Robert Kennedy’s loss to Eugene McCarthy made the June 4 California primary must win for him. The California primary was especially significant because the state had a unique winner-take-all rule for the delegates. Every other state allocated delegates in rough proportion to the candidates’ share of the popular vote. In contrast, California awarded all 174 delegates to the popular vote winner.
Back in 1968, around 66% to 75% of the delegates were chosen by party leaders in caucuses and conventions that they controlled. There were only 13 primaries. Candidates ran in primary elections to prove to the party bosses that they were the most electable general election candidate.
If Kennedy were to win California, that would cause party leaders — like Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago — to move the large blocs of delegates they controlled to support the New York Senator. Kennedy and McCarthy would thus engage in a furious round of campaigning in California. The stakes would be high.
One of the more fascinating events of Kennedy’s 1968 campaign was an unscheduled and unannounced meeting at Oakland’s Taylor Memorial United Methodist Church on May 31 with the city’s Black Caucus. Other local participants in this meeting were the Black Panthers, government workers, attorneys, teachers and local NAACP officials.
California Assemblyman Willie Brown had organized the meeting and would moderate the discussion. (Brown went on to become the first black mayor of San Francisco and the Speaker of the California State Assembly.) On the way to the church, Kennedy warned former astronaut John Glenn and Olympic athlete Rafer Johnson to expect a hostile reception. Kennedy said he was going there to listen and respond respectfully.
The meeting lasted over two hours and the local participants were not shy about discussing their charges and grievances. Kennedy was right about the reception he would receive. The participants alleged that white politicians only came to black areas when they wanted something and even claimed that the government was building concentration camps for blacks. Kennedy pushed back and denied the existence of concentration campaigns. The crowd responded that they didn’t believe him.
There were even attacks on the Kennedy family. Rafer Johnson wanted Kennedy to walk out of the meeting but Kennedy said: ‘No. This is between them and me.” A member of the Black Panthers demanded that the Kennedy family open up a bank in West Oakland. He said: “I don’t want none of your shit. What the goddamned hell are you going to do boy? You want this vote? Put up a black bank.”
Kennedy responded by touting the Bedford-Stuyvesant project in Brooklyn that he pushed through in the U.S. Senate. This project created a private-public partnership to build affordable housing. Kennedy said a similar project might work in Oakland but he made no guarantees.
Despite the rancor, the meeting ended up helping Kennedy. Willie Brown declared that everybody at the meeting was going to help the New York Senator. The next day, many of the participants called the Kennedy campaign headquarters and volunteered to work for his campaign. In addition, members of the Black Panthers called for respectful behavior towards Kennedy and walked beside his car to protect him from the crowd. Kennedy had earned their trust.
Sources consulted.
Greenfield, Jeff. Then Everything Changed. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2011, p. 117.
Sullivan, Patricia. Justice Rising: Robert Kennedy’s America in Black and White. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2021, pp. 434–435.