Life Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend Bobby

whoman69 · 06-06-2012, 02:56 PM

Shot just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy survived another 26 hours, dying on the morning of June 6, 1968. He was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy served as Attorney General under his brother and the early Johnson administration. He became Senator to New York in 1964 soon becoming a critic of Johnson over the Vietnam War. In March 1968 he announced his candidacy for President following Eugene McCarthy's strong showing against the incumbent President. Johnson dropped out of the race at the end of that same month.

Kennedy gave a heartfelt speech to a crowd in Indianapolis which announced the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Kennedy called for a reconciliation between the races. Indianapolis was one of few cities that did not riot after the assassination. He went after organized crime as Attorney General and used the power of his office to assist blacks in attending major universities in the south for the first time. He visited South Africa and spoke out against apartheid.

His words about the direction of the US still resonate today.

"If we believe that we, as Americans, are bound together by a common concern for each other, then an urgent national priority is upon us. We must begin to end the disgrace of this other America. And this is one of the great tasks of leadership for us, as individuals and citizens this year. But even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction—purpose and dignity—that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product—if we judge the United States of America by that—that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs that glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."

His brother Edward had this to say at his death:

"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."

06-06-2012, 02:56 PM	Topic Starter
whoman69 The Master Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Marion, IA Casino cash: $10004925	Has Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend Bobby Shot just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy survived another 26 hours, dying on the morning of June 6, 1968. He was shot by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy served as Attorney General under his brother and the early Johnson administration. He became Senator to New York in 1964 soon becoming a critic of Johnson over the Vietnam War. In March 1968 he announced his candidacy for President following Eugene McCarthy's strong showing against the incumbent President. Johnson dropped out of the race at the end of that same month. Kennedy gave a heartfelt speech to a crowd in Indianapolis which announced the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Kennedy called for a reconciliation between the races. Indianapolis was one of few cities that did not riot after the assassination. He went after organized crime as Attorney General and used the power of his office to assist blacks in attending major universities in the south for the first time. He visited South Africa and spoke out against apartheid. His words about the direction of the US still resonate today. "If we believe that we, as Americans, are bound together by a common concern for each other, then an urgent national priority is upon us. We must begin to end the disgrace of this other America. And this is one of the great tasks of leadership for us, as individuals and citizens this year. But even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction—purpose and dignity—that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product—if we judge the United States of America by that—that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs that glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans." His brother Edward had this to say at his death: "My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."
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