President of the United States,
and that is why I come
here to ask for your help.
55 years ago, well 55 years ago yesterday,
Senator Robert Kennedy was in Pocatello to
drum up support for his run for president,
a campaign he announced just days before.
This wasn't a stop by happensta.
Senator Kennedy didn't just bliy
point to a map and say let's go there.
Senator Kennedy was a friend of Idaho.
Senator Frank Church often
visited the Gem state to recrea,
so why not include Idaho in the campaign
leading up to a presidential election?
Today we're dusting off the film
from 1968 for a look back at wht
was one of Bobby Kennedy's firs.
But also one of his last appears
as a candidate for president.
I am announcing today my candidacy for
the Presidency of the United States. With
that, Senator Robert Francis Key
entered a crowded Democratic fid
for President. I cannot stand
aside from the contest that will
decide our nation's future tribe
to all of you.
10 days later, on a Tuesday,
the senator from New York was in Idaho
stumping in familiar stomping grounds
and why I asked for your support
from the state of Idaho. I
have more of my family that have broken
their legs in Idaho than any otr
family that's running for presi.
Yes, Bobby son Joseph did break
his leg while skiing in Sun Val.
However, the Kennedys were
frequent visitors to the Gem st,
stopping by in all seasons over the years,
without a stop at the Infirmary
to support our government,
this time it was less vacation,
more vocation.
Whose side are you on? I think e
time has come to answer that question.
I think Frank Church has already
answered that question and many others
in Idaho State universities rea.
Jim Kennedy campaigned on contig
the fight for civil rights but
ending our involvement in Vietn,
ending poverty and ending the status quo.
I don't think that we have to accept the
idea that we're going to have violence
in our cities summer after summ.
I think we could do much better there.
And I'd also don't think that we have
to accept the fact that there are these
deep divisions within our count.
This country, after all, is generous.
This country, after all,
is filled with compassion.
I understand and recognize that
what I am attempting to do is
running against the establishme.
It's going to be very difficult
whether it's here in the state f
Idaho or whether it's in the state of
California or any of these other states,
and the only way that I believe
that we can change.
The only way that we can
change the course of action,
we certainly are not going to
do that through the nominee
of the Republican Party.
And I don't
believe that we're going to be
able to do it through the preset
leadership in the Democratic Pa.
I come here to Pocatello to askr
your help to do just that. Thank
you very much.
Senator Kennedy wasn't
finished with his Treasure Valley tour
gun legislation through I'm in
favor of a guns not being in the
hands of people who were insane,
people who were demented,
and people who have criminal records.
Two months later after
landing in the Grand Oregon.
Alright, let's have a nice year.
The Democratic candidate rolled
down Ontario's 4th St. on May 23rd, 1968.
I'm very, very pleased to be in Ontario.
Very, very pleased to see all ou
and spoke to a crowd of thousan.
Farmers should have the right to
organize and bargain for himsel.
I think that the corporation fag
presents a danger for the farmer here in
Oregon and in this part of the state.
Senator Kennedy wouldn't win
Oregon's primary five days late,
but he would take California's on June 4th.
Hours after just after midnight on June 5th,
1968, Senator Kennedy was shot y
Sirhan Sirhan in the kitchen ofe
Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
Senator Kennedy would officially
pass 26 hours after being shot,
dying on June 6th, 1968.
Vice President Hubert Humphrey would earn
the party's nomination that November,
and he would then lose to Richard Nixon.
RFK shooting was one of the last
in a string of violent deaths,
assassinations of public figures
and activists in the 1960s,
President John Kennedy in 1963,
Malcolm X and 65,
Martin Luther King Junior in 68,
then Senator Kennedy, of course,
and Fred Hampton in 1969.