Robert F. Kennedy: Tribute to John F. Kennedy at the Democratic National Convention

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Robert Kennedy long labored in the shadow of his brother John. He assisted his brother during various Senate hearings in the 1950s, sometimes taking center stage with his earnest questioning of committee witnesses; he served first as his brother's campaign manager and then as attorney general in his cabinet. With President Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963, Robert Kennedy found himself burdened with the prospect of carrying on his slain brother's legacy. Still a crusader on behalf of principle (at least as he understood it), Kennedy now balanced his inclination for confrontation with a determination to mobilize others in favor of change. Having developed a deeper appreciation of civil rights during his tenure as attorney general, he began to expand his concern with helping the impoverished, downtrodden, and disadvantaged. Meanwhile, his stern cold war approach to foreign policy showed signs of giving way to a different appreciation of the place of the United States in the world as a flawed purveyor of democratic change in the name of human freedom and equality. That reorientation led him to reassess several aspects of American foreign policy, most notably the nation's involvement in the Vietnam War.

One milestone in Kennedy's ideological transition was his appearance before the 1964 Democratic National Convention. There had been talk of Kennedy running as vice president on a ticket led by Lyndon B. Johnson, but neither Johnson nor Kennedy desired that arrangement; the two men disliked each other and were wary of each other's politics. Moreover, Kennedy knew that it would be political suicide for him to challenge Johnson for the 1964 presidential nomination. Thus, he ran for the U.S. Senate from New York (where he had spent some of his childhood, although that did not shield him from charges of being a carpetbagger). In speaking before the convention, he was foremost a representative of his deceased brother but also a senatorial candidate in his own right.

Starting slowly and hesitantly, Kennedy thanks the delegates for supporting President Kennedy as a candidate and in office. He struggles with his facts: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison took their trip sometime before 1800, for the Democratic Party was already formed by that time. In retracing the party's history, he does little more than recycle the usual convention verbiage about great Democratic presidents; his effort to ground President Kennedy's legacy in his accomplishments and efforts in office actually fell flat with the delegates. But Robert Kennedy starts hitting his stride when he speaks of “the next generation” making the world “a better place.” His quoting of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet brought redoubled applause, though some listeners would later link “the garish sun” with Lyndon Johnson, who had a reputation for coarseness.

As Kennedy builds to the climax of what was, after all, a short speech introducing a film about the late president, he reminds everyone that much remains to be done. In quoting Robert Frost's “but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep,” Kennedy may well have been implicitly identifying himself as the person who would carry the martyred president's legacy forward.

Here, as in many of his speeches, Kennedy expressly quotes great writers and poets, not necessarily political leaders, to advance his theme. It was only natural on this occasion for Kennedy to quote his brother's remarks as president, but for years to come the younger brother would recite the words of the older brother on many occasions, always taking care to refer to him as President Kennedy. In the fall contest, Robert Kennedy won New York's Senate race, while Lyndon Johnson won election to the presidency in his own right. Both men continued to eye each other as rivals, and it would not take long for Senator Kennedy to question administration policies.