“Millions of people have gone out and said, ‘Stop, don’t do that.’ And that is a wonderful thing.” — Peter Edelman

We are in Washington DC this week, in search of America’s heart. And there may be no better guide than Peter Edelman — one of the few remaining members of the Bobby Kennedy braintrust. Edelman was a close Kennedy aide from just after JFK’s assassination through the 1968 presidential campaign. He watched Bobby find himself after his brother’s death — grow from a man defined by serving JFK into the last progressive populist able to unite Black and white working-class Americans.

Edelman’s personal and political stories are inseparable from Bobby. In Mississippi, on the 1967 senatorial trip where Kennedy saw firsthand what he called the “third world” poverty in the Delta, Edelman met Marian Wright — the civil rights lawyer who would become his wife. They married a month after Bobby’s assassination, only the third interracial couple ever to marry in Virginia.

“Let’s do something good,” Marian and Peter said to each other when they decided to get married.

Everything Edelman did afterward was connected with Kennedy’s vision of ending poverty in America. Especially when he worked in the first Clinton administration. But when Clinton converted federal poverty aid into block grants and the number of Americans receiving help dropped from seventeen to three million, Edelman very publicly resigned. Clinton needlessly and cruelly threw low-income people overboard, Edelman told me.

Has Edelman given up on Donald Trump’s America? No. Millions of citizens, especially in his native Minnesota, are speaking out. “Stop, don’t do that,” is his RFK-inspired mantra. Proof, Peter Edelman believes, that the American heart is still beating.

Five Takeaways

• Bobby Kennedy Was the Most Important Person in His Life: Edelman was Kennedy’s principal aide from just after JFK’s assassination through the 1968 presidential campaign. He travelled with him every day across America. He watched Bobby find himself after his brother’s death — grow from a man defined by serving Jack into the last progressive populist who could unite Black and white working-class Americans.

• He Met Marian Wright in Mississippi: Bobby Kennedy found a profoundly malnourished child in Cleveland, Mississippi. He also found Marian Wright — already one of the most remarkable civil rights lawyers in the country. Edelman and Wright married one month after Bobby’s assassination. They were the third interracial couple to marry in Virginia. “Let’s do something good,” they said to each other after the killing.

• Trump’s Picture Hangs on the Building Bobby Once Ran: The Department of Justice building in Washington is now named after Robert F. Kennedy. On it hangs a large picture of Donald Trump — almost dictatorial in feel. Edelman says Bobby would call him out, just as the millions of Americans speaking out are doing now.

• He Broke with Clinton Over Poverty: Edelman and his wife had known the Clintons for years — Bill and Hillary stayed at their house. But when Clinton converted federal poverty aid into block grants, the number of Americans receiving help dropped from seventeen million to three million. Edelman resigned. He threw low-income people overboard, Edelman says. He didn’t have to.

• Stop, Don’t Do That: Millions of Americans are speaking out against the current administration. That, Edelman says, is a wonderful thing. It’s the clearest articulation right now of what it means to be an American. Stop, don’t do that. Bobby Kennedy would have said exactly the same thing.

About the Guest

Peter Edelman is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center. He served as principal aide to Robert F. Kennedy and in the Clinton administration. He is the author of So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America. He is married to Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund.

References:

• So Rich, So Poor by Peter Edelman — his book on poverty in America.

• Episode 2849: How Stories Can Save Us — Colum McCann on empathy and storytelling. Kennedy’s method was the original version.

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen. In Keen On America, Andrew brings his pointed Transatlantic wit to making sense of the United States — hosting daily interviews about the history and future of this now venerable Republic. With nearly 2,800 episodes since the show launched on TechCrunch in 2010, Keen On America is the most prolific intellectual interview show in the history of podcasting.

Chapters:

(01:11) - Introduction: looking for America’s heart in Washington DC
(03:15) - Bobby Kennedy was the most important person in my life
(04:44) - Trump’s picture on the Department of Justice building Bobby once ran
(06:16) - Mississippi: meeting Marian Wright in the Delta
(09:37) - The third interracial couple to marry in Virginia
(11:23) - Married one month after the assassination: let’s do something good
(12:11) - Cleveland, Mississippi: Bobby finds a malnourished child
(13:38) - Are the Trump Republicans winding the clock back before civil rights?
(15:08) - Everything I did afterward was connected to his thinking
(17:08) - How Bobby became himself after Jack’s death
(19:20) - The last man to unite the Black and white working classes
(20:30) - The third son of one of the richest men in America
(22:45) - The Ambassador Hotel: I was at home, it was three in the morning
(24:44) - Would he have won? I think he would have made it
(26:54) - Breaking with Clinton: he threw low-income people overboard
(33:08) - Stop, don’t do that: where the hope is