Robert Kennedy Told African-American Audience That Martin Luther King Was Dead

During his 1968 presidential campaign, Robert Kennedy made a stop in Indianapolis. It was there, on April 4, that he learned of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. It fell on RFK to tell the mostly African-American crowd the news. He gave a moving speech in the spirit of Dr. King's beliefs. "What we need in the United States is not violence," he said, "but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another." Two months later, Bobby Kennedy was himself assassinated.