larger Democratic cause.

Lyndon Johnson's forces were said to be piqued in 1964 when, on the night of LBJ's convention acceptance speech, delegates gave Robert Kennedy a 16-minute ovation before watching a film tribute to his slain brother.

Four years later, convention delegates stopped fighting each other over Vietnam long enough to watch "Robert Kennedy Remembered," a Richard Burton-narrated Charles Guggenheim film about the assassinated senator. Delegates stood and cheered for five minutes, then sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

"The only moment of conciliation at that convention was the tribute to Bob," recalled John Seigenthaler, a former aide to Robert Kennedy. The divided party nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey and never really healed that year; Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon.

Even at the 1980 convention, though it was clear thatTed Kennedy had lost his bid to wrest the nomination from incumbent President Jimmy Carter, he dominated the proceedings. His forces led a bitter two-day platform fight that resulted in Kennedy getting the party to adopt his $12 billion recession-fighting plan. He also got a 40-minute ovation on the second night with his "dream will never die" speech. Carter lost the election to Ronald Reagan.

While the Kennedys kept a grip on the soul of the party, they often left the faithful with an image problem. They were derided by Republicans, comedians and party moderates as out-of-touch liberals, and the brothers were branded as playboys or worse.

"I don't think many Republicans would want their kids to get in the car with Senator Kennedy," said David Carney, former White House