Gazing at the Pacific Ocean near Fort Stevens State Park, Robert F. Kennedy's nostalgia was apparent.

"I can't believe this is so much like home," the Massachusetts native said. Soon after, he kicked off his shoes and socks, rolled up his dress pants and ran out toward the ocean.

"You could tell he was like, 'Oh my God. I needed this,'" said Rita Hankel Lerwick, a teenage volunteer for Kennedy's Clatsop County campaign team. "I was just shocked."

On May 24, 1968, Kennedy visited Astoria and other places along the coast during his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in the Oregon primary. Less than two weeks later, after winning the California primary on June 5, he was assassinated after a victory speech in Los Angeles.

Witness accounts and news reports from the time reveal Kennedy's visit to the coast caused a stir, making his sudden death shortly after especially poignant.

Kennedy, who entered the race in March, announced May 20 that he would be visiting the Oregon Coast that Friday, beginning with a flight from Portland to the Astoria area. The next day, the campaign's local headquarters was established on Marine Drive as the U.S. senator from New York toured other parts of the state.

"He picked up momentum Wednesday for the Oregon Democratic presidential nomination. He had overflow crowds at each of his five stops in Eastern Oregon, which is perhaps an indicator of Kennedy popularity, but certainly is an indication of more aggressive staff work," an Associated Press story from that week read. "Without crowds Kennedy could lose the image he's trying to build. That is the image of a man who has so caught the imagination of the people that they swarm to him."

Predominantly younger crowds greeted Kennedy at his campaign stops. Lerwick, 16 and an Astoria High School student at the time, said his promises to reduce the country's military presence in Vietnam, pro-civil rights stance and solutions to poverty appealed to her.

"The '60s were a real turbulent time," Lerwick said. "We were just so for what he stood for."

Kennedy's plane landed near Astoria shortly before 11 a.m., about an hour later than expected.

Hundreds of people were held back by Clatsop County Sheriff's Office deputies until the plane landed and they swarmed the tarmac. After taking a few steps down the plane's staircase, he grabbed a bullhorn and briefly addressed the crowd, describing "this beautiful part of this beautiful state" and urging residents to "work together in a common endeavor."

He shook hands with spectators after descending the steps, prompting one girl to cry, "I got to touch him." Lerwick, who has a fondness for him still, wore a Kennedy campaign hat, a sash and a navy blue skirt.

Kennedy, the news media, state officials and members of his campaign — including Lerwick — then waded through the crowd and hopped into two chartered vehicles to head to the beach. Maintaining public beaches — the Oregon Beach Bill had passed the previous year — was a major topic of Kennedy's speech later that day, and his campaign had scheduled a film session of him walking along the shore.

The senator decided to walk 1 1/2 miles, which further delayed his schedule for the day. He even jumped in the ocean for a swim at one point before eventually leaving for Astoria.

After waiting about two hours, a swarm of roughly 3,000 people watched the Kennedy caravan pull up to the former Safeway parking lot near Duane Street between 11th and 12th streets.

In attendance, as expected, were plenty of young people. High school students came from as far as Clatskanie and Ilwaco, Washington, and about 500 absences left Astoria High School "virtually abandoned," according to an account in The Daily Astorian.

Kennedy's speech — in which he was presented with a replica of the Astoria Column — lasted 20 minutes. He touched on, among other things, education and job programs and pitched tax incentives for private companies to provide jobs and housing.

"He seemed nervous," Lerwick said. "I think he knew Oregon was just a tough state."

Competing with Kennedy in the primary were U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was not on the ballot in Oregon but eventually secured the Democratic nomination. A noticeable group of McCarthy's supporters also attended the speech in Astoria.

Lerwick recalled seeing a Volkswagen covered in McCarthy stickers.

"I remember saying, 'What are they doing here?'" she said. "I felt like he wasn't welcomed as much as I would've liked him to be." Vying for the Republican nomination was former Vice President Richard Nixon. After securing the GOP nod, Nixon won Oregon during his general election victory over Humphrey that November.

"We weren't really popular," said Lerwick, who canvassed for Kennedy throughout the campaign. "We got the door slammed in our face plenty of times."

Kennedy took a share of jabs at Nixon in the speech in Astoria, at one point poking fun at the "Nixon's the One" campaign slogan.

"I often wonder, what's the rest of that sentence? Nixon's the one what?" Kennedy asked.

Kennedy was scheduled for a cannery tour that day, but — due to the flight delay and lengthy beach excursion — settled for a meet-and-greet with Bumble Bee seafood workers. After a few hours on the North Coast, he went south.

Kennedy made more stops along the coast but eventually lost the Oregon primary to McCarthy, who also won Clatsop County. Despite losing narrowly, he hinted in news reports after the May 28 vote that he would likely drop out of the race if he lost California.

His final campaign stop came in Los Angeles, where he was shot and killed after delivering a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel shortly after midnight June 5.

Those who had recently seen Kennedy on the North Coast were shocked.

"Lights shone through the night in many houses as citizens stayed up to watch the night's events on television," a Daily Astorian caption read under a photo of Kennedy speaking on the airport tarmac days earlier. "Kennedy moved freely about in big crowds during his local visit and would have been an easy target for a madman's bullet."

Politically active teens were especially distraught.

"We were kind of traumatized after that," Lerwick said. "We were idealistic teenagers and it looked like we would win."

Lerwick compared the assassination to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. months earlier, as well as the shooting of Kennedy's brother — President John F. Kennedy — in 1963.

"Millennial kids now say they're the school shooting generation. We were the political assassination generation," she said.

For many years after Kennedy's visit and death, Lerwick did not vote. She apparently was not alone, as 1968 was the last time voter participation in a presidential election reached 60 percent.

"I was so disillusioned with politics. I thought, you work so hard, and what's the point?" Lerwick said. "It just changed the way, at a young age, how I viewed politics in the world."

--Jack Heffernan/The Daily Astorian