Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925 in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was the third son and seventh child born to Jospesh Patrick and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy.
As a child, Bobby attended The Milton Academy Boarding school. It was their that Robert Kennedy meet his future brother in-law George Skakel.
Bobby's future wife Ethel Skakel was born on April 11, 1928, at Chicago's Lying-In Hospital. She was the sixth of seven children born to George and Ann Skakel.
Ethel also came from a wealthy Catholic family. Her father George Skakel, was the owner of The Great Lakes Coal And Coke Cooperation.
Ethel attended Manhattanville College in New York, City. As a student there she met Jean Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's younger sister. It was early in their friendship while on a weekend ski trip, that Jean introduced Ethel to Bobby, certain that they would hit it off together.
Robert Kennedy attended the University Of Virgina Law School. Robert and Ethel wed on June 17, 1950. They went on to have eleven children together.
Their youngest child Rory was born six month's after her father was assassinated in 1968. Robert's older brother John, was elected the 35th President of The United States in 1960.
One of the first things that Jack did after he was elected President was that he appointed his younger brother Bobby, Attorney General of The United States. It was a position that he would hold until he resigned in 1964.
As Attorney General Robert Kennedy went after powerful men like, Jimmy Hoffa The Teamsters Union Boss. And known gangster Sam Giancana. At thirty-five years old, Robert Kennedy was making powerful enemies.
It was Bobby who stood by Jack in times of Crisis. The Bay Of Pigs, and The Cuban Missile Crisis. Then, tragedy struck in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, when President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Robert then became the matriarch of the Kennedy family, becoming a step dad to Caroline and John Jr. After the death of President Kennedy, Bobby slipped into a severe and deep depression. He ran for Senator from New York in 1965. He won the election.
Then on March 16, 1968 Bobby announced that he was running for President of The United States. "I run not to oppose any man, but to propose new polices." Bobby stated his announcement.
Two week's later, on March 31, President Lyndon Baines Johnson went on Television and announced to The American people, "I shall not seek, nor will I except, the nomination of my party for anther term, as your President.
Then on April 4, tragedy struck again in Memphis,Tennessee when Civil Rights Leader, Martin Luther King was assassinated while standing on the balcony of The Laraine Motel, by ex convict James Earl Ray.
Robert Kennedy was campaigning in Indianapolis, Indiana that night when he announced to a large crowd of people that Martin Luther King was dead.
In his speech to the crowd that night, he addressed the people with the following words,
"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 Untied States is not violence or lawlessness: but is love, and wisdom, and and compassion toward one anther, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer in our country whether they be white or whether they be black."
Then just after midnight on June 4 right after Robert Kennedy made his victory speech after winning The California Primary, he was gunned down by Sirhan Sirhan, in the kitchen pantry of The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
Twenty five hours later at 1:44 A.M. Thursday June 6, 1968, Robert Francis Kennedy died at the age of forty-two.
Two days later, on June 8, Edward Kennedy eulogized Bobby with these words,
"My brother need not be idelized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war, and tried to stop it."
"Those of us who loved him and take him to his rest today, pray that what he was in life will someday come to pass for all of the world.' "As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched, and who sought to touch him."
"Some men see things as they are and say why, I dream things that never were , and say why not?'
I think that Robert Kennedy's words are just important today as they were forty years ago. We still need to dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks said so many years ago, to tame the savegeness 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.