Bobby Kennedy's last words: "Is everyone okay?"

[Minstrel Boy]

I'd known this, but reading it again just now overwhelmed me with grief for America.

There's Robert Kennedy on the pantry floor, blood pooling around his head, three bullets in him and six bystanders wounded, and his last audible words are "Is everyone okay?"

That he could say this, as he faced his own death, says much about what kind of President Americans lost that early morning.

From Jack Newfield's Robert F Kennedy, A Memoir:

"Now I realized what makes our generation unique, what defines up apart from those who came before the hopeful winter of 1961, and those who came after the murderous spring of 1968. We are the first generation that learned from experience...that things were not really getting better, that we shall not overcome. We felt, by the time we reached thirty, that we had already glimpsed the most compassionate leaders our nation could produce, and they had all been assassinated. And from this time forward, things would get worse: our best political leaders were part of memory now, not hope. The stone was at the bottom of the hill and we were alone."

Is everyone okay?

RFK touring Washington DC in the wake of riots following the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King:

[Devlzown]

1. I saw an old film of that speech RFK gave

when he announced to the crowd that Martin Luther King had been killed. It was a simple little speech, but it had such depth of feeling. I wish we could've been given the chance to see what kind of President he turned out to be.

[ochazuke]

2. People say our country is blessed...

But look at history. Every time events unfold so as to give us hope for the future, something horribe happens:

Founding fathers supplanted by rabble (Andrew Jackson to Buchanan)
Civil War ends slavery, but reconstruction ushers in Jim Crow
Three great leaders assasinated in the 1960. Four if you count Malcom X.

Don't fall for the Reaganite bull squamil. It's a tough slough, and good will only triumph over evil if good is very, very careful (L. McCoy)

[Stephanie]

3. This was the most intense time in modern US history

But what's happening now is on a par.

I was just watching a documentary about MLK on PBS. Really just incredibly intense.

The lesson from both: COURAGE

The MLK documentary was great. The interviewer talks with the Police Chief of Memphis. He was one of the first 28 black police officers in a force of several thousand. 30 years later, he is Chief.

Courage. Step forward. Take responsibility.

[Racenut20]

4. I have never met a finer man than RFK

I spent that terrible day driving voters to the polls for him in South Los Angeles. The Watts neighborhood. Probably the only young white man within two miles. It felt like the place to be. Old ladies, dressed as for church waited by the curb for me. He was "Thier Man" even more so than mine. Fresh from the 6 month siege of Con Tien and then Tet. Probably the most emotional day of my life except when my children were born healthy.

I see some RFK and Harry Truman in General Clark. It is why I support him.

[kurtyboy]

22. Thank You

It was God's work you were doing.

Thank You, Racenut20, for your service to humanity. Thank You.

Kurt

[jansu]

5. Beautifully written!

Thanks for the memories, and the tears! They gave us hope and what we seem to get from most of our leaders now, is fear! But, there are enough of us from that time, we can change this, we can bring it back. Never give up, never surrender!

I met Robert Kennedy's wife, Ethel, on a plane. In 1971, I was flying back from Maryland, where my husband was stationed to California for my father-in-laws funeral. I saw her in first class, and sent a thank you note to her, for the great service to our country and condolences on her husbands death. About 15 minutes later, the stewardess came back and asked me to come forward. Ethel talked to me for about 2 hours, wanting to know about my life. A little after going back to my seat, I received a condolence card and a calling card from her.

The story you related is exactly how they were in real life.

[Stephanie]

10. Oh my God. Beautiful story.

We have photos of my grandpa with JFK, and an autograph he got from RFK. They are the family treasures.

[loudnclear]

6. Thanks for your post. We need to stay grounded.

eom

[ignatius]

7. Oh man, I am tearing up on that one. "Fear not the path of

truth for the lack of people walking it,"is one of my favorite lines of his.

Bobby, you are sorely missed in this mad world that has turned topsy turvy and is being destroyed by a small band of maniacs.

[rumguy]

8. RFK is a personal hero of mine...

And his son RFK, jr. is a very cool guy too...

[Serenity-NOW]

9. My birthday is November 22 1962

I never got to see the man alive and grew up as the nation and my family reeled from the assasinations and the growing war in Vietnam. My mom used to put on her nice dress and white gloves, put me in a stroller and take me to protest marches in southern California. My birthday always is a reminder of what should have been.

[JPZenger]

11. RFK's Speech Announcing MLK's Assassination

On the day Martin Luther King was assassinated, Robert Kennedy was campaigning for the presidency in Indianapolis. He was on his way to a campaign rally in a black section of the city when he heard that King had been killed. His aides strongly urged him not to go to the rally, that he would be endangering his life. But Kennedy insisted, and he stood upon the back of a flatbed truck and delivered the following extemporaneous eulogy. Less than two months later, Kennedy was assassinated.

"I have bad news for you, for all our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black - considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization - black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand that compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of injustice towards those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black...

We've had difficult times in the past. We will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land. Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people."

--------------

"Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
- RFK

[nini]

12. Even though I was only 11 when he was murdered..

I knew we had lost our hope and a great great man that day. He was the first politician I ever supported and he is one of my heroes.


Compare him to the corrupt Admin today and yes it will make you sad for this country. We have definitely lost our way. :-(

[BeFree]

13. I'm not okay

Still hurting, after all these years.

Yeah, time has healed the wounds. But my country has, and still to this day, suffers from that senseless taking of Robert's life.

Thanks for the reminder. The stab of pain in my heart reminds me again why the fight for Justice must never end until we truly have Liberty and Justice for all.

