Aug. 26, 1964 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy stood for 14 minutes on the podium of the Democratic National Convention tonight, unable to speak because of the applause surging up from the delegates below him.
The demonstration was as remarkable for its character as for its duration. Throughout the enormous Convention Hall in Atlantic City, in the galleries and on the floor, delegates and spectators stood and clapped, but there was no shouting, no music, no parading, and only the most modest waving of state placards.
The Attorney General had come to the arena tonight to introduce a memorial film about President John F. Kennedy. It was the first time that a member of the Kennedy family had stood before the convention, which has been almost completely dominated by President Johnson.
Dressed in a black suit and the black tie he has worn almost continuously since his brother was assassinated last November, Mr. Kennedy watched the demonstration impassively. His face bore only the slightest suggestion of a smile.
When the tumult had finally subsided, he said in a small voice that he wanted to thank the delegates for all that they had done for President Kennedy — “for the encouragement and the great strength” that they had given to him.
“His idea,” Mr. Kennedy said of his brother, “really was that this country — and this world, really, should be a better place when we turn it over to the next generation.”
After admonishing the delegates not to “look to the past,” Mr. Kennedy asked them to give “the same dedication” to President Johnson and Hubert Humphrey that they had given to President Kennedy.
“When I think of President Kennedy,” the Attorney General said with emotion, “I think of what Shakespeare said in ‘Romeo and Juliet’:
When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun.”
The quotation is from Act III, Scene II.
Moments after the 20-minute memorial film had been completed, President Johnson walked into his special box, where Mr. Kennedy had watched the film. As the delegates broke into cheers and the huge organ began bellowing “Hello, Lyndon!” the President shook Mr. Kennedy’s hand.
The Attorney General and his wife, Ethel, moved to the rear of the Presidential box. But Mr. Johnson motioned them forward, and they sat in the front row to the left of Mrs. Johnson as the evening continued.
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