Oct. 5, 1964 | Robert F. Kennedy at Columbia University

[Applause] the New York Democratic State committee brings you the following videotape report of parts of a meeting between a group of New York college students and the Democratic candidate for United States Senate Robert Kennedy we're here tonight there's very little more I can say except to introduce first Mrs Ethel Kennedy who's sitting over here [Applause] and secondly the former Attorney General of the United States and candidate for the United States Senate from New York Robert F Kennedy [Applause] a uh bright group of students I've learned I've learned to say that since I've been a account I thought maybe that you'd have uh some questions and we could just proceed and I'll if the things that are not brought out maybe I just say them in the end you want to try to do that go ahead uh sir could you tell us why you chose to run run from New York rather than Massachusetts or Virginia or someplace else my uh brother was in the Navy and uh originally in intelligence and he uh went to uh make a speech to a group as to what you do when a bomb Falls and the fire breaks out and so he explain what you do uh that you throw sand on fire or you throw water on the fire and if you you throw water on the fire that you're throw supposed to throw the sand on it spreads it so you have to be very careful of what you do and then uh he said at the end of the speech after he'd spoken for about 15 minutes he said now are there any questions and uh somebody put up their hand and said well how do you tell one fire from the other and he said well there's a fellow coming next week who'll explain that but I will explain [Music] that first place I have a close Association identifi identification with the state of New York I've lived in the state of New York much longer than I lived any other place I lived here for the first 20 years of my life I went away then to college and I went away to law school and I went away to work I worked the last 13 years in Washington now so even if I was living in the state of New York for a longer period of time I'd still be in Washington as I had been I've uh our place of business we had a home here in the state of New York my family since I was a year old we've had a home or an apartment here since that time and our major place of business for my family has been the state of New York but even beyond that which I think is more important if the election's going to be decided based on my accent or where uh I also have other associations with I think that the people going to vote for my opponent I think that the election really should be decided on the basis of what can which of the my opponent or myself can do more for the state of New York and make the greatest amount of difference for this state and for this country over the period of the next six years again if it's going to be judged on who's lived here in the state of New York longer than my opponent has but then maybe you should elect the oldest man in the state of New [Music] York um Mr Kennedy uh I'd like to ask you a question which seems to me very close to the heart of the matter and if it sounds blunt uh so be it um aren't you really using New York State as a kind of jumping off place for your own presidential [Applause] Ambitions first let me say I would like I have really two choices over the period of the last uh 10 months I could have stayed in uh I could have retired and uh and I I have father has done very well and I could have lived off [Music] him or I could have uh continued to work for the government I mean that's my major interest and the major interest of my family again I don't see anything really Sinister about that we've all worked for the United States government I'd like to continue to work for the United States government now I think that to uh being a United States Senator having seen that in my own family I think is a position a very lofty position and a position where you can accomplish a great deal we talked you asked me about the fact that I want to use this as a jumping off place I don't know where I can jump off to as we have a Democratic president he's going to be elected in 1964 in my judgment he's going to be reelected he's going to get be reelected 1968 so that the earliest that I'm going to be jumping off someplace is 1972 which is 8 years from now I'm going to have to be a wonderful United States senator from eight years I'm going to have to [Applause] get I'm I'm going to have I'm going to have to be reelected in six years I'm going to have to run and peer before the people of the state of New York I'm going to have to have done a good job in the state of New York I don't see me working and making this kind of effort that New York loses anything by it I here somebody else outside said are you going to serve your whole six years I don't know where I'd go frankly I don't need the title because I could be called General I understand for the rest of my life I've been a and I don't need the money and I don't need the office space so I I would just I mean Frank as it is and maybe it's difficult to understand in the state of New York I'd like to just be a good United States Senator I'd like to serve Mr Kennedy just how extensive is your moral commitment to civil rights in New York [Music] [Music] state I've been involved in the struggle now for uh three and a half years I think I've indicated how I feel about it all over the country and the efforts that I've made uh and I think that uh I think that uh a good deal more can be done elsewhere in my judgment the answer as far as the state of New York is concerned now rests with education