There remain those of us who heard the speech as it was given. For many of us Bobby Kennedy was a great hero and, perhaps, our last great opportunity to bring unity from so much division. It should be remembered that we had the racial divisions but America was also in the throes of the Vietnam War when Dr. King and Senator Kennedy were assassinated.
The divisions among us had improved marginally, but visibly, in the years since then. And then came Trump. In the four days since the election those of us who believe in goodness and decency are being told that the election loss was our fault and, gee, we have to "learn" from this. No! No, it wasn't our fault. We aren't the haters. We are not the liars. We are not the people who will sacrifice the brave people of Ukraine so Trump can appease his pal, Putin. We are good and decent and intelligent people who supported a good and decent ticket. Goodness and decency lost the election but many of us are determined that we will not ultimately lose the battle for the soul of America. I always return to the great quote from Senator Ted Kennedy that seems so very appropriate this week: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
I was a senior at the University of California Riverside when I heard that speech as the country burned. I remembered it two months later when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. I watched the infamous Chicago convention from the library school at UCLA where I was getting my masters degree. A year later I was in Vietnam as a civilian Army librarian running libraries for the soldiers—morale and recreation. Worst years ever!! Winston Churchill said in 1948 “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” and here we are.
Thank you for your service and sharing this, Ann (from a fellow Bruin, Masters in Law). I was on campus last spring the day that the encampment was broken up. It was a really scary morning. I was only a kid when MLK and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated but still remember it well. I had the same thoughts about humans not learning anything from history.
I watched those events last spring on television and was reminded of the protests and demonstrations that occurred in those very same spots in 1968-69. It was not just scary but surreal and for me very sad that really so little seems to have changed.
Beautiful message. What a wonderful thing if the same message to live by will be practiced by the next administration. trump campaigned using hate and division. The January 6 insurrection, which he has outright embraced and applauded, promoted violence and lawlessness. So I would say the buck starts there. It will be interesting to see whether the words of JFK are practiced by the next administration. Not by using words, but the actions that will be taken. I hope they are. I am not holding my breath. 🙏
I'm not an expert but that's the best extemporaneous speech I ever heard. I've actually been familiar with it for a long time. I was twelve when RFK did that speech. I remember discussing it in school. What a great President
Reading that speech was a reminder of how bad things were in the 1960's and how much worse they can get in the 2020's. Here's to hoping that Trump reads those words, or at least lives and rules by them.
Thanks, Chris, for sharing. I think it is important to shine a light on where we want to go as a nation. And I think Joe Biden absolutely chose that course of behavior after winning the election in 2020. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has chosen to exacerbate the natural divisions and fault lines in our society because, independent of the greater good of the nation, he believed that best served his own personal ends. It looks as though he bet right on the nature of the majority of the American people.
That doesn't mean that I believe that the ends justify the means; I still believe we must do the right as we are given to see the right. However, it is also important to recognize what kind of opposition those who believe in the right, like Lincoln, MLK, RFK, etc, are currently facing
I remember seeing that speech on the news at 11PM on WMAQ in Chicago. I had begged my parents to let me stay up to watch the news that night because of the assassination. I was 11 years old growing up in St. Joseph, Michigan, a predominately white and wealthy city,. Across the St. Joseph River was Benton Harbor, a predominately black working class city. Known locally as the Twin Cities, it has become one of the most studied regions in the US because of the racial divide that still exists because of the river.
I remember the night after MLK's assassination my father took us down to the river bluff overlooking Benton Harbor and we watched the city burn as the citizens continued to riot over MLK's death. He told us how stupid it was that people were burning down their own livelihoods but that this is what happens when people are poorly treated by society. His truck dealership and leasing company were located in Benton Harbor and escaped any damage from the riots but a lot of his friends and business associates were not so lucky. I remember him taking me through the devastated downtown a few weeks after the riot to survey the damage. It was very sad to see the burned out buildings but I was amazed at how much still remained untouched.
