The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America

What was there about this intense, brave, confused, very funny, and very tender-hearted campaign - one that lasted a mere 82 days - that haunts us more than ever after 40 years? Why is it impossible to see even a glimpse of Robert Kennedy on TV without feeling, in Norman Mailer's words: "sorrowful as rue in the throat"?

Thurston Clarke's "The Last Campaign" moves us toward that answer, in a way that is more like a piece of music than a literary creation. He makes us understand that the campaign -- the wound that will never heal - was not constructed as an ideological pursuit, and as Clarke takes us forward we understand that it doesn't seem to make much strategic sense either. Yet it is impossible to imagine a campaign that has ever embodied something as intensely specific as this one: what it means to be human. For Robert Kennedy that meant obsessive concern with all that is hurt, hungry, ignored, degraded, invisible; tenderness toward the broken; self-deprecation bordering on shame for all he was blessed with; political, moral and physical bravery that would make Hemingway flinch; self-criticism and self-learning.

Robert Kennedy burned with everything that has been burned out of our land and out of our political culture. His last campaign recalls us to those moments in all our lives, so rare, that made us fully alive, better than we thought we could be, more romantic, more brave, more moral. He lived that way every day, at least toward the end.

The heartbreak of the book is, or course, the knowledge we have of what followed the extinguishing of the flame. Nixon. Watergate. Carter. Reagan. Let me mention that one again: Reagan. Bush I. Clinton I. Bush II. And almost Clinton II.

Which leads to our current hope. As someone who worked for the Obama campaign, this book made me quite sad. Perhaps a leader, especially in the cool ironic virtual world of our own, cannot burn by such a light. Yet the comparison goes beyond that. Compared to the RFK campaign, Obama's did not do anything to challenge the paradigm of spin, calculation, focus groups, or safety which has suffocated just about every national campaign since 1968. In the closing days of the current campaign, Obama was giving the same stump speech in South Dakota that he gave in Iowa back in January. Kennedy changed his message all day, every day! Challenging whomever he was speaking to, saying the things which would irk them the most. Whenever Obama came to a fork in the road, between going toward courage or going toward safety, he chose safety every time(denouncing his pastor, leaving his church, suddenly turning into an anti-Castro Cuban in Florida, changing his positions in several ways before AIPAC). Well, we have what we have, and we must make do. Perhaps Senator Obama is also an existential figure, with whom God is not finished. Let us hope so.

Thurston Clarke's book is as passionate and human as was the campaign he's covered. And as short. One takes it slow. One does not want to come to its end. It is a major achievement.

Norman Mailer, once more: "Tragedy is amputation. The nerves of one's memory run back to the limb which is no longer there."

Robert F. Kennedy - R.I.P.

When I first heard there was going to be another RFK book about his final days campaigning towards the Democratic nomination-- and as much as I am an RFK fan-- I was still rather "ho hum" about the prospects of learning anything new. Five pages into Thurston Clarkes' latest book, The Last Campaign, I was hooked, spell bounded and most of all educated like never before. Clarke paints a new portrait of RFK, one that ties the words from his speeches and uses those words to help the reader gain detailed insight into the person RFK was becoming; as a leader, as a politician, as a father and most of all as a man. The ever changing Bobby is the one of many reasons he is dearest in my heart along with his ability to always improve his knowledge, for always asking the question, "what is the right thing to do", and his ability to display and share his pain.
Clarke shows us a man raised in tremendous wealth can care about the common man, can care about the farmer, can care about the poor and impoverish, can care about our educational standards, can care about hunger in America, can care about doing what is correct AND not always what is politically correct and can care with sincere compassion and grace.
RFK's legacy is left for all us to share, to embrace and keep alive. He would not want us asking the question "what would happen had he lived?" He would want us to carry the torch of his ideas, his values, his moral courage, his search for knowledge, his compassion and his grace. This book showed me that there is a piece of RFK in all of us.
Clarke's book combines my two favorite passions: the very well written word and RFK. It's the best book ever of RFK.

As you read this book, you know how the story is going end, and one of the most compelling aspects of Clarke's story is the sense that many of its principals knew what was coming, too. One of the most jarring passages comes early when a group of reporters are discussing Kennedy's chances, and one remarks that he "has the stuff to go all the way," but that he won't because "someone is going to shoot him."

