I am not sure to how to describe this election season. Sometimes, with all the anger, rage and hostility, it almost seems like we are having a national temper tantrum.
John Glenn, American hero for being the first U.S. citizen to fly into space, decided to stay at the hotel instead of going to the victory speech of Robert F. Kennedy, who had just won the 1968 California presidential primary.
He sat there, watching the candidate complete his remarks, sharing the room with his wife, other members of the Kennedy family, and five of the Kennedy children. Glenn heard the speech and wrote, “Then came the madness and chaos after his shooting.”
President Lyndon Johnson flew the Kennedy family and the Glenns back to Washington, D.C. on Air Force One. The following night, RFK died. Glenn and Susie Markham, a neighbor close to the children, told them that their father had passed.
He said later, “It was one of the hardest things, I have ever had to do.”
The next day, Glenn walked into the senator’s study and found on the desk speeches and writings, and a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson. One quote from Emerson, which RFK had marked in the book’s margin as being of interest, captured Glenn’s attention and seemed so relevant then and to today’s times as well. We will come to that quote, but first a few observations from someone who’s been watching elections since before 1968.
