RFK's first campaign stops were in Kansas. He arrived there on March 17, 1968 and was greeted at the airport like a "rock star". According to writer Jan Landon: "Teenage girls screamed, students chanted his name, and people struggled to get a glimpse or a touch."
On the morning of March 18, he spoke to students at Kansas State University about the Vietnam War. You can find the full text on the PBS American Experience web site.
In this speech he took responsibility for his involvement in the decision making about the war during the Kennedy administration. He then laid out how the war could be ended
I find this quote from the speech very pertinent to the current state of the United States:
Our country is in danger: not just from foreign enemies; but above all, from our own misguided policies -- and what they can do to the nation that Thomas Jefferson once told us was the last, best, hope of man.
Later that day, he gave a speech at the University of Kansas in which he discussed poverty and the GNP.
As I have said before, the fact that Robert F. Kennedy didn't have the chance to be President is one of history's greatest tragedies. I truly believe the world would have been different had he lived.
You can read the full text of the speech made at Kansas State University, and other speeches made by RFK during his presidential campaign, in the book The Gospel According to RFK: Why it Matters Now, edited by Norman MacAfee.
6 comments:
What a great site. It is comforting to know that there are others (many more than one might otherwise think) who believe in the man and what he stood for, and recognize Bobby for the advocate of the poor and disenfranchised that he was. I was only seven when he died, but lived vicariously through the eyes and ears and hearts of my older siblings, three of whom worked for the campaign, and two of whom were in the Ambassador the night that triumph turned tragic. Thank you and keep up the good work. I will most definitely be back.
Thanks for your kind comments.
FYI
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/opinion/17stevenson.html
Article on RFK with comments by readers.
Ria
Thanks. The whole thing didn't post so I created a tiny URL
http://tinyurl.com/2qgt7v
And I hope you don't mind me using it in my news post :)
You are welcome of course!
Ria
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