Robert F. Kennedy

The Robert Kennedy Presidential Race Began 44 Years Ago Today: What His Death Meant

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On this day 44 years ago, when my generation was young and idealistic, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, who had moved to the left politically, and come out against the war in Vietnam, announced his candidacy for President, and his challenge to the establishment of the Democratic party represented by President Lyndon B. Johnson, and when he dropped out of the race two weeks later, that of Vice President Hubert Humphrey.

Being a personal loyalist to Hubert Humphrey, I was not supportive of RFK at the time, but came to realize after his tragic death by assassination on June 6, 1968, that we had lost a politician who was unique, in the sense that he could bridge the gap between rich and poor, unite people of diverse backgrounds, and that he had an idealism and vision rarely found in American history.

As much as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have worked at accomplishing much of what RFK represented, none have been able to accomplish his goals and vision in a full sense, with Obama the closest, but even him often causing disillusionment among liberals and progressives, although not this author and blogger.

Of course, people tend to idealize RFK, because he died, and one has to wonder when and how he would have caused disillusionment among his supporters, when the inevitable inability to keep all his campaign pledges would have become obvious.

One thing seems certain; that RFK would have defeated Richard Nixon in 1968 with Hubert Humphrey coming ever so close, that RFK would have weakened the third party candidacy of George Wallace, and that we could have avoided Watergate, an extended Vietnam War, and the disillusionment which led to the rise of Republican conservatism under Ronald Reagan.

In that sense, RFK’s death was a true turning point in American history, which many people in their older years can look back on as a truly regrettable moment. The question is whether a second term of Barack Obama can see the fulfillment of more of the RFK vision than has been possible in a difficult first term of the 44th President!

Should John Hinckley Be Rewarded With More Freedom And Eventual Parole? NO! Should Sirhan Sirhan Be Allowed Parole? NO!

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Two infamous assassination efforts against a President and a Presidential candidate, with one person being in a mental hospital and the other in a prison for a long time, has led to these individuals applying for more freedom and less control, and for parole, respectively. Neither should be allowed to win his case!

John Hinckley, who shot President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981, has already been allowed the right to visit his family and stay away from the mental hospital under family supervision for periods of time, but now wants no supervision and less monitoring, and as much as 24 days away from the hospital at a time. This should NOT be allowed in any form! Nancy Reagan opposed the amount of freedom he has already been granted, and she is absolutely correct in her feelings!

Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was considered a likely winner of the Democratic nomination for President in 1968 had he lived, and thought to have been likely to have defeated Richard Nixon for the Presidency, has applied for parole. But the heinous act that he engaged in on June 5. 1968, should NOT be excused to allow him freedom at any time!

When an assassin tries to kill, or succeeds in murdering a President, or a Presidential candidate, he or she should lose his or her right to freedom at any point, because this is not just a murder, but affects the history of the country! One does the crime, one pays the time in loss of freedom forever!

The Dangers Of Political Extremism: Assassination Of Political Leaders

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Today is a day to dwell on the dangers of political extremism, the kind of rhetoric that we have been witnessing more than ever since the Great Recession occurred in 2008 and after. The election of the first African American President in 2008 has added to the cauldron.

The chasm between the political parties is wider than ever, and the hot rhetoric displayed on much of talk radio and Fox News Channel is more intense than ever, and will, unfortunately, get worse as the heat of the Presidential campaign intensifies.

Political extremism of the past led to political assassination in American history, as witness:

Abraham Lincoln, murdered at the end of the Civil War, April 14, 1865, by a Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth.

William McKinley, murdered by an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, on September 14, 1901.

John F. Kennedy, murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald, a supporter of Fidel Castro and Cuba, 48 years ago on this date, and being commemorated today.

Martin Luther King, Jr,, murdered by a racist, James Earl Ray, on April 4, 1968.

Robert Kennedy, murdered by an Arab sympathizer, Sirhan Sirhan, on June 5, 1968.

These five assassinations, along with the assassination by mentally ill people of James Garfield and Huey Long; and the attempted assassinations of Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan are constant warnings of the dangers of violence once passions are aroused to a dangerous level.

When one considers that an individual was recently arrested for having shot at the White House, and perceived as a danger to President Barack Obama, it makes one feel a chill go through his spine, this on top of a similar incident under Bill Clinton.

Our nation’s leaders are under constant threat, and we need to tone down our rhetoric in memory of the death of John F. Kennedy nearly a half century ago, as we do not want to go through the horror and pain of such an event ever again!

Three Key Events Of June 5 And 6, Which Transformed America , Commemorated

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While the author was away for a week’s vacation in Montreal and Quebec City, three key events, which transformed America, were commemorated.

Historically, the first event was D Day, the invasion of Normandy, France by the United States, Great Britain and the Free French, on June 6, 1944. This was the beginning of the final push against Nazi Germany, opening up a second front in the war against Adolf Hitler. Thouands of Americans and other allied troops died on that day and in the days that followed on a great mission, and this is what makes the World War II generation called by many the “greatest generation”!

So on the 67th anniversary of that pathbreaking event, one needed to stop and think how rapidly we are losing that generation, with the minimum age of those engaged in that great battle now being 85! We can never do enough to salute the bravery and courage of those who perished, as well as those who survived that crucial moment in World War II, allowing us to be the society we are today!

Secondly, on June 5, 1967, 44 years ago, the Six Day War of Israel versus Egypt, Jordan and Syria, began after information came to the Israelis of an imminent attack, and their decision to commence a war of pre-emption. The war lasted just six days, and led to Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, the Sinai Desert, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank.

Out of this war came the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the rise of Yasser Arafat, and two generations of terrorism, which have affected the security and safety of Israel, the United States, and all western nations. And attempts to negotiate peace on the occupied territories has led to return of some land to Egypt and the Palestinians, recognition by Egypt and Jordan, but failure to recognize Israel by other Arab nations, and attempts by the US to promote a comprehensive peace, meeting with utter failure and constant tensions in the area.

But to expect Israel to return more territory without guarantees of security, safety, and recognition of their right to exist, is to dream the impossible.

Finally, exactly a year after the beginning of the war in the Middle East, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, brother of the slain President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles immediately after winning the California Presidential primary. Considered the front runner for the Democratic nomination for President, RFK was murdered by a Palestinian Arab named Sirhan Sirhan, who worked in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, and was angry over RFK’s open support of the Israelis in the Six Day War a year earlier.

So RFK became the first victim of Palestinian terrorism, something not recognized for a long time. And America lost its possible future President, and one has to wonder how he would have performed as President of the United States.

Many have seen RFK as a transformative figure, who would have changed the course of American history in a major way. We will never know how his impact would have affected us, but we are well aware that we had an opportunity for a major change to the left, and instead descended into Republican conservatism which has put America in a precarious state in the past 40 years, and has caused the Great Recession that we are still reeling from in 2011!