Kennedy documents show death threats as late as 1985

WASHINGTON (AP) — Previously secret FBI records released today show there were death threats against then-Sen. Edward Kennedy, even five years after his failed 1980 White House bid.

The documents showed that on May 23, 1985, the U.S. Capitol Police passed onto the FBI a copy of a letter sent to the Secret Service, ostensibly by a Warren, Mich., resident. The sender, whose name was redacted, declared: "Brass tacks, I'm gonna kill Kennedy and (President Ronald) Reagan, and I really mean it."

The FBI considered the sender armed and dangerous, but an accompanying psychological analysis said she was "merely ventilating her frustrations and projecting her inadequacies."

The 1985 threat was among 2,352 pages of documents the FBI posted on its website regarding the late senator, who died last year at the age of 77 after fighting brain cancer. Most of the documents are about death threats and extortion attempts against the Massachusetts Democrat.

"These threats originated from multiple sources, including individuals, anonymous persons, and members of radical groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, "Minutemen" organizations, and the National Socialist White People's Party," the FBI wrote on its website.