NEW YORK NOTEBOOK : A Monument to R.F.K.

Robert F. Kennedy’s most enduring monument stands in Brooklyn. In February, 1966, Kennedy toured Bedford-Stuyvesant, a huge rundown section of the city. Residents, tired of routine visits by politicians, expressed their anger. Kennedy returned, and with former Republican Sen. Jacob K. Javits, founded the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corp.--a community development model that has been copied throughout the United States and the world.

Kennedy Echo

Wednesday night’s nostalgic look back at the Kennedy era may find a bit of an echo on the podium tonight. Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., a speech writer for John F. Kennedy, worked on an initial draft of Al Gore’s acceptance speech, sources in the Clinton camp say. Schlesinger, left, was also consulted early in the process of drafting Clinton’s remarks--as were two more of Kennedy’s principal speech writers, Richard Goodwin and Theodore C. Sorensen. How great a role the three speech writers played isn’t clear: Goodwin says Clinton aides only solicited material from his upcoming book on the decline of American politics. Most of the heavy lifting on the speech, though, was done by aides Paul Begala and David Kusnet, as well as Clinton.

Boxer’s Shorts

They are one of the most eye-catching pieces of political memorabilia at the convention this week: black shorts with white letters that say “Boxer Shorts.” They’re being sold by California Senate candidate Barbara Boxer’s campaign for $20--and they’re hot. “It’s politically correct for the day,” said a Boxer backer, hawking the shorts in a midtown hotel. “One size fits every man and woman in the country.”