Bobby Kennedy for President Review

Bobby Kennedy for President is a four part Netflix documentary series that came out last year. It

uses a wealth of archival footage and interviews, and was directed by Dawn Porter. I came across it

while doing research on the civil rights movement for history.

This series is really good. It maintains the focal point of Robert F. Kennedy and his road to the

presidential campaign, but manages to also speak volumes about the political and social climate of the 1960s which, as you may know, was absolutely insane. With the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement,  the Farm Workers Association, the Space Race, etc. And many attempts to capture this time period feel too overcrowded or attempt to say everything without explaining anything. But, by choosing the narrow focus of Bobby Kennedy, everything is tied together and it doesn’t feel like it’s biting off more than it can chew.

Unlike some documentaries, this doesn’t feel like a chore to watch. This unfolds like a natural narrative, with compelling characters, a fascinating arc, and a consequential setting. It is true that the ending is predetermined, in that everyone knows from the start that Robert Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel following the California Primary. But this doesn’t make the story any less interesting. By contrary, it heightens everything

because there is a ticking time bomb in the corner. I watched this last week, and I am still thinking about it. After finishing this series, only one thought would remain lodged in my head consistently: I want to make documentaries, which I think is one of the best feelings that can come out of media. I had nearly the same thought after seeing La La Land for the first time: I want to make art. This series is a perfect balance of the historical, political, and emotional elements, and uses everything in its arsenal to tell a wondrous story.
The series is held up by the charismatic character of Bobby Kennedy. The very first scene shows him sitting casually atop a convertible, holding out his hands as numerous people grab on to him. A theme of the series is that his personality seemed to demand the physical contact of his supporters. A woman in the documentary says, “I just wanted to lay my hand on him.”

There is one part in which he is on the phone talking about something very serious, an executive order concerning the University of Alabama’s refusal to admit its first black students, and he is conducting this manner very efficiently,

and then he ends the phone call with okey-dokey. And I think that sums up the tone of the series, that this man is combining professionalism and grit with a likeable personality that could not be ignored. There is also one part where he is in an Oval office meeting with John F. Kennedy, and JFK turns to the camera and says something along the lines of “could you turn that off, please?” and that struck me as the oddest thing ever, because everything I’d seen of JFK was him smiling and waving, or giving poignant speeches, otherwise being a waxy-faced, presidential figure, but in that moment, he existed as a person, and that was odd and exciting to see.

The first episode, A New Generation, focuses on his role as Attorney General to his brother,

President John F. Kennedy. Though the series is very forgiving, it doesn’t paint the most pleasant picture at first. Robert says that he will not work for his brother because of their relationship, but then he does. It mentions the wiretapping of Martin Luther King, Jr. But it heavily emphasizes that he was willing to learn and change his mind, and that he was not stubborn for the sake of it. Congressman

John Lewis, who is a gem throughout the series, mentions that he was originally against the

Freedom Rides, but changed his mind when he saw that people were suffering.

The second episode, I’d Like to Serve, chronicles the period after JFK’s murder and his run for the

US Senate. The assassination of John F. Kennedy is a story that everyone has heard many times,

whether it be in the context of conspiracy theories, or history, or poor Jackie Kennedy. Though this could’ve been an easy fallback for the series to pack an emotional punch, it doesn’t spend so much

time on it that it starts to feel old, but just the right amount of time for one to realize that, though this

event had a profound effect on everyone at the time, there was a younger brother there, also in the

public eye, who received a short phone call Robert later said he thought Hoover “enjoyed giving

him.” The episode then moves on to his campaign for the New York Senate seat. It gives an

interesting look at his skills as a public speaker as well as his remarkable talent for connecting with people, especially with poor and working class people, even when it was known that was born into a rich family. It also looks at the fact that he was always expected to be put together and positive, even

though he had been through remarkable tragedy already. One man says, “he was the saddest face

I’d ever seen in my entire life.” The emotional core that this is a human person at the center of it is

hardly lost. When it gets close to getting too caught up with politics, there is a joyful scene of him

entering his first day in the Senate, and he practically skips over to join his brother, Ted.

The third episode, You Only Get One Time Around, focuses on Bobby Kennedy’s decision to run for

president and subsequent campaign. It leads the viewer behind closed doors in the decision making

process and what strategies were used. It utilizes interviews with people involved in the campaign,

such as Richard Schrade and John Lewis, in order to draw home the camaraderie at the center. It

also does not let it be forgot that Bobby Kennedy was an excellent speaker. At one point, he

addresses a largely black crowd on the night of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, and he

breaks the devastating news in a remarkable way. He doesn’t immediately attempt to say that he

died as a martyr for the cause. He just stands up there and says I Know How You Feel. It happened

to me. And he recognizes that it is difficult, but we must strive for love and peace right now.

The episode follows the close race for president and makes the viewer care about the results of the

primaries, even though they know it will be fruitless. It carefully manipulates the emotional punch of

the assassination in the second half of the episode, with an increased focus on those close to him at

the time, the introduction of the bustboy who held him as he died, and repetitions of his policy and

the overall theme of what could’ve been.

The fourth episode, Justice for Bobby, takes place completely after his assassination, and kind of

misses the point. Everything in the series relies upon the charisma of Bobby Kennedy, so as soon as that is lost, it struggles to find its footing. It talks of the legacy that has been left, as well as possible

conspiracies surrounding his assassination. It does not come to any conclusions with regards to the

conspiracy, and therefore feels a little pointless. There is one moment, when the documentary is

wrapping up and going on to say what happened to everyone, where they say “his friend Bob” and that was really strange and endearing  to see because, as much as the documentary makes RFK

into a human, there is still a level of hero worship and larger-than-life-ication, but calling someone

“my friend bob” is the most human they get.

It is definitely biased, and ignores some things, such as the manufactured political dynasty that was

the Kennedy family, but some things that try too hard to be unbiased just end up deeply

uninteresting. A thing that the series captures really well is the humanity of history; I think it’s a lie

when people attempt to separate historical events from real life human emotions. It also makes it far

more interesting when some depth is added to these events. It is a really good series that tells about

a person and an era in a succinct way that makes it fun and easy to watch.