Quotes about Kennedy: formatting
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* Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
* Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
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** ''Day of Affirmation'', address delivered at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (June 6, 1966); reported in the ''Congressional Record'' (June 6, 1966), vol. 112, p. 12430
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** ''Day of Affirmation'', address delivered at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (June 6, 1966); reported in the ''Congressional Record'' (June 6, 1966), vol. 112, p. 12430
* In my judgment, the slogan "black power" and what has been associated with it has set the civil rights movement back considerably in the United States over the period of the last several months.
* In my judgment, the slogan "black power" and what has been associated with it has set the civil rights movement back considerably in the United States over the period of the last several months.
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* '''It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.'''
* '''It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.'''
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** [[commons:File:Robert_Kennedy_Memorial.jpg|Inscribed on the Robert F. Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery
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** [[commons:File:Robert_Kennedy_Memorial.jpg|Inscribed on the Robert F. Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery]]
* The second danger is that of expediency: of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course, '''if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done.''' But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people around the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspirations, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs — that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. '''It is not realistic or hardheaded to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values''', although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgment, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief — forces ultimately more powerful than all of the calculations of our economists or of our generals. '''Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.'''
* The second danger is that of expediency: of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course, '''if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done.''' But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people around the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspirations, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs — that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. '''It is not realistic or hardheaded to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values''', although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgment, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief — forces ultimately more powerful than all of the calculations of our economists or of our generals. '''Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.'''
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=== Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968) ===
=== Speech on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968) ===
[[File:RWRMay1968RFKspeaksm.jpg|thumb|What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.]]
[[File:RWRMay1968RFKspeaksm.jpg|thumb|What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.]]
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:<small> [[w:Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.|Speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.]] (4 April 1968), delivered in Indianapolis, Indiana.</small>
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:<small> [[w:Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.|Speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.]] (4 April 1968), delivered in Indianapolis, Indiana.
[[commons:File:Robert_Kennedy_Memorial.jpg|Inscribed on the Robert F. Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery]]
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* Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that [[Martin Luther King, Jr.|Martin Luther King]] was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.
* Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that [[Martin Luther King, Jr.|Martin Luther King]] was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.
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* '''My favorite poet was [[Aeschylus]]. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."'''
* '''My favorite poet was [[Aeschylus]]. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."'''
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** [[commons:File:Robert_Kennedy_Memorial.jpg|Inscribed on the Robert F. Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery.]]
* '''What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.'''
* '''What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.'''
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** [[commons:File:Robert_Kennedy_Memorial.jpg|Inscribed on the Robert F. Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery.]]
* And '''let's dedicate ourselves''' to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: '''to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.''' Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.
* And '''let's dedicate ourselves''' to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: '''to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.''' Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.
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** [[commons:File:Robert_Kennedy_Memorial.jpg|Inscribed on the Robert F. Kennedy gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery.]]
=== [[s:http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Mindless_Menace_of_Violence|On the Mindless Menace of Violence]] (1968) ===
=== [[s:http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Mindless_Menace_of_Violence|On the Mindless Menace of Violence]] (1968) ===
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**[[Adlai Stevenson]] referring to RFK. Cited in ''1960: LBJ Vs. JFK Vs. Nixon : the Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies'' (2008), p. 63.
**[[Adlai Stevenson]] referring to RFK. Cited in ''1960: LBJ Vs. JFK Vs. Nixon : the Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies'' (2008), p. 63.
*McCarthy was a Republican. The Democrats, however, have skeletons in their own closet and it's worth remembering them, too. For example, Democrat Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, who was just as rabid an anti-Communist as McCarthy, did far more to repress free speech and political freedom than McCarthy ever attempted. It wasn't a Republican president who locked up thousands of loyal Americans of Japanese descent in concentration camps for years. It was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. And it wasn't a Republican who wiretapped and snooped on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but Democrats John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, who signed the order as Attorney General.
