mortally wounded in the los angeles ambassador hotel. he had just delivered a victory speech after winning the california presidential primary. the next day. next on american history tv, from arlington national cemetery commemorating the 50th anniversary of his assassination. former president bill clinton delivered remarks to an audience that included rfk's family. the organization founded in 1968 >> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the invocation by father matt malone. >> let us pray. we meet not in a moment of mourning, but in an hour of hope. for this memorial is not only our remembrance of things past,

but the touchstone of our present and the right of dedication to our future. we gather here in this sacred place where the memory of all our fallen heroes propels our hearts towards the highest aspirations of the nation to proclaim to our fellow citizens and to the world, bobby kennedy still lives. in millions of hearts that seek a newer world. and in millions of minds, to dream things that never were and ask why not. in every ripple of hope, that we make this proclamation, not only

through human words or earthly gestures, but in this spirit of prayer. that privileged place in every soul where the grace of god transforms our wounded heart into hearts of wounded healers. where sorrow is charged with meaning and human weakness is redeemed and hope reborn. and so we pray that the god bobby kennedy served so well will send his spirit upothis feet in to guide our the ways of peace and that his grace will open our eyes to human bearing. open our hearts to the most vulnerable among us. open our hands to embrace the

cause of justice. for above all, bobby kennedy still lives. because the one in whose name we make this prayer, but one who was the source and summit of his life, the one who was crucified and yet rose triumphant, he still lives. thus faith, hope and love will never die. amen. >> on behalf of my mother, ethel

kennedy and our very large family, i want to thank the staff at arlington cemetery for being so kind and accommodating and flexible. i want to thank president clinton who graces us with his presence. thank you so very much. [applause] my family and i also thank those who devoted their time and talent to make this service possible and to each of you for sharing in this commemorion. it is tough to lose a parent. it was very painful to lose my father. and yet half a century later, each of you have come here, many traveling from as far away as italy, ireland, and australia.

you share our deep sense of loss and our happy memories. your presence is deeply moving to the tribute to the love that my father inspired. thank you for remembering. there is much to recall. his room was next to mine. every morning he would listen to shakespeare while doing push-ups. i woke to grunts and shakespeare. in fact he was so good at shakespeare, that he challenged richard burton to a shakespeare reciting contest and of course my father won. one of his favorite plays was "henry v." this is the story of a king who endured a desolate youth, but once crowned against a much larger force on saint crispin's

day. the night before the battle, the english are ragged and disheartened and thinking themselves doomed to defeat. king harry encourages the troops and says, it shall never go by , from this day to the ending of the world, but we and it shall be remembered. we few, we happy few, we band of brothers. for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother. be never so vile this day shall gentle his condition. and gentlemen in england shall now think himself a curse that they were not here and hold

their manhood cheap while he speaks that fought with us on saint crispin's day. after president kennedy died, our father often recited this speech among his friends and with us children as we walk the grounds of hickory hill or in the woods nearby. as he recited this, he was thinking of the thousand days of the kennedy administration and what had been accomplished and the people with whom he had served. today, as we come together, we are carrying on that legacy, devotion to justice, dedication to freedom, love for fellow women and men. though these are worthy goals , they are not easily achieved. there is always a fight. not just on saint crispin's day, but each hour of each day.

the odds are often long but what the play inspires is that each one of us can do what our father so admired about harry. he provided hope and encouragement. a belief that what we do is urgent and noble. harry sees his soldiers not as troops to command but as brothers, friends and countrymen. i would add sisters. the point remains difficulties do not stymie us. we are happy knowing that as we seek a new world, we are bound to one another. we can make our own pledge to be a touch of harry in the night. with courage, we can gentle our

condition as we pursue a feeling of justice and compassion for those who suffer in our country and around the world. thank you for lightning are -- lightening our burden and lifting our hearts. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen please welcome dolores erica -- huerta the president and founder of the dolores huerta foundation. [applause] >> we must recognize the human equality of all of our people will before god, before the law

and in the councils of government. we must do this not because it is economically advantageous, although it is, not because the laws of god commanded, although they do, not because people in other lands we should sorrow. wish it so. we must do it for the simple and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do. university of cape town, june 6, 1966. [applause] >> please welcome ms. martinez. -- please welcome grace martinez martinez rosa.

