The Last Campaign - Robert Kennedy
RFK and 82 Days that Inspired America by Thurston Clarke
May 23, 2008
Robert F. Kennedy again emerges from the shadow of his older brother and we see what every insider, beat reporter, family member and even so called "Honorary Kennedys" saw in his character and passion in his final run for office. In the introduction Clarke asks us over and over again, “What did he have?” Then he writes a work that masterfully answers his own question!
Kennedy Seeks Presidency
One of the most interesting things Thurston Clarke shows us in the beginning of this book is the relatively abbreviated time it took to run a Presidential campaign even forty years ago. By March 16 we already knew that Senator John McCain from Arizona was going to be the Republican nominee for the 2008 Presidential Election. On March 16, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy from New York stood at the podium in the Caucus Room of the Old Senate Office building and announced his intention to run for President in that years election. He did it because he felt that the war in Vietnam was unsupportable morally. He decided to run because he felt something needed to be done about poverty, race relations, and civil rights. He did not run because he had the ringing endorsement of the Democratic Party brass because he absolutely did not.
Assessing RFK's Presidential Chances
His family was behind him, although his brother Edward “Ted” Kennedy expressed reservations about the timing and felt he should wait four years. The Party leaders did not want him to run. Many expressed the opinion that he would divide the Democratic vote. In fact during those first few weeks of his campaign he could not get endorsements from any political heavyweights who might have changed public opinion. That, he had to do on his own. Even Mayor Richard Daley, who reportedly loved John F. Kennedy was tepid and would not take his support from the incumbent. Lyndon Johnson. In fact, history was not on his side either. America’s history did not support the probability that an elected incumbent would not secure his own party's nomination.
Campaign Strategy
Clarke illustrates for us that the word “unconventional” would be an understatement. Robert Kennedy seemed to be running more for the position of America’s Conscience rather than its chief executive. When campaigning in rural, mostly white districts, he tried to impress upon them their corporate responsibility for the racial unrest, poverty and the Vietnam War. He was not a typical politician who even followed his own advisors prompting to tell the voters what they want to hear. When addressing predominantly Black or Chicano voters he decried lawlessness and violence even while acknowledging the prejudice and hate that these groups experienced. He insisted on using open air convertible automobiles even in the roughest neighborhoods and forbid his supporters from protecting him from the “people’s touch”. He could have more safely campaigned on television but felt his message would not be heard in that medium.
Inspirational Crowd Control
Clarke gives us many instances of RFK’s ability to think on his feet and use sharp humor to disarm his critics. A favorite anecdote occurred at the University of Indiana Medical school when he faced a critical crowd of well to do students who did not miss a chance to challenge him all evening. Finally one student asked if he favored the discontinuation of draft deferments for medical students. His response was classic.
“The way things are going here today? Probably, yes!”
Another story is told about how Kennedy met a young orphan named Christopher Pretty Boy at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. It is said that he spent several minutes talking to the boy in his home without his entourage and took the young man with him by his side everywhere he went for the rest of the day. Kennedy seemed to always feel more comfortable with the children!
The Assassination of the Redemptive Campaign
History tells us that Robert F. Kennedy did not complete this crusade as America's Conscience but readers will find themselves hoping beyond hope that history will somehow change as Clarke leads us to the inevitable conclusion. Kennedy wins every primary he runs in, except Oregon, and we find out that on the night of his assasination, Kennedy wins California and is beginning to garner the support of the Party machinery. Poignantly, Thurston Clarke leads us through what might have been as he reviews the next two weeks of Kennedy’s campaign plan. He concludes that,
“Whether Robert Kennedy would have made a good President is unknowable. All that is certain is that during his campaign he convinced millions that he was a good man, perhaps a great man!”
This book is indispensible for anyone who aspires to serve their country in any way whether as a paid politician or just a simple volunteer. The inspiration of the last 82 days of Robert Francis Kennedy’s life will undoubtedly make the reader a better American for the effort.
Source
The Last Campaign, Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America by Thurston Clarke, 2008, Henry Holt and Company LLC
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