Bobby Kennedy

The PT 109 "Tie Clasp Connection...."

Carvajal had a nodding acquaintance with Bobby Kennedy since their days on Capitol Hill (1953).  Kennedy had just finished law school and was working as a Democratic Party counsel on Senator Joe McCarthy's committee.  Carvajal was just starting in at George Washington University.   Bobby, like his brother Jack, was a very friendly, outgoing sort of person.   The famous "PT 109" tie clasp had been a much sought-after memento of JFK's 1960 presidential campaign.  It was a reminder of JFK's heroic actions as skipper of a Patrol Torpedo boat in the South Pacific in World War II  (where he nearly lost his life when the boat was sunk by a Japanese destroyer).   In 1962, Carvajal was the publicist for a D.C. event at which Attorney General Bobby Kennedy was the main speaker.   He took a snapshot of RFK with a couple of well-wishers after the event.   Carvajal said, "I see you're wearing one of those hard-to-get PT 109 tie clasps."   Kennedy said, "Here, take it. I've got a drawer full of them." In these photos, Kennedy and Carvajal are seen wearing that tie clasp. There is also a scanned close-up of that now-rare item.

Attorney General Robert Kennedy, greeting well-wishers at the old Hilton Hotel in D.C.  (1962).     Note the PT 109 tie clasp. Photo by Joe Carvajal

Embassy Press Attache Carvajal (with his wife Nedra) being greeted by Ambassador and Mrs. Leonard Unger as they arrived for the annual Christmas Party at the Ambassador's Residence, Bangkok, 1968.  There's that tie clasp again. U.S. Embassy Photo

A close-up scan of the tie clasp.

Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968.  In those days before instant global communications, it was Joe Carvajal's sad duty to notify the Bangkok press corps (and Ambassador Unger) of that event, having received word through a secure U.S. Government Telex channel to the Embassy Press Office.