[applause] >> all of us from the wealthiest to the young children i have seen in this country bloated by starvation. we offer one precious possession and that is the name american. it is not easy to know what that means, but in part, to be an american means have been an outcast and a stranger. to have come to the exiled country and to know that he who denies the exile and the outcast and the stranger still among us, also denies america. [applause] >> please welcome the former prime minister of italy. [applause] >> too much and for too long, we

seem to have surrounded personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. that gross national product counter pollution and cigarette advertising. it counts special ops for the people. it counters the distraction and the laws of our natural wonder. it counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities.

it counts the television programs that glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. yes. the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of the education or the joy. it does not include the beauty of our poetry, of the strength of our marriages. the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. it measures neither our week nor -- weak nor our courage. neither wisdom nor learning. neither our compassion or devotion to our country. it measures everything in short,

except that which makes life worthwhile. it can tell us everything about america except why we are proud that we are americans. if this is true here at home, so it is true elsewhere in the world. university of councils, march 18, 1968. [applause] >> our next speaker served as an aid to robert f kennedy from 1964 to 1968 and is currently a professor of law at the georgetown law center. [applause] >> we must, if we seek not merely to lead, but to be -- lead greatly, act consistently with our belief in

human freedom and equality. those are the values of our entire history. there should be no doubt that we stand in africa or asia or latin america and in the united states itself, on the side of equality and increasing freedom. never yielding that position to the demands of temporary expediency or short run realism. for if we allow immediate considerations, one by one to chip away proclaimed ideals and values, then we soon stand for nothing at all except ourselves.

columbus day dinner, new york city, october 11, 1966. [applause] >> please welcome the republic of ireland's ambassador to the ited states, his excellency. [applause] >> the whole human experiment will fail unless it can find unity and mediate its disputes. unless it can follow the path of economic growth and cooperation, unless and above all, it can realize the equality and brotherhood of man. these are not cliches for anybody.

they are the bare essentials of survival for us all. and on this small vulnerable infinitely interdependent planet, all of us are seeking solutions. under the spur of potential plenty as under the shadow of potential destruction, we are one. our triumphs and defeats are common. the bell tolls for us all. ethiopia, 1966. [applause] >> please welcome the executive director of the color of change. [applause]

>> your generation south and north, white and black is the first with the chance to not only remedy the mistakes which all of us have made in the past, but to transcend them. your generation, this generation cannot afford to waste its substance and hope in the struggles of the past, where beyond these walls is a world to be helped and improved and made safe for the welfare of mankind. 1966, university of mississippi. [applause] >> our next speaker served as secretary of the navy 2009 through 2017. please welcome the former

secretary of the navy. [applause] >> america was a great force in the world with immense prestige long before we became a great military power. that power has come to us and we cannot renounce it. but neither can we afford to forget that the real constructive force in the world comes not from bombs, but from imaginative ideas, warm sympathies and a generous spirit. these are qualities that cannot be manufactured by a public relations specialist. they are the natural qualities of people pursuing decency and human dignity in its own undertaking without arrogance or hostility or delusions of superiority.

a people whose ideals are firmly rooted in the realities of the society we have but for ourselves. university of indiana, bloomington, indiana, april 24, 1968. [applause] >> please welcome the internationally acclaimed irish tenor mark forrest. [applause]

>> ♪ he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand. and u o dwell in the shelter of the lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the lord, "my refuge, my rock in whom i trust."

yes, he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand. the snare of the fowler will never capture you, and famine will bring you no fear, under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness, your shield.

yes, he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand. you need not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, though thousands fall about you, near you it shall not come. and he will raise you up on

eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand. for to his angels he's given a command to guard you in all of your ways, upon their hands he will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. yes, he will raise you up on

eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, he will hold you in the palm of his hand. he will hold you he will hold you in the palm of his hand. ♪

[applause] >> from the robert f kennedy children's action core, please welcome bianca. [applause] >> idealism, high aspirations and deep convictions are not

compatible with the most practical and efficient of programs. that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities, no separation between the deepest desires of hearts and of minds and of the rational application of human effort to human problems. it is not realistic or hardheaded to solve problems and take action unguided from the ultimate moral aims and values. in my opinion, it is thoughtless folly for it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and believe, ultimately more powerful than all the calculations of our economics or of our generals. [applause] >> please welcome, the honorable

nancy pelosi. [applause] >> icon to ask you to help in the task of national reconciliation to place your energy and time and strength in the first work of america. the building of a nation united not on every issue, but in the enduring faith that we are to be free. that we are to have a chance for a decent life. that the natural condition of humanity is not degradation but dignity. this is the faith that binds us together as americans. it is this face that's -- that shapes this nation. it is this faith that shall preserve us. from it, we will find the best within ourselves and the best within our fellow citizens.

we shall win at the end of our labors, a new america. tuscaloosa, march, 21st, 1968. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome civil rights icon congressman john lewis. [applause] and evenative lewis:

in our sleep, pain that cannot andet falls drop by drop owns the despair. wisdom our will comes through the awesome grace of god. what we need in the united states is not division. what we need in the united states is not hatred but love and wisdom and compassion toward one another and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country. hether they be white or whether they be black, let us dedicate ourselves to what the greeks , makeso many years ago

gentle the lives of this world. 1968 during the announcement of the assassination of martin luther king jr. [applause] >> from the american federation of teachers, please welcome randi weingarten. [applause] >> our choice is not if change will come, but if we can guide that change in the service of our ideals and toward a social order shaped to the needs of all

our people. we can master change not through through fear but only the free work of an understanding mind through an openness to new knowledge and fresh outlook which can only strengthen the most fragile and most powerful of human gifts, the gift of reason. africa, june south 8, 1966. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our next speaker, emma gonzales, representing the student movement march for our lives, 2018 recipient of the rfk human rights award. [applause]

>> first is the danger of futility, the belief is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of this world's ills, against misery and ignorance and justice a young monk yet, began the protestant reformation. a young general extended an empire from macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of france. it was a young italian explorer who discovered a new world and a 33-year-old thomas jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. to stand, said archimedes, and i will move the world. these men moved the world, and so can we all. university of cape town, south

africa, june 6, 1966. [applause] >> please welcome congressman fred upton. [applause] congressman upton: uc berkeley, october 22, 1966. the future does not belong to those that are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow men alike, tended and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. rather, it will be long to those can blend passion, reason, and courage in a personal commitment to the ideology and great enterprises of american society. it will belong to those who see that wisdom can only emerge from

the clash of contending views, the passionate expression of deep and hostile beliefs. plato said a life without criticism is not worth living. spirit ofe seminal american democracy. it is the spirit which can be found among many of you. it is this which is the hope of our nation. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome country music legend kenny chesney. [applause] chesney: thank you. this song was written by woody promise ofd it's a

everything that is good that our country has to offer all of us. in the last year, i've gotten to know ethel, and i've gotten to know several of bobby and ethel's children, and their children's children. i've gotten to know their spirit, their personality, and in their heart. said, i believe in my heart of hearts, that bobby promise ofries the this song in his heart until the day he died. ♪

