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Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925, in Brooklyn, Massachusetts, the seventh child of the united and competitive family of Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy. In 1951, three years after graduating in Political Science from Harvard, he obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia.
In 1952, he made his political debut leading his brother John's successful campaign for a Senate seat for Massachusetts. In 1960, he effectively and tirelessly led John’s presidential campaign. After the election, he was appointed Attorney General in President Kennedy’s administration, earning respect for his effective and impartial administration of the Justice Department.
Attorney General Kennedy launched a successful campaign against organized crime—during his tenure, convictions against mafia members increased by 800%—and he worked to protect the rights of African Americans to vote, receive equal education, and access public housing. In September 1962, Robert Kennedy sent federal troops to Oxford, Mississippi, to enforce a federal court ruling admitting the first African American student, James Meredith, to the University of Mississippi. The uprising that followed Meredith's enrollment led to two deaths and hundreds of injuries.
For Robert Kennedy, the right to vote was key to racial justice. Therefore, he and President Kennedy worked on the most extensive civil rights statute since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was passed after President Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963.
Immediately after the President's death, Robert Kennedy resigned as Attorney General and successfully ran for the U.S. Senate representing New York in 1964. As a senator from New York, he initiated several state programs, including assistance for needy children and disabled students, and established the Bedford Restoration Corporation to improve living conditions and job opportunities in Brooklyn’s depressed areas. This plan remains a model for communities across the country.
These programs were part of a broader effort to address the needs of the underprivileged and vulnerable in America—the poor, the young, racial minorities, and Native Americans. He sought to bring the issue of poverty to the forefront of American consciousness by traveling to urban ghettos, Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and migrant worker camps. He aimed to address poverty through legislation and by encouraging private industry to invest in impoverished areas to create jobs for the unemployed, emphasizing the importance of work for prosperity.
Robert Kennedy also committed to the development of human rights abroad. To share his belief that everyone has the fundamental right to participate in political decisions affecting their lives and to criticize governments without fear of reprisal, he traveled to Eastern Europe, Latin America, and South Africa.
Robert Kennedy passed away in the early hours of June 6, 1968, at the age of 42. The thoughts and ideals of Robert Kennedy continue to live on today through the work of his family, friends, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Italia.