A Passionate Intent

As the son of a multimillionaire, Robert F. Kennedy grew up to know the lush green lawns of Palm Beach, the snowy slopes of Vermont, the blue skies and waters of Hyannisport. He reached manhood with the barest notion of what life is like in the slums, and with scant concern for the hollow-eyed and hungry who people them.

Nevertheless, when he was assassinated last June in Los Angeles, Bobby Kennedy was the idol of the poor and the deprived, worshiped by blacks, Mexican-Americans and Indians. Cynics were never able to reconcile this devotion. They believed that Kennedy exploited the poor for selfish political purposes. In fact, R.F.K. did many things for political reasons, and his initial interest in the poor may have been in part politically motivated.

Yet no one who knew him doubted the depth and sincerity of his devotion to the people of the "other America" when he found them. He never talked more movingly than when he described the poor. "Have you ever noticed the faces of the children?" he would ask friends. "Up to a certain age, they are so much freer and less inhibited than the faces of well-to-do children. Then, when they are twelve or 13, those faces take on the hopeless look of their parents. They sense what they are up against."

Unmet Needs. Bob Kennedy had scarcely begun his fight to change the condition of the poor. Last week his widow, sisters and surviving brother established a memorial that they hope will accomplish some of what he sought to do. On the sloping back lawn of the Robert Kennedy home in McLean, Va., the family announced its plan for a Robert F. Kennedy memorial foundation. "We hope to form several task-force groups," said Edward Kennedy, "and to enlist the young. It is a most appropriate memorial--a living memorial --to carry on his concern, compassion and interest in the unmet needs of our country."

The Senator's parents will be honorary chairmen of the project, and former R.F.K. Aide Fred Dutton will direct its operations. Dutton said the memorial will begin with such programs as luring college and high school students into work in the ghettos. "This is the sort of thing," said Ted Kennedy, "that he would have been doing."

The immediate task is to begin raising the $10 million that will be necessary to establish the programs. It remains a question, of course, how effective any such crusade, however passionately intended, can be. Ted Kennedy himself is likely to encounter criticism that the effort is political. Yet the memorial could well serve to help dissipate the miseries of the poor. If it does, it will be true to the finest side of Robert Kennedy.

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