[PopSixSquish]

14. "Some men see things..."

as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."

Edward Kennedy's eulogy for his brother Senator Robert F. Kennedy, delivered 8 June 1968 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York

As I watch Senator Kennedy these days, I see him on one final mission for his brothers and for his country. To take back what has been taken from us. From all of us. To give back to our children, the hope our parents had, lo those many years ago.

[gauguin57]

16. I was 10 when Bobby died

... and remember my Mom, a lifelong Democrat who was probably hurting so badly over the assassination, coming into my room in the morning, sitting on the edge of my bed, and telling me he had died during the night. She explained that it was a blessing that he had passed away, since he'd been shot in the head and could have stayed alive in a vegetative state, which would have been so sad for his family. Weird what you remember from that MESSED-UP year of 1968.

If you've never heard the song "Stones in the Road," by Mary Chapin Carpenter, check it out (it'll make you cry if you remember that crazy summer):

"When I was ten, my father held me
on his shoulders above the crowd
To see a train draped in mourning
pass slowly through our town
His widow kneeled with all their children
at the sacred burial ground
And the TV glowed that long hot summer
with all the cities burning down
And the stones in the road flew out beneath our bicycle tires
Worlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home ..."

[JohnKleeb]

18. I have that on my iPod

You can feel Teddy being about to cry. As for Bobby, dont get me started, I love that guy :( and me and him were from different eras, he died when I was negative 19. RFK is among the best dems in history.

[ChiefJoseph]

15. Really?

I read somewhere that his last words were something like
"Don't...don't lift my head."

I remember being struck by that because it means he was still conscious and presumably in pain. Anyway, a great tragedy to be sure.

I've always wondered what grief Ted Kennedy must carry around with him over losing three brothers one after another.

[SoCalDem]

17. What always "got" me about the Kennedys is this..

They had more than enough money and could have lived comfortable playboy and dilettante lives, yet they all went into public service..

It always pisses me off when the freeps say things like "they have lived off the government".. Like the pittance that they were paid was even worth mentioning..

Sure..they are rich, but they do not just hole up in a room and count their money.. They are out there doing things that help others..

[Matilda]

19. I believe Jack Kennedy donated his Presidential salary to charity.

He said he didn't need the money.

[ignatius]

33. Or hole up in a room and start wars and other means of mass

destruction.

[ngGale]

20. After all these years the pain...

The pain is still with us. It's as overwhelming today as ever before. As I look around for a leader, not just any leader, but one that can give hope back to "we the people." This post gives me the energy to keep on fighting and never give up. Thank you for a post that can ground you in reality. Together, we find our 'center' and can create hope for the future. Never give up the fight.

[Michael Harrington]

26. Newfield's book...

Is probably the best personal memoir. My mom is a Kennedyphille. RFK, especially. That was going to be the first year she could vote. She was so discouraged by the entire year that she didn't vote until 1976. There is a story in Michael Harrington's book Fragments of the Century about his meeting w/ Kennedy in 1968.

It was in Indianapolis, before the Indiana primary. Richard Goodwin introduced them, From the book:

"I met Robert Kennedy only once, but the moment was poignant. <...>


We talked for an hour or so and then started walking down a chilly and empty street toward Kennedy's hotel at about 12:30 at night. Kennedy asked me if I would campaighn for him in California, and I agreed. Suddenly an aging black man ran up and said 'You're Robert Kennedy, aren't you? My wife's sitting back in the car and she wants to meet you.' Kennedy pulled his lapels against his face to ward off the cold, and trotted down the deserted avenue to shake one more hand for the day."

[loudsue]

21. Remembering those times makes me so afraid....

To see those who were truly responsible for those deaths taking control of our country now, and making the world into the OPPOSITE of what JFK and RFK stood for.

O8) Let's try to hold a vision of the world they could see, and act every day, in some small way, toward bringing that world into being. O8)

It's the way they would hope we would honor them...asking what we can do for our country.

I was 13 when JFK was killed, and 18 when RFK was killed. It was wrong then, and it's wrong now. For the good of our world, they shouldn't have died.

:kick::kick::kick:

[SoCalDem]

23. You must have been born in 1949 too

Those were very strange times.. The young ones today have NO idea what it was like.. It would be worse now, because of the Patriot Act and all the crazies with guns..

I hope things level out on their own..:scared:

[loudsue]

24. Yep! A 49er for sure....

:pals: It was a very good year! :pals:

:kick:

[Desertrose]

27. hey...me too!!

it was one of the BEST years!!!

:grouphug:
DR

[VOX]

28. Gettin' in line for '49!

We've lived in *seven* decades...born when Harry Truman was president. We were teenagers during the greatest youth movement the world has ever known.

There were some terrible tragedies along the way, but God, it was *great* to be a kid then!

[ConsAreLiars]

25. We called him Bobby. Hear his voice here:

http://www.angelfire.com/pa4/kennedy/speech.html

[Piperay]

29. Such a sad loss

for us and our country, to think what could have been. :cry:

[Screaming Lord Byron]

30. The whole year of 1968, that seems to me to have been the turning point.

It always makes me think of Louis XV 'Apres moi, le deluge'. It really is set out like two totally different paths, RFK or Nixon, hope or cynicism.

[Minstrel Boy]

32. 1968 broke the back of the American Left.

Killing MLK and, two months later, RFK, meant the system wouldn't reform itself. A movement dissolved into impotent rage, narcissism and irrelevance. It still hasn't recovered.

[Maeve]

31. I carried a picture of him in my wallet for several years

Going into eighth grade, just starting to pay attention to politics.

Sigh. We lost an awful lot that year. An awful lot.