by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the leading candidate in the Democratic race to replace Lyndon Johnson as President, was assassinated fifty years ago this week. Kennedy, who had been the Attorney General of the United States in the presidential administration of his older brother, John, left the Johnson administration after JFK's assassination and was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York. He entered the 1968 presidential on March 16th of 1968, and Lyndon Johnson, the sitting Democratic President, announced fifteen days later that he would not seek re-election. Many saw Kennedy's entry into the race as a prominent factor in Johnson's decision to pull out.
Bobby Kennedy quickly proved to be a formidable candidate. He had, in fact, just won the California primary shortly before he was gunned down. He was walking through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles with supporters heading toward a press conference when a young Palestinian national, Sirhan B. Sirhan, managed to work his way through the crowd and shoot the senator in the head.
Kennedy died of his wounds at a Los Angeles hospital on June 6, 1968 - and with him died the hopes of many young Americans.
Delores Huerta, a co-founder along with Cesar Chavez, of the National Farmworkers Association (later called the United Farm Workers), was with RFK at the podium in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel shortly before he was shot. In recent interviews about Kennedy and the events of that night, Huerta stressed how he was the hope of the nation's Hispanics. She felt that the killing of Bobby Kennedy turned American history onto a dark path the resulted not only in the election of Richard Nixon later that year but seeped on down through history to the election of Donald Trump in 2016. She saw Kennedy as the pivotal character who could have changed a half-century of history for the better.
Bobby Kennedy's death not only signaled the end of the era of American politics that eventually became known as Camelot, it also seemed to be the closing chapter in a bloody segment of our nation's history where liberal political figures - and Civil Rights workers - were being killed for their beliefs and political activism. Bobby Kennedy was the last lion, and after he was gone the inequity of the status quo resumed its slow push downhill.
Robert Kennedy's light of promise was extinguished by violence, and, as a nation, we have been diminished by that act. Rest in peace, Bobby, and know that you are still held in high regard in the hearts of millions. You served us well, though far too briefly.
Citizen Journalist
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the leading candidate in the Democratic race to replace Lyndon Johnson as President, was assassinated fifty years ago this week. Kennedy, who had been the Attorney General of the United States in the presidential administration of his older brother, John, left the Johnson administration after JFK's assassination and was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York. He entered the 1968 presidential on March 16th of 1968, and Lyndon Johnson, the sitting Democratic President, announced fifteen days later that he would not seek re-election. Many saw Kennedy's entry into the race as a prominent factor in Johnson's decision to pull out.
Bobby Kennedy quickly proved to be a formidable candidate. He had, in fact, just won the California primary shortly before he was gunned down. He was walking through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles with supporters heading toward a press conference when a young Palestinian national, Sirhan B. Sirhan, managed to work his way through the crowd and shoot the senator in the head.
Kennedy died of his wounds at a Los Angeles hospital on June 6, 1968 - and with him died the hopes of many young Americans.
Delores Huerta, a co-founder along with Cesar Chavez, of the National Farmworkers Association (later called the United Farm Workers), was with RFK at the podium in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel shortly before he was shot. In recent interviews about Kennedy and the events of that night, Huerta stressed how he was the hope of the nation's Hispanics. She felt that the killing of Bobby Kennedy turned American history onto a dark path the resulted not only in the election of Richard Nixon later that year but seeped on down through history to the election of Donald Trump in 2016. She saw Kennedy as the pivotal character who could have changed a half-century of history for the better.
Bobby Kennedy's death not only signaled the end of the era of American politics that eventually became known as Camelot, it also seemed to be the closing chapter in a bloody segment of our nation's history where liberal political figures - and Civil Rights workers - were being killed for their beliefs and political activism. Bobby Kennedy was the last lion, and after he was gone the inequity of the status quo resumed its slow push downhill.
Robert Kennedy's light of promise was extinguished by violence, and, as a nation, we have been diminished by that act. Rest in peace, Bobby, and know that you are still held in high regard in the hearts of millions. You served us well, though far too briefly.
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