Synopsis
The book opens on November 22 1963, and RFK is anguished by grief, rage, guilt and deep regret that his actions as ‘the Water Carrier’ for the Kennedy family caused his brother’s assassination. Tormented by demons, RFK offsets this devastating moral crisis and seeks redemption through good works. He champions the poor and marginalised in the deep South, in Native-American reservations and apartheid-era South Africa. Yet he grows closer to his brother’s widow Jackie as they find consolation in each other. With a growing understanding of his dynastic destiny, RFK believes that to avenge his brother’s death and to justify his seduction of Jackie, he must fully replace his sibling.
Shortly after RFK announces his candidacy for Democratic party nomination in the 1968 election Jackie, terrified for the safety of her two children, accepts the hand and protection of the wealthiest man in the world. “Marry Onassis?” screams Bobby, “over my dead body!” His actions cast the die for his own fate and all of those around him.
As the son of a bankrupt outcast of a small town, Lyndon Baines Johnson seeks to acquire money and power to gain the respect and fear of his peers, to restore his family’s reputation. Being an intimidating six foot five, vicious-tongued and ruthless are, as his lover Madeleine Duncan Brown notes, his redeeming qualities. Assuming the presidency in the aftermath of the assassination, the ‘Master of the Senate’ quickly understands that he is not legitimate in the eyes of the American people and whilst adept at domestic politics, is out of his depth in international affairs, especially with the brilliant Kennedy advisors who still occupy positions in the White House. Insecure about his limitations, his paranoia about losing power deepens when a challenger to his throne emerges. LBJ’s visceral hatred of Bobby Kennedy increases once Bobby starts to campaign for the 1968 Presidential election, a hatred that blinds his judgement.
From a bare-footed penniless child in little Italy, Chicago, Sam ‘Momo’ Giancana rose through the ranks of a post-Capone Chicago mafia to become one of wealthiest and most successful dons in the history of America. Noting that the CIA and the Syndicate have the same enemies, Giancana oversees a number of assassinations internationally and domestically at the behest of the CIA. After financially supporting and vote-rigging JFK’s successful 1960 election to achieve power and immunity from prosecution, Giancana is double-crossed by Joe Kennedy when newly-minted Attorney General Bobby Kennedy prosecutes the mafia more intensively than ever. The Kennedys, Giancana states, need to be stopped and the humiliation of the betrayal must be avenged.
George H. W. Bush is son of the former Senator of Connecticut, Prescott Bush and, in 1963 aims to win a US Senate seat from Texas. As well as owner of a Texas oil company, the ultra right-wing, anti-civil rights Bush is also active in the CIA, later becoming the Head of the CIA. When family friend and head of the CIA Allan Dulles is forced to resign in 1962 by President Kennedy, Bush’s animus towards the Kennedy family explodes and Bush strengthens his resolve to achieve his father’s unfulfilled political ambitions, stand for election and establish a political dynasty to overcome the Kennedys and end Bobby’s political ambitions.
Water Carrier tells both new and familiar facts in a new dynamic format that highlights the most significant players in 1960’s America, revealing the deep politics in American life. It does not go beyond established facts, instead it tells commonly known and unknown but verifiable facts together in a new way.
The Water Carrier is released in two parts: Part One is released on Friday 22 April 2016; Part Two on Monday 6th June 2016, on the anniversary of RFK's assassination.
The author is an established journalist and academic who has researched the Kennedy archives.
The book opens on November 22 1963, and RFK is anguished by grief, rage, guilt and deep regret that his actions as ‘the Water Carrier’ for the Kennedy family caused his brother’s assassination. Tormented by demons, RFK offsets this devastating moral crisis and seeks redemption through good works. He champions the poor and marginalised in the deep South, in Native-American reservations and apartheid-era South Africa. Yet he grows closer to his brother’s widow Jackie as they find consolation in each other. With a growing understanding of his dynastic destiny, RFK believes that to avenge his brother’s death and to justify his seduction of Jackie, he must fully replace his sibling.
Shortly after RFK announces his candidacy for Democratic party nomination in the 1968 election Jackie, terrified for the safety of her two children, accepts the hand and protection of the wealthiest man in the world. “Marry Onassis?” screams Bobby, “over my dead body!” His actions cast the die for his own fate and all of those around him.
As the son of a bankrupt outcast of a small town, Lyndon Baines Johnson seeks to acquire money and power to gain the respect and fear of his peers, to restore his family’s reputation. Being an intimidating six foot five, vicious-tongued and ruthless are, as his lover Madeleine Duncan Brown notes, his redeeming qualities. Assuming the presidency in the aftermath of the assassination, the ‘Master of the Senate’ quickly understands that he is not legitimate in the eyes of the American people and whilst adept at domestic politics, is out of his depth in international affairs, especially with the brilliant Kennedy advisors who still occupy positions in the White House. Insecure about his limitations, his paranoia about losing power deepens when a challenger to his throne emerges. LBJ’s visceral hatred of Bobby Kennedy increases once Bobby starts to campaign for the 1968 Presidential election, a hatred that blinds his judgement.
From a bare-footed penniless child in little Italy, Chicago, Sam ‘Momo’ Giancana rose through the ranks of a post-Capone Chicago mafia to become one of wealthiest and most successful dons in the history of America. Noting that the CIA and the Syndicate have the same enemies, Giancana oversees a number of assassinations internationally and domestically at the behest of the CIA. After financially supporting and vote-rigging JFK’s successful 1960 election to achieve power and immunity from prosecution, Giancana is double-crossed by Joe Kennedy when newly-minted Attorney General Bobby Kennedy prosecutes the mafia more intensively than ever. The Kennedys, Giancana states, need to be stopped and the humiliation of the betrayal must be avenged.
George H. W. Bush is son of the former Senator of Connecticut, Prescott Bush and, in 1963 aims to win a US Senate seat from Texas. As well as owner of a Texas oil company, the ultra right-wing, anti-civil rights Bush is also active in the CIA, later becoming the Head of the CIA. When family friend and head of the CIA Allan Dulles is forced to resign in 1962 by President Kennedy, Bush’s animus towards the Kennedy family explodes and Bush strengthens his resolve to achieve his father’s unfulfilled political ambitions, stand for election and establish a political dynasty to overcome the Kennedys and end Bobby’s political ambitions.
Water Carrier tells both new and familiar facts in a new dynamic format that highlights the most significant players in 1960’s America, revealing the deep politics in American life. It does not go beyond established facts, instead it tells commonly known and unknown but verifiable facts together in a new way.
The Water Carrier is released in two parts: Part One is released on Friday 22 April 2016; Part Two on Monday 6th June 2016, on the anniversary of RFK's assassination.
The author is an established journalist and academic who has researched the Kennedy archives.
