Trail Blazers - Robert Kennedy in South Africa

Remembering the Trail Blazers series is a series of pieces remembering and honoring those who have played an important part in "securing the blessings of liberty" for all Americans.

Day of Affirmation Address (as delivered)
(often also referred to as the "Ripples of Hope" speech)

Among the most famous, and surely among the most substantive, speeches of the Century, Robert F. Kennedy seemed to reach across the globe with his words, speaking of the hopes and dreams as well as the ills and challenges of not only South Africa, where he had come to deliver this speech, but also of America and the planet. This is a speech that every America should be familiar with not only for its content but for the courage that it took to deliver it in the face of South Africa's Apartheid government and the US government's opposition to his trip to Johannesburg.


Robert F. Kennedy
University of Capetown
Capetown, South Africa
June 6, 1966

"Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in the isolated villages and the city slums of dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage such as these that the belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Text of Speech

Audio of the Speech

Video Clip from the Speech


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