*McCarthy was a Republican. The Democrats, however, have skeletons in their own closet and it's worth remembering them, too. For example, Democrat Woodrow Wilson's Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer, who was just as rabid an anti-Communist as McCarthy, did far more to repress free speech and political freedom than McCarthy ever attempted. It wasn't a Republican president who locked up thousands of loyal Americans of Japanese descent in concentration camps for years. It was Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. And it wasn't a Republican who wiretapped and snooped on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but Democrats John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, who signed the order as Attorney General.
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**[[w:Bruce Bartlett|Bruce Bartlett]], as quoted in [https://books.google.com/books?id=vb3Mx7GqAmwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:9780230600621&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIi92Er-SPxwIVhnQ-Ch3plQCk#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past''] (2008), by B. Bartlett, p. xi
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**[[w:Bruce Bartlett|Bruce Bartlett]], as quoted in [https://books.google.com/books?id=vb3Mx7GqAmwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:9780230600621&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMIi92Er-SPxwIVhnQ-Ch3plQCk#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Wrong on Race: The Democratic Party's Buried Past''] (2008), by B. Bartlett, p. xi
* He never had a case in his life. He never argued in a courtroom. If you make him assistant secretary of defense, he'll have a lot of power. It's an appropriate job for a guy who has never done a damn thing.
* He never had a case in his life. He never argued in a courtroom. If you make him assistant secretary of defense, he'll have a lot of power. It's an appropriate job for a guy who has never done a damn thing.
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** Senator, former U.S. attorney and Kennedy intimate [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Smathers George Smathers] to JFK when told that RFK would be appointed attorney general. Recounted in an interview with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh Seymour Hersh] and cited in ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' (1997)
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** Senator, former U.S. attorney and Kennedy intimate [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Smathers George Smathers] to JFK when told that RFK would be appointed attorney general. Recounted in an interview with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh Seymour Hersh] and cited in ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' (1997)
* We had the impression that Bobby was simply Jack's ruffian. Jack could sit above it. Bobby was the one who wanted action. There was an intense dislike in CIA for Bobby.
* We had the impression that Bobby was simply Jack's ruffian. Jack could sit above it. Bobby was the one who wanted action. There was an intense dislike in CIA for Bobby.
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** Former CIA official Walter Elder in an interview with Seymour Hersh, cited in ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' (1997)
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** Former CIA official Walter Elder in an interview with Seymour Hersh, cited in ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' (1997)
* Bobby, in my view, was an unprincipled sinister little bastard.
* Bobby, in my view, was an unprincipled sinister little bastard.
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** Former CIA official Thomas A. Parrot in a 1995 interview with Seymour Hersh, cited in ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' (1997)
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** Former CIA official Thomas A. Parrot in a 1995 interview with Seymour Hersh, cited in ''The Dark Side of Camelot'' (1997)
* A child playing in a Dresden china shop.
* A child playing in a Dresden china shop.
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** [[J. Edgar Hoover]] referring to RFK. Cited in ''Bobby and J. Edgar'' (2008) by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_Hersh Burton Hersh]
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** [[J. Edgar Hoover]] referring to RFK. Cited in ''Bobby and J. Edgar'' (2008) by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burton_Hersh Burton Hersh]
* '''I was the East Coast distributor of ''involved''. I ate it, drank it, and breathed it. Then they killed [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin]], then they killed Bobby, elected [[Richard Nixon|Tricky Dick]] twice, and people like you must think I'm miserable because I'm not involved anymore.''' Well, I've got news for you. I spent all my [[misery]] years ago. I have no more [[pain]] for anything. I gave at the office.
* '''I was the East Coast distributor of ''involved''. I ate it, drank it, and breathed it. Then they killed [[Martin Luther King Jr.|Martin]], then they killed Bobby, elected [[Richard Nixon|Tricky Dick]] twice, and people like you must think I'm miserable because I'm not involved anymore.''' Well, I've got news for you. I spent all my [[misery]] years ago. I have no more [[pain]] for anything. I gave at the office.
