Robert F. Kennedy's speech on the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
On April 4, 1968,
Despite fears of riots and concerns for his safety, Kennedy went ahead with plans to attend a rally at 17th and Broadway in the heart of Indianapolis's African-American ghetto.[4] That evening he addressed the crowd, many of whom had not heard about King's assassination. Instead of the rousing campaign speech they expected, Kennedy offered brief, impassioned remarks for peace that are considered to be one of the great public addresses of the modern era.[5]
Earlier that day
During his speeches at the
In Indianapolis the news of King's death caused concern among representatives from Kennedy's campaign and city officials, who feared for his safety and the possibility of a riot.[4] After talking with reporters at the Indianapolis airport, Kennedy canceled a stop at his campaign headquarters and continued on to the rally site, where a crowd had gathered to hear him speak.[4] Both Frank Mankiewicz, Kennedy's press secretary, and speechwriter Adam Walinsky drafted notes immediately before the rally for Kennedy's use, but Kennedy refused Walinsky's notes, instead using some that he had likely written on the ride over; Mankiewicz arrived after Kennedy had already begun to speak.[9] The Indianapolis chief of police warned Kennedy that the police could not provide adequate protection for the senator if the crowd were to riot,[10] but Kennedy decided to go speak to the crowd regardless. Standing on a podium mounted on a flatbed truck, Kennedy spoke for just four minutes and fifty-seven seconds.[11]
Summary of Indianapolis speech
Kennedy began his speech by announcing that King had been killed.[12] He was the first to publicly inform the audience of King's assassination, causing members of the audience to scream and wail in disbelief.[13] Several of Kennedy's aides were worried that the delivery of this information would result in a riot.[14] Once the audience quieted down, Kennedy spoke of the threat of disillusion and divisiveness at King's death and reminded the audience of King's efforts to "replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love."[15] Kennedy acknowledged that many in the audience would be filled with anger, especially since the assassin was believed to be a white man. He empathized with the audience by referring to the assassination of his brother, United States President John F. Kennedy, by a white man. The remarks surprised Kennedy aides, who had never heard him speak of his brother's death in public.[16] Quoting the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus,[Note 1] with whom he had become acquainted through his brother's widow, Jacqueline Kennedy,[16] Kennedy said, "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."[15]
Kennedy then delivered one of his best-remembered remarks: "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 or lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black."[15] To conclude, Kennedy reiterated his belief that the country needed and wanted unity between blacks and whites and encouraged the country to "dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world."[15] He finished by asking the audience members to pray "for our country and for our people."[15] Rather than exploding in anger at the tragic news of King's death, the crowd exploded in applause and enthusiasm for a second time, before dispersing quietly.[19]
Aftermath
Despite the fact the crowd which Kennedy spoke to in Indianapolis was only estimated to be 2,500 people, the speech was credited with boosting his image in the state of Indiana.[20] Indianapolis remained calm that night, which is believed to have been in part because of the speech.[10][21] In stark contrast to Indianapolis, riots erupted in more than one hundred U.S. cities including Chicago, New York City, Boston, Detroit, Oakland, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, killing 35 and injuring more than 2,500. Across the country, approximately 70,000 army and National Guard troops were called out to restore order.[19][22] William Crawford, a member of the Black Radical Action Project who had stood about 20 feet from Kennedy, credited Kennedy's speech for not resulting in riots.[20] Crawford claimed to the Indianapolis Star in 2015 "Look at all those other cities" and "I believe it would have gone that way (in Indianapolis) had not Bobby Kennedy given those remarks."[20]
The following day, Kennedy gave a prepared, formal response, "On the Mindless Menace of Violence", in Cleveland, Ohio. It addressed themes that he had alluded to in the Indianapolis speech.[12]
Robert F. Kennedy himself was assassinated two months later on June 5, 1968.
Legacy
The speech itself has been listed as one of the greatest in
The Landmark for Peace Memorial, installed in 1995 in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park near the site where the speech took place in Indianapolis, includes sculptures of King and Kennedy.[25]
In 2018, the audio of the speech was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[26]
Film
A Ripple of Hope, a documentary on the speech and the events surrounding it, was produced by Covenant Productions at Anderson University and released in 2008.[27] It includes interviews with associates of Kennedy and members of the audience.
The speech was performed verbatim by Linus Roache in the 2002 film RFK.
Notes
- ^ Preparing his notes without reference books, recalling the quote from memory, Kennedy slightly misquoted a passage from Edith Hamilton's translation of Aeschylus's Agamemnon.[17] Professor Christopher S. Morrissey wrote that it is unknown "whether he misquoted deliberately, fortuitously, or infelicitously".[18]
References
- ISBN 978-0-385-51027-1.
- ISBN 978-0-253-35089-3.
- ^ Boomhower, p. 3.
- ^ a b c Boomhower, p. 64.
- ^ Boomower, p. 4.
- ^ a b John Straw, "RFK in Middletown," 2005.
- ^ Boomhower, p. 58.
- ^ a b Schlesinger Jr., Arthur M. (1978). Robert Kennedy and His Times. Vol. 2 (book club ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 913.
- ^ Klein, Politics Lost, pp. 3, 4.
- ^ a b c "RFK: Bending History". Scarborough Country. 2005-11-18. Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ Klein, Politics Lost, pp. 1, 4.
- ^ a b Murphy 2009, p. 406.
- ^ Klein, Politics Lost, p. 5.
- ^ a b Klein, Joe. "Pssst! Who's behind the decline of politics? Consultants., Time, 2006-04-09. Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b c d e Kennedy, Robert F. "Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr." (speech, Indianapolis, IN, 1968-04-04), American Rhetoric Online Speech Bank. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
- ^ a b Klein, Politics Lost, p. 6.
- ISBN 9781472579409.
- ProQuest 2021624332.
- ^ a b Boomhower, p. 68.
- ^ a b c Higgins, Will (April 2, 2015). "April 4, 1968: How RFK saved Indianapolis". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
- ^ Statement of Mayor Bart Peterson 2006-04-04 press release [dead link]
- ISBN 0-684-83480-4.
- ^ "Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century". Retrieved 2009-08-30.
- ^ Klein, Politics Lost, prologue.
- ^ Boomhower, p. 2.
- ^ Andrews, Travis M. (March 20, 2019). "Jay-Z, a speech by Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and 'Schoolhouse Rock!' among recordings deemed classics by Library of Congress". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- ^ "Ripple of Hope". Anderson University. Archived from the original on August 27, 2008. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
Works cited
- Murphy, John M. (June 5, 2009). ""A time of shame and sorrow": Robert F. Kennedy and the American jeremiad". Quarterly Journal of Speech. 76 (4): 401–414. .