"Some men see things as they are and say 'Why'; I dream of things that have never been and say 'Why not."

The seventh child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, Robert was trapped beneath the shadows of his charismatic older brothers Joe Jr. and John. Nevertheless when he put his mind to something, there was no stopping him. In 1952 he managed John's campaign for Massachusetts' U.S. Senate seat, which resulted in victory.

Putting his law degree to use, Robert became chief counsel to the Senate committee investigating criminal elements within labor unions in 1956. It was during this that Robert made a name for himself by grilling Teamsters Union President Jimmy Hoffa during the televised hearings. To Robert, there was no middle ground in anything; there was either right or wrong, light or dark, good or evil. In his pursuit of mafia connections to labor unions, Robert demonstrated this belief again and again.

In 1959 Robert left the Senate committee to run John's Presidential campaign. In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected President and Robert was appointed Attorney General. Using the powers of Attorney General Robert enforced civil rights laws like no other Attorney General before him. Moreover, Robert's cool demeanor proved an asset to John during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. While most military advisors along with Vice President Johnson were calling for an airstrike against Russian sites in Cuba, Robert cautioned against it and endorsed the idea of a naval blockade instead. John heeded his brother's words and sent Robert to negotiate an agreement with the Russians during the naval blockade of Cuba.

John also followed his brother's advice on escalating U.S. involvement in Vietnam, which both brothers believed was vital to U.S. interests. Before a final decision on this and many other issues facing the nation could be made, John was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Robert was devastated and feel into a deep depression. The situation was compounded by the fact that one of Robert's worst enemies, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, assumed the presidency.

The bitterness felt between these two men can be traced to the 1960 Presidential campaign when Robert urged his brother not to award Johnson with the vice presidency. To Robert, LBJ was "an animal", "a crazy man", "stupid" and "brutal." Needless to say, LBJ had much more colorful expressions about Robert, whom he considered "a grandstanding little runt." Nevertheless, LBJ asked Robert to stay on as Attorney General, which Robert did hoping to influence LBJ. In the end, they parted bitterly as Robert's efforts to run in 1964 as Johnson's Vice President failed.

That year Robert left the Attorney General post and won the U.S. Senate seat in New York (even though he had only lived in NY for a few months and wasn't even eligible to vote for himself). His popularity was especially evident among young whites, blacks and latinos. As Senator Robert championed the cause of the poor and disadvantaged and sought ways to ameliorate their suffering. Breaking from John's cautious approach to Civil Rights and Vietnam, Robert wholeheartedly supported the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. and C�sar Ch�vez, while reversing his stance and opposing the war.

In 1968, with the war in Vietnam escalating and his popularity plummeting, President Johnson withdrew his candidacy for a second term in office. Robert had previously contemplated running against Johnson for the Democratic nomination, but turned it down. Now that the race was open, he jumped at the chance declaring his candidacy on March 16, 1968. Hastily organizing a campaign Robert won primaries in Indiana and Nebraska.

After losing Oregon Robert won a dramatic victory in the California primary on June 6, 1968. His campaign in California spurred the largest registration drive in history by Latinos. Efforts by C�sar Ch�vez and Dolores Huerta turned out a record number of Latino voters for Robert.

After praising the efforts of his campaign workers in California and seemingly on his way to the Presidential nomination, Robert Francis Kennedy was assassinated as he attempted to leave his campaign headquarters in Los Angeles, California.

To many blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, doves, liberals, and poor whites it was Robert F. Kennedy to whom they placed all their hopes and dreams upon. More so than John, Robert had the courage to say "Why not", and follow through on it.