Remembering Bobby Kennedy's visit to Cape 50 years ago

Editor's note: Fifty years ago today, April 25, 1968, Robert "Bobby" Kennedy made a campaign appearance in Cape Girardeau at the Town Plaza. He was a U.S. Senator from New York, former attorney general of the United States and the brother of slain United States President John F. Kennedy. In 1968, he was running for president -- but, like his brother, would be killed by an assassin's bullet. Here are some reflections by Cape Girardeau native and resident Peter Kinder, who is a former lieutenant governor of the state of Missouri. Kinder was an eighth-grade student at the time.

What I remember was the crush of the crowd. The overwhelming, screaming, force-of-nature crush of the crowd of nearly 6,000 who filled the Town Plaza parking lot (roughly where El Torerro stands today) that warm spring day in that awful, fated year of 1968. Think the Beatles. Or a young Frank Sinatra.

Struck down by an assassin's bullet in early June, Kennedy had about six weeks to live.

Published Friday, April 26, 1968, pg. 1 Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, holds his notes in one hand and gestures with the other as he makes a point during his speech in the Town Plaza Shopping Center Thursday afternoon. At left is Sen. Albert M. Spradling who introduced Sen. Kennedy. In the background is part of the crowd which thronged onto the parking lot. Note a "Kennedy" sign just above the senator's head while at far left a "McCarthy for President" sign can be seen. (Photo by Billy G. Hampton)

The Kennedy magic was real that year in conservative Southeast Missouri. One must seriously doubt that Cape Girardeau has ever seen the like of it, before or since. (The only comparable experience was the even larger throng that packed into the Show Me Center to cheer President Ronald Reagan in September 1988.)

The rally was set for late afternoon, around 4:30 or 5, if memory serves. That meant an 8th grader could walk over from junior high after class, my gym bag packed heavy with books, pick out a place in the swelling crowd, and take it all in. (The books inside the bag made for an acceptable riser on which to stand for a slightly better view, some considerable distance from the stage.)

The air of excitement was palpable as the throng awaited the arrival of the New York senator, who was flying in from a long day campaigning in the Indiana primary. I distinctly recall the Kennedy advance man's addressing the crowd perhaps a half-hour before the candidate's arrival. He admonished the crowd, packed with young people and especially college students, that there would be an enormous crush as so many sought to get near this surviving heir to the Kennedy magic. (I remember thinking this was shrewd stuff -- equal parts warning for our safety, and self-fulfilling prophecy.)

The advance man spoke the truth. As the Kennedy's pulled up in a cool convertible owned by family friend Marty Hecht, the crowd went wild. Accompanied by wife Ethel (pregnant, child number 11) and by astronaut John Glenn, an absolutely mobbed Kennedy waved and smiled as he slowly, and with difficulty, made his way to the stage. There he delivered a 15-minute speech, and of course the crowd cheered lustily. Finishing his remarks, Kennedy again slowly made his way through the mob across William street to the Flaming Pit restaurant, where party dignitaries and supporters waited at a brief reception. These included my grandmother, Ida Hunter (1890-'75), a confirmed Democrat of the southern persuasion, accompanied by her daughter, my mother.

Fall, 1968 would see visits here by American Independent Party candidate and Alabama Gov. George Wallace (Arena Park) and GOP VP nominee and Maryland Gov. Spiro Agnew (Town Plaza, again). This teenage Republican would attend both, backing the Nixon-Agnew ticket following my disappointment that Gov. Ronald Reagan had been denied the GOP nod. Neither compared with the sheer, overwhelming excitement of the Kennedy visit.

Peter Kinder, a Cape Girardeau resident, is former Missouri lieutenant governor and current alternate Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority.