In the address Kennedy talked about individual liberty, Apartheid, and the need for justice in the United States at a time when the American civil rights movement was ongoing.

The "Day of Affirmation" (as it was known in short) was an assembly designed to directly oppose the South African government's policy of Apartheid.

"[3] Prominent conservative newspaper publisher William Loeb III publicly denounced a potential visit to the country by Kennedy as making no more sense than letting "a viper into one's bed.

"[4] The South African government was hesitant to let Kennedy speak but eventually granted him a visa for fear of snubbing a future President of the United States.

He told Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs J. Wayne Fredericks over the phone that he preferred to wait until after the November elections to travel.

According to the Ministry of Information, South Africa did not want the visit "to be transformed into a publicity stunt...as a build-up for a future presidential election.

"[6] Back in March, White House watchdog Marvin Watson notified President Lyndon B. Johnson of Kennedy's application for a visa and his plans to address student groups.

[4] Robert Kennedy, his wife Ethel, his secretary Angie Novello, and speechwriter Adam Walinsky arrived at Jan Smuts airport in Johannesburg shortly before midnight on June 4.

I come here to learn what we can do together to meet the challenges of our time, to do as the Greeks once wrote: to tame the savageness of man, and make gentle the life of this world.

That evening Kennedy had dinner with South African businessmen, who expressed their confusion over the fact that their country was overlooked by the United States, despite being committed to anti-Communism.

[9] Lowenstein bluntly criticized the draft, saying it practically expressed the white views of the South African government and "wasn't attentive to the struggles of the people.

Kennedy followed a ceremonial procession into the hall led by a student carrying the extinguished "torch of academic freedom."

[12] After thanking the student union for the invitation to speak, Kennedy discussed individual liberty, apartheid, communism, and the need for civil rights.

Kennedy counters this idea, stating: Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man.

The fourth and final danger, comfort, "the temptation to follow the easy and familiar path of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of an education."

And everyone here will ultimately be judged - will ultimately judge himself - on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.Kennedy finished his speech by quoting John F. Kennedy's inaugural address: "The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it - and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

[...] "With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth and lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."

Inside the library of the University of Virginia School of Law, there is a bust of Robert Kennedy (an alumnus) with an inscription from the ripple of hope speech.