Kennedy friend and author to speak at Elms College

Date: 3/8/2018

CHICOPEE – Gerard Doherty has been present as 20th Century political history was being formed. In fact, one could argue the Boston-based attorney helped make that political history.

Doherty was a friend and supporter for President John F. Kennedy and Sens. Ted and Robert Kennedy, He has chronicled his time with the three men in his book, “They Were My Friends – Jack, Bob & Ted: My Life In and Out of Politics” and will be appearing at 5:30 on March 15 at Veritas Auditorium at Elms College.

Doherty has long-time connections with the college as his late wife was an alumna and he served as the chair of the Elms College board of trustees from 1988 to 1995.

His book was published last October and Congressman Joseph
P. Kennedy III said, “Gerry has been by my family’s side through triumph and tragedy. ‘They Were My Friends’ is not just a memoir of a rich political career and generational friendship – it is a roadmap for any public servant today, searching for a way forward in undoubtedly difficult political times.”

Doherty himself served as a state representative from 1957 to 1965 was and chair of the Massachusetts Democratic party from 1962 to 1967. He spoke about his book to Reminder Publications from his law office in Boston.

“I was very involved in the Kennedys, “ he said. “ I was one of Ted Kennedy’s chief aides de camp.”

He hadn’t thought about writing a book until he and his late wife were asked to sit with Ted Kennedy’s body as it lay in state at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston in 2009. The senator’s widow, Victoria, has asked Doherty to greet mourners at a private calling hour.

Doherty was there for four hours and during that time was asked about 20 times by people about how he knew the senator. It was then he decided to write a book about the three Kennedys he knew.

He recalled how he met John F. Kennedy when he was just out of high school in 1946. Doherty’s father has a habit of preparing lemonade for the marchers in the annual Bunker Hill parade to enjoy and one of the was a “skinny guy wearing a tan suit and a soft hat.” Doherty’s father talked to the “skinny guy,” who was John F. Kennedy and making his first run for Congress. Doherty was introduced to him as he had been accepted to Harvard and Kennedy was a Harvard graduate.

Doherty didn’t see Kennedy again until 1952 when Kennedy was running for the Senate. At the urging of his father, Doherty attended an open house for Kennedy’s campaign and was granted enthusiastically by the congressman.

“Either he was a good actor or he had a good memory,” Doherty said.

When Doherty ran for the state House of Representatives in 1956, he received the support of John F. Kennedy and his organization.

“JFK’s people were very good to me,” he said.

In the fall of 1961, Kennedy, now president, sent for Doherty who traveled to Washington D.C. Doherty was asked by the president if he would help his younger brother Ted in his campaign for the Senate.

Doherty recalled it was not an easy race as Ted Kennedy was involved in a primary battle with Edward McCormack, the Commonwealth’s attorney general. He worked on the campaign for seven months.

“I did all sort of things [for him],” he recalled.

The Kennedy political organization offered to put Doherty on the payroll, but Doherty followed the advice of his father and refused to take any money.

His father told him, “They’ll owe you.”  

Doherty’s association with Robert Kennedy came about when the senator decided to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 1968 after President Lyndon Johnson decided not to seek re-election. Ted Kennedy asked Doherty to help his brother in a crucial primary fight in Indiana.

Doherty managed the primary campaign and had initial problem. He said the Robert Kennedy couldn’t draw a crowd in Indiana.

“He couldn’t fill a telephone booth,” Doherty said.

A change in a campaign slogan and making sure Kennedy said “we” instead of “I’ in speeches helped turn the tide for him and he won the primary.

After the victory, Kennedy called Doherty a friend and wanted him to manage the primary campaign in California later that year.

Doherty recalled his he and his wife were packed on June 3 ready to fly to California when they learned the “startling news that Robert Kennedy had been killed.”     

Doherty his friendship with the surviving brother, Ted, up until his death and was active in raising funding for the Kennedy Library.

When asked to describe the differences in the three men, Doherty said, “The three brothers were very much alike. The president was far more deliberate. He would think before doing something.’ He said Ted was a “poor speaker,” but he had a strength in meeting people directly.

“He liked people and people liked him,” Doherty added.

Robert Kennedy was “very intense.”