Robert F. Kennedy and the 1964 New York Senate Campaign
Robert F. Kennedy was overwhelmed with grief in the months following the assassination of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. One friend described him as “shattered” and said he was “virtually non-functioning.” Kennedy lost interest in his duties as attorney general and only occasionally showed up at the Justice Department. Even then, he could not maintain his focus.
One of the factors that contributed to Kennedy’s apathy about his job was that his influence in the Johnson administration quickly declined. Kennedy was used to talking to Jack several times everyday and serving essentially as his deputy president. There was even a special, dedicated phone line on the attorney general’s desk reserved for his conversations with President Kennedy. That line was removed shortly after Johnson took office.
By the summer of 1964, Kennedy wanted out of the Johnson administration. He had always had a toxic relationship with the Texan and he simply did not like or respect Johnson. Kennedy saw Johnson as mean, crude and uncultured. Fortunately, Kennedy had numerous options available to him.
Kennedy considered a number of possibilities for his future. He told his friends that all options were on the table. Among other things, he considered purchasing the New York Post, traveling, studying, teaching, and writing a book. There was even talk about taking Ethel and their children to Europe while he studied for a year at a university.
Perhaps the most intriguing opportunity was to run for vice president on the ticket with Johnson. Ethel and Jackie Kennedy urged him to take the job if it was offered. “Take it! Take it!” General Douglas MacArthur advised him. However, Johnson did not want to pick him and Kennedy would not have taken the job. Kennedy regarded the job as a “dead end.”
Johnson made it official when he met with Kennedy at the Oval Office on July 29. The president told him that it would “be unwise for our party to select you.” Nonetheless, Johnson offered Kennedy several prestigious jobs including any open cabinet post, the ambassadorships to London, Paris or Moscow, or managing Johnson’s presidential campaign.
There was a discussion about Kennedy going to South Vietnam in some capacity. Kennedy offered to go to Saigon since he believed it was the most important issue facing the country. Johnson declined the offer due to security concerns — he feared the potential danger to Kennedy in a war zone was too great. At the end of a congenial meeting, Kennedy said: “I could have helped you Mr. President.”
Kennedy did recognize that he had a responsibility to his family and supporters to stay in the United States. “There’s Jackie, and a lot of others who depend on me,” he said. He realized that public service was his calling and withdrawing from public life was not an option: “It is the only life worth living for me, my reason for being alive.”
That meant that elective office was the only path forward for Kennedy. He considered and ruled out running for governor of Massachusetts since the job did not interest him and he wanted to stay in Washington. In addition, he regarded Massachusetts as his brother Ted’s state and he did not want to get in the way.
Kennedy’s best option was to run for the U.S. Senate in New York. The advantages for Kennedy were that he had lived there for several years as a child, New York was more open to outsiders than other states and there were 3.2 million registered Democrats compared to 2.8 million registered Republicans. His biggest problem was that his home was in McLean, Virginia and that he was registered to vote in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
The campaign began on August 25 when Kennedy made his official announcement at Gracie Mansion in New York City. He addressed the carpet bagger issue head on in his speech: “There may be some who believe that where a candidate voted in the past is more important than his capacity to serve the state.” Kennedy referenced his past residency in the state and mentioned that his parents had long owned a home in New York. He went on: “I have once again established residence in this state. But I do not base my candidacy on those connections. I base it on the belief that New York is not separate from the nation in the year 1964. I base it on the conviction that my experience and my record equip me to understand New York’s problems and to do something about them….And I wish to play a part in that effort.”
There were no guarantees that Kennedy would win since incumbent U.S. Senator Kenneth Keating was popular with the voters. Keating had won seven straight previous elections consisting of six elections to the U.S. House in the Rochester area and and his election to the U.S. Senate in 1958. Kennedy’s opponent was a distinguished, silver haired sixty four year old man who looked like a senator. The incumbent Republican senator had served in both world wars, was a liberal who supported civil rights and had not endorsed Barry Goldwater.
Keating greeted Kennedy’s entry into the race with ridicule. He said, “As his senator, I would be glad to furnish him with a guidebook, road map, and other useful literature about the Empire State which any sojourner would find helpful.”
Kennedy recognized the enormity of the challenge. “I think it’s going to be very difficult. I have the obvious problem of coming in from another state. I recognize that some voters have some misgivings about considering a man for high office who has left that state and has only returned,” he told a reporter.
The New York Senate election was Kennedy’s first campaign as the candidate. In the past he had been the man behind the scenes who skillfully managed Jack’s winning campaigns. Kennedy initially was not comfortable with the flesh pressing and baby kissing required for candidates. He was moody and his speeches were uninspiring. The senatorial hopeful was described as both unhappy and a “dreadful candidate” by his scheduler. People close to him believed that he was still mourning his brother’s death. He appeared to be sorry that he threw his hat in the ring.
