What Might Have Been

Fifty years ago today shortly after midnight, Robert F. Kennedy (1925 - 1968) was assassinated after winning the California Democratic primary moments earlier. For Kennedy, the 1968 Democratic nomination was still possible, after President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to run again was made in March, and after his defeat of Sen. Eugene McCarthy in California. Only Vice President Hubert Humphrey had accumulated more delegates (561) than Kennedy (393) at the time of the assassination, with primaries or caucuses in New York, Texas and numerous other states yet to be held.

Over the intervening 50 years, the "what ifs" continue to haunt the public imagination: the war in Vietnam would have certainly ended sooner, the racial divides after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination may have healed more quickly, and the destructive effects of Watergate on public trust in institutions would have been avoided. Or perhaps events would have conspired to frustrate his goals. Rather than sample the thousands of articles, essays, etc. on what Kennedy represented, an article written on the 20th anniversary of his assassination by Richard Harwood is a good start.

As with his martyred brother John, we'll never know how our lives and the lives of millions around the world might be different today, but we can imagine that they'd be better.

BONUS: Dear friend and reader P.E.C. pointed us to an interview on NPR that adds perspectives on Kennedy's life, including thoughts from Larry Tye, author of "Bobby Kennedy: The Making of A Liberal Icon."