1967 Fredericton Convocation
Kennedy, Robert Francis
Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
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L to R: Sir Max Aitken, Robert Francis Kennedy
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Source: UA PC-5 no.9(45)
Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1967
ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
to be Doctor of Laws
He is the second Kennedy whom it has been my privilege to present for this degree, and this is a memorable moment.
The Kennedys are world figures. A dynastic aura is already forming around that brilliant and controversial family. And it envelopes our attractive visitor.
A supremely youthful forty-one, he is the non-pareil of American youth. Tousle-haired, athletic, and venturesome, his every activity is exhaustively chronicled, whether he is shooting the rapids of an Idaho river, scaling the 14,000 ft. peak of Mt. Kennedy in Canada, or sailing the reef-studded waters of Penobscot Bay.
His domestic life has a spontaneous appeal. Father of ten, the relentless press camera catches him romping with his younger fry, dealing with their animal pets, or playing that taxing Kennedy touch-football, his wife Ethel a valiant team-mate.
Politically his variegated utterances -- and he is far from tongue-tied -- are seized upon, dissected, and (such is the Kennedy mystique), even when rated unfavorable, turned in his favour.
Now auras are not necessarily evil, and they can, of course, be first-class publicity. Let us who are his good neighbours pierce these 'trailing clouds of glory' and take an objective view before he bewitches you with his Kennedy eloquence.
There is an old Greek proverb: "Office will prove the man". To Robert Kennedy have fallen two great public offices. He is a member, very junior, of the United States Senate, and was before that a member, very prominent, of the President's cabinet. His record in each has been full of promise. As a Senator he had, within three weeks of his swearing-in, introduced the first of several well-reasoned amendments, whereas his brothers waited, one five months, the other sixteen, to deliver their maiden speeches. As Attorney General he early outlived the stigma of nepotism and left an impressive record in the broad areas of civil rights, prison reform, and immigration.
Such are not cloud but substance.
For higher goals he disclaims any present ambition. He can afford to. For it is salutary to remember that in 1972 the present Vice-President will be sixty-one, one in three of all American voters will be under thirty-five, and Robert Francis Kennedy only forty-six.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY
to be Doctor of Laws
He is the second Kennedy whom it has been my privilege to present for this degree, and this is a memorable moment.
The Kennedys are world figures. A dynastic aura is already forming around that brilliant and controversial family. And it envelopes our attractive visitor.
A supremely youthful forty-one, he is the non-pareil of American youth. Tousle-haired, athletic, and venturesome, his every activity is exhaustively chronicled, whether he is shooting the rapids of an Idaho river, scaling the 14,000 ft. peak of Mt. Kennedy in Canada, or sailing the reef-studded waters of Penobscot Bay.
His domestic life has a spontaneous appeal. Father of ten, the relentless press camera catches him romping with his younger fry, dealing with their animal pets, or playing that taxing Kennedy touch-football, his wife Ethel a valiant team-mate.
Politically his variegated utterances -- and he is far from tongue-tied -- are seized upon, dissected, and (such is the Kennedy mystique), even when rated unfavorable, turned in his favour.
Now auras are not necessarily evil, and they can, of course, be first-class publicity. Let us who are his good neighbours pierce these 'trailing clouds of glory' and take an objective view before he bewitches you with his Kennedy eloquence.
There is an old Greek proverb: "Office will prove the man". To Robert Kennedy have fallen two great public offices. He is a member, very junior, of the United States Senate, and was before that a member, very prominent, of the President's cabinet. His record in each has been full of promise. As a Senator he had, within three weeks of his swearing-in, introduced the first of several well-reasoned amendments, whereas his brothers waited, one five months, the other sixteen, to deliver their maiden speeches. As Attorney General he early outlived the stigma of nepotism and left an impressive record in the broad areas of civil rights, prison reform, and immigration.
Such are not cloud but substance.
For higher goals he disclaims any present ambition. He can afford to. For it is salutary to remember that in 1972 the present Vice-President will be sixty-one, one in three of all American voters will be under thirty-five, and Robert Francis Kennedy only forty-six.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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