All This Marvelous Potential: Robert Kennedy’s 1968 Tour of Appalachia

On February 13 and 14, 1968, Sen. Robert Kennedy went on a fact-finding mission to eastern Kentucky, one the nation’s most impoverished regions, to determine the success of President Johnson’s War on Poverty. Algeo (Abe and Fido) presents a captivating account of Kennedy’s journey, which ultimately helped him decide to challenge Lyndon B. Johnson for the Democratic presidential nomination. The people who invited Kennedy into their homes and then testified at hearings Kennedy held are the heroes here. They advocated forcefully for environmental concerns and education equality as ways to escape grinding poverty. Among the many colorful figures introduced are Alice Lloyd, founder of Carey Junior College (now Alice Lloyd College); Thomas Duff, a high school student who railed against politicians; and Reverend Lawrence Baldridge, the first local minister to marry an interracial couple. Baldridge concludes that the anger that drove people to support Kennedy at the time now motivates eastern Kentuckians to support Donald Trump.