[playing "this land is your land ] was writing that ribbon of highway i saw above me that in list skyway i saw below me that golden valley this land was made for you and me i've roamed and rambled, followed my footsteps sands of hering diamond deserts all around me, a voice was sounding this land was made for you and

me this land is your land this land is my land from california to the new york island from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters this land was made for you and me ♪ as the sun was shining, i was

strolling in the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling and all around me a voice was sounding this land was made for you and me this land is your land this land is my land from california o the new york island from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters this land was made for you and me ♪

this land was made for you and me this land was made for you and ♪ [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome congressman joe kennedy iii. [applause] congressman kennedy: empathy for

those struggling and striving. indignation that the wealthiest country on earth would leave children hungry, sick, abandoned, and alone. compassion for the least among us. nation, that our .orld are capable of better countless words have been used to remember my grandfather. poetry has been written about the work he did and the life he lived, but for a man who loved that tellthe images caress of ast, the

child's face in a shotgun house in the mississippi delta, his hands on the shoulder of a coal , aer in eastern kentucky small piece of bread he shared with cesar chavez in the dusty fields. images of a father, a son, uncle,, a husband, and of a family home adorned to this loved ones --s of graduations, weddings, silly moments, grandkids, great grandkids. .is brood ever-growing .is love ever enduring

of his extraordinary wife and partner, who 50 years aft his passing still wears her wedding ring. [applause] of a family who strives every day to make himproud. -- him proud. those images accumulate here today. kindredes huerta, his chicana spirit, of john lewis, a brother and mentor, of in the gonzales and her army of young activists, such fearless stewards of a future my grandfather imagined and

summoned us to. for robert f kennedy, this was a measure of a life well lived. people and human connections, the touch, a look, the moment between strangers and friends, where we leave aside expectations and ego and acknowledge each other's worth and wisdom, where we pause and see each other. when we look past color or creed a class and recognize humanity we all share. our imperfections, our contradictions, our hope for truer, kinder the

tomorrow. that humanity anchored my grandfather. fieldsied him from the of farmworkers to the hollows of appalachia and the sprawling countriesns of indian to the tenements of bedstead where in the shadows, in the spacesund, the quiet that rarely sought or got attention, robert kennedy found the arteries of our american heart. forgotten, to those "your country sees you. your country values you. america would not be america without you."

he held their hands. he knelt by their side. he shared their sorrows. and he lifted their spirits. he wasn't radical or revolutionary. he was human. vulnerable.to be it was his greatest gift to give. he felt so intensely the suffering of others and from that pain arose the moral force to relieve it. he saw their dreams and dared to ask, "why not?" today, we also remember a father who delighted in the laughter of children, long walks with

his dogs, football with his wife., the smile of his sawelebrate a leader who potential in every child and prospered a government that did th same. we commit ourselves to his higher calling. of very thing at stake today a country who accepts you for who you are. [applause] representative kennedy: 25 years , a, in this very place family friend stood and recalled the journey of my grandfather.

then, just six months into his term, president bill clinton eloquently recalled a man who "went places most leaders never visit, listened to people most spoke anever hear, and simple truth most leaders never speak your cup -- speak." most of all, president clinton implored us to remember the powerful, beautiful, simple faith of robert kennedy. we can do better. ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce him once more here today. please join me in welcoming president william jefferson clinton. [applause]

president clinton: thank you very much. thank you. thank you, congressman, for your remarks and your remarkable what robertf kennedy stood for. thank you, mrs. kennedy, ethyl, members of the kennedy family for inviting me to join you again 25 years later from the first time we had this and 50 years since we lost senator kennedy. i thank those who have sung and

spoken before, reminding us once more of the timeless wisdom of robert kennedy's words and all of you for the efforts you have made over a half century to advance the work he could not finish. i think if he were here today, and as we were told in the indication, he really is he would remind us that perhaps the words he spoke then are truer today than they were then. [applause] president clinton: in another time of hope and heartbreak and division it is important , that we remember what he meant

to us when we were young, and what he means today. in 1968, after a couple of tumultuous years leading up to it, every day seemed to bring a new piece of bad news. and a deepening division in america. it was my last semester in college here at georgetown. somebody said, what did you do at the end of your college career? well, martin luther king got killed on april the fourth. just a few days before that, president johnson said he wouldn't run again, the country

