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The Busboy

Witness to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
RFK speaking at the Ambassador Hotel in LA, moments before he was shot on June 5, 1968.

How Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassination Derailed American Politics

The idealistic presidential candidate was on the verge of seizing control of the 1968 race just as Sirhan Sirhan’s bullet struck.
Hundreds of people watch RFK's funeral train pass by.

Inside RFK's Funeral Train: How His Final Journey Helped a Nation Grieve

The New York-to-Washington train had 21 cars, 700 passengers—and millions of trackside mourners.
Donald Trump and RFK Jr. shaking hands.

The Magic Thinking of Kennedy-ism

The hero worship of the family of American royalty has a dark side: a tendency toward conspiracism that fits with the MAGA movement.
The side of Donald Trump's face, focused on his bandaged ear from his attempted assassination.

Historians See Echoes of 1968 in Trump Assassination Attempt

But they also find key differences.

The Last Words of Robert F. Kennedy

Until his last breath, RFK insisted that Americans confront their country’s shortcomings—and live up to its potential.

Robert F. Kennedy Is Remembered as a Liberal Icon. Here's the Truth About His Politics

For many American liberals, RFK became a symbol of not just a better past, but also a better future that might have been.

RFK, in Arthur Schlesinger’s Words

On the 50th anniversary of RFK's death, a glimpse inside one of his closest relationships.
Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Roy Wilkins, and Lyndon Johnson.

Misremembering 1968

Fifty years later, the legacies of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy still loom large.

Lessons from the Election of 1968

Protests, populism, and progressivism all clashed in a battle royal. But what really drives election results?
Children in the Kennedy family labeled with their named.

Hijacking the Kennedys

Only one cousin is in a position of power — and his family can only watch helplessly as he destroys much that they stood for.
Document stamped "classified."

Trump Breaks Washington’s Secrecy Addiction

The president is right to release the Kennedy files.
President John F. Kennedy writing at desk in the Oval Office.

Kennedy Family Values

Why is America’s near-mythic dynasty so nasty up close?
Still from Pretty Poison (1968).

The All-American Crack-Up in 1960s Hollywood Cinema

Starting in the 1960s, more and more Hollywood films depicted an increasingly violent and alienated American society quickly losing its mind.

What's Going On? 50 Years Ago, The Answer Was Bigger Than Marvin Gaye

In 1971, a wave of Black artists released explosive new work that put its politics front and center.
A man holding a gun in a gun shop.
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The Gun-Control Effort That Almost Stopped Our Addiction to ‘Weapons of War’

The 1968 Gun Control Act had the right idea — but it came too late.

RIP Fred Hampton: a Black Visionary Assassinated by the FBI

Fifty years ago this week, a squad of Chicago police officers killed Black Panther leader Fred Hampton.

Dead Kennedys in the West: The Politicized Punks of 1970s San Francisco

The new punk generation made the hippies look past their prime.

The Most Important Album of 1968 Wasn’t The White Album. It Was Beggars Banquet.

It saved the Rolling Stones, altered the trajectory of music history, and turns 50 this week.

The Bobby Kennedy Myth

Many on the left have learned the wrong lessons from his ill-fated presidential bid.

80 Days That Changed America

Fifty years later, Bobby Kennedy’s passionate, inspiring, and tragic presidential campaign still fascinates.

1968’s Chaos: The Assassinations, Riots and Protests that Defined Our World

On the 50th anniversary of that extraordinary year, historians consider 1968’s meaning and global context.

Rage Against the Machine

An excerpt from a novel by Todd Gitlin that reimagines the violence outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Trump smirking.

Was 2017 the Craziest Year in U.S. Political History?

A dozen historians weigh in.
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Even in the 1960s, the NRA Dominated Gun Control Debates

Lyndon Johnson wanted sweeping new gun control laws. Instead he got crumbs.

The Moment That Political Debates on TV Turned to Spectacle

A new documentary explores the infamous 1968 dispute between William Buckley and Gore Vidal.

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