and it rests with employment and it rests with decent housing and it rests with the proper Recreation facilities and it rests basically in giving our young people some hope now let me just say that for instance there's 26 A half% of the young Negroes in the city of New York who are out of school and out of work the Negro child going to many of the schools in Harlem between the third grade and the sixth grade loses 10 points on his IQ by the time he gets to the eighth grade he's already two years behind white students uh the dropout rate amongst Negros in some of these areas where the schooling is not as good as in white areas the dropout rate sometimes goes up to 75 or 80% I think therefore we have to have a major effort in the field of Education the education effort must start for with children who are three years old and four years old because many of these children come from broken homes they come from uh parents who are illiterate they never hear an intelligent conversation at home they never have anybody read them read them a book so by the time even that they start in the first grade they're culturally deprived I think that's what we tried to do in the Haru and act effort here in the city of New York focusing attention on the fact that these children even at that young age need attention and need help then if they're bringing homor back at the second or third grade and nobody's there to make them do their homework you know I've seen my own children and if you don't make them do their homework then they don't do their homework and if uh nobody knows how to read in their home a third to third to a half in of the homes that these children come from are broken homes and a high percentage of their one parent that stays with them is illiterate so they're never going to get any homework done nobody's going to so I think we have to set up special efforts to make sure this places for them to study because the housing is insufficient overcrowded substandard and I think that we have to have special counselors and I think we have to have make a special effort for for reading to make sure that they continue reading because that's the key uh then I think also we have to do more as far as employment we have almost 500,000 people who are unemployed here in the state of New York twice as many percentage wise Negroes are unemployed as whites some areas of the state of New York it goes up to three and three and a half times as many I think therefore what we can do as far as bringing new jobs and keeping industry here here in the state is going to be terribly important we're going to have to find here in the city of New York alone 650,000 new jobs by 1970 we're going to have to find a million jobs in the state of New York by 1970 where they're going to come from we're going to have employment for those who are educated and those who are trained but those who are illiterate and uneducated they are the ones that are going to have difficulty so that's where I think we have to make the effort your views are radically opposed to Senator Kings on such Fields as education and housing although Senator keing voted for the housing bills of 61 64 could you please elaborate on other specific issues which the views of uh your and Senator Kings differ radically well I gave you uh basically where I disagree I disagree on those two very important areas I don't think it's just a question of voting on the final bill I think it's a question of what you do while you while the bill is coming up and what you what kind of amendments you support I think that's important in education and it's also important in housing I think these are two of the major pieces of legislation or major areas which affect the people of the state of New York third very important matter it's my whole concept of being a United States Senator I look over the period of the last three and a half years of the problems that I suppose the basic problems that are facing the state of New York housing education Transportation Hospital construction those well in the field of Education it wasn't the junior senator from the state of New York who led the fight on that it was the senator from the state of Oregon and unemployment which is another problem it wasn't the junior senator from the state of New York who led the fight on the floor of the United State Senate it was the senator from the state of West Virginia it was the senator from the state of Pennsylvania and it was the senator from the state of M in the field of Hospital construction it's a major problem here in the city of New York and the state of New York there wasn't a junior senator from the state of New York who led that fight it was the senator from the state of Alabama in the question in the area of Transportation it wasn't the junior senator from the state of New York who led that fight it was a senator from the state of New Jersey I mean for instance what is the keing bill I mean that's the problem [Applause] now President Kennedy wrote a book uh 10 years ago profiles and courage was story of 12 United States senators 12 United States senators who made a contribution it wasn't just a question of the fact that they voted on measures that were offered by somebody else and they were written about in a book they did something themselves they gave some Direction they met made a difference in their constituency they made a difference in the United States I mean when you think of the great senators from the state of New York Robert Wagner you don't think of go he he showed up for more roll calls than anybody else you don't think of Herbert Leman he followed the leadership or somebody else