Following in the Cold Warrior path of his fallen brother , Kennedy initially said he had " no reservations " about the expanding U.S. role in the Vietnam War and acknowledged that it would be a " long and enduring struggle " . Kennedy held hearings on the plight of refugees in the conflict , which revealed that the U.S. government had no coherent policy for refugees . Kennedy also tried to reform " unfair " and " inequitable " aspects of the draft . By the time of a January 1968 trip to Vietnam , Kennedy was disillusioned by the lack of U.S. progress , and suggested publicly that the U.S. should tell South Vietnam , " Shape up or we 're going to ship out . " Ted initially advised his brother Robert against challenging the incumbent President Johnson for the Democratic nomination in the 1968 presidential election . Once Eugene McCarthy 's strong showing in the New Hampshire primary led to Robert 's presidential campaign starting in March 1968 , Ted recruited political leaders for endorsements to his brother in the western states . Ted was in San Francisco when his brother Robert won the crucial California primary on June 4 , 1968 , and then after midnight , Robert was shot in Los Angeles and died a day later . Ted Kennedy was devastated by his brother 's death , as he was closest to Robert among those in the Kennedy family . Kennedy aide Frank Mankiewicz said of seeing Ted at the hospital where Robert lay mortally wounded : " I have never , ever , nor do I expect ever , to see a face more in grief . " At Robert 's funeral , Kennedy eulogized his older brother : At the chaotic August 1968 Democratic National Convention , Mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley and some other party factions feared that Hubert Humphrey could not unite the party , and so encouraged Ted Kennedy to make himself available for a draft . The 36-year-old Kennedy was seen as the natural heir to his brothers , and " Draft Ted " movements sprang up from various quarters and among delegates . Thinking that he was only being seen as a stand-in for his brother and that he was not ready for the job himself , and getting an uncertain reaction from McCarthy and a negative one from Southern delegates , Kennedy rejected any move to place his name before the convention as a candidate for the nomination . He also declined consideration for the vice-presidential spot . George McGovern remained the symbolic standard-bearer for Robert 's delegates instead
1968 Democratic National Convention
1968 Democratic National Convention
Ted Kennedy