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Quick Facts
- NAME: Robert Kennedy
- OCCUPATION: Government Official
- BIRTH DATE: November 20, 1925
- DEATH DATE: June 06, 1968
- EDUCATION: Harvard University, University of Virginia Law School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Brookline, Massachusetts
- PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
- Full Name: Robert Francis Kennedy
- Nickname: Bobby Kennedy
- AKA: RFK
Best Known For
Robert Kennedy was Attorney General during his brother JFK's administration. He later served as a U.S. Senator and was assassinated during his run for the presidency.
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Robert F. Kennedy - The Assassination of RFK
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Play NowRobert Kennedy. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:17, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052.
Robert Kennedy. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Robert Kennedy." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 05:17 http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052.
"Robert Kennedy," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Robert Kennedy," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Robert Kennedy [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052.
Robert Kennedy, http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Robert Kennedy. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/robert-kennedy-9363052. Accessed May 23, 2013.
Synopsis
Robert Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on November 20, 1925. After managing his brother John's presidential campaign, Robert was appointed Attorney General of the United States in 1960. As AG, he fought organized crime and was a key supporter of the civil rights movement. After JFK's assassination, Robert was elected to the U.S. Senate representing the state of New York. RFK was himself assassinated on June 5,
Contents
Quotes
"The free way of life proposes ends, but it does not prescribe means."
1968 during the California Democratic presidential primary.
Early Life
Robert Francis Kennedy, nicknamed Bobby, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on November 20, 1925. His parents were Joseph, a rich businessman, and Rose, daughter of the mayor of Boston. Raised as devout Roman Catholics, Robert Kennedy and his seven siblings enjoyed a life of wealth and privilege. Among Kennedy’s older brothers was future U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
When Kennedy’s father, Joseph Sr., became a U.S. ambassador to Britain, the family moved to England. As they had been in America, the Kennedy family members were regarded as handsome, charismatic and powerful, making them darlings of the press. The family returned to the States in 1939 as the threat of World War II was rapidly approaching.
Back in Massachusetts, Kennedy graduated from Milton Academy prep school, and then enrolled in Harvard. After his older brother Joseph was killed during World War II, Kennedy left Harvard to join the Navy. In 1946, he went back to Harvard and graduated with a degree in government two years later. Kennedy spent the next three years pursuing a law degree at the University of Virginia Law School. During that time he met and married his sister’s roommate, a fellow student named Ethel Skakel. In 1951, the same year he graduated law school, Kennedy passed the Massachusetts bar exam.
Political Career
Fresh out of law school, Kennedy joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division in 1951. In 1952, he resigned the position to lead his older brother John’s senatorial campaign. In 1953, Kennedy became advisor to the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations under Senator Joseph McCarthy. Kennedy left the position just six months later, objecting to McCarthy’s unjust investigative tactics.
In 1954, Kennedy joined the Senate’s permanent Subcommittee on Investigations as chief counsel for the Democratic minority. Kennedy aptly expressed his approach to helping minorities achieve equal rights in a speech to South African students: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
In 1957, Kennedy was appointed chief counsel to Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor of Management Field. Working under Senator McClellan, Kennedy uncovered the corruption of Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa.
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View groupThere's no such thing as royalty in the United States, but if anyone has ever come close to that level, it's the Kennedy family. For 64 years, Washington had at least one Kennedy in public office. Descended from Irish Catholics who fled the potato famine, the family has a strong tradition in the Democratic party, the most prominent member being President John F. Kennedy. In addition to fame and political power, the Kennedy clan has had more than its fair share of tragedy—several members of the family have died in accidents and assassinations, in what's been called the "Kennedy curse."
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