Robert Kennedy

It's probably unexpected to see the mention of a public figure in a work of this type. There will be one other as well. But I think Bobby Kennedy (and that other public figure) belong here just as those do to whom I'm more directly connected.

Bobby was different from his brother Jack. I'm not just talking about their merit as human beings, though I think they were different in that regard as well. Bobby was more down-to-earth. He was a an extremely wealthy man from a very rich family, as were his siblings.

But he didn't act rich.

This was brought home to me the other day when I saw a Twitter posting (yes, I know it's called a "tweet" but not everyone does) from a well-known historian. He posted a photograph I don't remember having seen before. It showed Kennedy, Caesar Chavez (then-head of the United Farm Workers) and a couple of kids from Chavez' community.

Most pictures of politicians and celebrities who to to communities to do greetings and be seen look like the dignitary is there to be photographed. (S)he will stand with 3/4 of their face toward the camera and 1/4 facing the representative of that community and they'll be shaking hands. Or, the politician will be bending down to a child and not facing the camera, but the full face of that politician will be toward the camera.

This photo was different. Kennedy (RFK as he was often referred to) was sitting on a log or on the ground next to Chavez. Both of them were fully-clothed, except for their feet. Both had their socks off and were both watching a couple of kids who sat on the other side of Chavez from Kennedy. Neither was smiling for or looking towards the camera. They were both looking towards, and smiling at the kids. Bobby seemed to take great joy in these children, as he always seemed to with his own.

Though I was too young to remember when, at the beginning of his career, Kennedy had worked for the Senate committee headed by Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy was a bastard who used an anti-Communist cudgel to elevate himself and damage or destroy the careers and lives of others. Though Kennedy was counsel for the minority party, he acted pretty savagely as well.

In those days, Democrats were busy establishing that they could be as anti-Communist as Republicans. It was a strange time. If I had been old enough, I'd have hated the Bobby Kennedy of those days.

As time went on, and particularly after Jack was assassinated, Robert Kennedy gained a maturity and humanity that hadn't been as evident previously.

After resigning as Attorney General, shortly after his brother's death, he ran for the Senate, and became the junior senator from New York. After opposing the expansion of the Viet Nam War, perpetrated by his brother's successor, Lyndon Johnson, he decided to run for the Democratic nomination for president.

It was after winning the California primary on June 4, 1968, that he was shot and killed.

Here are some of the things I think Bobby would have done: Ended the awful Viet Nam War (it ended up lasting into the mid-1970s); Reached a detente with Castro; Investigated the killing of his brother; and, improved the situation for young people, African-Americans, Latinos and unions.

Bobby had been involved with the efforts at rapproachment with Castro, when his brother was in the White House.

Had that war ended as he promised to do, many of the bad things that happened wouldn't have occurred. The youth movement, of which I was an extremely small part wouldn't have lasted as long, because much of the focus was the war. As a result, thousands - if not millions - of young people who descended into the more serious side of the drug culture wouldn't have. Speaking of drugs, many of the soldiers who went into Viet Nam between 1969 and 1975 would never have gone and wouldn't have been exposed to heroin.

Many wouldn't have lost their lives or been forever scarred by that experience.

Outside of the war, many things would have changed, largely - I believe - for the better.

One of the things that historians have debated is the essential goodness or lack of it, in Robert Kennedy. I don't have an absolute answer, though my perception is that he was a very good and decent human being. When you say that, critics will mention Marilyn Monroe.

There's no question that Jack Kennedy had an affair with Marilyn. Some believe that Bobby did as well. Many believe that one or both of the brothers were involved in her death, despite it having been ruled accidental.

Here's what I believe, though I obviously could be wrong.

I think that Bobby was involved in trying to get Marilyn to not go public about her affair with the president. I can't believe he was involved with her death. Here was a man who - by all appearances - was a devout Catholic, unlike his brother who went through the motions. He appeared to love his wife and children.

That doesn't mean he couldn't have an affair, but he didn't seem the type.

I think he put things in motion to make the world a better place(by highlighting the plight of African-Americans, the farm workers, and people in Appalachia, for example) and if he'd had the opportunity, we'd have all been better off.