Ted Kennedy’s Death Ends an Era

The death of Ted Kennedy ends an era and brings out a lot of memories of the Kennedy brothers. I remember hearing that the Kennedy-Nixon debate would be televised, and thinking that it would be a waste of time watching it. That’s when I was twenty years old and more interested in drinking and playing poker than I was in politics.

A year or so later, I had moved to Oakland, California and heard that President Kennedy would be speaking in Berkeley. The motorcade would drive up Telegraph Avenue early Saturday morning, I was told. Though Telegraph Avenue was less than a block from my house, I felt I would be better off sleeping in late than watching it pass.

Then I started school at Oakland City College and began to take an interest in history and politics. As I began to follow Jack Kennedy’s political career, he became my first political hero. He was young, handsome, intelligent, sophisticated, and had a beautiful wife. His liberal views supported the views that I was learning from my history professors, most who came from Cal-Berkeley. As I began to get interested in the civil rights movement, I saw that he was at the forefront of it. I appreciated his job core program and his efforts to improve education. I remember telling my friend, Alex, that Kennedy brought a little class to the White House.

The news of President Kennedy’s assassination came over the loud speaker during an English class. The professor dismissed class early and most of us students gathered in the quad too shocked to even talk about it. Somehow, I heard that the assassin was an African American. And, that this was the first step in a soon to come radical racial revolution. I was plenty scared wondering what would happen next.

When the bell sounded for the next class to begin, most of us students returned to class. We were informed that the shooter acted alone, a mad man intent on fifteen minutes of fame. The instructor told us that the administration had decided to carry on as usual. He wrote his notes on the board without a single comment while we dutifully copied them.

Later that week, when we were driving to a movie with friends, I started a Kennedy imitation. “I just wanna to say….” I stopped in mid sentence. “That just shows it hasn’t sunk in yet,” Alex told me when I apologized. We watched the T.V. account of the funeral with great sadness. Later, I listened to the conspiracy theories with great interest, and watched the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald on T.V.

When Bobby Kennedy began his campaign for President in 1968, I heard him speak at Chabot College and was very impressed. However, I was torn between him and Eugene McCarthy. Both Kennedy and McCarthy were opposed to the war in Vietnam, but I felt the McCarthy has begun his opposition earlier and that he was a stronger opponent of the war.

Then, I heard Bobby Kennedy speak in Chico. I was at the airport gate when he got off his plane and actually could have reached over the gate and shook hands with him. But, somehow I was playing the role of the cynic and didn’t reach out for his hand. His speech at the Chico Civic Center knocked me off my feet. I was convinced that he was the right man for the job.

As I explained to a fellow teacher, Herb, Kennedy had grown after the assassination of Dr. King. (Dr. King was another one of my political heroes.) He had gone into the ghetto and listened to the cries of the affected African American population. His attitude towards civil rights and the war had changed. He was firm in his support of civil rights legislation, and firm in his opposition to the war.

I was so impressed by Bobby’s speech that I went to the local democratic organization in Willows and asked what I could do to help with the presidential campaign. They turned the whole campaign over to a fellow teacher, Mike and me. We set up outside the storefront campaign headquarters and passed out posters while encouraging the locals to vote for Bobby Kennedy. It was the first and last time that I worked for a political candidate. Bobby’s assassination completely turned me off to politics. Though, I still consider it a civic duty to vote.

I didn’t follow Ted Kennedy’s political career very closely. I did agree with his attempts to get health care for all Americans, and his efforts to improve education. I cheered his speeches at several Democratic conventions. I looked him as the best of Democratic Liberals. But, as I said after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, I was turned off to politics. Ted Kennedy’s death brings another sad moment in American politics, but at least he lived to a ripe old age. He was a champion for working class people, and America will miss him.

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