Robert F. Kennedy: Address at the University of California, Berkeley

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

By the fall of 1966 Kennedy's political prominence had risen in the popular estimation; he surpassed President Lyndon Johnson in one poll as the preferred choice of Democrats and independents for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. The New York senator took to the campaign trail during the 1966 election season on behalf of Democratic congressional candidates, making one appearance at the University of California, Berkeley, long known for its tradition of student protest and radicalism.

In this speech Kennedy embraces the Berkeley tradition of dissent, asking students to use it to confront the problems of America and the world. Aware that protesters had recently shouted down a speech by the Johnson loyalist and UN ambassador Arthur J. Goldberg, Kennedy tells the students that they must turn the energies unleashed by the spirit of critical dissent to reforming the world around them, communicating that the Goldberg protest was “merely self-indulgence” that “will not have brightened or enriched the life of a single portion of humanity in a single part of the globe.” Although the bulk of the speech concerns the status of African Americans in the United States, Kennedy's remarks serve as a model of his call for service in constructive engagement with social and political challenges. He would return to this theme in speech after speech, building upon the call for youth to serve that he had sounded in South Africa.

Kennedy's point is a simple one: With opportunity and privilege comes an obligation to serve others. He highlights that theme to college students who are beneficiaries of much of the best that life has to offer young Americans. Moreover, he believes that young people are well positioned to meet the challenge of being among “those who can blend passion, reason, and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American society.” Criticism and dissent were necessary but by no means sufficient: “Those who are serious about the future have the obligation to direct those energies and talents toward concrete objectives consistent with the ideas they profess.” Young people would bring to that endeavor fresh ideas and new energy.