All This Marvelous Potential: Robert Kennedy's 1968 Tour of Appalachia (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781641600590)

"A powerful story, skillfully told." --Booklist

A new portrait of Robert Kennedy, a politician who, for all his faults, had the uncommon courage to stand up to a president from his own party and shine a light on America's shortcomings

In early 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy ventured deep into the heart of Appalachia to gauge the progress of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Kennedy viewed his two days in Kentucky as an opportunity to test his antiwar and antipoverty message with hardscrabble white voters.

Among the strip mines, one-room schoolhouses, and dilapidated homes, however, Kennedy encountered a strong mistrust and intense resentment of establishment politicians.

In All This Marvelous Potential, author Matthew Algeo meticulously retraces RFK's tour of eastern Kentucky, visiting the places he visited and meeting with the people he met. Algeo explains how and why the region has changed since 1968, and why it matters for the rest of the country.

The similarities between then and now are astonishing: divisive politics, racial strife, economic uncertainty, and environmental alarm.

Author: Matthew Algeo
ISBN-10: 1641600594
ISBN-13: 9781641600590
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Language: English
Published: 03/03/2020
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 02/01/2020 pg. 97
Foreword 02/26/2020
Booklist 02/15/2020 pg. 16