WEBVTT - Rosey & Bobby 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:11.280 It was a few minutes past midnight on June 5th, 1968. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:15.640 1,500 ecstatic Bobby Kennedy supporters packed into the ballroom of 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:25.720 the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Moments earlier, Bobby, the 0:00:25.739 --> 0:00:28.770 younger brother of the late President John F. Kennedy, had 0:00:28.870 --> 0:00:33.629 won the California Democratic primary. And now Kennedy, a late 0:00:33.729 --> 0:00:38.050 entry into the 1968 presidential race, looked like a shoo-in 0:00:38.130 --> 0:00:42.430 to secure the Democratic nomination. With the crowd at the 0:00:42.490 --> 0:00:47.440 Ambassador Hotel still chanting his name, Bobby finally enters the 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.060 ballroom and works his way through the crush of supporters 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:53.200 and photographers to the stage. 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.670 We want Kennedy! 0:00:55.730 --> 0:00:57.410 We want Kennedy! 0:00:57.430 --> 0:00:58.270 We want Kennedy! 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:03.300 Bobby is usually pretty serious, but tonight he's all smiles. 0:01:03.910 --> 0:01:07.550 Once the crowd quiets down, Bobby launches into a series 0:01:07.590 --> 0:01:09.970 of thank yous, starting with his dog. 0:01:10.450 --> 0:01:10.850 I want to. 0:01:10.830 --> 0:01:15.630 Express my gratitude to my dog Freckles who's been maligned. 0:01:17.990 --> 0:01:18.750 I don't care what they. 0:01:19.870 --> 0:01:21.830 As Franklin Roosevelt said, I don't care what they say 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.080 about me, but when they start to attack my dog... 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.720 And I'm not doing this in the order of importance, 0:01:28.740 --> 0:01:30.700 but I also want to thank my wife, Ethel. 0:01:33.970 --> 0:01:37.530 Ethel is all smiles, too, despite being pregnant with her 0:01:37.630 --> 0:01:42.550 and Bobby's 11th child. Yes, number 11. And I want 0:01:42.569 --> 0:01:42.870 to thank. 0:01:44.860 --> 0:01:46.740 A number of other people, if I may, all of 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.360 those of you who worked so hard in this campaign, 0:01:50.380 --> 0:01:56.020 all of the students who worked across this state, the 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.690 members of my delegation or our delegation who also worked 0:02:00.710 --> 0:02:05.710 so diligently and with such unselfishness across the state on 0:02:05.750 --> 0:02:08.250 my behalf and on behalf of this cause that we're 0:02:08.290 --> 0:02:08.770 involved in. 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.940 One of the people who was right by Bobby's side 0:02:15.060 --> 0:02:21.410 throughout the California campaign was Rosie Greer, a 6'5, former 0:02:21.630 --> 0:02:25.770 NFL defensive tackle. In the footage of Bobby's speech that night, 0:02:26.150 --> 0:02:30.110 Rosie is easy to spot. He's the burly black guy 0:02:30.190 --> 0:02:34.090 with a manicured beard and a big smile, standing just 0:02:34.150 --> 0:02:38.200 a few feet behind Bobby on stage at the Ambassador Hotel. 0:02:38.460 --> 0:02:42.200 We have certain obligations and responsibilities to our fellow citizens. 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:45.040 Which we talked about during the course of this campaign. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.059 And I want to make it clear that if I'm 0:02:47.100 --> 0:02:49.380 elected president of the United States with your help, I 0:02:49.419 --> 0:02:50.040 intend to keep that. 0:02:52.550 --> 0:02:56.630 Bobby won California in large part thanks to black voters 0:02:57.030 --> 0:03:00.570 who came out in record numbers for the candidate. One 0:03:00.610 --> 0:03:04.310 of the reasons why black voters believed in this rich 0:03:04.410 --> 0:03:08.430 white guy from Massachusetts is was because Rosie Greer believed 0:03:08.490 --> 0:03:12.329 in him. Rosie believed Bobby Kennedy was the man who 0:03:12.350 --> 0:03:15.870 was going to heal the country. If anyone could bridge 0:03:15.930 --> 0:03:19.549 the angry divide between black and white, poor and rich, 0:03:19.930 --> 0:03:24.790 pro-war and anti-war, it was Bobby. On stage, Kennedy was 0:03:24.889 --> 0:03:27.850 finishing up his thank yous, but he made sure to 0:03:27.940 --> 0:03:29.360 save one for Rosie. 