It is a festive night at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California on June 5th, 1968. Inside the man who was once known only as the “President’s little brother” is now on his way to becoming president of the United State himself, as he has just won the California Primary Election. As he takes to the stage to greet his supporters, a jubilant Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and family express not only their gratitude for the confidence of the voters of California but begins to talk about bringing the divided country back together again. Just a few minutes later, he is assassinated by Palestinian national Sirhan Sirhan. The violent act shocked the nation as Robert Kennedy became a symbol to many of peace and hope for America. But in a way, the ideas were still as alive as ever in the years that followed. Many people from politicians to blue collar workers to movie stars came together to announce their opposition to the single greatest issue that year, the war in Vietnam.
Tragedy and violence can bring out both the best and the worst in a nation, and it can affect the citizens in different ways. One person who was surprisingly at the hotel was none other than Rock-n-Roll singer Bobby Darin who in response to the events of that night would go on to write the song “simple song of freedom”, a protest song that was vastly different from his usual big band style of singing. While he took scorn for it and as was demonstrated in the 2004 biography of Darin, Beyond the sea, Darin was even rejected by his fans. This begs the greater question, what causes the people to demand change?
Indeed this is the big question that literally everyone in Washington should be asking right now, especially after such an upset victory by Donald Trump, who is regarded by many as the ultimate outsider. Could it be that the same force that people to vote for Robert Kennedy in 1968 and drove an already successful musician like Bobby Darin to forsake it all in the name of social protest, is the same force that drove millions of Americans clad in bright red “make America great again” trucker caps to the polls? This is a debate that we will surely be having for some time.
More importantly, who were the Trump voters? By and large, they were white, working class people without a four-year college degree. They are overwhelmingly evangelical Christian as 80% of evangelicals supported Trump. It is also not hard to understand the issues that they voted on as 64% of Trump voters said that immigration was the most important issue facing the nation, with 57% right behind them saying that terrorism is the most important issue.
Based on this information, could it be anger that drives change? After all, the theme that unites the voters of 1968 and the voters of 2016, was that they were overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the United States Government. Call me naïve but I do not believe that it is just raw anger that motivates people when they cast their ballot, rather people want what is best for America. Though we may disagree about what the best is, all Americans share a common objective, making America a shining city on a hill. As Robert F. Kennedy said upon the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. “What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country”
