Chapters 36-38: Images; The Dilemma; the Decision Summary and Analysis

By 1967, Robert Kennedy was both idealist and realist. The idealist could see an America transformed with substantive change that created real opportunities for the disadvantaged. The realist could see that the structures of politics in Washington would speak to the issues but avoid the hard work and cost involved in putting talk into action. America's domestic and international situation was both violent and bleak; ghettos were exploding; 525,000 troops were stuck in Vietnam in a futile conflict; 13,000 soldiers were dead; open opposition to the war across the country was loud and sometimes violent. The Johnson administration was falling apart, and Johnson himself was isolating himself, becoming, as some believed, more and more irrational and paranoid. Within this framework, Kennedy considered the possibility of running for the 1968 nomination, but faced a...