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*As a U.S. Senator from New York and a presidential candidate, '''Robert F. Kennedy had the rhetorical ability to distill complex social ills into coherent moral stands.''' Whether he was talking about apartheid in South Africa during his trip there in June 1966, breaking a fast with Cesar Chavez in Delano, California, expressing the nation’s grief after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, or calling for an end to the Vietnam War, '''Robert Kennedy’s words could cut through social boundaries and partisan divides in a way that seems nearly impossible today.'''
*As a U.S. Senator from New York and a presidential candidate, '''Robert F. Kennedy had the rhetorical ability to distill complex social ills into coherent moral stands.''' Whether he was talking about apartheid in South Africa during his trip there in June 1966, breaking a fast with Cesar Chavez in Delano, California, expressing the nation’s grief after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed, or calling for an end to the Vietnam War, '''Robert Kennedy’s words could cut through social boundaries and partisan divides in a way that seems nearly impossible today.'''
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**Joseph A. Palmero in article "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/robert-f-kennedy-would-be_b_8607490.html Robert F. Kennedy Would Be 90 Years Old Today]" (20 November 2015)
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**Joseph A. Palmero in article "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/robert-f-kennedy-would-be_b_8607490.html Robert F. Kennedy Would Be 90 Years Old Today]" (20 November 2015)
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*My father never retreated from shining a light on racial injustice. He forced hard conversations to play out in public, and pursued policies like the Voting Rights Act to specifically address the systemic racism plaguing our society. He realized that racism itself divided our country.
*My father never retreated from shining a light on racial injustice. He forced hard conversations to play out in public, and pursued policies like the Voting Rights Act to specifically address the systemic racism plaguing our society. He realized that racism itself divided our country.
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**Kerry Kennedy in article "[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/opinion/robert-f-kennedy-and-racial-injustice.html?_r=0 Robert F. Kennedy and Racial Justice]" (10 March 2016)
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**Kerry Kennedy in article "[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/11/opinion/robert-f-kennedy-and-racial-injustice.html?_r=0 Robert F. Kennedy and Racial Justice]" (10 March 2016)
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*His message, his voice, his attitude, his every appearance and intent were clear. He sought to make America great again.
*His message, his voice, his attitude, his every appearance and intent were clear. He sought to make America great again.
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**Mike Barnicle referring to RFK in article "[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/13/what-bobby-kennedy-would-say-to-trump.html What Bobby Kennedy Would Say To Trump]" (13 March 2016)
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**Mike Barnicle referring to RFK in article "[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/13/what-bobby-kennedy-would-say-to-trump.html What Bobby Kennedy Would Say To Trump]" (13 March 2016)
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*Robert Kennedy accomplished an extraordinary feat in his last campaign by uniting blacks and working whites in a way that no American politician has since been able to replicate.
*Robert Kennedy accomplished an extraordinary feat in his last campaign by uniting blacks and working whites in a way that no American politician has since been able to replicate.
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**Kick Kennedy in article "[http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/rfk-speech-mlk-riot-kick-kennedy-213790#ixzz45A5qrbJL How My Grandfather, RFK, Stopped a Riot]" (4 April 2016)
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**Kick Kennedy in article "[http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/rfk-speech-mlk-riot-kick-kennedy-213790#ixzz45A5qrbJL How My Grandfather, RFK, Stopped a Riot]" (4 April 2016)
==External links==
==External links==
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*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203088_pf.html "My Father's Stand on Cuba Travel" by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, ''The Washington Post'' (23 April 2009)]
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/22/AR2009042203088_pf.html "My Father's Stand on Cuba Travel" by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, ''The Washington Post'' (23 April 2009)]
*[http://www.awesomestories.com/flicks/bobby-kennedy Photos, videos, audio-clips and other RFK source materials from the U.S. National Archives.]
*[http://www.awesomestories.com/flicks/bobby-kennedy Photos, videos, audio-clips and other RFK source materials from the U.S. National Archives.]
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