Abstract

Since his death in 1968, popular works and recollections about Senator Robert F. Kennedy have all told a similar story: that Kennedy was a singular politician with a special connection to underdogs, and that when he died, the nation collectively mourned, for there was something redeeming about America’s future that died with him. The context and production of this narrative has thus far remained largely unchallenged, which has allowed the proliferation of an incomplete story. I argue here that this popular conception of Kennedy’s legacy was heavily informed and mediated by his friends and family in the public mourning practices they organized following Kennedy’s death. This resulted in the formation of a legacy that was flattering to Kennedy’s memory. This constructed legacy was lucrative: it was used to create the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, which both structured itself around and reinforced Kennedy’s legacy in order to engage in philanthropic endeavours. The RFK Memorial ensured the continuance of its namesake’s legacy – but it also directly contradicted this legacy’s central principles by enacting programs which were funded by architects of the ongoing War on Crime. Studying this process is crucial to understanding how liberalism and liberal institutions also contributed to the War on Crime, and how the memory of liberal figures can be co-opted to enact programs that are directly antithetical to their works in life.