I remember when the Life magazine on MLK showed up in the mail and then Time showed up. I spent a lot of time reading them. I never would have thought that I would end up in Memphis on business in the mid-1980s and have the time to go to the museum at the motel where he was shot.
I also remember getting up on June 6 to get ready for the last day of school. I turned on the TV and found out that RFK had been shot in LA. They had footage of his speech after winning the California primary and then the shooting but it was hard to tell what was going on with all of the confusion.
We were a solid Republican household, but not solid enough to have voted for Goldwater in 1964. I remember my dad saying how hard it was to vote for LBJ, but that there was no way he was voting for the guy from Arizona.
In June of 1968 Robert F Kennedy was assassinated. I remember my shock when it happened. With how our country acted then I could never imagine what just to place in our country this past would have ever happened here. I leaned Republican in those days and my home state was Democratic Texas. Not as strong Dixiecrat as it is MAGA today. At my age now I probably will never see the democracy we had until January 20,2017.
I listened to that episode this morning as I was shoveling snow. I greatly appreciate your recommendation of The Rest Is History podcast. I listened to the entire series on Custer and Sitting Bull, and I was hooked. Tom and Dominic now accompany me on my daily walks. Thank you for your recommendation.
I recently listened to that series and it left me broken-hearted for the guide rails that were in place in those chaotic times. They're gone now. (For instance, Watergate would have never forced Nixon to resign if it happened today.)
Thank you, Chris, for having the wisdom to share RFK's extemporaneous talk. It can be applied to so much more than racism if only we have the wisdom to do so!
This "let's just all get along" baloney is going to make me VOMIT!!! Such blind naivete and misreading of reality is mind numbing.
There is NO DOUBT that Trump and his MAGA Mob THRIVE on hatred, demonization, bigotry, racism, sexism and plain old MEANNESS.
The fact is that Trump being vulgar and HATE filled is the ATTRACTION, not a liability.
I lived through MLK's murder. And just months later, RFK's. Those events in 1968 were my political awakening at the age of 13.
Chris was not even born until 8 years later, with the usual awakening of the world around us until at least another 5 or 6 years.
Trying to lecture us as to a "speech everyone should listen too" with the admonishment that "We’d all do well to remember the lessons contained therein." is SO tone deaf and OUT-OF-TOUCH it's revolting.
Yeah...the "lesson" in RFK's words are that it ensured he got MURDERED in cold blood.
You are preaching to the WRONG people Chris.
Today's MAGA MOB sure does not believe and Trump has spewed the EXACT OPPOSITE message that "What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country"
Maybe in an episode of The West Wing, we could all come together and just ignore the divisiveness and PURE HATE that Trump has built his whole political persona and immense POWER (within the GOP) on.
Here in the real world, we all know WHERE the "current rancor seems more built around", and it's NOT "party identity".
It's from a slavish, cult like devotion to a master of rancor and divisiveness, Donald Trump.
It is imperative that we honesty communicate EXACTLY what has happened in the Era of Trump. That is not promoting "anger and resentment" that is "coursing through the country over the past, well, decade."...it's simply the TRUTH.
One of the keys to overcoming destructive behavior like alcoholism or drug addiction, first and foremost to to ADMIT YOU GAVE A PROBLEM.
America's problem has been escalated, exasperated, encouraged and made exponentially WORSE by DONALD TRUMP and his rabid supporters.
It is a stirring and heartfelt speech and is timeless…. I remember it happening. It was a moment in US history that was turned in a better direction through RFK’s speech that night.
Chris -- If you think that the current divisions are about party identity, and not racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and bigotry, then you are willfully ignoring what one of the parties stands for.
There remain those of us who heard the speech as it was given. For many of us Bobby Kennedy was a great hero and, perhaps, our last great opportunity to bring unity from so much division. It should be remembered that we had the racial divisions but America was also in the throes of the Vietnam War when Dr. King and Senator Kennedy were assassinated.
