Grave of Robert F. Kennedy
The grave of Robert F. Kennedy is a historic grave site and memorial to assassinated United States Senator and 1968 Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy located in section 45 of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. It was dedicated on December 6, 1971, and replaced a temporary grave in which Kennedy was originally buried on June 8, 1968. It is adjacent to the John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame.
The grave is aligned along an east–west axis, roughly along the line of sight between Arlington House and the Jefferson Memorial.[1] The grave consists of an unadorned, white wooden cross at the head of the grave and a simple grey granite marker set flush with the earth at the foot of it.
The memorial consists of a small semicircular granite plaza, which provides viewing for the grave. At the back (straight) axis of the plaza is a low rectangular grey granite wall inscribed with quotations from two of Kennedy's speeches. A small, rectangular reflecting pool is at the base of the wall.
Initial burial at Arlington National Cemetery[edit]
Robert F. Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded on June 5, 1968. He died at 1:44 AM on June 6.[2] Kennedy's body was flown aboard Air Force One to New York City on the evening of June 6, where it lay in repose in St. Patrick's Cathedral from approximately 10:00 PM until 10:00 AM on June 8.[3]
Selection of the burial site occurred almost immediately after Kennedy's death. Kennedy had often said he wished to be buried in the family plot in Massachusetts, but the Kennedy family decided to have him buried at Arlington National Cemetery next to John F. Kennedy instead.[4] Late on June 6, Alfred B. Fitt, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, flew from Washington to New York City to confer with the Kennedy family about burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The family had already decided to bury Robert F. Kennedy near his brother's memorial, and Fitt carried with him photographs of several areas of the John F. Kennedy grave site which would be suitable as a burial site.[5] At 10:30 PM on June 7, the Kennedy family announced that Robert F. Kennedy would be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in a grassy area just southeast of the John F. Kennedy grave site.[6]
A high requiem mass attended by Ethel Kennedy (Kennedy's widow), Kennedy's children, Jacqueline Kennedy and her children, Rose Kennedy (Kennedy's mother)[7] members of the extended Kennedy family, President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird Johnson, and members of the Johnson Cabinet was held at St. Patrick's Cathedral at 10:00 AM on June 8.[8] Kennedy's body was taken by train from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to Union Station in Washington, D.C. It was due to depart New York at 12:30 PM,[9] but was delayed by the slow pace of mourners leaving the cathedral.[10] The normally four-hour trip took eight hours and six minutes, due to the thick crowds lining the tracks on the 225-mile (362 km) journey.[11][12] In Elizabeth, New Jersey, a north-bound train struck two people who had moved out of the way of the funeral train, and the Kennedys asked their engineers to slow down even more.[13]
Scheduled to arrive at about 4:30 PM,[5][6] the funeral train arrived in Washington at 9:10 PM on June 8.[11] All funeral flowers were taken to Arlington National Cemetery, where they lay in deep banks on the hill around the grave site.[14] Floodlights were rushed into position in order to illuminate the burial site.[10] More than 1,500 candles were hurriedly donated by the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (where John F. Kennedy's funeral had occurred) and handed out to the crowd and the mourners.[15] As the funeral motorcade entered the cemetery, the crowd lining the roadway spontaneously lit their candles—lighting the way.[10] The hearse arrived at the grave site at 10:24 PM, and the 15-minute ceremony (originally scheduled to begin at 5:30 PM) began six minutes later.[9][10] The service ended at 10:45 PM.[11] Cardinal Patrick O'Boyle, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington, officiated at the graveside service in lieu of Cardinal Richard Cushing of Boston, who fell ill during the trip.[11] Archbishop of New York Terence Cooke also officiated.[10] Astronaut John Glenn folded the American flag which draped the coffin, and handed it to Senator Kennedy, who handed it to Joseph P. Kennedy II, eldest son of Robert Kennedy. Joseph handed the flag to his mother, Ethel.[10] Kennedy's coffin was lowered into the grave after family and friends had departed, and his body buried at 11:34 PM.[11]
Arlington National Cemetery officials claimed in 2011 that Robert F. Kennedy's burial is the only one ever to have taken place at night in the cemetery.[16] However, in 1963, there was another night burial in the cemetery. Shortly after John F. Kennedy's burial, his two infant children were buried next to him in Arlington at night.[10][17] Senator Edward M. Kennedy's burial in 2009 also occurred at night.[18]
As with John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's first grave was a temporary one, about 10 feet (3.0 m) upslope from its current location.[19][20] A simple white wooden cross stood at the head of the grave, while a spray of flowers marked the foot of it.[11] About 50,000 people (7,000 in the first three hours alone) visited the grave the day after the burial, while another 20,000 visited it the second day.[21] More than 7 million people visited both Kennedy grave sites between June 10, 1968, and June 6, 1969.[22]