0:03:30.180 --> 0:03:38.140 And to Rosie Greer, who said that he'd take care 0:03:38.180 --> 0:03:40.330 of anybody who didn't vote for him. 0:03:41.130 --> 0:03:42.930 In a kind way, because that's what we are in 0:03:43.010 --> 0:03:43.650 our country. 0:03:44.190 --> 0:03:47.770 With California in the bag, Bobby was likely to be 0:03:47.850 --> 0:03:52.080 the Democratic nominee in November. And with so many Americans 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.820 disillusioned with the Vietnam War and sick and tired of 0:03:55.920 --> 0:04:00.190 racial and economic inequality... Bobby had a real chance to 0:04:00.330 --> 0:04:03.430 ride this momentum all the way to the White House. 0:04:04.070 --> 0:04:08.530 There would be another President Kennedy, it seemed. A second 0:04:08.590 --> 0:04:12.010 chance to steer the country in a new direction. It 0:04:12.070 --> 0:04:13.460 was written in the stars. 0:04:14.340 --> 0:04:16.140 Mayor Yorty has just sent me a message that we've 0:04:16.160 --> 0:04:22.279 been here too long already. So my thanks to all 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:22.580 of you. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:24.700 And now it's on to Chicago and let's win there. 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:35.159 But of course, none of that came to fruition. Because 0:04:35.420 --> 0:04:39.380 minutes after Bobby stepped off the stage, shots rang out. 0:04:39.980 --> 0:04:42.880 Instead of becoming the second Kennedy brother in the White House, 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:47.100 Bobby became the second Kennedy brother to die from an 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:52.299 assassin's gun. Sirhan Sirhan, the deranged young man who shot 0:04:52.380 --> 0:04:56.120 Bobby Kennedy, was tackled to the ground by none other 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:00.460 than Rosie Greer. Something Rosie had done thousands of times 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.600 on the football field. But after this tackle, Rosie knew 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:14.490 that his life would never be the same. Welcome to 0:05:14.550 --> 0:05:18.380 Very Special Episodes, an iHeart original podcast. I'm your host, 0:05:18.580 --> 0:05:22.299 Zarin Burnett, and this is Bobby and Rosie. 0:05:29.860 --> 0:05:33.080 Welcome back to Very Special Episodes. My name is Jason English. 0:05:33.140 --> 0:05:34.760 Her name is Dana Schwartz. 0:05:35.140 --> 0:05:35.580 Hey, hey. 0:05:35.860 --> 0:05:37.400 His name is Zarin Burnett. 0:05:37.740 --> 0:05:38.180 What's up? 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:44.029 Zarin, I was aware of Rosie Greer as a football legend. 0:05:44.050 --> 0:05:47.710 I knew he was involved in the RFK campaign, but 0:05:47.930 --> 0:05:51.839 I had no idea how he was basically involved in 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:56.619 every major historical event of the last 75 years. 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.360 I also did not know that he was like such 0:05:59.460 --> 0:06:02.020 the as we will get into basically like a Forrest 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:05.080 Gump character where he just pops up everywhere. You're just like, Rosie, 0:06:05.140 --> 0:06:07.969 what are you doing here? So I love that. And also, 0:06:08.010 --> 0:06:09.990 I just love how this is like another revelation of 0:06:10.050 --> 0:06:12.270 how like who we are as humans, but also how 0:06:12.810 --> 0:06:15.710 unexpected change can occur if we just stay open to 0:06:15.750 --> 0:06:17.570 the world. And Rosie is such a model for that. 0:06:17.930 --> 0:06:19.090 That's such a good perspective. 