he was the conscience of the United States Senate that's the kind of leadership I say that we look at the Department of Justice over the period of the last three and a half years we passed more legislation dealing came out of the department just any other period dur in in history passed seven bills dealing with organized crime the Civil Rights bill the efforts for the Indigent and the poor providing Council for them as well as many many other areas I think this was important I think this was a direction this wasn't just going out and making a speech about the matter we talked about the other day about immigration we did something when the Chinese came out of uh communist China into Hong Kong we got them over here to the United States it wasn't just a question of putting out a press release anybody can do that but I just I ask all of you even those of you who are opposed to me if you can name one bill other if you can name one bill which holds his name I talk about the Civil Rights bill I suppose nobody's spoken about civil rights more than my opponent but he didn't have a CL he didn't have one thing to do with the pass of the Civil Rights bill I mean he spoke for it I think it's fine that he voted for it I think a United States Senator however is more than that I think it's giving some leadership and I think particularly for the state of New York it's giving some direction it's giving some leadership it's showing some imagination I think we have problems to face in this country I think we have problems to face in this state over the period of the next 10 years as President Kennedy said we have the capacity to make this the best generation in the history of mankind or make it the last and I don't think that we can just afford to stand still or sit I think that we have to give some direction and I think that the Senate of the United States is a place where the problems that we're going to work out the problems that are facing this country internally the problems that are facing us around the world the Senate's going to give some leadership the Senate's going to give some direction and I don't think the state state of New York should have any other than is somebody who's going to make that kind of effort I don't think that we can afford in the 1960s any state anybody in the United States Senate just being a follower that's where I disagree your opponent has made many charges opposing your candidacy and one of those was made recently in Buffalo at the NAACP meeting he accused you of walking out on the Civil Rights Movement by resigning as attorney general during the the thick of the fight uh do you have an answer to this accusation well I think it's typical what we've done in this campaign first uh went before the NAACP who were aware of what I've done in the field of civil rights and uh put out an advanced text that I'd run out in the effort for fight for civil rights he appeared before the NAACP and he praised me said I had been a wonderful attorney general that we' fought together on the same side in civil rights and i' had been one of the great attorney generals in the field of civil rights then he walked out of there he was asked by reporters whether he stood by his Advanced text or what or the praise that he'd given of me before the nacp and he said I stand by my Advanced text the result was that all across the state was the statement that you've just stated that I ran out on civil rights he didn't dare say that to the NAACP which knew differently I came the next day and I read both statements to them but uh I it's the same thing as far as the this question of uh of the inter handle company first place uh this was the charge that he made against me two weeks ago that I had dealt with Nazis first let me say that he is the one that introduced the legislation for the sale of the company he urged me to he urged me to make the settlement he wrote me letters to make the settlement while this was going this is 18 months ago when the settlement was announced he spoke on the floor of the United States Senate in favor of the settlement and said it was fine he also brought up the question of whether any of this money would go to Nazis and he said none of the money would go to nais he satisfied himself that he looked into it and it wouldn't go to Nazis I'm as attorney general 17 of the last 18 months never raised this question he did raise the question in all honesty he raised the question maybe too much money was being paid but if one penny was being paid to Nazis it was wrong but never had the question about the fact that any of this money was going to Nazi interest I become a candidate for the United States Senate and suddenly in the middle of a senatorial campaign I've made a deal with with Nazis 18 months later he was on the Judiciary Committee I was Attorney General of the United States if it was anything wrong with it all he had to do is call me before the Judiciary Committee but not not only not that but he wrote me letters of Praise he spoke to newspapers about how good he thought this was was going to bring new jobs to the state of New York he was 100% in favor of it I think that first his statement on the as far as the NAACP was an attempt to Prejudice those who were interested in civil rights against my candidacy I think as far as the statement on uh the Nazi deal was an effort to influence the voters of the state of New York particularly Jewish voters who suffered so much from the Nazis against my candidacy I lost both my brother and my brother-in-law in the fight against Nazis I'm not making a deal with Nazi let me also say that two days ago he said that I had sold out an