Robert Kennedy
My brief foray into practical politics -- 1968
24 02, 21 01:01 Filed in: Reflection
This is a reposting from FB. Originally posted on August 26, 2020, it is me reflecting on my brief foray into practical politics in 1968.
In Massachusetts we are having a senseless primary between an impatient young Kennedy and Ed Markey, and of course this sparked memories of at least one Kennedy campaign I was involved with back in my college days (I was "nominally" the Southern Colorado College coordinator for the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign).
It was March 1968, and RFK had recently entered the race, throwing the McCarthy supporters in Colorado (I was one of those) into turmoil; but we had to choose sides....
When it was announced that Kennedy would make a Denver stop on his swing through the west, several of us who were involved in some "official" capacity (again, in my case nominally since the effort was not well organized by then) were asked if we'd like to fly from Pueblo to Denver to attend his campaign event.
I had never flown before, but could not pass this opportunity up. As I recall, several of us were stuffed into a small private aircraft (more on that later) and took off early to get to the Denver airport so we could be part of the motorcade that would take Kennedy from Stapleton to the speaking venue. (The flight path from Pueblo to Denver is not for the weak kneed -- passing by Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak meant getting bounced around quite a bit.)
What I recall is shaking the man's hand and getting into a vehicle just two cars behind the lead car. If you look at this photo, I think you can see a convertible two cars behind the RFK car, and I recall as well the crowds and the slow pace (so he could reach out and shake hands) through the Five Points area where this was taken. (At that time Five Points was the African American neighborhood in Denver.)
I don't recall much else -- the rally or the speech -- other than as soon as it was over Kennedy headed to the airport and we made it back to our plane for a no less "bumpy" flight back to Pueblo.
The events of 1968 turned tragic, of course, and I never recovered whatever political activism (and ambitions) I might have had after the King and Kennedy assassinations in April and June. Finding this picture and thinking about those days sharpened my sense of loss for my days as a budding political actor.
From FB Comment:
With her sharp eye, Randi thinks that might be me in the photo. I was in the third car, but why would my head stand out unless everyone else in the car was slouching? It looks like the motorcade had stopped and I might have been trying to get a better view of what was going on. In any case, fond memory of an event when everything seemed to be looking up...
In Massachusetts we are having a senseless primary between an impatient young Kennedy and Ed Markey, and of course this sparked memories of at least one Kennedy campaign I was involved with back in my college days (I was "nominally" the Southern Colorado College coordinator for the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign).
It was March 1968, and RFK had recently entered the race, throwing the McCarthy supporters in Colorado (I was one of those) into turmoil; but we had to choose sides....
When it was announced that Kennedy would make a Denver stop on his swing through the west, several of us who were involved in some "official" capacity (again, in my case nominally since the effort was not well organized by then) were asked if we'd like to fly from Pueblo to Denver to attend his campaign event.
I had never flown before, but could not pass this opportunity up. As I recall, several of us were stuffed into a small private aircraft (more on that later) and took off early to get to the Denver airport so we could be part of the motorcade that would take Kennedy from Stapleton to the speaking venue. (The flight path from Pueblo to Denver is not for the weak kneed -- passing by Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak meant getting bounced around quite a bit.)
What I recall is shaking the man's hand and getting into a vehicle just two cars behind the lead car. If you look at this photo, I think you can see a convertible two cars behind the RFK car, and I recall as well the crowds and the slow pace (so he could reach out and shake hands) through the Five Points area where this was taken. (At that time Five Points was the African American neighborhood in Denver.)
I don't recall much else -- the rally or the speech -- other than as soon as it was over Kennedy headed to the airport and we made it back to our plane for a no less "bumpy" flight back to Pueblo.
The events of 1968 turned tragic, of course, and I never recovered whatever political activism (and ambitions) I might have had after the King and Kennedy assassinations in April and June. Finding this picture and thinking about those days sharpened my sense of loss for my days as a budding political actor.
From FB Comment:
With her sharp eye, Randi thinks that might be me in the photo. I was in the third car, but why would my head stand out unless everyone else in the car was slouching? It looks like the motorcade had stopped and I might have been trying to get a better view of what was going on. In any case, fond memory of an event when everything seemed to be looking up...
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