A Common Good: The Friendship Of Robert F. Kennedy And Kenneth P. O'donnell

Kenneth O'Donnell was JFK's chief-of-staff and the co-author of Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye. In this intimate, revealing memoir of his long friendship with Bobby Kennedy, his daughter, Helen, honors his wish that RFK be remembered as the man Ken O'Donnell knew him to be.

Kenny and Bobby met at Harvard in 1947, where they were both members of the football and debate teams. It was the beginning of a relationship that would end only with Bobby's death. The two friends spent years at the epicenter of American politics, sharing highs and lows: JFK's ascent to the presidency; Bobby's stormy tenure as chairman of several congressional committees exploring controversial issues and later as Attorney General, locking horns with J. Edgar Hoover and Jimmy Hoffa; and JFK's assassination.

Much of the material in this poignant, illuminating memoir has never before been told. The Kennedys granted Helen O'Donnell complete access to the family archives, and encouraged many people who have never before spoken out to cooperate with her.

The result is A Common Good, an intimate look at a unique relationship. Ken O'Donnell was there when Camelot began -- and when it ended in violence. In honoring her father's request, Helen O'Donnell has shared with us her profound insights into the emotional relationship of two men at the center of American history in the twentieth century.

Helen O'Donnell has spent much of her life as a political activist. She established the Democracy Foundation and worked for the National Association for the Southern Poor before beginning A Common Good.