U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was one of twenty-two active U.S. Senators to deliver a lecture in the series (including also his brother Ted Kennedy in 1984). Kennedy's speech on March 18, 1968, "Conflict in Vietnam and at Home", is notable for being the first speech Kennedy delivered after announcing his much-anticipated candidacy for the U.S. presidency two days earlier. The campaign speech was attended by a crowd of 14,500 people, and Kennedy used the opportunity to share anti-war views on the Vietnam War. Evan Thomas wrote in his biography of Kennedy that "the setting was ideal for a raucous campaign kickoff." Kennedy was assassinated less than three months later, on June 6, 1968, after winning the California Democratic primary.