was so divided over vietnam, and everybody feared the whole thrust of the civil rights movement could be lost. as john lewis proved again after , the best remarks given after dr. king was killed i believe were embodied in robert kennedy's speech in indianapolis . we walked up -- we rocked along through two months of turmoil, and then he won in california in the primary. i still remember the vote. do you? lost oregon by a little bit, 45-42,n in california and god forgive me for being incorrect, but i was so glad to have winner take all primaries back then. [laughter] [applause]

president clinton: why am i saying this? we were all being so lofty because he was a flesh and blood man who fought in real life. at the time we seemed to think that our clan and tried were more important than anything else and required us to be divided from one another. fromme, as you see here, quite a clan, and he did everything he could to increase it. [laughter] and as youlinton: have heard, the kennedy clan was clearly an irish tried. tribe.h and those of us who share that heritage were proud of it. what was the difference?

the difference was that he embodied the whole message of the faith of his fathers and mothers before his holiness pope francis called us to engage in a culture of encounter, he viscerally, instinctively lived a life of encounter. life of the outstretched fist.not the clinched he lived in appalachia and mississippi delta, on native american reservations, among farmworkers who had no one else to look after them, and all the

to the townships of south africa, still groaning under .partheid did he ever wants give up his clan or his tribe? no. what does that have to do with if we can live together? what does that have to do with acknowledging our common humanity or our interesting differences? and he did something unusual for a politician back then, when you could not check every word every day -- he actually said the same thing everywhere he went. [laughter] president clinton: he would go into a working class

neighborhood and tell them exactly the same thing and say -- same thing he would say in a poor neighborhood of african-americans. he would stand in the synagogue and say the same thing he would say at a knights of columbus meeting. and if we had had a large muslim population back then, he would have gone to them and said, "you, too, can be part of america if you share our values and our vision. -- and our vision." [applause] clinton: the native theicans, literally national congress of american , for his workibes namethem gave him a tribal -- brave heart.

braveheart took him to california to be with cesar 200-mile tripe a across appalachia to see the shacks where parents struggled to feed their children, to visit the pine ridge reservation in south dakota in the middle of , toindiana primary race enrage the apartheid government in south africa by plunging into the crowds and shaki hands. he encountered people. and challenged all of us to do the same. his message really, no matter

how stressed up in the finest poetry, never changed -- we can do better. and because we can, we must. he gave it over and over and over, and while the words were ifutiful, look at the films you were not alive then that are coming up now. the energy was awesome, and the intensity of conviction burned away like a blowtorch all those layers of complacency and comfort. show up, stand up, we can do better.

and he didn't let anybody off the hook. he said, "yeah, i want to help you, but you got to work hard." comfortable middle-class people, you don't have a lot of money to give away, you need to do something to serve your community. all you people who are rich like me, you don't need this much. you need to give more so we can grow together and prosper together, and, by the way, we will all be better off, but you should do it because it is the right thing to do. there's something for everybody to do." say,ars later, he would "i'm 92 now, and you have to listen to me from a distance.

i still try to speak to the ." we stood up for emma. you know why i love that? because she and her generation are the first people who have made sensible, sane gun safety laws a voting issue in this country. [applause] president clinton: when i was president, we passed the assault weapons ban and the ammunition -- wait, wait, wait. we did it all. we couldn't make it a voting issue and we got our brains beat out. when she and her colleagues said, we do not deserve to die in school, schools need not be killing ground.

bobby kennedy would say, hey, nobody is trying to take away your right to defend your family. but we should take away the option to commit mass murder with killing machines without adequate background checks for sure. [applause] presidclinn: that's what she did. that's the kind of thing -- that's the kind of thing he did viscerally. i never saw anything like it. t our 50th reunion, i was trying to determine what to say i kept thinking about bobby kennedy because when he died on une 6, my roommate was volunteering in his office. tommy is here today.

now he's on my bed beating on me saying, they shot him. and all i could think about was that in his campaign, robert kennedy said it is not too late to seek a newer world. he loved tennyson's ulysses. it was perfect. it's like, hey, i am a 42-year-old cool guy and young people can relate to me. we are going to make america great again. again. [laughter] president clinton: but for all of you who were there then, you get to join the young people today. because go back and read "ulysses," it's a poem of an old man saying, you can't quit. and there is still something you can do. your age is a state of mind and your commitment must never waver and we have to stop hating each other. it's bad for us.

