Robert F. Kennedy

Effect Of John F. Kennedy Assassination Still Reverberates On America 58 Years Later!

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This author and blogger was a sophomore in 1963, when John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963.

It was the most stunning event of my life until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The Kennedy assassination transformed American politics dramatically, both in good ways and bad ways.

It brought about the possibility of the greatest period of reform since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, with Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society.

But it also brought on a devastating long term war in Vietnam, and the beginning of disillusionment with government at all levels.

Had Robert F. Kennedy survived and won the Presidential Election of 1968, instead of being assassinated after winning the California primary in June 1968, the potential for more great reform and change, and to avoid the Presidency of Richard Nixon, would have existed.

WIth RFK’s death, after the earlier tragedy of JFK, America was put into a permanent decline in hope and optimism for the next forty years, as even the election of Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992 did not revive the hopes of the Kennedy legacy.

Instead, we had Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush cause great regression in so many ways, as Richard Nixon had done earlier.

Barack Obama was a bright light, but faced great opposition, and the horrors of Donald Trump as his succession!

Joe Biden, who has a bust of RFK behind him on the left in all photos when he is sitting at his desk, is trying to revive the Kennedy legacy of hope and promise, and has made a good start.

But it is clear the two Kennedy assassinations in the early and late 1960s have left a permanent scar on the nation!

Birthday Of Joe Biden And Robert F. Kennedy November 20, And The Issue Of Age!

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Yesterday, November 20, was the 79th Birthday of President Joe Biden, our oldest President in office.

It was also the birthday of Robert F. Kennedy, who Biden perceives as a hero, with Biden having a bust of RFK always in every photo on his left side when Biden is at his desk in the Oval Office.

Biden is working so hard to accomplish the greatest social change legislation in the past 55 years since Lyndon B. Johnson accomplished the massive reforms of the Great Society in the mid 1960s, something RFK wished to build on if he had lived and become President in the Presidential Election of 1968.

The issue of age constantly is brought up as Joe Biden will be 82 years old weeks after the Presidential Election of 2024.

Biden certainly has aged since he was Vice President under Barack Obama, but he is still capable and alert, although his annual physical shows his gait has slowed a bit.

But when one compares Biden to Donald Trump or Ronald Reagan at the end of their terms, and even Trump now a year later, Biden is far more mentally capable than either of them.

And the idea that Donald Trump at age 78 and a half at the time of inauguration three years hence would magically be much more mentally and physically capable than Joe Biden, when already it is clear that Trump is a danger with his reckless rhetoric, and promotion of hate, sedition and treason, makes one have to wonder about the mental stability of Donald Trump followers, who see him as a God like figure!

Joe Biden might decide one term is enough, considering his age, and that would be perfectly understandable, as only one third of our Presidents have served two terms.

Joe Biden is a transformative figure in the Presidency, who is having an historical impact, and this is just his first year in office!

A new generation can follow him and continue the good works, and common decency, that would make Robert F. Kennedy proud, if he was alive, on his 96th birthday!

The Assassination Of Robert F. Kennedy 53 Years Ago Transformed The Future Of America!

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The world changed on June 5, 1968, 53 years ago, when Democratic Presidential contender, Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York, was assassinated in Los Angeles.

This author has written about that tragic event in his 2015 book, 2017 in paperback—ASSASSINATIONS, THREATS, AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: FROM ANDREW JACKSON TO BARACK OBAMA (Rowman Littlefield Publishers).

While there was no certainty that RFK would have been the Democratic Party nominee in 1968, or that he would have been able to defeat Richard Nixon, many observers believe his death was a turning point that transformed the future of America!

RFK had been able to put together a coalition of working class whites, as well as African Americans and Hispanic Americans, and he was inspiring many young people to engage in the campaign, including those opposed to the war in Vietnam under Lyndon B. Johnson.

While no winner of the Presidency could, in reality, be expected to accomplish all the goals that had been set, there was great optimism and hope that RFK would have been a transformative President.

Instead, the right wing of the Republican Party won out under Richard Nixon, who appealed also to many George Wallace supporters, and Hubert Humphrey, despite his wonderful record of commitment, was lost in the anti war movement opposition to LBJ.

The next fifty years would be dominated by conservatives who wanted to push the nation backward, and the battle for Democrats has been to overcome their impact, and the battle is presently engaged under Joe Biden, at a very difficult time with Donald Trump promoting the “Big Lie”, that he won the election.

