1968 was some of the worst 12 months in American history, excepting wars. People feared that the country was ripping itself into irreconcilable mobs of opposing opinion. But RFK seemed to embody genuine hope for America. And the shock of his death was devastating. Has anyone watched the various TV retrospectives, like ‘The Kennedys’ on CNN, or
‘Bobby Kennedy for President’ on Netflix?
I haven’t seen those shows yet, but when Bobby Kennedy was killed I checked out of politics. I simply gave up at that point and haven’t been able to be very hopeful since- and that was a long time ago. I rallied briefly for Gary whatever-his-name-was who got busted with the girlfriend on a boat. That ended poorly.
H and I watched several (I think there was one on PBS, too,) but haven’t watched the one on Netflix yet.
Last month I went to SFMOMA and the main exhibit was on the train ride after the funeral from NY to DC. I teared up several times.
‘68 was a terrible year and I remember it like yesterday.
@MomofWildChild - Gary Hart.
I watched CNN’s 4 part documentary “1968” recently. I have loved their decades docs from previous summers as well and I remembered much about the events of 1968. I especially remember waking up to the television on at home the morning after RFK was shot. We never had the television on in the morning, so I knew something was unusual as I made my way from my bedroom. However, as a rising 6th grader that summer, I was in no way mature enough to get all of the nuance at the time. We lost so much opportunity for change with his death.
CBS TM had a segment today on all the people who turned out to pay respects to RFK’s funeral train and one woman interviewed said she couldn’t imagine there was anyone else who could be lost and who would stir that level of spontaneous reaction now. Personally, I don’t agree, but it made for an interesting moment of reflection.
1968 was what got me involved in politics. Our basement used to house kids that my parents had sprung from jail who’d been protesting. We went on some anti-war marches ourselves. I remember seeing the red sky from the riots after King was assassinated.
Thanks for the thread title, @LakeWashington . Takes me back.
I was in 3rd grade or so, so I had no context whatsoever. I suppose I thought 1968 was kind of what we did. The main thing my parents were upset about was young men with long “dirty” hair. That was discussed on a daily basis in my house.
ETA – I’m certain now that long hair wasn’t the only thing my parents were concerned about. After the peaceful 1950s-early 60s, 1968 must have seemed like the world was pulling apart, but they kept their worries away from us kids.
- Excepting wars? 1968 was pretty much the height of the Vietnam War, with the Tet Offensive in late winter, and the battle of Khe Sahn that summer. It had by far the highest U.S. KIA total of any year in the war -- almost 17,000.
- 1968 was a year of remarkable disruption all over the world, from the pre-Olympics rioting in Mexico, to the May 1968 uprising in Paris, the Biafran war in Nigeria, and the ongoing Cultural Revolution in China, the founding of the Black Peoples' Convention in South Africa.
Now I have the song running through my brain 
CBS Sunday Morning last Sunday had a piece on Bobby Kennedy that was quite good. (There was also a good segment on Judy Collins and Stephen Stills’ over the last 50 years.) I also saw some of the CNN 1968 series with a lot on Kennedy.
I was only 8 at the time, and hadn’t really thought about just how tumultuous and terrible the year in aggregate was until the commemorations recently. My parents weren’t quite as active as @mathmom 's but they were very anti-war, we had a VW bus, and they had me out campaigning for McGovern at age 12 four years later.
What was funny was that my parents actually had to be quite discrete about it, because my Dad was in the Foreign Service. He never said anything political, but they still did quite a bit!
I was 17 in 1968, so every element of the events of the year made a huge impression. I think 2001 will be for my kids what 1968 was for me.
We were a vehemently antiwar I family, and I actually went door to door campaigning for Eugene McCarthy before my state’s primary election (though some of my dedication may have had to do with the dreamy UPenn student who had swooped in to organize the high schoolers).
I vividly remember watching the many hours of TV coverage of RFK’s funeral train making its painfully slow way to DC. It was riveting. I’ve watched some of the recent coverage of RFK’s assassination, and the scene in the hotel just after he was shot still makes me catch my breath in shock every time I see it.
@2VU0609 , I’m interested to know whose death you think would stir the kind of reaction that RFK’s did. I think of the wide variety of Americans–of every demographic–who lined those train tracks in mourning and wonder if anything remotely similar could occur in our polarized political landscape.