[applause] president clinton: and that includes -- and way the by, that includes the members of ur clans and our tribes. the outstretched hand beats the lenched first. so i ask you, as he would, if he were 92 standing here, thank you very much for showing up and saying the nice things and reciting my words, but it all amounted to me saying we can do better, and because we can we must. so let us resolve to do better. and ulysses, when he said was ot to late to seek a newer

world, ulysses is calling his old gang together and saying, let's get together one more time and sail beyond the western stars one more time. we can still do it. ome work of noble note may yet be done. though we are now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven. that which we are we are. made weak by time and faith but strong in will. here is robert kennedy in a line. to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. we thank him after 50 years ecause we can still feel the

energy in the parades, reaching across the convertible tops, in the shacks of appalachia, in the depths of watts. d, yes, all the way to sawato. we can do it all over again. but we have to do it the way he did -- speaking to everybody, saying the same thing to of body with a heart full love and outstretched hands. his legacy has brought us here and will see us on. god bless you. [applause]

>> representing the rfk fellows, please welcome b.j. styles. [applause] -- stiles. [applause] b.j.: few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their

fellows, the censure of their colleagues or the wrath of society. moral courage is a more rare commodity than bravery and battle or great intelligence, and yet it is the one essential vital quality for those seek to change the world, which yields most painfully to change. aristotle tells us that at the olympic games it isn't the finest or the strongest men who are crowned but those who enter the list. so too in the life of the honorable and the good, it is they who act rightly who win the prize. i believe in this generation, hose with courage to enter the conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.

the day of affirmation address, university of cape town, june 6, 1966. [applause] donato e welcome c.e.o. tramuto. donato: through the history of the world, the boundaries of great empires have faded and

dissolved their cities. their cities have fallen into decay and their wealth scattered. what remains is what they have accomplished of enduring value and what they stood for. what remains is what they added to the hopes and the well-being of human civilization and to its capacity for future rogress. none of us here as individuals seek success or wealth purely for its own sake. we all hope to make a larger contribution to our families, our occupation, our profession, our community and our country. this must be true also for america as a nation. if we wish to take that luminous and lasting place in history which is now ithin our own grasp.

the goals of american foreign policy columbus day dinner, new york city, october 11, 966. [applause] >> please welcome the ceo of patagonia. rose marcario. rose: we live today in an era of challenge. thiss a time of uncertainty and peril. it is also a time of great opportunity. the decisions we make as a people, as a government during the next few years will affect the planet for generations to come. i come to ask you not only for our understanding of these

challenges but your active partnership in efforts to meet them, for the government is your government, it requires your ideas, your collaboration, your criticism and your support if it is to meet its esponsibilities. all of us are most concerned about what type of america we want to pass on to our hildren. every generation inherits a world it never made, and as it does so, it automatically becomes the trustee of that world for those who come after. in due course, each generation makes its own accounting to its children. columbia, south carolina, 963.

