You haven’t seen this in the mainstream media. A new book on Ronald Reagan reprints a 1983 memo sent from the head of the KGB to the General Secretary of the Communist Party, USSR, Yuri Andropov, regarding an offer made by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, through former Sen. John Tunney. According to the memo, Kennedy and Tunney offered to work together with the Russians on a PR campaign to cast Reagan as a warmonger and the Soviets as peace-loving folks in order to turn the tide of the 1984 presidential election.
Think about it for a moment. At least two Democrats, one a sitting senator, allegedly offered to work with a hostile regime for partisan political gain. The complete Soviet memo, dated May 14, 1983, is included in the Appendix of the book “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism”, by Paul Kengor. Here is the key part of the memo, composed by V. Chebrikov, head of the Committee for State Security, KGB:
If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y. V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and the television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.
Is it true? Is the memo real? Did Kengor really get it from the Soviet archives? You’d think that the media—especially the Boston media—would be even mildly interested, but so far nothing.
Yet when Kitty Kelley publishes a book that makes the most outrageous claims regarding the Bush family’s personal behavior—not political actions—on the eve of the 2004 presidential election, they get widespread media attention and splashed everywhere, even as the mainstream media safely tut-tut about “tabloid journalism.” Is there a double standard at work? If a memo had been found in Saddam Hussein’s archives outlining a plan proposed to him by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and, picking at random, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, to wage a PR campaign on behalf of Saddam against Bill Clinton in the 1996 election, how do you think the media would be treating it right now, a couple of weeks before the election? Silence? Don’t count on it.
