Senator Robert Kennedy announces the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., April 4th, 1968.

On April 4, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy visited Indianapolis on a presidential campaign stop. Before giving his speech, he learned of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination that same day. He chose to deliver the tragic news to the audience and encouraged all to follow Dr. King's example of peace and unity.

"For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: 'In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.'"