Remembering RFK

As we approach the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s death on June 6th, and in the context of the troubled times that we live in, it is fitting that we celebrate the positive influence that one person can have on public discourse and national and international policy.

In his book, “1968 – The Year the Dream Died”, author Jules Witcover pinpoints 1968 “…as a cataclysmic year of turmoil and violence, presidential surprises and escalating war that set a shaken nation on a course of disappointment, racial division, and distrust in leadership that persists until today”. Having been involved in many of the early decisions during his brother’s presidency, by 1967 RFK had broken sharply from President Johnson on America’s commitment to the war in Vietnam. After a depressed and beleaguered LBJ announced in March 1968 that he would not seek his party’s nomination for President, the way was clear for Kennedy to run on a message of change, hope and unity.

The campaign lasted 82 days. Kennedy was murdered at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 6th 1968 shortly after giving a speech in response to his victory that night in the California primary. In 2008 we have another charismatic leader campaigning on a similar message of hope and change. Hopefully the dreams of a country 40 years ago will finally come to fruition in Barack Obama.