The minor details that shape our history are often discussed in hypotheticals. What would have happened if Hitler was never rejected from art school? Zangara fired five shots in an attempt to kill FDR. Had his chair not been wobbly, thus mortally wounding Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago, instead of FDR, would our nation had survived the Great Depression? What if the United States decided that their Manifest Destiny wasn’t worth the war with Mexico, would California or Texas be a part of our country? Would Mexico be a superpower?

All of these so-called flukes have shaped the U.S. for better or for worse, they’ve all led up to you reading this article, right here, right now. 

But there’s one piece of history that plagues me more than others. One that would not only alter lives but perspectives..thoughts..prejudices. A leader, a strong advocate for the war on poverty, and a champion of racial justice, had he lived, Robert Kennedy would have drastically shaped the nation, and things right now would be a lot different.

Okay,  let’s be real, he most likely would have lost his party’s nomination to Hubert Humphrey. By gaining the support of minorities he was losing support from Southern Democrats and the white working-class. This was a time when black voters and white working to middle-class voters were literally at each other's throats. And while it was remarkable that Kennedy had gained support from even a portion working-class whites, he didn’t have the traction he needed to win from that demographic. But he didn’t need to be president to have an impact on people.

RFK was always a firm believer in Civil Rights. During the John F. Kennedy administration, he had witnessed racism first hand as Attorney General. He was the most prominent voice in Washington to call for desegregation, demanding that the government start recruiting persons of color to work for them. He also played a large role in the Freedom Riders movement, attempting to ensure their safety by finding a coach operator who was willing to drive the Freedom Riders across the Deep South.

He sent U.S. marshals to Mississippi in order to enforce a federal court order to allow the first-ever black student to attend the University of Michigan, and hired the first African-American to the Office of Civil Rights. And once he became a senator, there was, of course, the Bedford-Stuyvesant housing project.

RFK was so popular among minorities that he managed to win certain districts in California by 100%. He was idolized among blacks and Hispanics alike. If he hadn’t been shot, we would be much more progressive with our Civil Rights stances today among other things. But that’s just a historical hypothetical.