 1968 threatened "assassination for Kennedy number three within twenty four hours . . . all Kennedy residents are in danger on that day."

Sirhan Sirhan, who fatally shot Kennedy's brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, in 1968, even offered $1 million to a fellow inmate in California to kill Edward Kennedy, according to the files, which say the prisoner declined.

(More here.)