JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1974
RFK LAID TO REST 48 YEARS AGO TODAYArlington, Virginia (JFK+50) Senator Robert Francis Kennedy* was laid to rest 48 years ago this evening, June 8, 1968, in a grave just thirty yards from JFK's.
The graveside service was held at 9 p.m. making it the first night time burial in the history of Arlington National Cemetery. The reason for the late service was due to the long, slow funeral train that bore RFK's body from New York to Arlington. Millions of people lined the train route to pay silent tribute to the fallen Senator.
The resting place of Senator Kennedy is marked by a single white cross.
from SIX WHITE HORSES
written by Larry Murray
recorded by Tommy Cash (1969)
"Some people stick pretty close to home
Others are born with the urge to roam
Welcome, welcome to our town
I hope nobody tries to gun you down.
Goodbye Bobby
Six white horses come to take you home."
Robert Francis Kennedy (1925-1968) Son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., RFK was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He served in the United States Navy in WWII & earned a degree in government from Harvard in 1948. In 1950, RFKmarried Ethel Skakel of Greenwich, Connecticut.
A year later, he received a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School and in 1952 served as manager for John F. Kennedy's successful campaign for the Senate. In 1953, Bob was on the staff of Joseph McCarthy's subcommittee on investigations and later was Chief Counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee.
In 1960, RFK managed Jack's successful presidential campaign and in 1961 became President Kennedy's attorney general. In that position, the JFK Library says that Bobby became JFK's "closest adviser and confidant."
After JFK's death, RFK was elected as a United States senator from the state of New York. In 1968, after having won the California primary in a bid to win the Democratic nomination for President, RFK was shot in Los Angeles.
During his presidential campaign, RFK spoke out against the war in Vietnam and championed the cause of the poor and downtrodden. In most of his speeches he paraphrased the words of George Bernard Shaw by saying....
'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say, why not?'
Gravesite of Robert Francis Kennedy
Arlington National Cemetery
