The Night Robert Kennedy Finally Won

On November 4, 2008, at 11:00 pm, Robert Kennedy finally won.

Forty years after his assassination shattered dreams and brought his quest to change America to a sudden, brutal halt, Robert Kennedy reached the goal that had been denied him in life.

He was not yet 43 years old during that far away winter and spring of 1968 when hundreds of thousands of young and not so young Americans were inspired by his words, his hopes, his vision for our country. We were mired in a war we could not possibly win and from which our President, a decent man, could not walk away. Our cities were torn apart by a seemingly unbridgeable racial divide. Robert Kennedy had barely been in the U.S. Senate for three years. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, the liberal standard bearer since his dramatic civil rights speech at the 1948 Democratic National Convention, had served in the Senate for 15 years, and Eugene McCarthy had also been in Congress since 1949, ten years in the House of Representatives and more than nine in the Senate. Both had valid claims on the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, but it was Kennedy who energized and electrified us.

"There are those who look at things the way they are," he said, "and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" We believed that he would try to end the Vietnam War. We believed that he would take Whites and African-Americans away from the precipice. We knew that he represented what we in our idealism wanted to become. Hours after Martin Luther King, Jr. had been shot, he told a largely African-American crowd in Indianapolis that "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."

And then, like his brother and like Reverend King, he, too, was killed. Many sat out the 1968 election in despair or disgust. Many, most notably his brother and his children, kept his legacy alive. We tried to find his spirit in the McGovern campaign and in the Carter Administration. We recognized echoes of his voice in Bill Clinton's inaugural addresses. But it was not until a young African-American Senator from Illinois dared to seek the presidency that we seemed to be back on course.

And what now? Where do we go from here, now that Barack Obama has won? Much has changed in the past 40 years, but even more remains to be accomplished. In 1968 we faced enormous challenges but ended up with Richard Nixon, a protracted war and Watergate. And then we spent years looking backward, often wistfully. We asked ourselves, what if? In 2008 we have wrested for ourselves a different future. Barack Obama represents not just change but hope, the same kind of hope that Robert Kennedy inspired in us. Only this time, we have been allowed to see if our hopes can be realized.

Menachem Rosensaft is a lawyer in New York City

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to Barack Obama's victory in the 2008 presidential election

Comments

[myrddin]

I too remember the night Bobby Kenedy was shot. I will never forget it or the way I felt that night. Throughout this primary season I have seen Bobby's ability to inspire hope in Barack Obama. The young people who voted for Barack never knew Bobby but they know what he meant to those of us who did know him. May God protect and watch over Barack Obama.

[mayrose]

Thank you, I have been hearing echoes of Bobby ever since I first heard Barack speak. He has brought back what we lost when Bobby was killed.

[mwestorca]

I'll never forget the night Bobby Kennedy was killed. I was a young housewife and mother, living in the central valley of California. My husband was working the nightshift at the factory. I was watching TV.

I'd been working for Bobby Kennedy during the primary. I saw in him someone who could really change the world. I watched him march with Cesar Chavez and Dorothy Day and was captivated.

I was watching TV at the moment he was shot.

I never got over it. I still voted in elections, but I never really thought my vote would make a difference.

I am 70 years old, and I have seen one of the most important hopes and dreams of my life fulfilled last night. I am now a retired white schoolteacher, still married to the same man, the grandmother of 8, great-grandmother of 3. We had a few friends over last night which ended with opening a single bottle of champagne and one of sparkling cider for the two children present - and we toasted Barack Obama, prayed for his safety, toasted John McCain and we cried a lot.

If I hadn't been afraid of seeming foolish (and if I weren't such a bad singer) - I would have led the folks in my livingroom with a round of "We Have Overcome!" And I wish I'd thought to toast the memory of Bobby Kennedy. Because we have finally elected his successor . . .

[elderly]

This is a comment I wrote this morning on Arianna's post:

"Early last evening I told my wife while watching the election returns that Barack Obama would be speaking at midnight as President elect. I suddenly remembered another midnight 40 years ago when I sat in my bedroom in New York watching Robert F. Kennedy speak at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as the victor in the California primary convinced that he would become President and lead us into becoming the country we had always wanted to be. It was 3 oclock in the morning in New York and I was 21 years old, idealistic and hopeful. Before I could turn off the television set, news came of the assassination of Senator Kennedy.

For 40 years I watched as we seemingly wandered in the desert and in the last 8 years nearly ruined the dream and the country I love.

Suddenly at midnight last night as I watched Senator Obama speak it seemed like the last 40 years had disappeared and I was still the 21 year old watching Senator Kennedy.

Alas I am not but I now have hope that the 21 year olds today face an infinitely better future than they did yesterday."

I hope that Senator Obama has the same courage as Robert Kennedy had to tell unpleasant truths to people and do what is right.

[SpoxLogic]

What is really scary is that had McCain ran a cleaner campaign and the economic crisis not happen, he might have won instead of Obama. We still have a very long way to go and shouldn't think that Pres-Elect Obama's victory means that we can stop fighting to better race relations and stamp out racism.

[SusanKay52]

I've been wearing a goofy smile since last night, after finally getting over pre-election anxiety and jitters. But this made me tear up. The hopes and dreams of my childhood, the return of "Camelot", it all seems possible now. I can live to know that my America is the one we, the "flower children" protested for and loved for. Thanks for giving focus to the inchoate and giving recognition to long-sleeping dream.

[trubski]

I have never forgotten the moment I heard he had been killed. And I'll never forget last night either. Time to move forward.

[NoSillyName]

Sir, thank you for writing this article. I have been thinking about RFK a lot over the past few months. I have not felt that great hope for our country since his candidacy and then the despair with the horrible end.

I have desperately wanted our country to grow up and join the World Community.

Thank you.

[jerrypl]

Robert Kennedy is smiling down and applauding the voters for finally waking up, even though it is after a world wide crisis has begun. Intelligence, competence, brilliance, and passion prevails over..........

http://eye-on-washington.blogspot.com

[Ariadne]

Just before he was shot Bobby said "its on to Chicago and lets win there." Well last night the party finally came to Chicago and won. And the park that was the scene of violence and hatred became the scene of such jubilation and joy. Its good to come full circle.

[Frannyvida]

Our hopes can be realized if we all continue the dialogue and take the same kind of action that nominated our new President. We need to support our causes and each other and him, and can no longer sit on the sidelines. We will ALL have to bring about the change, and keep hope alive.

[KMan1]

Exactly nicely said.