Abstract
Schmitt covers not only the more wellknown episodes in Kennedy's unique political journey, such as his visit to the Mississippi Delta in April 1967, his "special impact program" in rhe Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, and his trip to Delano, California, in March 1968, but he also examines the Utde-known work Kennedy had been doing all along as the junior senator from New York, holding hearings, cajoling power brokers to do more to help the poor, and challenging those around him to stand up for programs aimed at empowering the least fortunate Americans, rfk's goal was to find ways the government and the private sector could coordinate their efforts to create good jobs and provide training to help the poor become taxpaying citizens. Schmitts analysis of Kennedy's work in support of poor whites in AppaJachia, African Americans in urban centers, Latino farm workers, and Native Americans on reservations is a vital contribution to our understanding of class relations during the 1960s.