The Gospel According to RFK: why it matters now

This collection of excerpts from the speeches Robert F. Kennedy gave when he ran for president in 1968 resound with idealism and a vision for a compassionate world. MacAfee, a translator and author of a book of poetry and an opera (The Death of the Forest), includes the speech at Kansas State University where Kennedy first accepts responsibility for setting the country on a path towards war during JFK's administration, and then explains the evolution of his opposition to the Vietnam war by declaring that, ""we are acting as if no other nation existed ... our present course will not bring victory; will not bring peace; will not stop the bloodshed; and will not advance ... the cause of peace in the world."" Kennedy also remarks on the need for universal health care, the positive role played by democratic dissent and debate on issues, and, most convincingly, on the need to end hunger in the US. In a statement delivered less than two months before his death on the campaign trail, he called the failure to end poverty ""a national disgrace. The most prosperous society on the globe must be able to save its children from death, disease, and despair that result from a lack of adequate food.""