The first time I saw Senator Robert Kennedy was September of 1966. Our country was in chaos as the war in Vietnam raged, and race riots and racial divides filled our streets and our lives. Tension permeated the air on a near daily basis as many fought not to suffocate. I was three months into my first job as a television news reporter in Cincinnati, Ohio when Kennedy arrived in town to speak to a large outdoor evening rally. His appearance became my assignment.

The power of the impression Kennedy made on me that night remains vivid in my mind 52 years later. His face was focused as his eyes swept across the crowd. He was making each individual feel as if he was talking to them personally about the issues confronting their lives. He made me feel as if he was talking to me. 

Two years later I left the news business and went to work as a volunteer for Senator Kennedy's presidential campaign. Operating out of the Chicago Kennedy for President office, my home town area of northern Indiana became my base as I settled in heading up the campaign's speaker's bureau. The Indiana primary was a critical must win election to propel Kennedy's candidacy forward and beat his opponents, Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota) and Indiana Governor Richard Branigan.

The politics of the state had always been split by its regions. Gary, Indiana had just elected Richard Hatcher the second black mayor of a major U.S. city. The turf was familiar to me having grown up in its ethnic melting pot communities, as were the racial issues that had arisen. Bobby Kennedy needed to put together a strong coalition of black and white voters in order to win.

My campaign days morphed into serving as a bridge between Kennedy's New York advisors and the newly elected Mayor. The New Yorkers sometimes arrived a bit too heavy handed for the locals, and I somehow seemed to help them work through some of their issues. It was an amazing way for a 24-year-old to learn how a presidential campaign was run. In our small store front location and around the country there was an intensity of passionate commitment to elect the man who sought a "Newer World".

Among the many of Robert Kennedy's gift's was his ability to empower people to work on effectuating positive change. He was truly inspiring. Kennedy's focus on equal rights, equal opportunity and hope for our future became our focus. He was a man who quoted scholars but spoke to best of our human spirit.

His victory in the Indiana primary propelled him on to California to claim victory once again. I was in San Francisco with the campaign at an Oakland rally the night before an assassin's bullet struck. Watching the election results, seeing him shot and hearing the news of his death in those early morning hours of June 6, 1968 created overwhelming feelings that were beyond those of personal loss. We knew nothing would ever be the same.

On June 12, I received a letter from Richard Wade, a University of Chicago professor, who headed up the Chicago Kennedy for President office: 

Robert Kennedy was no ordinary politician. To remember him on this 50th anniversary of his death is to remember the man and the enormous power of his commitment to the words he spoke and all that they meant for the times. He came from great wealth and committed to helping the poor through thought and action. He saw the inequities in our society and chose not to tolerate them but help us begin to rectify them. 

"There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were and ask why not?” Robert F. Kennedy