Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) was an American lawyer, politician and presidential aspirant, until his assassination in 1968. The seventh child of the powerful Kennedy clan, Robert F Kennedy was educated at Harvard and the University of Virginia, graduating in law. He began working with his older brother, John F Kennedy, in the early 1950s, serving both as a legal advisor and campaign manager. In 1952 Kennedy also worked briefly as a legal counsellor to Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose activities Kennedy largely supported. In early 1961 Kennedy was appointed US attorney-general by his brother after the latter was elected president. Though Kennedy’s brief did not extend to foreign policy, he offered the president crucial advice and support during the Bay of Pigs fiasco (1961), the Berlin crisis (1961) and the Cuban missile affair (1962). After John F Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Robert Kennedy resigned as attorney-general and made a successful run for the US Senate. He was shot dead in Los Angeles in June 1968, while campaigning for the Democratic Party’s nomination as presidential candidate.
Content on this page is © Alpha History 2018. This content may not be republished or distributed without permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use.
This page was written by Jennifer Llewellyn and Steve Thompson. To reference this page, use the following citation:
J. Llewellyn & S. Thompson, “Robert F. Kennedy”, Alpha History, accessed [today’s date], https://alphahistory.com/coldwar/robert-f-kennedy/.