>> from the international ndigenous youth council, th recipient of the r.f.k. human rights award, please welcome lauren howland. [applause] lauren: my name is lauren howland. i come from the hickory apache reservation in new mexico and the san carlos apache nation of arizona. i am part of the international idge digit news youth council. [applause] lauren: our answer is the world's only hope. it is to rely on youth. the cruelty and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to oxalate dogma and worn-out slogans. i cannot be moved by those who

cling to a present that is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger that which comes with even the most peaceful progress. this world demands the qualities of youth. not a time of life but a state of mind. a temper of the will and equality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity. of the appetite of adventure over the life of ease. it's a revolutionary world that we all live in, and thus, as i have said in latin america and asia and in europe and my own country, the united states, it is the young people who must take the lead. university of cape town, june 6, 1966. [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome senator edward markey. [applause] nator markey: it is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is haped. each time a man stands up for an ideal or asked to improve the lot of others, a strikeout gainst injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest of walls of oppression and esistance. university of cape town, south africa, june 6, 1966, 52 years ago today. [applause]

>> please welcome back to the stage the choral arts society of washington. [applause]

♪ [applause]

>> in this sacred place, with these special memories of someone very special to us all, we are indeed the presence of god. so we pray. good and gracious god, we thank you for the vision, the compassion, the commitment to justice that brings us together to commemorate one who challenges us to our very best, robert francis kennedy. magna minutity

magnaminity of his vision, the inspiration of his words and the generosity of his actions. may we be a source of the energy, creativity, generosity and love with the pursuit of the ideals that he worked so hard to bring our nation and orld together. may we share his compassion for the poor, the needy, the oppressed, the forgotten. may we share his ability to ring women and men together, breaking down barriers that divide us and build instead hat unites us. may we work to heal those that

re wounded, to bring hope to the hopeless and to live our dreams for a better natind a better world. in a special way, less the -- bless the kennedy family, from ethel, ever at bobby's side, to the youngest children, as they keep alive robert's vision, faith, courage, and service to others. as we go forth from here, bless us all with the power to unite and stir hope in our time. e ask all of this in confidence that you are with us, making possible what we cannot do ourselves. amen. [applause]

>> please welcome the american university gospel choir. under the direction of celeste sledge. [applause] ♪ mine eyes have seen the

glory of the coming of the lord he is trampling out the vintage

where the grapes of wrath are stored he hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword his truth is marching on ♪ ♪ glory, glory hallelujah , hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah ♪ truth is marching on i have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps altar e builded him an in the evening dews and damps i can read his righteous

entence by the dim and flaring lamps ♪ day is marching on ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah hallelujahy, ♪ truth is marching on

♪ in the beauty of the lilies christ was born across the sea with a glory in his bosom that ransfigures you and me as he died to make men holy, et us die to make men free ♪ le god is marching on glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah

glory, glory, hallelujah his truth is marching on ♪ glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah glory, glory, hallelujah his truth is marching on ♪ [applause]

>> ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the celebration of robert f. kennedy's life and legacy memorial service. please remain in your seats hile the family departs. >> you're watching "american history tv." 48 hours of programming on american history every weekend on c-span3. llow us on twitter @c-spanhistory and to keep us with the latest history news. >> tonight on "q&a" -- "new york times" columnist talks about his book "to change the church, pope francis and the future of can not simple." >> he thinks the church needs to change in various ways, particularly i think around

issues related to the sexual revolution, marriage, divorce, and so on. where prior popes basically said these are changes the church can't make. and so there have been these sort of fraught places in his pontificate where he has clashed with cardinals and bishops and theologians over just how far he can push the church to change, what the church can change without either undercutting its own traditions or breaking faith with the new testament, the gospel, jesus christ. >> "q&a" tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> next on "american history tv," ohio state university professor michael lerner on the north korean capture of the u.s.s. pueblo. he's the author of "the pueblo

incident: a spy ship and the failure of american foreign policy." we recorded this interview with the american historical association annual meeting in washington. it's about 15 minutes. >> mitch lerner teaches history at ohio state university. he teaches the institute for korea study. has written a book about one particular incident in u.s.-north korea history. the pueblo incident which is marking its 50th anniversary this year. let's start by asking you to give the story of the pueblo. mitchell: it is amazing to the extent which it has been forgotten by the american people. the uss pablo was an -- an old world war ii cargo carrier that had been retired. it was old and dilapidated. rusty old ship that naval intelligence and