So America is in crisis, and Biden, having the same birthday as RFK, but 17 years later birth, is trying to bring about what RFK was promoting a half century ago!

Birthday Commemorations Of John F. Kennedy And Hubert Humphrey Remind Us Of True Leadership!

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Today, May 29, is the 104th anniversary of the birth of President John F. Kennedy in 1917.

Also, two days ago, May 27, was the 110th anniversary of the birth of Senator, Vice President, and Democratic Presidential nominee (1968) Hubert Humphrey.

These two men were great leaders and spokesmen for the best ideals of American liberalism, and contributed so much to their nation in public service.

They remind us of what political leadership is all about, to make America a better nation for all.

This is very different than the way many American politicians have become in the 21st century, where too many are in politics only to gain wealth and power, and benefit the elite rich and entitled.

Thankfully, there are some political leaders in the present, including Joe Biden, who was massively influenced by the historic leadership of John F. Kennedy, and the comradeship in the Senate of Hubert Humphrey in Biden’s first term in office as a young man in his early 30s.

Both men inspired Joe Biden, and he has a prominent bust of President Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, with whom Biden shares a birthday 17 years apart, right behind him in the Oval Office. RFK represented the hope for change and inspiration for reform, which was sadly ended by his own assassination, less than five years after his brother.

The commitment to serve of JFK, HHH, and RFK are needed to motivate future generations to dedicate themselves to the advancement of America in the future!

An Inauguration Day Of Relief, Optimism, And Accomplishment, And Joe Biden’s “Heroes”

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Inauguration Day 2021 was a day of a sense of relief that Donald Trump is gone, and a sense of optimism reigns and it is clear Joe Biden intends to be extremely activist on the level of a Lyndon B. Johnson or a Franklin D. Roosevelt!

This is perfectly understandable, as we face a series of crises unmatched since FDR, but in some ways as dangerous as Abraham Lincoln faced with the seditionists that started the Civil War 160 years ago.

Now we have a new group of seditionists, with the reality that party politics has been switched dramatically, as in the Civil War, the Republican Party was for the Union and African American freedom, while now the Republican Party is acting like the Confederate Democrats of the Civil War, displaying their treason and racism!

Meanwhile, President Biden has a group of “heroes” in the Oval Office to inspire him, and it says legions about the 46th President.

There are portraits of Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Also, there are busts of Martin Luther King, Jr, Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, Daniel Webster, Rosa Parks, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Two Men With Common Trait Of Empathy, Compassion, And Humanity, Born 17 Years Apart: Robert F. Kennedy (1925) And Joe Biden (1942)

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Tonight, June 4, a tragedy occurred 52 years ago, just after midnight so early June 5, the shooting of Senator Robert F. Kennedy just after he had accepted victory in the California primary, and seemed likely on his way to becoming the Democratic Presidential nominee in 1968.

This author and blogger was watching when RFK was shot and mortally wounded early on June 5, and passed away about 26 hours later, on June 6, 1968.

The world changed, and has never been the same, and one could say the whole history of the past half century could have been dramatically different had Kennedy lived.

It is not that RFK was perfect, and there was no absolute certainty that he would have been the nominee against Richard Nixon, or would have defeated him.

But there are many who think RFK was our destiny, and he was taken from us tragically.

With his faults and shortcomings, which all political leaders and all of us have, what stood out about RFK was his empathy, his compassion, his humanity.

Now, a half century later, we have a Democratic Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, who has similar traits of empathy, compassion, and humanity, and who was inspired as a young man by what RFK represented. Biden was in his mid 20s, and starting his nearly half a century of public service as a US Senator for 36 years and Vice President for 8 years.

And imagine the irony: Both RFK and Joe Biden were born on November 20, in 1925 and 1942 17 years apart!

It can be hoped that what RFK represented can be accomplished in some way by Joe Biden, when he, hopefully, will take the oath of office as the 46th President of the United States!

The Tumultuous Year Of 2020 Is Upon Us!

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The tumultuous year of 2020 is upon us, and trying to figure out what will happen in the next year is a major challenge!

In many ways, this could be the most difficult year in American politics since 1968, when the nation suffered through bloodshed, violence, and assassination.

There is great fear that if Donald Trump loses reelection, we might see similar bloodshed, violence, and even assassination, with the latter being even before the election.

