A Time It Was-Bobby Kennedy in The Sixties

The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, a U.S. Senator and brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, took place just after midnight on June 5, 1968-forty years ago today. A Time It Was brings back those very interesting days.

Bobby Kennedy has become a mythic character, like his big brother John Kennedy, his life remained a big What If. Surely he would have been a better President that Richard Nixon, but in hind sight, wouldn’t anyone have been a better President than Nixon?

A Time It Was features dynamic images of the public Robert Kennedy, as well as rare, intimate ones, many of which have never before been published. A Time It Was is the story of Bill Eppridge, the photographer who took the famous shot of a grief-stricken busboy holding Robert Kennedy as he lay dying.

On The Today Show Bill Eppridge talked about how he stopped being a photojournalist and started to be an Historian once RFK was shot. Following around would-be world leaders is a job that leans itself to capturing great moments. Being a photojournalist is often about being in the right time at the right place. But there is still skill and artistry involved as well as timing-a bystander with a cell phone will never fully replace a real photographer on the scene.

I don’t remember Robert Kennedy or the 1960s. My Father in Law thought the 60s were the end of the world and was a firm believer that all the evils we suffer today began in the troubled decade. My own feelings are that The Beatles changed the world for the better and Johnson changed the world for the worst.

Would Bobby Kennedy have made the world a better place? We’d all think so.


Jon Herrera
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Published by Jon Herrera

Writer, Photographer, Blogger.

2 Replies on “A Time It Was-Bobby Kennedy in The Sixties

  1. i was in the marines going to a school at norfolk virginia. on a friday afternoon me with three of my friends were on the beach playing football. four guys asked us to play a game. it was bobby kennedy and three body guards. it was great fun. we won!

    three weeks later john f kennedy was assassinated.

    the 60s and 70s and mid 80s were great!

  2. Wow, that is some memory-my only brush with fame was having dinner with William Shatner. Not quite the same, is it?