RFK Funeral Train by Paul Fusco

RFK Funeral Train

Paul Fusco

"Some men see things as they are and say why?
I dream things that never were and say why not?"
Robert F. Kennedy

 

On the 8th of June 1968 a sleek dark locomotive passed slowly across the north of America. What was normally a four hour journey took twice as long because one of the carriages was carrying the precious remains of Robert F. Kennedy. The Senator had been assassinated just two days earlier while on a promising presidential election campaign in Los Angeles. The funeral took place in New York and it was decided that his body should be transported to Washington for burial by train so that the grieving public had the opportunity to say one last good bye to the man they had put so much hope in. The photographer Paul Fusco was assigned to document the journey with his camera. He managed to capture a nation in mourning, showing how the Senator had touched the hearts of so many individuals.

 

This was just five and a half years after Robert's older brother, President John F. Kennedy had been murdered. 1968 was not a good year for America, the war in Vietnam raged on, in April a brave and inspiring Rev. Martin Luther King had been assassinated. Robert had attended his funeral as they had both found a common cause in abolishing racial prejudice in the U.S. And so, after Robert's untimely death the country was plunged into profound mourning and intense soul searching.

By documenting the miles of people who came to say farewell to their last ray of hope, Fusco manages to capture a crucial moment in U.S. history, his technique of quiet observation had a profound effect on photographic reportage. Many of the photographs are blurred, capturing the slow movement of the train and the long journey west. You cannot help but look at each picture carefully, taking in each face and pose, showing the shock and the sadness which accumulates to a huge sense of loss. In this series Fusco manages to capture a fleeting glimpse of a cross section of American society, showing the varied support the Senator's campaign had attracted and the nation he could have served. It is as though you are seeing these views through his eyes; one last look at the people who had been inspired by him.

As it turned out the images were not published until 2008, in a book which commemorated the 40th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's death. At the time of his death the pictures were originally intended for a piece in LOOK Magazine, but unfortunately it was decided to use photographs commemorating the Senator's life rather than one's depicting the impact his death had on the nation. The photographs were filed away in deep storage in the Library of Congress only to be rediscovered by a young photo editor in 1998.