We have not had a serious threat to a sitting President, eye to eye, since 1981 and Ronald Reagan, and reminding ourselves of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, makes one fearful that some Democratic contender could face such a dire threat, as well, in the new year.

Constitutional government and democracy are at stake in a way not seen since the era of Fascism and Nazism, leading up to World War II.

Let us hope we make it as a nation through the year 2020 with our government stable and in safe hands after the election!

Two Likely US Senators In 2021: Joe Kennedy III (Massachusetts) And Liz Cheney (Wyoming)

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With 34 seats up for election to the Senate in 2020, two seats are sure to remain in the hands of the same party, but with different officeholders than at present.

In Massachusetts, it is clear that Congressman Joe Kennedy III, grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, will challenge incumbent Democrat Ed Markey, who served more than 36 years in the House of Representatives, and will have served nearly eight years in the Senate.

Markey is a sterling progressive with a great record, and it is regretful that Kennedy, who will be 40 at the time of the election in 2020, is challenging Markey, who will be past 74 by election time.

It is really an example of a younger generation saying it is time for the Baby Boomer generation to step aside, but it is also the power of the Kennedy family and name coming into play.

It would be best to avoid bad blood if Markey decided to retire, but he started his national political career at age 30 in 1976, and is not likely to oblige young Kennedy.

So, sadly, a good man will be defeated in the primary, and if, somehow, he does triumph over young Kennedy, it will be a massive upset, hard to imagine.

Kennedy will be an outstanding Senator, no debate on the part of this blogger, and will likely be a potential Presidential contender in 2028, assuming a Democrat wins the White House in 2020. If not, Kennedy will certainly be in the mix for 2024.

Meanwhile, Liz Cheney, the older daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has been a Congresswoman from Wyoming since 2017, and is now third ranking Republican in the House as Chair of the House Republican Conference, is set to run for the open Senate seat of Senator Mike Enzi, who is retiring after 24 years in the Senate. Cheney had tried unsuccessfully to push Enzi aside in 2014, but she gave up the fight when public opinion polls showed Enzi would easily defeat her in a primary race.

Cheney is just like her father, tough as nails, and very ambitious, and she will win the Senate seat hands over, and assuredly, will seek the Presidency in 2024 and or 2028, as a serious Republican woman challenger for the White House.

We could see a future Presidential race between Joe Kennedy III and Liz Cheney, a fascinating race between two family inheritors—Robert F. Kennedy and the whole Kennedy family, versus Dick Cheney, his wife Lynne Cheney, and the Cheney family.

The El Paso And Dayton Mass Murders Require Secret Service Protection Of Democratic Presidential Contenders!

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The horrific massacres in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio over this weekend mark the 249th and 250th such events in 216 days of 2019.

It requires immediately the protection of the ten Democratic Presidential contenders who will be in the September debate in Houston, and all of these ten should have protection for as long as they are in the competition and for at least three months after they exit the race.

If we can afford to pay for Donald Trump’s golf outings at $110 million in the past two and a half years, then we must work to protect those trying for the Presidency.

As the author of a book on Presidential Assassinations and Threats, and with the memory of the death of Robert F. Kennedy and the shooting and paralysis of George Wallace a half century ago, it is urgent that such action be mandated NOW!

This is particularly the reality with the white supremacists and bigots who do not want a woman (Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar); a minority candidate (Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Andrew Yang); a candidate who is a declared Socialist and of Jewish heritage (Bernie Sanders); and a person of alternative sexual orientation (Pete Buttigeig), who is openly homosexual; to be a possible future Presidential nominee for the Democrats in 2020.

The Disgrace Of Ivanka Trump And Jared Kushner

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America has never seen such a level of nepotism as it now sees with Donald Trump daughter Ivanka Trump and son in law Jared Kushner.

It is illegal since 1964 for a Presidential relative to work for the government for the President, after a law was passed to bar it following the time when Robert F. Kennedy was Attorney General for his brother, John F. Kennedy.

The fact that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are not paid a salary does not matter, as neither has gained a high security clearance, and Jared Kushner in particular, has become a risk with his ties to Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, and his close relationship with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It is clear that corruption is occurring, and that either or both Ivanka and Jared could face prosecution, and that would be great news, as both act entitled and privileged, and need their comeuppance.