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Kennedy, The KGB And The Media
Shortly after the Soviet archives were opened up following the collapse of communism in 1991, Tim Sebastian, a reporter for the London Times, came across a strange memo.

It purported to detail how in the 1984 political season Kennedy tried to enlist the aid of the Soviet regime, then headed by former KGB chief Yuri Andropov, to get President Reagan defeated.

When we first heard of this, we thought it must be a mistake. Or a hoax. But it appears to be neither. Indeed, to our knowledge, the memo written by then-KGB chief Victor Chebrikov to Andropov has never been challenged as a fake.

And what it says is simply shocking.

The memo describes a visit by former Sen. John Tunney of California to Moscow in 1983. Tunney was sent at Kennedy's behest to sound out the Soviet leadership about helping out the Democrats with the upcoming '84 general election.

As Chebrikov's memo notes, Kennedy thought Reagan had trumped the Democrats on national security — especially their push for a nuclear freeze, which faltered after Reagan successfully got European leaders to deploy Pershing II missiles in Europe.

To counter this, the memo says, Kennedy even offered to come to Russia to tutor them. "The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA."

And why do all this? Politics. Kennedy thought the Democrats might actually turn to him in '84, if they got desperate enough. If not, Tunney told Chebrikov, Kennedy might run in '88....