Exclusives: Maximizing the Article

In early 1967, Senator Robert Kennedy began work on what was to have been a New York Times Magazine article based on his 1962 Cuban-missile-crisis notes. The Senator's outline called for a piece of about 5,000 words for which he would have received a standard $400 fee. But by the time the work was finished about a year ago, it was five times its intended length and, in the Senator's view, might have appeared too politically self-serving in a pre-election year. So he put it away and never collected his $400.

Last week all rights to the 25,000-word manuscript were...