0:06:19.130 --> 0:06:20.940 That is a great lesson to take away from this. 0:06:23.630 --> 0:06:27.750 If you think it's strange that Rosie Greer, a 300-pound 0:06:27.950 --> 0:06:32.770 ex-NFL player, was one of Bobby Kennedy's closest allies and friends, 0:06:33.390 --> 0:06:36.640 then you don't know Rosie Greer. Rosie is one of 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:40.280 those people who has lived a thousand lives. Son of 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:44.020 a Georgia peanut farmer. High school track star. College and 0:06:44.060 --> 0:06:48.500 pro football player. R & B singer. Professional actor. Arts 0:06:48.580 --> 0:06:53.960 and crafts advocate. Community organizer. Christian minister. The list goes on. 0:06:54.580 --> 0:06:57.960 But for a generation of Gen Xers with hippie parents, 0:06:58.460 --> 0:07:07.720 he will forever be the guy who sang. 0:07:08.190 --> 0:07:10.250 This. 0:07:10.270 --> 0:07:14.270 I remember watching Free To Be You and Me and 0:07:14.410 --> 0:07:17.990 hearing It's Alright To Cry. It seems kind of silly now, 0:07:18.090 --> 0:07:20.670 but it was sort of groundbreaking to have this guy 0:07:20.690 --> 0:07:24.770 who was willing to reveal his emotions and share his emotions. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.960 That's Michael Weinreb, a sports journalist with a great newsletter 0:07:32.020 --> 0:07:36.360 called Throwbacks. Michael wrote a profile of Rosie a decade ago. 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:40.680 He calls Rosie Forrest Greer because just like Forrest Gump, 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:45.500 Rosie's incomparable life seems to intersect with every important moment 0:07:45.610 --> 0:07:48.470 and movement of the past 75 years. 0:07:48.890 --> 0:07:51.470 There's no way to describe him other than he's the 0:07:51.510 --> 0:07:54.690 Forrest Gump of the late 20th century. He was just 0:07:54.910 --> 0:07:58.810 everywhere doing everything, meeting everybody all the time. 0:07:59.550 --> 0:08:03.430 Here are a few examples. In 1958, Rosie was a 0:08:03.510 --> 0:08:06.650 lineman for the New York Giants and played against Johnny 0:08:06.750 --> 0:08:10.210 Unitas and the Baltimore Colts in what was arguably the 0:08:10.290 --> 0:08:13.010 greatest game in professional football history. 0:08:13.420 --> 0:08:17.560 It was one of the first big televised games and 0:08:17.740 --> 0:08:21.800 really the moment that That the NFL started its path 0:08:21.820 --> 0:08:24.250 to becoming the most popular sport in America. This was 0:08:24.310 --> 0:08:27.770 that moment. And Rosie was playing in that game. Of 0:08:27.810 --> 0:08:30.710 course he was, because that's just how his life went. 0:08:31.110 --> 0:08:34.490 There's this seminal moment in American history and in sports history, 0:08:34.550 --> 0:08:36.960 and he just happened to be in the middle of it. 0:08:37.590 --> 0:08:41.420 When Rosie wasn't playing sports, he was making music. He 0:08:41.460 --> 0:08:44.860 was a super talented singer. He recorded his own albums. 0:08:45.380 --> 0:08:48.859 And he shared the stage with legends like Chuck Berry. 0:08:49.270 --> 0:08:53.770 Gladys Knight, and Curtis Mayfield. When Rosie moved to Los 0:08:53.890 --> 0:08:57.840 Angeles to play for the Rams, his personality and presence 0:08:57.900 --> 0:09:00.880 were too big to be contained by a football field, 0:09:01.340 --> 0:09:04.319 so he started doing guest spots on TV shows, which 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.660 he parlayed into his own variety show and movie deals. 0:09:08.340 --> 0:09:11.179 If you want a real treat, Google The Thing with 0:09:11.220 --> 0:09:17.240 Two Heads, a 1972 blaxploitation classic Starring Rosie as a 0:09:17.740 --> 0:09:21.199 man on death row whose only path to freedom is 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.820 to have the head of a white racist doctor sewed 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:25.960 onto his body. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.719 So they transplanted the white head onto the black body. 0:09:30.220 --> 0:09:32.570 Who would have suspected that neither would care for the 0:09:32.660 --> 0:09:33.450 idea too much? 0:09:35.450 --> 0:09:38.150 What are you guys doing to me? Shut up. 0:09:39.590 --> 0:09:42.550 And just when people thought they had Rosie pegged, he'd 0:09:42.590 --> 0:09:48.630 pivot to something completely different. Like, Needlepoint. In the 1970s, 0:09:48.710 --> 0:09:51.880 Rosie hung out at a Beverly Hills craft store where 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.900 he got so into needlepoint that he wrote a book 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:59.030 about it called Rosie Greer's Needlepoint for Men. For a while, 0:09:59.150 --> 0:10:03.320 six foot five Rosie was the poster child for 1970s 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:04.800 sensitive masculinity. 