REMEMBER WHEN: ROBERT KENNEDY VISITED CAPE YEAR OF HIS DEATH

On the 30th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, many area residents still recall not only the shock and sadness they felt when they heard the news of his slaying, but the excitement Kennedy generated when he came to Cape Girardeau earlier in the year.

Kennedy, a senator from New York, was locked in a three-way battle for the Democratic nomination for president when he took time away from campaigning in the Indiana primary to visit Southeast Missouri.

Later that year, 30 years ago today, Kennedy was shot and killed after declaring victory in the California primary. The day after his death, a cross was erected on the platform where Kennedy stood to speak in Cape Girardeau. "Robert Kennedy -- His Voice Still Echoes Here," the memorial read.

On April 15, 1968, just 41 days before his death, Kennedy made a campaign visit to Cape Girardeau's Town Plaza where nearly 6,000 people crowded the parking lot in one of the largest political rallies ever in Southeast Missouri. It was estimated at the time that an additional 2,000 people lined the route from the Cape Girardeau airport to catch a glimpse of the senator.

Missouri Court of Appeals Judge Stanley Grimm, who attended the rally and a reception afterward, remembered the crowd, which he described as tremendous and very responsive, showering the senator with lots of cheering.

"At the time, candidates didn't jet around from place to place like they do now," said Grimm. "It was a big deal to have a candidate come to Cape Girardeau."

State Sen. Peter Kinder, who was an eighth-grader at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High at the time, remembered walking over to Town Plaza after school and standing on the books in his book bag to get a glimpse of the candidate. He described the crush of the crowd as something he had never seen before or since.

"It was a 'happening' that was impressive even for a teen-age Republican like me who was supporting the newly elected governor of California -- Ronald Reagan," Kinder said.

Former state senator Albert Spradling Jr., who was instrumental in bringing Kennedy to the area, said at the time that Kennedy had "consented to test himself in a hostile, conservative area, and he came out real well."

Even today, Spradling, who introduced Kennedy to the crowd, remembers the conservative speech that Kennedy made and how the senator, often thought of as a liberal, spoke of balancing the budget as a way to keep the economy strong.

"He said the spending had to stop. He was not the wild-eyed liberal that many thought he was," Spradling said.

Spradling, who along with former U.S. attorney Jeff Lance and former Cape Girardeau County Democratic chairman Edward Downs, worked at bringing Kennedy to town, now says the effort was "the biggest mistake I ever made."

Kennedy's advance team came to the city long before the senator arrived. Spradling, Downs and Lance took the responsibility of renting hotel rooms for the advance team and setting them up with a bank of telephones. In addition, Spradling used his membership at the Cape Girardeau Country Club to gain access to the Country Club for Kennedy's team, where they ate two meals a day, charging it all to Spradling, Downs and Lance.

"They ran up bills in the thousands of dollars," Spradling said.

Then, after Kennedy was killed, the advance team informed Spradling that they were broke, leaving the bills for the three men to pay.

Spradling remembers first hearing about Kennedy's death in St. Louis. He was staying at the Mayfair Hotel and was asleep in bed when he heard a woman in the next room scream and then cry out, "Oh, my God, he's been shot."

At first, Spradling said, he thought something had happened in the room but then turned on the television to hear the news of Sirhan Sirhan's shooting of Kennedy.

"I went down, got something to eat and drove home that night," Spradling said, describing his reaction as shock and the mood of people in Cape Girardeau as somber.

"He was the hope of the party," Spradling said. "He figured to run extremely well."

Downs likewise described his own feelings of shock when he heard the news.

"I was watching TV to see the returns from the California primary. He said he was on to Chicago (the site of the 1968 Democratic Convention), and the next thing I knew he was shot," Downs said.

"I was shocked. I figured the man would be elected president. There was such a ground swell for him," he said.

Kinder said he heard the news of the assassination the next morning when he woke up.

"I felt a terrible sadness for the Kennedy family. They had already paid a terrible price," he said, referring to the deaths of Robert Kennedy's older brothers Joseph and John.

One image that Kinder said has stayed with him throughout the years was that of the train that took Kennedy's body back from California to Washington. People lined the railroad tracks and wept as Kennedy's body passed by.

"It left you asking, What if?" Kinder said.