Robert F. Kennedy's Assassination - HISTORY

Robert Kennedy was on the verge of a run for president run when he was struck down by an assassin's bullet just like his brother before him.

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Robert Kennedy was a powerful figure in Washington until his assassination in 1968.

On March 16, 1968, from the On March 16, 1968, from the Caucus Room of the Old Senate Office Building the same place his late brother declared his candidacy for president eight years earlier Sen. Robert F. Kennedy announces his intention to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

On October 29, 1963, in a recorded meeting with President John F. Kennedy and the National Security Council, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy voices his concern about supporting the impending South Vietnamese coup to overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Gen. Maxwell Taylor, and CIA Director John McCone echo RFK’s doubts.

In this Ask Steve video clip, Robert Kennedy and the chance that he would have been elected president of the United States if he hadn't been assassinated was discussed. It would have been difficult seeing as the primary's were much different then. He would have needed to get the support from the delegates, since the primary's were for show only.

On September 29, 1962, as measures are taken to safely transport James Meredith to the University of Mississippi where he will enroll in accordance with a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding desegregation of the institution, President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy make a series of phone calls to Gov. Ross Barnett who has openly defied the Court's ruling. In one secretly recorded call that day, Attorney General Kennedy gets exasperated when the governor shoots down his idea for crowd control.

As only the second Catholic to run for presidential office in a majority Protestant nation, John F. Kennedy was confronted with the issue of his religion throughout his campaign. In order to defuse concerns that his religious views would interfere with his ability as chief executive, he delivers a speech on September 12, 1960, to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association stressing the importance of the separation of church and state.

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