Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159925 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

The tears flowed
I wasn't prepared for the tears that flowed as I read this book.

Ever since Bobby passed away, I have been saying he was the best President that we never had. This book confirms that belief and, unfortunately, reminds me of what could have been.

The author takes you through the campaign that many (including myself) believed would have made Bobby President. Who can't shed a tear when the result of his assassination was Richard Nixon?

There is a lot or pertinent information regarding the motorcades, the speeches and the people who Bobby met during those extraordinary few months of 1968. The final campaign was indeed a joyous crusade with sad results.

It was never meant to be.
I've read a few books on RFK but this is the only one which concentrates exclusively on his ill-fated attempt at the US Presidency. With RFK, the passing of time has made his death seem more poignant - his youth, what might have been had he lived and so on. The book sits pretty much in the "Good Bobby" camp although there are many reminders here that not everyone loved him - especially Eugene McCarthy and his supporters. The backdrop to his last campaign was dramatic - Tet Offensive, LBJ not running, Martin Luther King's assassination and the ensuing race riots. The atmosphere was so overheated that many in Kennedy's press entourage were waiting for the inevitable attempt on his life. In fact, even the candidate himself seemed to be expecting it. The most poignant part of the book is at the end where the author details Kennedy's campaign schedule for the New York state primary, which he was due to start on 7th June 1968. Instead, his casket was lying in state in New York.

This is an absorbing, well put together book with a small but well chosen selection of photographs. It is worth reading it in conjunction with Bill Eppridge's photo-memoir "A Time It Was".

A real love-song to Bobby Kennedy...
Bobby Kennedy is one of my personal and political heroes. I think if he had lived and been elected President, as I think he would have, he had the potential to be a truly great President, one who really cared about the poor man, the black man, the Native Americans on the reservation. He believed in reconciliation and redemption, in accepting collective guilt and collective responsibility. I think America would have been a better place for a Bobby Kennedy Presidency, I really do. And it's the ultimate tragedy that he never got that chance - that whilst Jack had three years, Bobby was killed right after the moment of his greatest political triumph, when he won the California primary. This book is a real love-song to Bobby Kennedy, and reading it it's hard not to fall in love with him all over again, as so many did during his incredible campaign. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go away and cry now.