At the time he was assassinated in 1968, Bobby Kennedy was known as a staunch defender of civil rights and a liberal icon. But he wasn’t always that way. In fact, his politics changed substantially throughout the 1950s and 1960s. 

In his new book Bobby Kennedy: The Making Of A Liberal Icon, journalist Larry Tye tracks Kennedy’s political maturation from his days working for Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy to his time as Attorney General in his brother John’s administration to his years as a U.S. Senator representing New York. 

Morning Shift talks to Tye about Kennedy’s early years and how a kid who was so often overshadowed by his older brothers became so revered by a generation of left-leaning Americans.