immigration never done anything on immigration it was our legislation before the Senate of the United States which is before his Committee of which he's a member which dealt with immigration was the the Department of Justice who made the special arrangement to permit the Chinese to come in here I was the we are the first time that came out first group which and the legislation was drawn up in the Department of Justice against came out against the national quot system which he has not done I think it's a difficult [Music] [Applause] campaign many of us have been wondering whether or not you were going to ever issue a concise statement on your position in regards to the McCarthy hearings and the purges of Senator Jo Joseph McCarthy would you be willing to offer a statement now I went to work in 1953 for the um committee that was headed by Senator McCarthy there was a democratic Council for that Comm committee Mr Flanigan was kept over from the previous committee headed by the Democrats he hired me I went to work for him I was not involved in any of the Communist hearings of Senator McCarthy during that period of time which I work for the committee I worked for the committee for approximately 6 months I disagreed with what was happening on the committee which I did not have any personal involvement but other things that they were doing I was a member of the staff I reached the conclusion that I didn't want to have anything to do with it so I went to Senate McCarthy and I said that I disagreed with what they were doing and I wasn't going to stay with the committee any longer and I left in June of 1953 I went then for the with the Hoover Commission the Democratic members also walked off the committee I left the committee I went to the Hoover Commission in February of 1954 the Democrats came back on the committee they had enough confidence in me that they hired me as their counsel to represent them I went through the Army McCarthy hearing as the council for the Democrats with the council Senator McCullen senator sen Simon Senator Jackson I was the one that wrote the report on Senator McCarthy and the Army McCarthy hearings I wrote that report and which was signed by the Democratic members and and uh was written by me and uh so that's my record I I believe at a rather young age I stood up on a question of principle uh since you have haven't lived in New York state recently do you feel that that you understand the state's problems today well I think I do as I said earlier I think that the fact that I've been involved in all of these matters I mean I've the the effort that was made in Harlem dealing with young people were set up by me as chairman of the committee on juvenile delinquency uh har you enact those those efforts were made the effort that was made up in the city of Syracuse set up by me as chairman of the committee on juvenile delinquency the great problem I would think in the state of New York now is to make sure that people of different races and colors can live together there's been nobody that's been more in the center of that than I had uh over the period of the last three and a half years or the question of employment the question of housing that uh that effort and the question of Education those efforts were all I was intimately involved in all of those efforts over the period of the last three and a half years in the administration they had an effect in the state of New York bringing new industry into the state of New York bringing new industry making sure there are enough jobs that came about through the tax cut and the depreciation uh allowance that we put through in 1963 all of these matters were matters which I was intimately involved in I was directly involved in I was involved in the consultation and the drawing up of the legislation and as I say even beyond that it's a question of survival and I've been involved in that so I think I understand the problem the state I've been all over this state now and everybody I've had a lot of press conferences a lot of questions have been asked of me if anybody can ask me a question about any matter that involves the state of New York and find out whether I know what I'm talking about that's the easiest way I've opened myself to all of you if I don't know the problems of the state of New York then it should be demonstrated by asking me a question to find out if my answer makes any [Applause] sense sir you mentioned the question of Housing and on this specific issue it's well known that the problems of New York City are perhaps larger in any other area what specifically would you do which it hasn't been done before to bring better Housing Programs to the city of New York and to the entire state of New York well first there are a million people as you point out there are a million people who are living in substandard overcrowded housing in the city of New York or another million outside the city of New York actually as much or more has been done about housing in the city of New York as any other City comparable or or any other large city in the United States the problem is that New York's bigger than any other city so the result is there are greater problems here than any other place as far as public housing is concern I'd extend that program and expand it I'd also expand the program for Middle income housing I'd also make an effort uh for urban renewal in a different with different emphasis than there is at the present time I try to rehabilitate some of the establishments that are now in existence rather than just knocking them down I'd also make more of an effort to uh take care of those who are moved out in a urban renewal