In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I will be at the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library, 250 North Fifth Street in Zionsville, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 10, to talk about my book Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary.On April 4, 1968, Kennedy, a U.S. senator from New York, came to Indianapolis as part of his campaign for the Indiana Demcoratic presidential primary. Instead of a standard stump speech, he passed along the tragic news of King's death to a stunned crowd at the Broadway Christian Center at Seventeenth and Broadway streets.
The news of King’s death had sparked outrage and violence across the country. Riots had broken out in more than a hundred cities and approximately 75,000 National Guard and federal troops were called out to maintain some semblance of order. Thanks, in no small part to Kennedy’s calming words, the streets of Indianapolis remained quiet; there were no riots in the Circle City.
For more information on the program, call the library at (317) 873-3149.