That line rings in your memory throughout the book, as Clarke takes the reader on Kennedy's journey through the primary states in which he competed. He met crowds both adoring and openly hostile, and one of Kennedy's great strengths was in finding ways to connect with all of the groups in some way. Clarke shows how he shaped people's thinking from his humor and his direct appeal for the accountability of all people to help those less fortunate.

The book is just as effective at demonstrating that Kennedy was disliked by as many people as adored him. When he announced his candidacy, he was derided as an opportunist. His message did not play well in suburban areas as in urban or poor rural areas. And the Kennedy name had both positive and negative brand equity. Clarke cites a number of instances in which a threat was made, or a balloon inadvertently popped (sounding potentially like a gun), to show that this was a campaign that lived in continual fear, but did not let that fear stand in the way of doing what it felt was right.

There's not a lot of wasted verbiage in this book. It's about 280 pages and fast-paced. Detail is used well and you feel like you're on the road with the campaign. You understand what drove RFK and his team, and you see the impact they had in the words and faces of those they encountered. A heartbreaking story but a very good read all-around.

I was eagerly anticipating getting my hands on this book from the time I heard about it, and I wasn't at all disappointed. Clarke combines research, interviews and strong writing to create this informative book that was especially interesting to read in the midst of another historic election, albeit for many different reasons.

There are many things I liked about this book. Clarke takes readers back to the period of nearly three months during which Kennedy waged his campaign. He provides the necessary background throughout the book, but he essentially, and thankfully, sticks to a chronological account. There is some analysis, but Clarke doesn't go overboard in trying to make grandiose claims, and he doesn't try to create suspense; he just lets the story speak for itself. And it's such a fascinating story.

While the book is pro-Kennedy, it's not painfully so. Readers will be made to understand why Kennedy was so loved and so hated, and what really made him tick. RFK wasn't always concerned about what would make him look the best, but he was always interested in how he could help the less fortunate. The book includes many accounts of politicians, journalists and voters saying they fell in love with RFK during this campaign. I felt the same while reading the book.

On the negative side, Clarke occasionally gets bogged down with some insignificant details, like the songs they would all sing on the plane and the lyrics to those songs. And I really think the epilogue needed more details about the Chicago convention and the riots that damaged the Democratic party for so long. Since those riots may not have happened if Kennedy was in the mix, it would have been a great way to emphasize the significance of the campaign and the man.

I can't quite give the book 5 stars, but it's very close, and I really believe anyone, regardless of age or interest in history, would find this book fascinating.

Thurston Clarke's chronicling of Bobby Kennedy's short lived and long remembered presidential campaign is an interesting read for those fascinated by the Kennedy mystique and interested in political history. Occurring in just four primary states with only one real opponent, under a different presidential nominating system then exists today, the book reveals the evolution of Bobby Kennedy as a politician and the nation itself from the days of Camelot to the darker days (at least viewed from the present) of 1968.

Although an interesting read, the book's major drawback is that the author views Bobby Kennedy through the same rose colored lenses as many others who look back upon the Bobby Kennedy run as a lost opportunity for America. The Bobby Kennedy of 1968 can do no wrong and has great motives. The book's bias is not partisan, it is personal. For example, when commenting on Kennedy's commendable visit to an impoverished South Dakota Indian Reservation, the author leaves the impression that Bill Clinton's efforts to improve the area as president were somehow not sufficient when compared to Kennedy's. Since Kennedy's presidency is entirely hypothetical, it is easy to imagine he would have been more successful than others, but not necessarily realistic. The book also has a strange story, quoting a photographer who goes to the Vietnam Memorial to figure out how many servicemembers were killed after January 15, 1969, the day he says Kennedy would have been inaugurated. Of course, presidents are inaugurated on the 20th of January.

But beyond those nitpicks, the book is a fascinating read. In light of current events, Bobby Kennedy's primary surge through Indiana seems to have had a partial repetition in 2008. Where Kennedy won Indiana after spending a lot of time there and convincing the voters, Barack Obama came within two points of Hillary Clinton there. That was a strong showing for Obama in a state demographically aligned with Clinton's other big victories. Broad conclusions should not be drawn, but the Kennedy and Obama experiences may demonstrate Indiana's (or at least Indiana Democratic primary voters') openness to candidates and ideas. Direct parallels should not be drawn, as again the system Kennedy ran under was very different than the current practice.

Worth a read, which will go by quickly, if you are interested in the Kennedys or modern American politics.