Ripple of Hope

Articles nos. 1 - 3 below are magazine coverage of Senator Kennedy’s South African visit.  No. 4 is the important Look Magazine article published by Senator Kennedy shortly after his return from South Africa.  Nos. 5 and 6 are interesting articles about the situation in South Africa in the 1960’s.

TIME, June 17th, 1966
AMERICANS ABROAD; With Bobby in Darkest Africa

Newsweek, June 20th, 1966
KENNEDY IN AFRICA: A Sympathetic Chord

US News and World Report, June 20th, 1966
With Robert Kennedy In White Africa

The New Yorker, July 9th, 1966
Kennedy on Africa
This article, published shortly after Robert Kennedy's return to the US, is the only one discovered to date where Robert Kennedy is quoted talking about his South African visit.

LOOK Magazine August 23rd, 1966
Suppose God is Black by Senator Robert F. Kennedy
This article was published by Senator Kennedy three months after his return from South Africa. It is an excellent first hand account of the visit. It is also useful for those who want more background information on South Africa in the mid-sixties.

It is an excellent first hand account of the visit.

Perspective on Ideas and the Arts Chicago, May 1963
This rare interview of Chief Albert Luthuli by Studs Terkel was conducted in secret in the vicinity of Chief Luthuli’s house in Groutville where he was restricted by his banning order.

The New Republic, May 1964
Fruits of Apartheid

This article was written under the shadow of the Rivonia Trial where it was still feared that Nelson Mandela and his colleagues would be hung.

[One shudders to think what the subsequent history of South Africa would have been like if this had occurred. Instead, they were given life sentences and imprisoned on Robben Island-off the coast of Cape Town. They were there when Senator Kennedy visited Cape Town in 1966. He discussed flying over Robben Island on his flight into Cape Town in the article he published in Look (see above).]

Note: Because it is not possible to get screen readable images of the original magazine articles, the articles in this section are reproductions of the originals. Some accommodations had to be made to layout issues but the text is 100 percent accurate.