The divisions among us had improved marginally, but visibly, in the years since then. And then came Trump. In the four days since the election those of us who believe in goodness and decency are being told that the election loss was our fault and, gee, we have to "learn" from this. No! No, it wasn't our fault. We aren't the haters. We are not the liars. We are not the people who will sacrifice the brave people of Ukraine so Trump can appease his pal, Putin. We are good and decent and intelligent people who supported a good and decent ticket. Goodness and decency lost the election but many of us are determined that we will not ultimately lose the battle for the soul of America. I always return to the great quote from Senator Ted Kennedy that seems so very appropriate this week: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
"The hope still lives". No one can take away hope. I'm sending mine from Australia. Stay safe.
I was a senior at the University of California Riverside when I heard that speech as the country burned. I remembered it two months later when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. I watched the infamous Chicago convention from the library school at UCLA where I was getting my masters degree. A year later I was in Vietnam as a civilian Army librarian running libraries for the soldiers—morale and recreation. Worst years ever!! Winston Churchill said in 1948 “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it” and here we are.
Thank you for your service and sharing this, Ann (from a fellow Bruin, Masters in Law). I was on campus last spring the day that the encampment was broken up. It was a really scary morning. I was only a kid when MLK and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated but still remember it well. I had the same thoughts about humans not learning anything from history.
I watched those events last spring on television and was reminded of the protests and demonstrations that occurred in those very same spots in 1968-69. It was not just scary but surreal and for me very sad that really so little seems to have changed.
Beautiful message. What a wonderful thing if the same message to live by will be practiced by the next administration. trump campaigned using hate and division. The January 6 insurrection, which he has outright embraced and applauded, promoted violence and lawlessness. So I would say the buck starts there. It will be interesting to see whether the words of JFK are practiced by the next administration. Not by using words, but the actions that will be taken. I hope they are. I am not holding my breath. 🙏
I'm not an expert but that's the best extemporaneous speech I ever heard. I've actually been familiar with it for a long time. I was twelve when RFK did that speech. I remember discussing it in school. What a great President
he might have been.
Now we have to deal with his damaged offspring.
Reading that speech was a reminder of how bad things were in the 1960's and how much worse they can get in the 2020's. Here's to hoping that Trump reads those words, or at least lives and rules by them.
Thanks, Chris, for sharing. I think it is important to shine a light on where we want to go as a nation. And I think Joe Biden absolutely chose that course of behavior after winning the election in 2020. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has chosen to exacerbate the natural divisions and fault lines in our society because, independent of the greater good of the nation, he believed that best served his own personal ends. It looks as though he bet right on the nature of the majority of the American people.
That doesn't mean that I believe that the ends justify the means; I still believe we must do the right as we are given to see the right. However, it is also important to recognize what kind of opposition those who believe in the right, like Lincoln, MLK, RFK, etc, are currently facing
I remember seeing that speech on the news at 11PM on WMAQ in Chicago. I had begged my parents to let me stay up to watch the news that night because of the assassination. I was 11 years old growing up in St. Joseph, Michigan, a predominately white and wealthy city,. Across the St. Joseph River was Benton Harbor, a predominately black working class city. Known locally as the Twin Cities, it has become one of the most studied regions in the US because of the racial divide that still exists because of the river.
I remember the night after MLK's assassination my father took us down to the river bluff overlooking Benton Harbor and we watched the city burn as the citizens continued to riot over MLK's death. He told us how stupid it was that people were burning down their own livelihoods but that this is what happens when people are poorly treated by society. His truck dealership and leasing company were located in Benton Harbor and escaped any damage from the riots but a lot of his friends and business associates were not so lucky. I remember him taking me through the devastated downtown a few weeks after the riot to survey the damage. It was very sad to see the burned out buildings but I was amazed at how much still remained untouched.
