The Kennedys

Chapter Thirty-Six: Tap, Tap

"General Kennedy?"

Bobby hates that title. Technically, because of his job, he has to right to use it, but that doesn't mean he likes it.

He felt it was undeserved. Bobby had served in the military, but he hadn't truly worked for the title. He had simply had the good fortune of having a brother who was elected president.

"Nancy, what did I tell you about that title?"

His secretary blushes. "Forgive me, Mr. Kennedy."

Bobby smiles. "Now, What is it?"

"Director Hoover for you."

Immediately Bobby's day goes from exhausting to a stress induced mess. Somehow Hoover seems to always know exactly the wrong moment to call on Bobby.

"Can it wait?" Bobby's desperate to postpone the meeting at all costs.

"He says it's urgent...and he's waiting outside."

Bobby leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath. "Send him in."

From the moment J. Edgar Hoover walks into Bobby's office, he knows he's in enemy territory. The dynamic between them has always been that way.

"Attorney general."

"Director Hoover."

The two refuse to even say hello. They despise each other to such a degree that they can only acknowledge one another.

"I have something I want to discuss with you."

Bobby waits for him to elaborate. Realizing that he will Hoover will not speak until Bobby asks him to, he breaks his silence. "And?"

"I want to broach the subject of surveillance on Martin Luther King again."

"Oh, Hoover, not this again!"

Bobby has had this argument with him too many times.

"It's the practical thing to do," Hoover argues, sitting down in a chair across from Bobby. "We don't know what he's up to."

Bobby sighs. "He's far too popular. If this gets out-"

"It won't." Hoover interjects.

Bobby continues nevertheless, "If this gets out, Jack is doomed and you know it."

"Besides," He twiddles with a pencil at his desk, "What is there to survey, anyways?"

"Possible communist ties."

Bobby nearly drops the pencil. He didn't know what to think of suspected communists anymore. It had been so long since he had been the firebrand working for McCarthy and actively participating in the search for communists. It felt like far too long ago.

"What are you talking about?"

Bobby is skeptical, but a part of him is also worried. Wouldn't Martin Luther King's pulpit be the perfect place for communism to spread? There was already so much civil unrest already. Communism could become an appealing option to those who felt distraught in the current political climate.

"We have enough evidence to suggest that there are communists working for him."

Bobby mulls this over in his mind. He thought the country was behind this. "Are you sure?"

He feels himself faltering under Hoover's accusations. If King is truly a potential national security threat, a communist, shouldn't he be monitored?

"As sure as we can get." Hoover replies. The joy he finds in this is sickening.

"But how much evidence do you have that King is a communist?" Bobby prods further. He doesn't want to wiretap King if nothing will come out of it.

"The fact that he has two working for him is damning enough, isn't it?"

Hoover is met with silence and Bobby's critical stare. He decides to elaborate. "To wiretap him would be to get the evidence."

Bobby is silent for awhile. He can hear the seconds ticking by on the clock on the wall. He looks at the pictures his children have drawn him. One of the reasons he does this job is to protect him.

"Alright," Bobby concedes. Perhaps not wisely, but he concedes all the same. "For a few weeks, tops. Very limited."

Hoover smiles. "Thank you, General."

Bobby winces. Hoover knows he hates being called that. That's why Hoover does it.

What Bobby doesn't realize is that Hoover has manipulated Bobby's weakest spot the get what he wanted: dirt on Martin Luther King, whether it be communist ties or not.

—

Bobby puts the headphones to his ears, with Hoover's watchful eye on him. Bobby had insisted that he be the first to hear to taps.

Bobby stops putting it off and presses the button. The tape begins.

The room is silent as Bobby listens. The minutes add up. Four, five, six.... Finally he can't listen anymore and takes them off.

"Well?" Hoover thinks Bobby's reaction is promising.

"Martin Luther King isn't a communist, Hoover." Bobby says.

"He's an adulterer."