Kennedy, Robert Francis (1925–1968)

US Democratic politician and lawyer. He was presidential campaign manager for his brother John F Kennedy in 1960, and as attorney general 1961–64 pursued a racket-busting policy and worked to enforce federal law in support of civil rights. He was assassinated during his campaign for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.

He was also a key aide to his brother. When John F Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, preferred Hubert H Humphrey for the 1964 vice-presidential nomination, Kennedy resigned as attorney general and was elected senator for New York. When running for president, he advocated social justice at home and an end to the Vietnam War. During a campaign stop in California, he was shot by Sirhan Bissara Sirhan (1944– ).

Kennedy was educated at Harvard and the University of Virginia Law School. He was an attorney at the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice 1951–52; chief counsel of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations 1954–61; and chief counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor and Management Field 1957–61.

His publications include The Enemy Within (1960), Just Friends and Brave Enemies (1962), and The Pursuit of Justice (1965).