Robert F. Kennedy

DATE NAME CLASS BIOGRAPHY Robert F. Kennedy Regarding his stand against an air strike during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Robert could order F. Kennedy said, “I did not believe the President of the United States be repugnant such a military operation. All our heritage and our ideals would to such a sneak military attack.” Acting on the basis of heritage and ideals illustrates why Robert Kennedy was sometimes called “the conscience of the administration.” As you read the passage below, think about the influences in Robert F Kennedy’s life that formed his idealism and strong social conscience. of milk.” Later, he Robert F. Kennedy was born in Massachusetts kids have never had a glass found out in 1925, into a family of great wealth and power. would comment on his awakening: ‘I my He was the seventh of nine children and the third something I never knew. I found out that son. As a child, he was small for his age, slow in world was not the real world.” school, and not very athletic. One of his classmates When his brother named him Attorney later said, “Nothing came easily for him. What he General, Kennedy’s education continued, as the momen had was a set of handicaps and a fantastic deter struggle of minorities for equality gained mination to overcome them. The handicaps made tum. He spearheaded the Justice Department’s him redouble his effort.” His teachers noted that efforts to end segregation and gain full voting rights of he had a deep religious faith and concern for others. for African Americans. He also became aware After graduating from law school in 1951, injustices suffered by Native Americans, Hispanics, Kennedy joined the Justice Department in Washing and Mexican Americans. “I never saw a change in “But ton, D.C., and became an assistant counsel to the his character,” remarked one of his colleagues. McCarthy committee investigating Communists in I did see a change in his view of the world.” government. Later, he became counsel to a Senate Kennedy left the Justice Department a few committee investigating improper activities in the months after his brother’s assassination. In 1964 labor and management field, a committee of which he was elected as a U.S. senator from New York. for the his brother, Senator John F. Kennedy, was a mem From that base, he became a spokesman In 1968 he ber. In 1960, when Senator Kennedy decided to nation’s underprivileged minorities. run for President, Robert resigned from the com sought the Democratic nomination for President. he often mittee to run his brother’s campaign. In his speeches calling for social justice, Robert Kennedy’s travels during the 1960 ended with this quote: “Some men see things as campaign opened his eyes to the poverty and they are and say ‘Why?’ I dream of things that injustice he had never known in his privileged never were and say ‘Why not?” by an world. In Appalachia, in West Virginia, he blurted Robert Kennedy’s life was cut short in disbelief “Can you believe it? Some of these assassin’s bullet in June 1968. 1. What childhood difficulties did Robert F. Kennedy have to overcome? 2. Why was he so amazed by the poverty and injustice he encountered during the 1960 presidential campaign? struggles, deep d 3. Determining Relevance How might Kennedy’s childhood education in poverty and injustice have influenced the I religious faith, and development of his social idealism? C) 0C 0 0 Biography • 9 Chapter 28 Survey Edition Chapter 18 Modern American History Edition DATE NAME CLASS / Dr. Frances Kelsey C for the presidency, H In September 1960, as John F. Kennedy was campaigning A another American was settling into her new job in Washington, D.C. Dr. Frances p the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where she was T Kelsey had just joined E to evaluate applications from pharmaceutical companies seeking licenses to R market new drugs. An application had just reached her desk for a drug already 28 popular in Europe—thalidomide. As you read, consider how Dr. Kelsey was able to prevent a national tragedy. She saw her duty in sternly simple terms, and by findings about the drug. “I was bothered by put a horse to she carried it out.” That is how an American news the fact that thalidomide would not paper would describe Dr. Frances Kelsey’s most sleep,” she said, “It was a very unusual kind of noteworthy accomplishment. Carrying out her drug and we had no idea how it worked.” duties well had always been her hallmark. Born Dr. Kelsey denied approval of the drug and provide in Vancouver, Canada, in 1914, Frances Oldham ordered the pharmaceutical company to worked. was a dedicated student with a keen interest in more information on how thalidomide scientific studies. After receiving a Master of Science Then she saw a disturbing letter in a British degree from McGill University in Montreal, she medical journal. It warned doctors to be on the enrolled at the University of Chicago where she lookout for harmful side effects of thalidomide. pressured the earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology. Her particular Meanwhile, defenders of the drug interest was how the body reacts to drugs. FDA to approve it. They attacked Dr. Kelsey as an After marrying another pharmacologist in 1943, unreasonable, hairsplitting bureaucrat, but still Dr. Kelsey entered medical school and earned an she resisted. in Germany M.D. In 1952, the Kelseys moved to South Dakota, Then, in November 1961, a doctor where Frances Kelsey started a medical practice. linked thalidomide to severe birth deformities, When her husband was transferred to Washington, Babies whose mothers had taken the drug were internal organs, D.C., Frances Kelsey’s knowledge of medicine being born with no legs, deformed and pharmacology made her a perfect candidate and flipper-like hands attached to their shoulders. born. for ajob at the Food and Drug Administration. Eventually 10,000 such babies would be the once- On September 8, 1960, the application for Now a grateful nation honored thalidomide reached Dr. Kelsey’s desk: she had scorned Dr. Kelsey. President Kennedy presented Medal, just sixty days in which to evaluate it. Thalidomide her with the Distinguished Civilian Service can receive, was already a widely prescribed sleeping pill in the highest award a federal employee in Europe, and its approval in the United States for “her high ability and steadfast confidence seemed automatic. But Dr. Kelsey was troubled her professional decision.” job? 1. (a) Why was Dr. Frances Kelsey particularly well prepared for her FDA (b) Why was she so skeptical about thalidomide? might 2. Predicting Consequences Had thalidomide been approved, how its use have affected public health and the leputation of the FDA? 14 • Chapter 28 American Profiles © Prentice’HaII, nc..

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