Video of the week: Robert F Kennedy funeral train
Jul 20th, 2008 | By Brian Leon | Category: CommentaryNote
Hopefully this will be the start of a regular series for me of highlighting videos of various topics, some of a personal nature, others I find in my travels along the web.
Forty years ago, this summer Robert F Kennedy was on the cusp of gaining the Democratic nomination for president when his life was cut far too short. It seemed that the world became a much darker and colder place after that. One can only imagine what could have been had he been president in 1968 and afterwards rather than Richard Nixon.
This video is of the scenes from the funeral train as it departed from New York City to Washington. A four hour journey became a eight hour one as the train moved slowly through towns as thousands and thousands of people lined the tracks to see the train, salute the senator and pray for his soul. Black and white, young and old, they all came out just for a fleetingly glimpse of his flag draped coffin.
While I was around at that time though only two years old, living in a different country, every time I see this video, I am struck by an overwhelming sense of loss of what could have been. Short as it is, it is very moving. I was also moved that so many people came out joined in their grief and respect for a man who sought to make the United States a much better place for all.
A slideshow narrated by the photographer who took many of these images can be found on the New York Times site.
I may have been on that train but was still in the hospital wounded as I walked with Robert Kennedy that night that took us all from great joy to agony and despair in five seconds of shooting. His California primary election victory assured his presidential nomination. The people along the tracks bear witness to the pain and suffering of not only his family and friends on that train but for the millions who believed in his vision that we could build a better world. The best companion to this film must be the book by Jean Stein of oral interviews of the people on the train and a special portrait of Robert Kennedy as many of us knew him: AMERICAN JOURNEY: THE TIMES OF ROBERT KENNEDY
PS…..I must add a postscript after clicking on the New York Times website above for the beautiful slideshow of the people along the tracks by a great photographer, Paul Fusco, and his beautiful, moving commentary. Thanks to Brian Leon, the webster!
Very moving.
Thank you.