First Great Sorrow (My Years with Robert F. Kennedy)

An intimate political memoir set in Washington, D.C. and Hyannisport during the turbulent 1960s, offering history readers and Kennedy enthusiasts a rare first-person portrait of Robert F. Kennedy through the eyes of a young Senate staffer navigating ambition, power, and personal awakening.

“With First Great Sorrow, author Donna Chaffee has produced an inspiring tribute to a man for whom she worked and campaigned—Robert F. Kennedy. Her book is filled with fascinating, inside details of RFK’s career and how he inspired those who knew him. An intimate portrait about a time when anything seemed possible. Oh, what might have been.” ~ Ray E. Boomhower, author of Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary

“Through fresh eyes, Donna reminds us why Bobby Kennedy was just the right man for his times and remains an inspiration for ours.” ~ Larry Tye, New York Times bestselling author of Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon

“This is a lovely memoir by Donna Chaffee, who, as a young woman still in college, accepted a job on the Senate staff of Robert F. Kennedy. She writes with deep respect and insight about the empathy and authenticity of her boss, with whom, truth be told, she was at least a little bit in love. This is not a tell-all book—far from it. It is a story told with accessibility and heart about a singular politician from the 1960s whose concern for people on the margins of American life made him, some of us believe, the greatest Kennedy of them all.” ~ Frye Gaillard, author of A Hard Rain: America in the 1960s

In First Great Sorrow: My Years with Robert F. Kennedy, Donna Chaffee offers a rare and intimate portrait of one of America’s most legendary political figures — told not by a historian, but by someone who knew him personally. In 1965, at just eighteen years old, Chaffee joined Robert F. Kennedy’s Senate staff in Washington, D.C. Over the next three turbulent years, she witnessed history from inside the halls of power during the civil rights movement, the Vietnam era, and the political upheaval that defined a generation. But history is only part of the story. Through private conversations, evening rides home from the Capitol, and unforgettable moments inside the Kennedy world—from Hyannisport summers to campaign trail chaos—Chaffee reveals the deeply human side of the man millions admired but few truly knew. At the same time, she chronicles her own coming-of-age in 1960s America—navigating ambition, admiration, trauma, and the emotional shock of a nation shattered by tragedy. Rich with never-before-shared stories, vivid historical detail, and powerful personal reflection, First Great Sorrow is a moving memoir about power, loss, and the complicated humanity behind political legend.

For readers fascinated by the Kennedys, the 1960s, and the people who stood just outside history’s spotlight, this unforgettable memoir offers a perspective never told before.