Robert F. Kennedy’s Farewell as Attorney General: “Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.”

Kenneth O’Donnell’s relationship with the Kennedy family began at Harvard, where he was Robert F. Kennedy’s teammate on the football team and then roommate. When Robert married Ethel Skakel on June 17, 1950, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenwich, Conn., O’Donnell was one of the groomsmen and received a sliver pitcher as his gift. It was there that he met Robert’s brother John for the first time; it was a meeting that would have major consequences for the Kennedys, O’Donnell and the country. When John ran for the U.S. Senate in 1952, Robert brought him into John’s campaign organization There he played an important role in Kennedy’s upset election over Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge. O’Donnell was John’s unpaid political observer in Massachusetts until 1957, when he came to Washington as Assistant Counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee, having been hired by Robert Kennedy, chief counsel of the committee. In 1958, O’Donnell came in-house as a member of Senator Kennedy’s staff, and in 1960, he was a key organizer of Kennedy’s presidential campaign and director of his campaign schedule.

O’Donnell was named Special Assistant to the President on January 21, 1961, the day JFK entered the Oval Office for the first time, and the same day that Robert Kennedy became Attorney General. JFK consulted with O’Donnell regularly, including during the Bay of Pigs affair and Cuban Missile Crisis. O’Donnell was an early critic of the Vietnam War, counseling Kennedy to bring an end to America’s involvement in Vietnam. He arranged JFK’s trip to Dallas in November 1963, and was in a car just behind the President’s when Kennedy was assassinated. It was an enormous blow to O’Donnell, who long blamed himself for the death of the President.

After his brother’s assassination, Robert Kennedy continued to serve as Attorney General until September 3, 1964, when he resigned to run for U.S. Senator from New York. When he left the Department of Justice, he presented O’Donnell, who was still at the White House serving as Special Aide to Lyndon B. Johnson, with this gift.

An 8 by 10 inch print showing a drawing of the U.S. Department of Justice over which RFK presided for over three years, with the inscription over the entrance of the Department of Justice printed at bottom, taken from Plato: “Justice in the life and conduct of the State is possible only as first it resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens.” The print is affixed to an 11 by 13 inch mount, and signed and inscribed on the mount, “To Kenny O’Donnell, With the appreciation of his friend, Bob Kennedy.” We recently obtained this directly from the O’Donnell family, and it has never before been offered for sale. The pictured building over which RFK held sway is now named the John F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building.

In 1968, O’Donnell served as campaign manager for Sen. Robert Kennedy, when Kennedy challenged President Johnson for renomination. He was with Kennedy when the latter was assassinated on June 5, 1968, meaning he was present at both Kennedys’ assassinations. He rode in the Dallas motorcade behind John and Jackie.  O’Donnell’s daughter later wrote that “Bobby” was her father’s best friend, and that after the assassination his presence hung over their house “like a ghost”.

O’Donnell was famously portrayed by Kevin Costner in the movie, 13 Days.