Kennedysmo on the Road

Midwinter is the cruelest time for restless Senators: the President has all the lines, while Congress listens and in visibly adjusts. For Robert Kennedy, this season has been especially bleak because of the unfavorable and boring publicity surrounding the Manchester book controversy. All in all, an excellent moment for a selective tour of Western European capitals--to pick up some information, be cooed at by statesmen, oohed at by everyman, and make a few headlines at home having nothing to do with that book. Which is exactly what happened.

Kennedy started out Jan. 25 ahead of 16 other members of Congress bound for a seminar on Anglo-American af fairs at Ditchley Park in England.* By the time he returned at the end of last week, he had touched down in London, Paris, Bonn and Rome; he had talked with prime ministers and foreign ministers, Charles de Gaulle and Pope Paul, students and showfolk and assorted beautiful people. With an eye to future change, he saw opposition leaders too. Bobby also wanted to meet Mai Van Bo, the North Vietnamese envoy in Paris, but U.S. embassy officials dissuaded him.

"Bless You." Unlike previous Kennedy trips outside the country, this one was conducted sotto voce--there were no formal public speeches--and minus retinue. He even left his wife Ethel home, traveled with just two U.S. newsmen and one unofficial aide, New York Attorney William vanden Heuvel. One left-at-home assistant was incredulous: "Who's paying the taxi drivers? Who's finding the cuff links?" Who, indeed? Kennedy arrived in Bonn with one cuff waving. These and other mishaps were minor, although he was obliged at the Oxford Union to detour via a ladies' lavatory to avoid some Viet Nam demonstrators. "God bless you," he told two startled girls.

But what did he say to Harold Wilson, Kurt Kiesinger, Willy Brandt, Aldo Moro and other officials? As Kennedy reported after two hours with Wilson, they had discussed problems "all over the world." The vagueness mattered little. The Kennedy name carries more magic than ever in Western Europe, and Bobby's political hosts scored more points with their constituents close at hand than New York's junior Senator did with his far away. He spent 70 minutes with De Gaulle, and even if he only said, "Bonjour, Monsieur le President, il fait froid aujourd'hui," the fact of the meeting, as Marshall McLuhan might observe, was more significant than its content.

Lyndon Johnson has not seen the French President since John Kennedy's funeral. Robert Kennedy's visit, of course, had no visibly warming effect on Franco-American relations. Though France's main contribution to the war so far has been to urge unilateral U.S. withdrawal from Viet Nam, the New York Senator predicted: "France and General de Gaulle are going to play an important role in any successful effort we undertake to find a solution to the trouble in Viet Nam."

Young Lion. Kennedy made no effort to court crowd attention, and comported himself as unobtrusively as a Kennedy can. Nonetheless, he was recognized and idolized in most places by press and public. After his brief and informal appearance before students at the Oxford Union, the Sunday Telegraph reckoned that he could have been elected president of the debating society on the spot. In Rome, where the family mystique is known as Kennedysmo, cab drivers cheered him and the paparazzi clicked their shutters as if Sophia were the target. In Paris he placed a bouquet on Marshal Alphonse Juin's coffin. France Soir captioned its picture: "The young lion of politics before the body of the old soldier." The newspaper also observed that the object of Kennedy's visit was "the White House--in 1972." That was all right with French voters. At a Picasso exhibit in the Grand Palais one young Frenchman said: "Picasso is completely outclassed. It is Bobby who is the hero of this exposition."

While Kennedy was abroad, a new poll by Lou Harris found Bobby trailing Johnson as the 1968 presidential favorite, 44% to 56%--a complete reversal of the same survey's finding in November. The later report was based on a Jan. 14-22 sampling, a period in which the Manchester controversy was hottest. The Gallup poll taken two weeks earlier found Kennedy still ahead by nine points. That Kennedy's standing has sagged is evident, although the damage can undoubtedly be repaired long before the Senator has to test himself again at the polls. Meanwhile, trips like the European jaunt could only help the cause of Kennedysmo and give Bobby added credentials the next time he chooses to speak out on foreign policy --which will be soon.

* Originally, Brother Ted planned to go, but he became involved in delicate negotiations to free Constituent Vladimir Kazan-Kornarek from prison in Czechoslovakia (see THE WORLD).

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