" #Warning# " long post ahead.......
I didn't want to be the one to start a thread about Bobby this time. But now that you have.......
I was 10 when JFK was offed, and somewhat like you HV-remembered how upset MY parents were about this. I was saddish, too, becuase I knew that it was a wrong thing to do, while not yet understanding what the USA & The World had lost.
But I was a precocious child/tween/teen in some ways. I started to pay attention to politics, USA & world events certainly by the time I was like 12ish or so.
I canremember my mom saying over time how RFK was changing- she probably remembering him as AG, and prehaps further back him originally being on Sen. McCarthy's committee, before he later quit.
This was him becoming a more empathetic, and compaasionte person. I vaugely rmember hearin g about how he was a "carpert-bagger" running for Senate in NYS.
will continue>>>>>
Empathy & compassion were/are things taught early to me & I have chosen to retain through my life (oh, I do have my nasty side, but try to keep it yto a minimum). So a statement like that further alerted me to pay attention to RFK.
Eventually I turned againt the Vietnam War, I guess by Spring '67. When I wasn't listening to Rock Radio, I was already listening to Talk Radio for either info, intersting stories & politics. I came upon the late barry Gray radio show, who often hoasted RFK's various support people- Soreson, Van Dan Hueval, and a quite young Jeff Greenfield.
Becuase I liked the things I was hearing about RFK, I didn't join up with Gene McCarthy's supporters. I was quite below voting age- 15, but I want to volunteer doing some simple task eventually at a Campaign Headquarters.
I was greatly moved by the speeches RFK made in his Presidential campaign. The actions he did- visited the poor in Appalachia, Missisppi Delta, the migrant workers in Calif etc.
If you've never seen, for instance, the film (video?) of RFK breraking the news to the mostly Afrcian American crowd gathered Indianapolis, Ind. for their RFK President rally- that Dr. King had been shot & killed...you might want to see that. Deeply sad, deeply compassionate. Totally extemperaneous. He had been told on his campaign plane.
So things went as they went.
I remeber mom telling me in the morning (since it was like 4AM when the unthinkable happened over at the Ambassador Hotel back here in the NYC area) about the shooting.
I had to drag myself into (first year of) High School, a quite lively place (esp in the 60's) becuase it speicalized in Art & Music. I convinced my dad to let me bprrow his little AM radio. I
In the locker room, in between classes I was frantically trying to catch the news.
There were plenty of students who didn't care or weretn't paying attention. If I suppose anyone was glad this had happened , I guess they kept it to themsleves, or I didn't hear about it.
Then there was us, a fairly sizable groupo. You could feel the atmosphere in the school being damped. We'd ask each other, "any new news?". We looked at each other with pained, begging for hope eye all day as we emt up.
I had to go do a class play reheshal. I was grumpy. The person's house we were at wouldn't let us check the radio. Fianally I joined up with another freind. We went to her house to comfort each other, as wed kept vigil.
This went on the rest of the night. My younger sib was also caught up in it, because of me. My mom demanded I go to bed. I had the radio under my pillow.
Thw strange thing was the night before- I had woken up around 4AM by one of the weirdest stomachaches I ever had. I finally was able to go back to sleep. The same thing happened that night, too.
I realized it was the same kind of physical feeling, and I also then realized that it had happened (across the timezones) as the original event had occured. So I suddenly thought "uhoh!". I pulled gthe radio out, flicked it on, and heard the terribile news, which had just been announced. I basically creid into my pillow, and pretty much stayed up the rest of the time.
I think we had school again (the calander diference I don't remember). But I spent most of my time listenin g to the radio, or looking the TV. Of course listening Barry Gray was incredibly intense because of all RFK'S peole coming on here & there.
SO it was a day later the 7th, when they had the casket & service at St patrick's Cathedral Church. I and a friend went down their around 7AM in the mornin g to stand on line. It took about 6 hours to gewt into the church. THere were people who fainted etc because it was a hottish and probably humid June day. We stayed awhile, praying thinking. Saw Jaqueline Kennedy arrive, goin g up the main isle. We finally wnet up to payt our respects. One of those things narrow down around you, and you only see/hear/feel what,s right in front of you. In this case the color and coolness of the wood.
back outside we watched for a while longer. The TV remote vans, cables looking like a SF movie effect- becasue there were SO many of them snaking all around the streets and sidewalks in that area.
The next day tyhe casket was taken to Washington DC> I wanted to go to see the motorcade. My mom was oh, no- you look terrible . But Dad went with me.
We were on 34th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues - across from Macy's.
THere were big old TV cameras perched on top of the door arches of Macy's. Finally the whole motorcade went by. The gigantic crowd not being too noisey in the first place went silent.
Back at home, I had to study for Regent's tests. But I also just kept watching The Train that departed from Penn Station.
To see all the people by trackside, practically every fott of the way where a populatioin was no matter how big, or small- with all the aching sad/poignant signs was devastating.