0:10:05.300 --> 0:10:07.300 I wish this wasn't a podcast so you could show 0:10:07.340 --> 0:10:10.500 the cover of the needlepoint book because it's pretty amazing 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:15.140 and colorful. Whatever the public opinion. 0:10:14.820 --> 0:10:17.540 Was, whatever the. 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:21.680 Dominant paradigm was, he didn't care about that stuff. He 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.520 was just comfortable in his own skin. And maybe that 0:10:24.540 --> 0:10:27.090 was part of being as big as he was and 0:10:27.150 --> 0:10:29.730 as strong as he was. But you could just feel 0:10:29.770 --> 0:10:34.110 that he just didn't care what the outside impression was. 0:10:35.090 --> 0:10:37.170 He was going to see things in his own way. 0:10:39.090 --> 0:10:42.730 But of all the lives Rosie Greer has lived, none 0:10:42.890 --> 0:10:47.410 was more surprising and impactful than the few months Rosie 0:10:47.470 --> 0:10:49.959 spent by the side of Bobby Kennedy and as he 0:10:50.020 --> 0:10:51.699 ran for president in 1968. 0:10:51.700 --> 0:10:56.260 I am announcing today my candidacy for the presidency of 0:10:56.300 --> 0:10:57.120 the United States. 0:10:58.020 --> 0:10:58.910 I do not run for the. 0:10:58.890 --> 0:11:03.150 Presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies. 0:11:03.910 --> 0:11:07.250 I run because I am convinced that this country is 0:11:07.350 --> 0:11:11.170 on a perilous course, and because I have such strong 0:11:11.230 --> 0:11:16.240 feelings about what must be done, and I feel that 0:11:16.260 --> 0:11:21.089 I'm obliged to do all that I can I run 0:11:21.110 --> 0:11:25.250 to seek new policies, policies to end the bloodshed in 0:11:25.270 --> 0:11:30.540 Vietnam and in our cities, policies to close the gaps 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.780 that now exist between black and white, between rich and poor, 0:11:36.780 --> 0:11:41.020 between young and old, in this country and around the 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:41.750 rest of the world. 0:11:41.750 --> 0:11:54.110 1968 was an incredibly polarizing time in American politics and culture. 0:11:54.550 --> 0:11:58.910 Americans were divided over the Vietnam War. They were divided 0:11:58.970 --> 0:12:04.130 along racial lines and class lines. Anti-war protesters clashed with police. 0:12:04.550 --> 0:12:08.910 Race riots erupted and hollowed out American cities. There was 0:12:09.170 --> 0:12:13.300 real fear in 1968 that the country was tearing apart, 0:12:13.780 --> 0:12:16.150 and Bobby Kennedy was who had always lived in the 0:12:16.230 --> 0:12:20.870 shadow of his martyred older brother JFK, stepped into that 0:12:20.950 --> 0:12:26.160 divide and called for reconciliation. To people who followed Bobby 0:12:26.220 --> 0:12:30.720 Kennedy's career, he was an unexpected choice for the quote, 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:35.140 hope and change candidate. Bobby started in politics working for 0:12:35.179 --> 0:12:40.270 the anti-communist firebrand, Joe McCarthy. Then he became JFK's attack 0:12:40.309 --> 0:12:45.809 dog attorney general. But Something changed inside Bobby after his 0:12:45.850 --> 0:12:50.179 brother's death. Something broke. And when he came back to 0:12:50.260 --> 0:12:53.740 life and to politics, he was a new man. 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.100 There's nobody that I can think of in American politics 0:12:57.179 --> 0:13:02.170 then or forever who has as legitimately crossed as big 0:13:02.210 --> 0:13:05.150 a divide. There are other people who have changed their opinions, 0:13:05.190 --> 0:13:07.809 but they were generally doing it where the wind was blowing. 0:13:08.170 --> 0:13:10.870 And that's how they were changing. Bobby Kennedy was doing 0:13:10.929 --> 0:13:14.210 it going against the wind and saying, we can be different. 