The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America

Thurston Clarke has written one of the most emotionally charged and inspiring books I have ever read. I was 9 years old when RFK was assassinated, much too young to understand the ramifications. I do remember my older sister sobbing uncontrollably, and just repeating, they killed him, they killed him. RFK's Last Campaign was his legacy and he knew it, he knew the day would come that he would be assasinated yet he strove to raise all of us up. Up to a higher standard of caring for each other and raising the conciousness of this nation up. RFK asked, I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? He gave and he gave until he had no more to give and then he rested and got back to work. A couragous leader who was different because he spoke as to what he truly believed and he truly believed what he spoke. Rarely have I ever felt so much emotion while reading a book, RFK's soul and spirit are truly captured in this gem of a book. It made me think hard about what I can do to be a better person and examine my own moral courage. RFK defined moral courage and we can only ask ourselves, what if RFK had been president?

I was born in 1970 so don't have first hand perspective of the 60s or RFKs presidential campaign. However, I've always been fascinated by the decade, one of the most tumultuous, calamitous and important decades in our country's history. While many figures loom large over the 60s, one can make the case that the two figures who loom largest over that decade are MLK and RFK. They carried the hope and promise that JFK ushered in with his presidency until the latter part of the decade and their assassinations slammed shut that optimism a mere two months apart. Clarke does a masterful job capturing the gestalt of the time pitch perfectly and the impact of RFKs presidential campaign through the course of those 82 days. To start, one must realize the difference in presidential elections today vs. this time period. The primaries were not nearly as important as they are today. The political machine still dominated the party selection process and Kennedy faced near insurmountable challenges as he entered the race from the Democratic party establishment. He recognized that he had to basically hit a home run in the remaining primaries to convince delegates to turn their support to him because of popular support of Democratic votes. May of the establishment viewed him as "ruthless" and "opportunistic" and we see how this was reinforced after McCarthy's surprise showing in New Hampshire and Kennedy's decision to jump in the race soon after that. I found Clarke's account of Kennedy's announcement and first speech at Kansas State moving. Today, politicians stump speeches are carefully crafted, crowds controlled to ensure no hostile questions and control so tight to prevent any extemporaneous occurrence that might spread like wildfire across the internet. Kansas State was not that environment and Kennedy demonstrated the traits and attributes during that night that would make his improbable run to the Presidency become an almost certain nomination as he won the California primary (and started to convince the party machine that he should be the Democratic nominee). Clarke captures all the inherent contradictions of RFK -- his strengths, weaknesses -- and one gets a close personal "ride" through the whirlwind campaign trail. We see an RFK haunted by JFK's assassination and the realization that the same fate might befall him. (Clarke shares moments of balloons popping or other similar situations that caused RFK to recoil as if a gun was shot) We witness Kennedy's disdain for public speaking, comfort with the poor and under-privileged, moral conviction about race and poverty as central campaign themes, in spite of the advice of his advisers. We relive his campaign and amazing victory in Indiana - including the night of April 4th in Indianapolis when he stood in front of an African-American crowd in the inner city (a place the police refused to go to provide him protection that night) and probably was as big a reason Indianapolis was spared the riot

I worked on RFK's '68 campaign and have always been interested in accounts of it. Two journalists who covered the campaign, Jack Newfield and Jules Witcover, wrote excellent memoirs about it at the time. Forty years later, one has to ask what remains to be told. A great deal, it turns out. Mr. Clarke's account is extraordinary in its depth and balance. For me, he has recreated the time and the man better than anyone else ever has. Reading this book, for me, was like reliving the campaign, with its exultation and ultimate desolation. An extraordinary achievement.

Less than a month into Bobby Kennedy's campaign for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down. Bobby was in Indianapolis at the time, and said a few words. He didn't make a political speech. He didn't read from a script. He just said a few heartfelt words that expressed his horror at the assassination and his vision for a better nation, a nation dedicated to taming the savageness of man and making gentle the life of the world (p. 96). In this moving, eloquently written, and well researched narrative of the 82 days of Bobby Kennedy's last campaign, Thurston Clarke provides a much-needed reminder of what presidential politics could look like but hasn't for four decades. Kennedy was a genuine progressive, a man who intensely believed that the purpose of government was to protect the least advantaged in society, to set a high moral standard, and to speak the truth courageously. As Barack Obama is quoted near the book's end, it's hard to place Kennedy in the categories that "constrain [today's presidential candidates] politically...[he wasn't] a centrist in the sense of finding a middle road" (p. 279). Kennedy ran for president saying that he wanted to end the Vietnam war and poverty. In the process, he dared to speak unpleasant truths to the American people, something rarely done by political candidates. Kennedy's famous speech at Creighton University, in which he challenged the all-white student body about their indifference to the Vietnam war, is a typical example. "Look around you," he said. "How many black faces do you see here? How many American Indians? The fact is, if you look at any regiment or division of paratroopers in Vietnam, 45% of them are black. How can you accept this!?" (p. 190). Creighton students booed him. Kennedy insisted that the populace which elects a president who pushes through irresponsible public and foreign policy must share moral responsibility for that policy's consequences. He recognized that unwise laws and social policies can institutionalize and legitimize violence, and called for sweeping reform (p. 108). But he also offered hope, assuring voters that they and the country had an opportunity to heal. He himself forthrightly admitted to past complicity in mistaken and even immoral political decisions, such as his early support for the Vietnam war, and humbly expressed regret (p. 45). And he assured the electorate that both they and the country could seize the moral high ground and change (p. 12). He told the country that the existence of poverty among blacks, Chicanos, southern whites, and Native Americans was a blight, and that in allowing it to endure we mocked Thomas Jefferson's claim that the U.S. was the last, best hope. Bobby's 1967 trip to Cleveland, Mississippi, where he saw some of the country's worst poverty, shook him as nothing had since his brother's assassination, and he vowed to dedicate himself to ending it. As Cesar Chavez said, Bob

With so many RFK books already out there, I was hoping that this one would be worth the wait....and it was. In great detail, we are taken back in time to a two and a half month period of 1968 that was full of incredible drama and intensity. The chapter covering the Indianapolis speech was especially moving. I think anyone reading it would just get goose-bumps as it goes into more backround detail than was previously told. My God....that speech actually changed history in that city. That story....and the whole book tries to tell us what IT was that Robert Kennedy had or did that made over 2 MILLION people cry or stand at attention or just look shattered as his funeral train traveled from New York to Washington. Heart-wrenching and at the same time so uplifting....that there was once a real politician who was a human being who grew and changed and could set this kind of example for the country. Highly recommended for anyone who loves history and / or incredible life-changers.