“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."
“We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do."
More document rustling in Charles Peter Curran's archives. I just found his Bobby Kennedy file with a lot of interesting letters, ephemera, pamphlets, etc. Pete worked for him in Seattle as an advance man during his 1968 Presidential campaign. More to follow!
Patricia Kennedy Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., Marilyn Monroe
In the early 1960's, the FBI was tracking what went on in Jack Kennedy's apartment at the Carlyle Hotel in New York, and in particular, the "sex parties" that occurred there, at least according to Mrs. Jacqueline Hammond.
Some of the participants mentioned in a recently released (under the FOI Act) FBI report include: Frank Sinatra, JFK's younger brothers Bobby and Teddy, Marilyn Monroe, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lawford (Mrs. Peter Lawford was JFK's sister Patricia).
Forty years ago today, just after midnight, 42-year old Senator Robert F. Kennedy, a presidential candidate (who was on fire, with the most exciting, hope-filled campaign of my lifetime so far), was shot three times in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Five other people were wounded. The senator had just finished his speech after his win in the California presidential primary.
The shooter, a Palestinian, Sirhan B. Sirhan, is still in prison in California today, and will again be eligible for parole in 2011.
Senator Kennedy fought for his life over the next day, but died on the morning of June 6th. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, not far from his assassinated older brother, JFK.
A statement by Hillary Clinton to an editorial board sent the press (rightfully) into a feeding frenzy on Friday. The South Dakota newspaper the Argus Leader asked The Senator why she didn’t believe the party was fracturing due to the protracted contest. Clinton said “my husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June.”
“We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California,” she continued. If you've been a reader of All This Is That for any time at all, you probably know that she is treading on sacred ground here. She has fiddled with, and shamelessly exploited, our worst fears by invoking the name of a great Democratic hero who was struck down as he was on the very precipice of greatness. Correction: he had finally achieved greatness, we were just slow to catch up to it. To me, at least, the death of RFK was far more tragic than even the assassination of his brother because it was not just a President, but hope itself that was extinguished that bleak June day in 1968. Not just because it paved the way to the Nixon Presidency, but because the end of the Vietnam War, the granting of true Civil Rights, and the escalation of the war on poverty ended that night. How dare Senator Clinton even obliquely bring this up in reference to Senator Obama! Her feeble and disingenuous "apology" cuts no ice with anyone. As far as I am concerned, she doesn't deserve to be elected the dogcatcher of Camden, New Jersey. She shouldn't be allowed to even attend the Democratic Convention in Denver.
After the New York Post story made the rounds of the press corps on blogs, text messages, and the Drudge Report, reporters here at Clinton’s town hall meeting abandoned any pretense of listening to the event, searching out the first Clinton flak-catcher they could find for a response.
Campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee gave reporters what they were looking for. “She was simply referencing her husband in 1992 and Bobby Kennedy in 1968 as historical examples of the nominating process going well into the summer,” he said. This is a steaming cauldron of ca-ca, and Hillary Clinton has once again crossed the line. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this isn't the final deal-breaker on the burgeoning "Draft Hill for Veep" movement. It probably should be...
