Nov 19, 2008 9:00 am US/Pacific
NYC Bridge Renamed For Robert F. Kennedy
NEW YORK (AP) ―
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Kennedy, who would have turned 83 on Thursday, was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
AP
Several generations of Robert F. Kennedy's family gathered Wednesday for a ceremony renaming one of the city's major bridges in honor of the slain senator and U.S. attorney general.
Kennedy's wife, Ethel, sons Joseph and Robert Jr., and daughter Kerry were joined Wednesday by dignitaries including former President Bill Clinton in a park at the foot of the Triborough Bridge. They were joined by his niece, Caroline Kennedy.
"I love that the city he knew and cared about returned his devotion," Ethel Kennedy said in prepared remarks.
Kennedy, who would have turned 83 on Thursday, was assassinated in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The senator "was about wanting to make life better for others," said Gov. David Paterson, who handed Ethel Kennedy a framed copy of the bill he signed renaming the bridge.
Kennedy "operated on a grand scale," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "He united us as New Yorkers and as Americans. America would not be the country it is without Robert F. Kennedy and all the Kennedys."
The bridge, which opened in 1936, is the first major public work dedicated to Kennedy in the state he represented from 1965 to 1968. It is a complex of three spans that connect Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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