Despite his uneven performance as a candidate, he was greeted by huge and enthusiastic crowds. He was mobbed wherever he went. The crowds were so large and boisterous that it once took thirty policemen to move Kennedy thirty feet from his car to an auditorium where 4,000 people were waiting to hear him speak. One reporter wrote that Kennedy was bigger than the Beatles.
During a motorcade through Manhattan with Hubert Humphrey, a woman tossed her shoe through the window of Kennedy’s car. At the end of the motorcade, a garter belt and a girdle landed inside his car. Humphrey said to Kennedy: “You’re a magician. How did you do that?: Kennedy joked: “I’m a Beatle!”
During this chaos, Jack was never far from Bobby’s mind. He ruefully told an aide that the crowds should have been Jack’s. “They’re for him. They’re not for me,” he observed. The voters missed Jack nearly as much as his brother did and saw Bobby as Jack’s incarnation.
Kennedy did enjoy the positive reception he received during his early campaign swings but he was convinced it could not last. “I’ll draw huge crowds as I go to different parts of the state for the first time. All the attention will be on that, and it will last for three weeks. I’ll hit a low point around the first of October. The question will be whether I can turn it around and regain the momentum,” he said.
At first, the Kennedy campaign was inept and chaotic. It was not the well oiled machine of Jack’s campaigns or Bobby’s 1968 presidential campaign. This lack of organization was reflected in a campaign stop he made in Glens Falls in upstate New York in early September. Kennedy was scheduled to appear at 8 P.M. but he did not arrive until 1 A.M. The campaign did not expect anybody to be there.
Much to their surprise, Kennedy was greeted by three brass bands and 5,000 people in a community that had 21,000 residents. Men, women and children in T-shirts, night gowns, bathrobes and pajamas cheered for the candidate in the town square. Kennedy promised them: “I’d like to make the first commitment of the campaign. I promise that, win or lose, the day after the election, I’m coming back to Glens Falls!”
Kennedy proved to be a bit of a prophet when polling in late September indicated his early lead had evaporated and he was tied or even trailing Keating. According to the Kennedy campaign’s internal polling in early October, Keating led Kennedy by a 51 percent to 49 percent margin — well within the margin of error. That same poll indicated that Johnson held a commanding 60 percent to 40 percent lead over Goldwater.
The campaign responded by making some adjustments. Speech coaches helped Kennedy improve his delivery. The candidate was now referred to as “Robert F. Kennedy” rather than as “Bobby” in an attempt to escape from Jack’s shadow. But then Kennedy benefited from an unforced error by Keating.
Keating falsely alleged that Kennedy as attorney general had settled a case in which a $60 million settlement was paid to company that was a front for what he described as a “Nazi cartel.” The incumbent Republican senator doubled down by alleging that the company had produced chemicals for the Hitler regime during World War II. This was a disingenuous and ham handed attempt by Keating to sway the important Jewish vote.
Kennedy was furious. “The charge that I made a deal with Nazis can’t help but have an adverse effect on how Jewish people feel about me. The charge isn’t true. I lost my brother and brother-in-law to the Germans. The idea that I would turn over money to the Nazis is ridiculous. I expected this campaign to be on a higher level,” he retorted.
This blunder hurt Keating and was the turning point of the campaign. It was also a wake up call for Kennedy. He went on the attack and improved his speaking style. Kennedy adopted a more natural and lively give and take with his audiences, similar to what he did so effectively in 1968. As consequence, Keating’s narrow lead vanished. By October 19, Kennedy led Keating 59 percent to 37 percent in a New York Daily News poll.
Kennedy showed off his new style when he addressed two thousand students at Columbia University on October 5. The students asked him every possible question and he came across as authentic, passionate, humorous and sensitive. He used his brilliant self deprecating humor to great effect as the students applauded and laughed for eighty five minutes.
One student asked: “Why run for office in here in New York instead of Massachusetts or Virginia?
Kennedy: “If it’s going to be judged on who’s lived in here in the state of New York longer, then my opponent has. But then maybe you should elect the oldest man in New York. “
Another asked: “Are you using New York as a launching pad for the White House?”
Kennedy: “I have had really two choices over the period of the last ten months. My father has done very well and I could have lived off him. Or I could have continued to work for the government. Frankly I don’t need this title of senator because I could be called general, I understand for the rest of my life.”
The Kennedy campaign was thrilled with his performance and his advertising team used highlights of the Columbia town hall meeting in television advertisements for the rest of the campaign. When Kennedy saw the advertisements, he realized how well he had done. Before he saw the spots, had no sense of what he had done.
After he fell behind in the polls, Keating challenged his opponent to a debate but Kennedy declined. In response, Keating purchased airtime at a CBS affiliate and showed up at a television studio to debate an empty chair. Thirty minutes before the “debate” was to begin, Kennedy decided to go to the studio. “I can’t let him debate an empty chair. I’m going down there and and sit in that empty chair,” Kennedy declared.