I remember when the Life magazine on MLK showed up in the mail and then Time showed up. I spent a lot of time reading them. I never would have thought that I would end up in Memphis on business in the mid-1980s and have the time to go to the museum at the motel where he was shot.
I also remember getting up on June 6 to get ready for the last day of school. I turned on the TV and found out that RFK had been shot in LA. They had footage of his speech after winning the California primary and then the shooting but it was hard to tell what was going on with all of the confusion.
We were a solid Republican household, but not solid enough to have voted for Goldwater in 1964. I remember my dad saying how hard it was to vote for LBJ, but that there was no way he was voting for the guy from Arizona.
In June of 1968 Robert F Kennedy was assassinated. I remember my shock when it happened. With how our country acted then I could never imagine what just to place in our country this past would have ever happened here. I leaned Republican in those days and my home state was Democratic Texas. Not as strong Dixiecrat as it is MAGA today. At my age now I probably will never see the democracy we had until January 20,2017.
I listened to that episode this morning as I was shoveling snow. I greatly appreciate your recommendation of The Rest Is History podcast. I listened to the entire series on Custer and Sitting Bull, and I was hooked. Tom and Dominic now accompany me on my daily walks. Thank you for your recommendation.
I recently listened to that series and it left me broken-hearted for the guide rails that were in place in those chaotic times. They're gone now. (For instance, Watergate would have never forced Nixon to resign if it happened today.)
Thank you, Chris, for having the wisdom to share RFK's extemporaneous talk. It can be applied to so much more than racism if only we have the wisdom to do so!
Oh boy.
This "let's just all get along" baloney is going to make me VOMIT!!! Such blind naivete and misreading of reality is mind numbing.
There is NO DOUBT that Trump and his MAGA Mob THRIVE on hatred, demonization, bigotry, racism, sexism and plain old MEANNESS.
The fact is that Trump being vulgar and HATE filled is the ATTRACTION, not a liability.
I lived through MLK's murder. And just months later, RFK's. Those events in 1968 were my political awakening at the age of 13.
Chris was not even born until 8 years later, with the usual awakening of the world around us until at least another 5 or 6 years.
Trying to lecture us as to a "speech everyone should listen too" with the admonishment that "We’d all do well to remember the lessons contained therein." is SO tone deaf and OUT-OF-TOUCH it's revolting.
Yeah...the "lesson" in RFK's words are that it ensured he got MURDERED in cold blood.
You are preaching to the WRONG people Chris.
Today's MAGA MOB sure does not believe and Trump has spewed the EXACT OPPOSITE message that "What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country"
Maybe in an episode of The West Wing, we could all come together and just ignore the divisiveness and PURE HATE that Trump has built his whole political persona and immense POWER (within the GOP) on.
Here in the real world, we all know WHERE the "current rancor seems more built around", and it's NOT "party identity".
It's from a slavish, cult like devotion to a master of rancor and divisiveness, Donald Trump.
It is imperative that we honesty communicate EXACTLY what has happened in the Era of Trump. That is not promoting "anger and resentment" that is "coursing through the country over the past, well, decade."...it's simply the TRUTH.
One of the keys to overcoming destructive behavior like alcoholism or drug addiction, first and foremost to to ADMIT YOU GAVE A PROBLEM.
America's problem has been escalated, exasperated, encouraged and made exponentially WORSE by DONALD TRUMP and his rabid supporters.
100%, Dave. Democrats don’t have the stones to take it up a notch.
It is a stirring and heartfelt speech and is timeless…. I remember it happening. It was a moment in US history that was turned in a better direction through RFK’s speech that night.
Really lovely. Thanks for this Chris. And thanks for reminding us that there was a time when politicians had favorite Greek poets they could quote….
Very appropriate piece for this time. I was 5 at the time. I remember the trauma of both assassinations. It was a scary tome.
Chris -- If you think that the current divisions are about party identity, and not racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and bigotry, then you are willfully ignoring what one of the parties stands for.