Sept. 26, 1964 - The annual Steuben Day parade up Fifth Avenue brought a friendly confrontation today between Senator Kenneth Keating (right) and Robert F. Kennedy, his Democratic rival.
Although the two candidates have had harsh things to say about each other during several weeks of acrimonious campaigning, they seemed relaxed as they exchanged pleasantries on the reviewing stand at 69th St.
The parade by thousands of German-Americans and their well-wishers started at 2 p.m. at 61st St. Neither Keating nor Kennedy was there at the start.
Keating, accompanied by Senator Jacob Javits, his fellow New York Republican, arrived at the reviewing stand at 2:30 to hearty applause.
The applause was even more spirited when Kennedy appeared a few minutes later.
“Hi, Bobby,” Keating said warmly. “How are you? Good to see you.”
Kennedy nodded. “Good to see you, too,” he replied.
Kennedy’s wife, Ethel, later joined him. She leaned over and playfully poked Keating in the stomach.
“Shame on you, calling my husband nasty names,” she said jokingly. She rubbed one index finger with the other in the children’s sign of “shame on you.”
Keating smiled.
As the two candidates posed for photographers, a man in the crowd remarked that he was surprised that Keating had greeted his rival.
“I have no personal unfriendliness,” Keating explained. “It’s just that I have a hard time getting him to talk issues.”
The meeting on the reviewing stand was the first between the candidates since their nomination.
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