RFK - Bobby Delivers His "Stars Speech"

At the 1964 Democratic national convention, Robert F. Kennedy introduced a tribute film about his brother, John F. Kennedy.  With its quotation from Shakespeare, RFK's address is now known as the “Stars Speech.”

The reference comes from Romeo and Juliet, a few lines of which Bobby applied to his assassinated brother:   "When he shall die, cut him into little stars, and he shall make the face of heaven so fond, that all the world will fall in love with night and pay no worship to the garish sun."

Richard Norton Smith introduces the speech with a little-known story on its originally scheduled delivery date.

Credits

“Stars Speech” and Richard Norton Smith introduction, courtesy C-Span.

Quotation from Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene II