Senator Robert Kennedy’s late entry into the presidential race placed him at a disadvantage vis-a-vis peace candidate Eugene McCarthy and Johnson’s hand-picked successor, Vice president Hubert Humphrey. While many anti-war voters, especially college students, had been initially attracted to him as a presidential candidate, Kennedy’s refusal to enter the race led many of them to opt for Eugene McCarthy. They were consequently reluctant to re-embrace Kennedy, who had waited until after Johnson’s poor performance in the New Hampshire primary to enter the race.

Marginally successful in most of the state primaries, Kennedy spends the last months of his life forging a distinctly populist campaign theme and maintaining his opposition to the war in Vietnam. Kennedy’s message is particularly well received by the lower classes and minority groups, and he is the only political candidate in 1968 to appeal to black voters.

Kennedy’s narrow victory in the California primary may have enabled him to pose a serious challenge to Hubert Humphrey’s presidential aspirations. As it turns out, minutes after announcement of his California primary victory Kennedy is shot and mortally wounded by Arab gunman Sirhan Sirhan. His death means that, in all probability, neither mainstream political party will nominate a candidate who opposed the war in Vietnam.