program they get moved out of one area there the more expensive project that's placed in that area they can't afford the rent what happens to them they go back into another slum so we're not really dealing with the slum problems so I would make more of a I would have more of an emphasis on that I'd also put greater emphasis on providing housing for people over the age of 65 we have more people over the age of 65 living in in this state than any other state of the union almost 2 million a million of them live under poverty conditions widows in the state of New York on the average live on an income of $880 a year well you can't get by with that there are twice as many people over the age of 65 percentage wise who are living in overcrowded and substandard housing than those under the age of 65 so I'd make a special effort to help them let me just say I run for the United States Senate because I think it's such an important position because I want to play a role and uh I saw her over the period of the last three and a half years and I say this to you some of you who support my candidacy and some who do not more in a nonpartisan way and I saw in the last three and a half years really what a difference an individual can make and I uh if I saw anything or learned anything it was really that and I think particularly those who are educated and those of you such as yourselves those of you who are took the effort to come here tonight are interested in politics are interested in government I think to continue that interest after you leave college is absolutely essential if we're going to have success in this country and success in this state and success in the world and I I saw it whether it be in the peace score I saw it with people that headed up agencies and departments the fact that they showed some initiative or showed some imagination or uh were able willing to to go out into areas that had never been attacked before that's what made the difference in the government over the period in the last three and a half years it's not that we made the problems disappear but it was that kind of an effort and I think that that's what we need uh in the United States over the period of the next 10 years as President Kennedy said we have the capacity to make this the best generation in the history of mankind or make it the last I think that we H can make it the best generation but I think really it's going to rest with those who are educated those people who are trained whether they are going to participate or whether they're going to say this is some the problem or responsibility of somebody else that's why I think the all of you who have had the advantage of an education here just as I've had the advantage of an education that we have a special and particular responsibility when we look and analyze where our government came from or our system of government where it originated we think back to the Greeks and what their idea really was a participation and what Pericles said in his funeral oration that we differ from other states and that we regard the individual who holds himself aloof from public affairs as being useless yet we yield to one in our independence of spirit and complete self-reliance I think that's what has to guide us and the Greeks the word idiot coming from that individual who didn't participate who wasn't actively involved President Kennedy's favorite quote was really from Dante at the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality so if all of us whether it's in the field of civil rights or housing or whether it's in Vietnam or whatever it is just hang back and say this is the problem of somebody else if we're going going to permit what's going on in Harlem now of those young children grow up uneducated and untrained and dissatisfied with life and dissatisfied with their future and feeling that there is nothing in this system then uh we're going to be in difficulty even if we look at this selfishly we're going to be in difficulty the whole system's going to be in difficulty sople said one time well what Joy is there and in the day the follows day some Swift some slow with death the only goal and really that's what many of our fellow citizens whether they're in Appalachia or whether they're in Harlem or whether they're the white children live in some of these other areas where there's no future or even our elderly people over the age of 65 who feel that there's not any future for them that all they're going to do is die and get sick and go have to take a PO these I think are our responsibilities these are your responsibilities just as they are mine I hope that I win as a United States Senator but even if I don't I think that for all of us we have an obligation we have a responsibility if we don't do it then nobody's going to do it and if educated people don't do it then nobody's going to do it the people that are going to make the difference for this country and for the world are educated people and we have a special not only responsibility but a special opportunity to make a difference in the world and make a difference for this country and that's really uh what I come to say to you I think of uh What uh Archimedes said and perhaps it's a little explaining the lver and he said show me where I can stand and I can move the world and I think that we can I think that we started it three and a half years ago and I think we can continue it and uh I don't think it's just a question of political belief but I think that we can make a difference and so thank [Applause] you let's put Robert Kennedy to work for New York on November 3rd vote for the Johnson Humphrey Kennedy team so