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The Assassination of Robert Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy was born on 20 November 1925 and assassinated on 6 June 1968. Popular myths on Robert Kennedy’s assassination was that the drug families killed him after betraying them despite the support that they gave to the Kennedy family. Robert especially led to his brother’s death as his nomination as the attorney general led to many cartel chiefs being caught and prosecuted. His ascension to power was thus a threat to the drug families, which eventually led to his assassination.
Robert Kennedy was one of the prominent members of the Democratic Party and even viewed among the most iconic persons of liberalism. Before his death, Kennedy had been a leading figure in the United States political limelight. Kennedy first gained attention as the chief counsel of the senate labor Rackets Committee as he challenged the president of Teamsters Jimmy Hoffa over the corrupt practices involved in the union. Kennedy later resigned in a bid to support his brother John for president.
After his brother’s ascension to power, he was appointed as the United States Attorney general and was a closer advisor to the president. One of the best traits that were associated with Robert is that he was one of the advocates for enabling civil rights movements in the United States (Shugerman, 1965). He was also widely known for his fight against crime and mafia in the united states. Kennedy stood out in a time that they were most prevalent in the society and seemed to control some of the most critical aspects, which also is a significant way to add more speculation to the theories related to both John and Robert Kennedy’s assassinations.
Following his brother’s assassination, he was in office for around six months before deciding to venture actively into politics. He ran for the New York senate in 1964, displacing the incumbent at the time. During his lifetime, he advocated for lots of issues that were related to social justice and formed relations with other human rights advocates such as Martin Luther King Junior and Cesar Chavez.
In the year 1964, Robert was the leading candidate in an already disorganized democratic party. He appealed mostly to the poor, young voters, together with the many races in the United States, especially the African Americans and the Hispanics in the country. After winning the California primary’s, he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, which was allegedly due to Roberts’s support of Israel. Robert died on 6 June 1968 from the wound (Komisarow et al., 1652).
Based on the assertions, it is believed that Roberts’s death was the only option remaining that would not allow him to be president. Johnson, the sitting president at the time, had opted out for the race to enable the financially backed vice president to run against Kennedy in the party nominations. However, most of the pro democrats were for Kennedy bringing fear to the cartel bosses. Thus, the only remaining option at the time was taking Kennedy’s life leading to his assassination.
Robert f Kennedy has had an impact on American society. His championing for human rights, for example, was critical (Perry & Barbara, 79). As an attorney general, he ensured that he did the right thing at the right thing without fear of favor. Despite him taking advantage of his brother to pass on some of his regulations, Kennedy is described as one of the greatest attorney generals in the United States. People now had more hope in the government as people championed rights at the time. His humanitarian aspect in shunning some of the vices in the society was evident. Kennedy was right to his course and never despised people nor judged people based on their color, religion, or any segregation per se.
Kennedy was a symbol of hope and remains one in the history of America. Championing for the truth led to many institution’s formations in memory of his life. American society over time has changed due to the actions that Kennedy and other activists at the time conducted. Kennedy played a significant and greater part in ensuring that there was no gap between different races (Margolick and David, 10). This, in modern times, is something that continues to bring broad divides but at least lesser compared to the past American history. The city of Indianapolis has also gone to great lengths to create statutes of both Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jnr. This was due to the role he played in trying to calm people down after the death of Martin (Drury et al., 30). In the statues, it symbolizes Kennedy’s measures to try to curb the difference in races in attempting to reach out to Martin Luther King Jnr.
In conclusion, Kennedy has played a significant role in American history. In all positions that he had in life, he tried being fair and just. His roles in various aspects were criticized with some senators and vast political divide not happy with how he ran the multiple offices. However, Kennedy up to now empowers the American population and the world in general, especially in the fight for civil rights and the bridging of gaps among the different races in the United States.
Works Cited
Drury, Jeffrey P. Mehltretter, and Cole A. Crouch. “ROBERT F. KENNEDY, “STATEMENT ON THE DEATH OF REVEREND MARTIN LUTHER KING, RALLY IN INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA”(4 APRIL 1968) and ROBERT F. KENNEDY, “REMARKS AT THE CLEVELAND CITY CLUB”(5 APRIL 1968).” Voices of Democracy 11 (2016): 1-35.
Komisarow, Jordan M., et al. “The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: an analysis of the senator’s injuries and neurosurgical care.” Journal of neurosurgery 130.5 (2018): 1649-1654.
Margolick, David. The Promise and the Dream: The Untold Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Rosetta Books, 2018.
Perry, Barbara A. “The Kennedy Dynasty.” Modern American Political Dynasties: A Study of Power, Family, and Political Influence (2018): 79.
Shugerman, Jed H. “Professionals, Politicos, and Crony Attorneys General: A Historical Sketch of the US Attorney General as a Case for Structural Independence.” Fordham L. Rev. 87 (2018): 1965.