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RFK. Dir. by David Grubin. Prod. by David Grubin and Sarah Colt. WGBH Education Foundation and David Grubin Productions, 2004. 120 mins. (PBS Video, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314-1698; 800-344-3337; <[email protected]>; <http://shop.pbs.org/education/> [Sept. 12, 2005])
Assessments of Robert Kennedy have gone through numerous ebbs and flows since his tragic death at the moment of his triumph in the California Democratic primary on June 6, 1968. From Jack Newfield's first retrospective account (Robert Kennedy, 1969) through the work of Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (Robert Kennedy and His Times, 1978) and Evan Thomas (Robert Kennedy, 2000), a picture of the man has solidified that underscores his early ruthless loyalty to his brother and his subsequent role as a pivotal character in the evolution of presidential politics and modern liberalism. Much in David Grubin's recent video biography is familiar to scholars. Yet to place Kennedy's ideological and personal journey in perspective for newer generations remains an important challenge, especially for those seeking to understand the changing fate of progressive values in the last third of the twentieth century-as well as their future course.
Grubin's biography is a smooth, captivating, and competent work examining RFK's unique path from great wealth, privilege, and power to a role as one of the century's great spokesmen for the poor and dispossessed. Kennedy shifted from being an aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy to being the combative foe of organized crime to being one of...