When Keating began his “debate,” Kennedy showed up, knocked hard on the door and demanded entry into the studio in full view of the cameras and the New York press corps. Keating panicked and fled while his aides threw fake plants and furniture into the path of a horde of reporters. The images were devastating for the incumbent senator.
Ethel Kennedy witnessed Keating’s panicked flight from the studio from a stair case that overlooked the chaos. “Is there anything wrong?” Ethel said in a nice but sarcastic way. After Keating left the building, Bobby and Ethel exited the building in triumph. “A funny thing happened to me on the way to the studio,” Bobby said.
The following day’s press coverage of the “debate” was very damaging to Keating. The press coverage depicted Keating as foolish, devious and afraid to debate his challenger. The next day’s newspapers showed Keating and the empty chair and Kennedy standing at the door marked: “KEEP OUT — NO VISITORS — KEATING.”
The encounter with Keating further fueled Kennedy’s momentum. In the closing days of the campaign, Kennedy attacked Keating’s liberal credentials and tied him to the unpopular and extreme Goldwater. An effective leaflet contended that Keating was a conservative on numerous issues, including civil liberties and the minimum wage. Keating’s conservative stances — rather than Kennedy’s residence — became the primary issue.
The Kennedy campaign changed its theme during the last month of the campaign. “Let’s Put Bobby to Work for New York” was replaced with “Get on the Johnson-Humphrey-Kennedy team.” Johnson made two campaign forays to New York and Humphrey campaigned with Kennedy three times. Kennedy was counting on a coat tails effect from the popular Johnson-Humphrey ticket.
Massive spending by Kennedy’s father gave him yet another advantage. The Kennedy campaign spent more than $1 million on television advertising in which the candidate was filmed in spontaneous encounters with the voters in various settings. This was a record for a New York Senate race at the time. His headquarters were teeming with employees and volunteers.
All of his paid off on November 3 when Kennedy routed Keating by a 53% to 43% margin. In comparison, Johnson annihilated Goldwater by a 69% to 31% margin in New York. Kennedy’s victory margin was the largest a New York Democrat had managed, for senator and governor, since 1934. Johnson clearly deserved some credit for Kennedy’s win.
On election night, Johnson called Kennedy to congratulate him. Johnson: “Let’s stay as close together as JFK wanted us to…Ain’t nobody going to divide us….I’m proud of you.” Kennedy was gracious in his response: “Thanks for your help. It made a hell of a difference.” When an aide congratulated Kennedy, he replied morosely: “If my brother was alive, I wouldn’t be here. I’d rather have it that way.”
In his election night speech, Kennedy thanked everyone but Johnson. In Texas, Johnson said: “I wonder why he doesn’t mention me.” Kennedy ended his victory speech with a quote from Tennyson’s Ulysses: “Come my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.”
After three hours of sleep, Bobby and Ethel flew to Glens Falls to keep his promise. Once again, several thousand people greeted him. “You befriended me,” Bobby said. Ethel added: “Bobby said you looked nice in your pajamas. But you look nice dressed, too.”
Kennedy went on to be a transformative senator in his all too short career in that august body. He was seen by the most marginalized Americans as the most empathetic political figure of the modern era. The New York Senator was the champion of native Americans, African Americans and Latinos. His Senate duties took him to some of America’s worst ghettos, Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, the most impoverished reservations and the fields of California.
“The more anguish and heartache he witnessed, the more he committed himself to action. The more poverty he experienced, the more he challenged authority. The more pain he saw, the more impatient he was. And the more progressive he became,” Sherrod Brown wrote. Historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called him “the tribune of the underclass.”
His passion and belief in an America that lived up to its promises led to his epic campaign for president in 1968. In places as diverse as Indiana, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota and California, Kennedy called for an end to the Vietnam War, condemned gun violence and discussed solutions for the intractable problems of race and poverty. It was an idealistic message of unity and hope that is more important now than ever.
Sources consulted:
Brown, Sherrod. Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America. New York: Picador 2019.
Crawford, Dennis and Laura. Robert F. Kennedy: The Road Not Taken From Nebraska to the White House. Lincoln, Nebraska: Goose Creek Press 2024.
Gardner, Gerald. Robert Kennedy In New York: The Campaign for the Senate. New York: Random House 1965.
Matthews, Chris. Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit. New York: Simon & Schuster 2017.
Schlesinger, Arthur. Robert Kennedy and His Times. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company 1978.
Thomas Evan. Robert Kennedy: His Life. New York: Simon & Schuster 2000.
Tye, Larry. Robert Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon. New York: Random House 2016
Dennis P. Crawford co-authored “Robert F. Kennedy: The Road Not Taken From Nebraska to the White House” with his daughter Laura J. Crawford. Nebraska History Magazine published his article “Robert Kennedy’s Remarkable Speech at Creighton University” in the Summer 2023. His book “Almost Perfect: The 1983 Nebraska Cornhuskers” will be published in 2026 by McFarland Publishing. His article on the 1972 Nebraska Democratic Presidential Primary will be published by Nebraska History Magazine in 2027.