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June 06, 2023
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968)
RFK or “Bobby.” Far and away he was the most interesting and storied Kennedy. A phenom and a rock star at the end. Died 55 years ago today. June 6, 1968, a few weeks after MLK, Jr. was killed. I was 15, and an ambitious high school sophomore in Cincinnati after my family’s last back-then obligatory corporate America move. When Robert Kennedy died, I was already into policy and politics. And I’d already heard stories about him most people never heard. My dad, a P&G executive, was not bowled over by famous rich people. But he had crossed swords with Kennedy in the late 1950s when we were living in Detroit. And I got some stories out of him. John Kennedy was still in Congress then. And younger brother Robert was an abrasive and spectacularly unpleasant young Hill investigator obsessed with trucks and companies that used them. In fact, that was who Bobby Kennedy was for most people his whole life. That’s how they knew him: tough guy, mean boy and fixer. But over the next decade lightning rod Bobby changed--and to even those close to him that change was fundamental. He came into his own late in life by somehow softening. From rich bratty bully scrapper and runt of the Kennedy litter to high priest of American youth culture. Tons has been written about him—and about how those changes might have come about. Please read some of the literature on this guy. This Kennedy was a character out a great novel. But real. Authentic. With a happy ending. He grew. Existential hero, some said. Anyway, Kennedy was shot on June 5. He died early on June 6. His campaign manager—the super-charged Frank Mankiewicz —got on TV and announced Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s death in just a few sentences which you should see and hear if you can get a clip of it. Go find the YouTube version of Frank Mankiewicz’s announcement. I’m sure it’s out there somewhere. It’s amazing.
Posted by JD Hull at June 6, 2023 08:51 PM
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