0:13:14.730 --> 0:13:18.520 That's Larry Tye, who wrote a best-selling biography of RFK 0:13:18.559 --> 0:13:24.059 called Bobby Kennedy, The Making of a Liberal Icon. By 1968, 0:13:24.059 --> 0:13:27.660 Bobby Kennedy was a new man looking to forge a 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:32.550 new America. And he wanted to surround himself with people 0:13:32.650 --> 0:13:39.400 who embodied that vision. Bobby Kennedy and Rosie Greer came 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:44.190 from completely different worlds, different realities, practically. Bobby grew up 0:13:44.230 --> 0:13:47.170 in one of the wealthiest and most prominent families in 0:13:47.230 --> 0:13:52.329 American history, the closest thing to royalty that America has. Meanwhile, 0:13:52.630 --> 0:13:56.600 Rosie was born in rural Georgia to peanut farmers and 0:13:56.860 --> 0:14:01.179 used his immense physical gifts to pull himself out of poverty. 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:06.750 Rosie wasn't particularly political. Other athletes of his era were. 0:14:07.220 --> 0:14:11.260 like Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali. But that wasn't really 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.579 Rosie's thing. So it was a complete surprise when Rosie 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:19.730 got a call from his agent in 1968 saying that 0:14:19.970 --> 0:14:24.570 Ethel Kennedy, Bobby's wife, wanted Rosie to attend a fundraising 0:14:24.630 --> 0:14:29.470 event in Washington, D.C. to help inner-city kids. Rosie had 0:14:29.750 --> 0:14:33.450 never done anything like it before. But before he knew it, 0:14:33.610 --> 0:14:36.090 he was pulling up to the Kennedys' house in D.C., 0:14:36.570 --> 0:14:38.410 nervous to meet a sitting U.S. 0:14:38.470 --> 0:14:38.870 Senator. 0:14:39.370 --> 0:14:42.050 What would these Kennedy people be like? And how would 0:14:42.100 --> 0:14:45.440 he fit in? Bobby opened the door with a big 0:14:45.500 --> 0:14:48.960 grin on his face. Instead of shaking hands, he playfully 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.840 punched Rosie in the stomach and ran out onto the 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.360 lawn laughing. Rosie chased Bobby down and they spent the 0:14:55.420 --> 0:14:59.470 afternoon playing touch football. The NFL giant and the so-called 0:14:59.650 --> 0:15:02.870 runt of the Kennedy clan were polar opposites in so 0:15:02.910 --> 0:15:07.750 many ways, but also strangely similar. Here's Jeffrey Chedia, an 0:15:07.810 --> 0:15:10.980 ESPN journalist, who asked Rosie about the first time he 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:11.640 met Bobby. 0:15:12.260 --> 0:15:14.120 It kind of blew him away the way Kennedy responded 0:15:14.140 --> 0:15:17.040 to him because Kennedy used to play football in college 0:15:18.060 --> 0:15:20.470 and kind of tackled him or kind of hugged him 0:15:20.500 --> 0:15:22.130 as soon as he showed up and they started running 0:15:22.170 --> 0:15:22.910 around playing football. 0:15:23.370 --> 0:15:25.090 Touch football in the front yard. 0:15:25.270 --> 0:15:28.330 And I really think Bobby Kennedy just won him over 0:15:28.390 --> 0:15:32.870 with charisma and just his feel for people. Rosie didn't 0:15:32.890 --> 0:15:34.870 say this, but I think Rosie thought he was coming 0:15:34.910 --> 0:15:38.820 to meet a real politician, a diplomat, a guy who 0:15:38.860 --> 0:15:40.500 was larger than life, who was going to have a 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:42.400 whole bunch of talking points and try to win him 0:15:42.500 --> 0:15:44.820 over and get him on his campaign. And Bobby Kennedy 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.359 was just a real person with a real personality. 0:15:49.140 --> 0:15:50.880 And they bonded almost immediately. 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:57.540 When Bobby announced his candidacy in March 1968, the campaign 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:02.180 invited Rosie to join them on the trail. But Rosie hesitated. 0:16:02.460 --> 0:16:05.980 He liked Bobby, but he still wasn't that interested in politics. 0:16:06.740 --> 0:16:09.140 Two weeks later, everything changed. 0:16:10.420 --> 0:16:15.310 Could you lower those signs, please? I have some very 0:16:15.370 --> 0:16:18.990 sad news for all of you. And that is that 0:16:19.770 --> 0:16:22.850 Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis. 0:16:26.770 --> 0:16:30.690 Bobby was in Indiana when he learned about King's assassination. 