In Interview With NBC's Williams, Ethel Kennedy Recalls 'Very Warm, Very Emotional' Fidel Castro

At the end of Thursday's NBC Rock Center, host Brian Williams touted an "unexpected moment" with the widow of Robert F. Kennedy when he asked "what she remembered about Fidel Castro, who, it turns out, she's met several times." Kennedy fondly remembered: "He was very warm, very emotional. He clearly would have liked to have been friends with President Kennedy and with Bobby."

Williams lamented the friendship that never was: "It certainly didn't work out that way. And of the three men, only Castro survives."

On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported the aging Cuban dictator had suffered a stroke.

Following the reelection of socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on October 8, NBC correspondent Kerry Sanders proclaimed the win to be "an emotional moment in history" for supporters of the authoritarian leader.

Here is a transcript of the exchange between Williams and Kennedy aired on the October 18 Rock Center:

10:56PM ET

BRIAN WILLIAMS: An unexpected moment this week came during our interview with Ethel Kennedy, she's 84 years old now. Her daughter Rory there has made a documentary about her mom, which debuts tonight on HBO. And with this week's 50th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis in mind, I asked the widow of Bobby Kennedy, the sister-in-law of JFK, what she remembered about Fidel Castro, who, it turns out, she's met several times.

ETHEL KENNEDY: He was very warm, very emotional. He clearly would have liked to have been friends with President Kennedy and with Bobby.

WILLIAMS: It certainly didn't work out that way. And of the three men, only Castro survives.