Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-209) and index.

"More than three decades have passed since Robert Kennedy was assassinated seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency. During that time a powerful legend has grown around him. It decrees that he would have quickly ended the Vietnam War, violence in the cities, and racial and social injustice across the land. Millions of Americans continue to believe that legend." "But would he have done what so many wanted from him? Is the Robert Kennedy legend just that - a legend based more on hope and longing than on reality?" "Drawing on his interpretation of Kennedy's character, historian Ronald Steel examines the life against the legend." "With empathy, yet with skepticism, Steel holds up to scrutiny the three central elements of the Kennedy legend: the faith in a golden kingdom of Camelot that could be restored, the belief that he would have achieved the goals that liberals sought, and the hope that he would have united blacks and whites in common endeavor."--BOOK JACKET.