0:16:31.130 --> 0:16:34.310 He was scheduled to attend a campaign rally at 17th 0:16:34.350 --> 0:16:38.930 and Broadway in the heart of black Indianapolis. Members of 0:16:38.990 --> 0:16:42.580 Kennedy's campaign worried there would be a riot, and the 0:16:42.620 --> 0:16:46.200 police warned him that they wouldn't be able to provide protection. 0:16:47.010 --> 0:16:50.340 But Kennedy went ahead with the event, scrapping his prepared 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.680 remarks and speaking from the heart. 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:55.840 What we need in the United States is not division. 0:16:57.460 --> 0:16:59.580 What we need in the United States is not hatred. 0:17:00.740 --> 0:17:02.970 What we need in the United States is not violence 0:17:03.490 --> 0:17:09.429 and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom and compassion toward 0:17:09.490 --> 0:17:15.129 one another. Feeling of justice toward those who still suffer 0:17:15.730 --> 0:17:16.629 within our country today. 0:17:17.350 --> 0:17:20.169 Whether they be white or whether they be black. 0:17:24.940 --> 0:17:29.420 There was no rioting in Indianapolis that night. Sadly, that 0:17:29.500 --> 0:17:34.070 wasn't the case in Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland, and Pittsburgh, 0:17:34.330 --> 0:17:39.090 where anger spilled out into the streets. Nationwide, over 40 0:17:39.090 --> 0:17:43.620 people were killed. But in Indianapolis... Black voters saw another 0:17:43.700 --> 0:17:47.199 side of Bobby Kennedy. They saw a wounded man who 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.350 was still grieving his brother's loss. And when he talked 0:17:50.510 --> 0:17:53.850 about breaking the cycles of violence and racism and poverty 0:17:53.890 --> 0:17:58.250 in America, they believed him. Rosie Greer believed him, too. 0:17:58.790 --> 0:18:03.060 From that moment, he never left Bobby's side, all the 0:18:03.100 --> 0:18:17.840 way through to that fateful June night in California. The 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.360 1968 presidential race was a wild one. Lyndon Johnson, the 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.770 sitting president, was still eligible for another term, but liberal 0:18:26.810 --> 0:18:31.470 Democratic voters were increasingly frustrated with Johnson's handling of Vietnam. 0:18:32.070 --> 0:18:35.830 That left LBJ vulnerable to a challenge for the Democratic 0:18:35.869 --> 0:18:40.770 nomination in 68. Bobby Kennedy wasn't the first liberal Democrat 0:18:40.810 --> 0:18:44.010 to throw his hat in the ring. Senator Eugene McCarthy 0:18:44.050 --> 0:18:48.650 from Minnesota said, entered the race in November 1967 as 0:18:49.150 --> 0:18:55.109 the anti-war candidate. McCarthy surprised everyone by winning 42% of 0:18:55.150 --> 0:19:00.170 the first Democratic primary in New Hampshire, exposing Johnson's weakness 0:19:00.230 --> 0:19:04.540 as a candidate. Four days later, Bobby Kennedy entered the race, 0:19:05.040 --> 0:19:10.200 and Johnson got the memo. On March 31, 1968, LBJ 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:12.600 addressed the nation from the Oval Office. 0:19:12.980 --> 0:19:13.950 I shall not see you. 0:19:15.150 --> 0:19:18.689 And I will not accept the nomination of my party 0:19:18.750 --> 0:19:20.570 for another term as your president. 0:19:21.550 --> 0:19:25.450 It was a shocking turn of events. But with Johnson out, 0:19:25.750 --> 0:19:29.530 the Democratic field was wide open. The three candidates with 0:19:29.590 --> 0:19:34.300 the most buzz were McCarthy, Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey, LBJ's 0:19:34.340 --> 0:19:37.480 vice president. In the early going, the race was neck 0:19:37.540 --> 0:19:42.300 and neck. McCarthy won a few primaries. Humphrey accumulated some delegates. 