“During the last few months of his life,” Hatch said, “Robert Kennedy traveled from the burned out villages of South Vietnam to the hungry in Appalachia, from the slums of New York City to the migrant labor camps in California.  He had great feeling for these people.”

Bobby Kennedy and Amsterdam

By Bob Cudmore

   Senator Robert F. Kennedy was expected in Amsterdam on or about June 6, 1968, the day he died.  City resident Sam Vomero recalled a sign announcing the date of the pending visit as June 6 was posted in the window of Kennedy’s local Presidential campaign headquarters, the vacant Crown cigar store on East Main Street, a few doors west of Church Street.

   Assassin Sirhan Sirhan and som believe a second gunman shotat Kennedy early on the morning of June 5 as the Presidential candidate was being escorted through the crowded kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after announcing his victory in the California Democratic primary.  Kennedy died of his injuries the next day, June 6.

   Kennedy’s last words to the crowd in California had been “And it’s on to Chicago (where the Democratic convention would be held) and let’s win there.”  Kennedy was reportedly scheduled to head back for a campaign trip in New York right after the California primary.  A Recorder editorial on June 6 stated, “Plans had called for Senator Kennedy to be in Amsterdam later this week to open his Presidential campaign headquarters.”

   A memorial service for Senator Kennedy was held June 9 at what was then Amsterdam’s Lynch High School.  The speaker was Robert Lincoln Hatch, head of the school’s social studies department and a native of Boston who spoke with an accent reminiscent of the Kennedys.

   “During the last few months of his life,” Hatch said, “Robert Kennedy traveled from the burned out villages of South Vietnam to the hungry in Appalachia, from the slums of New York City to the migrant labor camps in California.  He had great feeling for these people.”

HAPPIER DAYS

   Bobby Kennedy had visited Amsterdam on September 17 1960 when his brother Jack was running for President.  The younger Kennedy, then 34, addressed a fund raiser for the Montgomery County Democratic Committee at St. John’s Hall, now the Elks Lodge. 

   Bobby Kennedy also came to Amsterdam on October 19 1964 during his campaign for U.S. Senate.  Kennedy defeated one term Republican Senator Kenneth Keating in a national sweep for Democrats the year after President Kennedy was killed.

   In his Amsterdam visit Kennedy first stopped at Democratic headquarters in the former Enterprise Store on East Main Street.  Hugh Donlon reported in the Recorder that “great numbers” wanted to shake hands with the candidate.

   Kennedy then held a rally in the same Grove Street parking lot his brother had used in 1960 when campaigning for President in Amsterdam.  The older brother drew a crowd of 3,000 while an estimated 1,200 were on hand to hear Bobby Kennedy.  Skies were cloudy in 1964 and the event was threatened by rain.

   There was what Donlon called “a juvenile outburst” as the candidate was about to speak.  Kennedy got the crowd laughing as he said, “Senator Keating doesn’t like to read about yelling so please keep your voice down.  However, it’s all right with me.”

   Congressman Sam Stratton told the crowd Kennedy would carry Amsterdam by a wide margin.  The candidate was introduced by county Commissioner of Welfare Sasen Hage.

   Kennedy was on a road trip from Schenectady to a dinner at Syracuse University.  He also stopped in Canajoharie where he shook hands with mill workers. Over 100 students were excused from study halls to attend.  One heckler made remarks on the carpetbagger issue; Kennedy was a Massachusetts resident living in Virginia when he announced his New York U.S. Senate run.

   Kennedy won the 1964 Senate election by 700,000 votes statewide and took Montgomery County by 3,000 votes.  President Johnson took New York by 2.6 million votes and won Montgomery County over Barry Goldwater by 10,000 votes.

Tomorrow, Friday, September 30, 2022

Episode 442

Friday Interview 29 Minutes

Veteran Associated Press reporter Chris Carola, now a freelance writer, takes a look at the life of Revolutionary War era Mohawk chief Joseph Brant.

This Weekend with Bob Cudmore and The Historians

Saturday, October 1, From the Archives, September 21, 2018-Historians Podcast Episode 233 David Fiske talks about Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.

Sunday, October 2, Focus on History from Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder.  Atom bomb drills in Amsterdam, N.Y.

Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, September 29, 2022

https://www.recordernews.com/

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