Eleven days before his death, Robert Kennedy as if looking into the future, Astoria OR, May 24, 1968

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Eleven days before his death, Robert Kennedy as if looking into the future, Astoria, Oregon, May 24, 1968:

Link to tweet

[Boomerproud]

1. Oh what could have been-for the millionth time.

IF Bobby had won the nomination Wallace would not have entered the race and and and. Sadly that debate was settled 53 years ago. I was 12 years old, last day of school and my 19yo brother was ready to be sent to Nam. One month later I was literally crying over Bobby's grave with the white wooden cross.

[FakeNoose]

2. Robert Kennedy would have won that primary and that election

He would have beaten Nixon, and he would have been an extraordinary President. America turned a corner in 1968, we began our deep slide into the abyss. We've never been the same.

[Sneederbunk]

3. Unfortunately he lost the Oregon Primary.

[former9thward]

4. Kennedy would not have won the nomination.

LBJ would not have allowed that to happen. When RFK was killed he had just won the CA primary but was still 150 delegates behind Humphrey who only competed in a few primaries (and lost all of them). Just 14 states that year had primaries. The rest of the states were controlled by the old guard and that was LBJ who hated Kennedy.

[FakeNoose]

5. It's true there was no love lost between LBJ and RFK

... but we'll never know if Johnson would have blocked Kennedy from the nomination. I like to think he wouldn't have because many of his assumptions had changed during his time as Potus. For that matter, Johnson himself declined to run for a 2nd term in 1968. The entire world went katty-wompus, as my mom used to say.

Johnson was a lot of things, but I believe he would have preferred a Dem. candidate to succeed him in the White House rather than hand it over to Nixon.

[former9thward]

7. Humphrey could have won the election.

The vote was close although the electoral vote wasn't. The party fell apart after the Chicago convention. The old guard split with each other, LBJ/Humphrey attacking Daley. etc and the McCarthy left sat it out.

[jalan48]

8. I agree. He came out against the war and Humphrey supported it. RFK was on the right side of history

and knew it.

[Trueblue1968]

6. RFK died on my high school graduation day.