0:19:42.710 --> 0:19:46.440 And Kennedy scored a key win in Indiana after his 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:51.899 moving MLK speech. The big prize was calculated. a huge 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.330 winner take all primary that many people thought would decide 0:19:55.380 --> 0:20:00.429 the whole race. The Kennedy campaign needed California badly. Bobby 0:20:00.510 --> 0:20:03.010 even said that if he lost in California, he would 0:20:03.030 --> 0:20:09.409 drop out. With so much on the line, Kennedy's campaign 0:20:09.450 --> 0:20:15.129 strategy in California was clear. While McCarthy took his anti-war 0:20:15.210 --> 0:20:19.429 message to college campuses, Bobby spent his time in struggling 0:20:19.609 --> 0:20:25.440 urban neighborhoods talking about jobs, inequality, and civil rights. It 0:20:25.500 --> 0:20:28.600 makes sense that Bobby wanted a guy like Rosie Greer 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:31.879 by his side in California. Rosie was a celebrity, a 0:20:32.000 --> 0:20:36.330 star athlete, and popular entertainer. But even more importantly, Rosie 0:20:36.690 --> 0:20:37.290 was Black. 0:20:37.790 --> 0:20:40.710 Bobby Kennedy loved having stars around him the way all 0:20:40.750 --> 0:20:43.530 the Kennedys always did. You know, Frank Sinatra and you 0:20:43.570 --> 0:20:46.990 name it, anybody who was big and hip was a 0:20:47.190 --> 0:20:51.560 Kennedy person. But he also was reaching out to Black 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.020 America in a way that they thought was legitimate. When 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.119 you went to Bobby's rallies after that night of the 0:20:58.180 --> 0:21:02.440 King assassination, from then until the time Bobby died, When 0:21:02.500 --> 0:21:04.920 he would have rallies in black communities, there was always 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:08.179 one sign that went up somewhere in that rally. And 0:21:08.220 --> 0:21:11.810 that sign said to me everything. And it seems modest now. 0:21:11.970 --> 0:21:16.030 It said white, but all right. That may not sound 0:21:16.050 --> 0:21:19.560 like much of an endorsement, but for people in an 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:22.100 angry black America at that time to say that a 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:25.080 white guy like Bobby Kennedy, the ultimate sort of white guy, 0:21:25.590 --> 0:21:27.570 was okay, was really unusual. 0:21:27.930 --> 0:21:31.170 Rosie stumped for Bobby in the black neighborhoods of L.A. 0:21:31.250 --> 0:21:34.580 and San Francisco. Rosie sat next to Bobby in his 0:21:34.690 --> 0:21:38.639 open convertible as it drove through streets lined with black supporters. 0:21:39.119 --> 0:21:42.680 Rosie even sang a few songs at Bobby's rallies, all 0:21:42.700 --> 0:21:46.200 of which makes you wonder... Was Bobby Kennedy just using 0:21:46.260 --> 0:21:50.420 Rosie to win credibility in the Black community? Rosie wasn't naive. 0:21:50.859 --> 0:21:54.109 In his football and entertainment career, he had plenty of 0:21:54.190 --> 0:21:56.850 experience being a Black man in a white man's game. 0:21:57.510 --> 0:22:00.430 Michael Weinreb asked Rosie about this directly. 0:22:00.950 --> 0:22:03.570 He acknowledged that maybe that was part of it, but 0:22:03.609 --> 0:22:06.889 he also said that this was his choice. This was 0:22:06.950 --> 0:22:09.420 what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a 0:22:09.430 --> 0:22:12.240 part of this campaign. He really believed that Bobby Kennedy 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:15.600 could make things better for the black community. And so 0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:19.560 that's kind of why he wound up getting as involved 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:20.060 as he did. 0:22:23.020 --> 0:22:26.260 One of Rosie's unofficial jobs on the Kennedy campaign was 0:22:26.300 --> 0:22:30.659 as a backup bodyguard. Security was obviously a major concern. 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:34.619 MLK was killed just months before. And of course, Bobby's 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:39.200 own brother was assassinated. Bobby received a steady stream of 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:43.990 death threats. which terrified Ethel. But Bobby took a fatalistic attitude. 