Senator Robert F. Kennedy died 50 years ago today, one day after he was shot in Los Angeles while celebrating his victory in the California primary, in his bid for the presidency. The Honorable Margaret Marshall, the first woman to serve as chief justice in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, spent time with Kennedy during his trip to Marshall's native South Africa in 1966. She recounts his visit and the impact he had on her in an interview with WGBH's Morning Edition Host Joe Mathieu.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Joe Mathieu: It was 50 years ago today when Brookline native Robert F. Kennedy died, hours after he was shot in Los Angeles. And as we mark the anniversary of his death in 1968, we reflect today on one of the most memorable moments of his life. Kennedy was a staunch supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, aiding in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Two years later he traveled to South Africa in the throes of apartheid, where he addressed the National Union of South African Students in what became known as the Day of Affirmation Speech.

(Tape) You must do this not because it is economically advantageous, although it is. Not because the laws of God command it, although they do. Not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do (applause).

JM: As part of our year-long series, 1968 + 50, this morning we retrace the roots of Kennedy's trip to South Africa with someone who was there. The honorable Margaret Marshall, the first woman to serve as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Good morning, and welcome to WGBH's Morning Edition.

Hon. Margaret Marshall: Good morning, Joe.

JM: It's great to see you in person. You were born and raised, of course, in South Africa and didn't come here until 1968.

MM: Just a few short weeks before Senator Kennedy was assassinated.

JM: What must it have been like for you to see this young man from Massachusetts, of all places, arrive in your town? What was he doing there?

JM: In 1959, the South African government then, the apartheid government declared that all universities had to be segregated on the basis of race. The National Union of South African students, of which I was then the vice president, decided to invite somebody from the International arena who would really bring a message of hope to South Africa. And we first invited Dr. Martin Luther King. He accepted our invitation but of course the apartheid government declined to give him a visa. And then we thought we'd come up with this really wonderful idea of inviting Senator Robert Kennedy of whom we did not know a great deal but we knew, number one, that the United States was a strong ally of the South African government, which it was at the time. And second that he was the brother of the slain president. And so we invited him, and he accepted, and the South African government gave him a visa. And South Africa was very isolated and the government — the apartheid government — was in total control of everything. There was no television. Of course, this is a long time before the internet. Books were banned, movies were heavily censored, newspapers were censored. There was no radio that didn't come through the South African government channels. He had no security. And so to have somebody like Senator Kennedy come and agree to come in those circumstances was really a wondrous occasion.

JM: Considering what happened just years earlier with the assassination of President Kennedy, what he must have thought?

MM: I was at the airport in Johannesburg when he arrived, and there was just the throng of people — including some very vociferous people — shouting against him, and at one stage somebody came behind Senator Kennedy to throw a garland over his head as a sign of welcome from the Indian community, I assume. I mean, nobody had screened any of the people going into this arrivals hall, and he just didn't flinch — neither did Mrs. Kennedy. I mean, it was a quite remarkable display of personal courage, I think. And so Senator Kennedy's visit had a powerfully reverberating effect in South Africa. Really for two reasons: First, because of this very powerful speech, a small section of which you just re-played for your audience, and second, because he did something that was truly extraordinary.

Nelson Mandela's predecessor was a man called Albert Luthuli. He was a great great African leader and he was in fact the first person on the African continent to win the Nobel Prize. And the South African government, when chief Luthuli returned to South Africa, had issued a banishment order. He was banished to a tiny, tiny remote village in the hinterlands of South Africa. Nobody was allowed to spend any time with him. He could only be with one person at a time. He couldn't be quoted, you couldn't take photographs of him. And senator and Mrs. Kennedy paid a visit to Chief Luthuli. I can tell you, because I was with Senator Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy throughout their trip. There were no photographs taken. There was no press reporting of it, but the word spread very quickly throughout black South Africa, that this young, young senator of the United States had paid their unmistakable leader the great honor of visiting him and learning from him. By the time the senator and Mrs. Kennedy reached Johannesburg, which was the final, they had done a loop — they landed in Johannesburg, went to Cape Town, went to Durban and then back to Johannesburg — people were thronging to meet him. So I knew from the beginning, all the way to the end, what a profound difference the senator's visit had made.

JM: How much of an impact, if any, did this have on your decision to enter public service? Your experience with him over the course of this whole trip?

MM: There's a piece of the speech that he gave in South Africa which has really formed the basis of my own life — not so much public service, but Senator Kennedy said to us, "Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts ...

(Fades into tape) to improve the lot of others. Or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring. Those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

MM: South Africa in 1966 was as dark a period as I have ever been in. There was this great granite wall of power and privilege of the apartheid government. And then as Senator Kennedy said and I believe deeply, over time, each of those little acts comes together to sweep down the mightiest walls.

JM: So how did you feel when you heard he died?

MM: Well it was devastating. I mean I had just arrived in the United States, and the United States was a ally of the apartheid government. I was not particularly warm to the politics and to have in very quick succession two heroes — Dr. King and Senator Kennedy — assassinated was really devastating.

JM: I get a sense hearing you and watching you describe this that these memories are still very fresh for you.

MM: Oh they are. They are.

JM: Thanks for telling the story.

MM: You're welcome.

JM: The Honorable Margaret Marshall, the first woman to serve as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. We thank you for being with us on WGBH's Morning Edition.