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A Slice of Life
by Francine Brokaw
A Time it Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties By Bill Eppridge
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Robert Kennedy and this new book chronicles his last months in photographs by Bill Eppridge, with an introductory an essay by Pete Hamill, two men who were close to Kennedy.
Eppridge captured the final moments of Kennedy’s campaign with his camera and describes the terror that took place in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles immediately after the shots were fired that killed the candidate and injured others.
The photos in the book take readers right into the heart of the Kennedy campaign – a campaign that sparked people’s consciousness and took the country by storm. RFK went directly to the people and everywhere he traveled, from the first day of his announcement to run for the presidency, he drew enormous crowds unlike anything this country has seen in modern times with the exception of the Beatles. As the pages are turned and the photos revealed, the love that the people felt for this man is evident. He definitely had his enemies, and there are photos of some of his appearances when people held up signs opposing him, however this book focuses mainly on the positive side of Kennedy’s life and final campaign.
Robert Kennedy, with is wife, ten children (the eleventh was born after his death), and dogs, traveled the country reaching people that reached back. Everyone wanted to touch this man. There were mobs of people everywhere he went and he often went into the crowds to get more personal with them.
From the beginning, there were thoughts that he would not survive and he would meet the same fate of his older brother, President Kennedy who was shot while riding in a convertible, but this did not deter Bobby. As the author says, “The ultimate trust that Bobby had in his fellow human beings showed itself in the fact that he demanded convertibles.” The photos show Kennedy throughout the country riding in convertibles with outstretched arms reaching to touch those who were there to touch him.
There are photos of adoring crowds touching the candidate and also reaching to touch his beloved dog Freckles. There are photos from inside the campaign plane, in hotel rooms, on the stump in cities around the country, and photos showing the signs people made supporting Kennedy, his wife Ethel, and their dog. Today it’s difficult in this political climate to imagine a sign for a “first dog,” but there is a photo of someone’s sign supporting “Freckles for First Dog.” Something about Kennedy touched deep in the heart of America – and everyone close to him was part of that great hope, including his dog.
The end of the book contains photos from Robert Kennedy’s funeral in New York and the funeral train that bore his body down to Washington for burial at Arlington National Cemetery, just yards away from the eternal flame marking the grave of President Kennedy, who was assassinated less than five years earlier.
The remarkable photos capture the grief of those who stood along the train route to say their final farewell to this man who brought hope to a country in despair. He brought hope to a country torn apart. He brought hope to a country languishing in uncertainty.
The death of Robert Kennedy, even more than the death of President Kennedy, was the last thread weaving a brighter future through the fabric of America. Eppridge says, as a photographer, he was merely an onlooker to this episode in history. At the funeral, “My job was to see, not to hear. I was seeing the widows of Bobby, Martin, and John.”
“A Time it Was” is not only the title of this book. It describes the final campaign of Robert Kennedy and the optimism and anticipation that swelled through the country as the last campaign flourished from one state to the next. It was a time that will not be reproduced again.
Three fateful months in 1968 are laid out in photographs. The cover picture shows a smiling Robert Kennedy waving to a group of supporters with outstretched arms anxious to touch this man. For those who remember this time in history, this book of photos will bring back the feeling and memories. For those who were not alive at the time, it is a good way to see what effect Robert Kennedy had on this country and the people.
© 2008 Francine Brokaw
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