0:22:44.410 --> 0:22:46.929 If someone really wanted to kill him, there was nothing 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:50.960 he could do. In the meantime, he refused to let 0:22:51.020 --> 0:22:55.480 his actions be dictated by fear. The campaign had only 0:22:55.940 --> 0:23:01.199 one full-time bodyguard, an ex-FBI agent named Bill Berry. And 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:04.220 Berry would later say that one of the biggest obstacles 0:23:04.300 --> 0:23:08.460 to Bobby's safety was Bobby himself. He refused to play 0:23:08.500 --> 0:23:12.229 it safe. The day before the California primary, Bobby was 0:23:12.350 --> 0:23:16.000 riding in his open convertible, as usual, shaking hands with 0:23:16.100 --> 0:23:19.820 crowds of supporters in San Francisco's Chinatown. When the air 0:23:19.900 --> 0:23:22.540 was pierced with a rapid fire, pop, pop, pop, pop, 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:27.570 Ethel dove for cover behind the seats, but Bobby was unfazed. 0:23:27.890 --> 0:23:31.750 He kept waving and shaking hands. It turned out to 0:23:31.790 --> 0:23:35.330 be a string of firecrackers, but it could have been 0:23:35.369 --> 0:23:38.919 a gun. Everyone around Bobby wished he took his own 0:23:39.030 --> 0:23:42.869 safety more seriously. But Bobby said he would rather risk 0:23:42.930 --> 0:23:47.489 his life than ride around in a bulletproof limousine like LBJ. 0:23:48.010 --> 0:23:50.850 Bobby said, we can't have that kind of country where 0:23:50.869 --> 0:23:56.840 the president is afraid to go among the people. The 0:23:56.900 --> 0:23:59.980 night of the California primary, June 4th, the results came 0:24:00.100 --> 0:24:04.570 in at close to midnight. Kennedy's campaign strategy had paid off. 0:24:05.369 --> 0:24:09.169 Bobby did it. He won California. It was the biggest 0:24:09.230 --> 0:24:13.450 political victory of Bobby's career and had him steaming towards 0:24:13.510 --> 0:24:18.240 the Democratic nomination. Larry Tye thinks that had things gone differently, 0:24:18.660 --> 0:24:21.760 Bobby would have crushed Richard Nixon in the general election. 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:26.520 The significance of winning that state of California, the biggest 0:24:26.800 --> 0:24:29.359 primary in terms of the number of delegates, but also 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:33.290 in terms of national attention, the implication of that, in 0:24:33.350 --> 0:24:36.199 my mind, was very clear that Bobby Kennedy was going 0:24:36.220 --> 0:24:37.180 to be our next president. 0:24:37.920 --> 0:24:42.320 Rosie rushed down to the Ambassador Hotel to celebrate with Bobby, Ethel, 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:45.460 and the rest of the campaign staff. Rosie wasn't there 0:24:45.540 --> 0:24:49.340 in an official capacity. Bodyguard Bill Berry was on duty. 0:24:49.660 --> 0:24:52.439 But when Bobby took the stage in the ballroom, Rosie 0:24:52.510 --> 0:24:55.250 was right there behind him, basking in the glow of 0:24:55.310 --> 0:25:00.430 a history-making moment. To Rosie, it felt like anything was possible. 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:03.580 When he talked about that moment, I mean, he was 0:25:03.640 --> 0:25:07.280 on cloud nine because you could feel the energy, not 0:25:07.300 --> 0:25:10.220 just in that room, but across the country about what 0:25:10.820 --> 0:25:16.020 was about to happen. And you go back, you know, whatever, two, 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:18.459 three months earlier and Martin Luther King getting killed and 0:25:18.480 --> 0:25:21.359 the air just coming out of the country, out of 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:24.240 that movement. And so this was a guy Bobby Kennedy 0:25:24.280 --> 0:25:26.100 was doing that night with that speech. And that moment 0:25:26.160 --> 0:25:29.350 was just reminding people of all the good things that 0:25:29.369 --> 0:25:33.380 can come that are on the table and that they 0:25:33.420 --> 0:25:36.000 weren't going to be denied. That, yeah, there had been 0:25:36.020 --> 0:25:39.160 some atrocities happen, but this was a night when great 0:25:39.200 --> 0:25:41.580 things were about to happen and were on the horizon. 0:25:45.440 --> 0:25:48.300 There's a lot of video footage from the ballroom of 0:25:48.340 --> 0:25:52.360 the Ambassador Hotel that night. The TV networks were closely 0:25:52.420 --> 0:25:56.580 covering the primary and carried Bobby's victory speech live, including 0:25:56.660 --> 0:25:58.100