On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was shot by

Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (; ar, سرحان بشارة سرحان ''Sirḥān Bišāra Sirḥān'', born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian Jordanian man who was convicted for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy, a United States Sena ...

shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles. He was pronounced dead at 1:44 a.m. PDT the following day. Kennedy was a senator from New York and a candidate in the

1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries From March 12 to June 11, 1968, Democratic Party voters of several states elected delegates to the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey was selected as the nominee in the 1968 Democratic National Conventio ...

. On June 4, 1968, he won the California and South Dakota primary elections. He addressed his campaign supporters in the Ambassador Hotel's Embassy Room ballroom. After leaving the podium, and exiting through a kitchen hallway, he was mortally wounded by multiple shots fired by Sirhan. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital nearly 26 hours later. His body was buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

near his brother

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

's grave. Sirhan was a Palestinian who held strong

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...

and

pro-Palestinian Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people that espouses self-determination and sovereignty over the region of Palestine.de Waart, 1994p. 223 Referencing Article 9 of ''The Palestinian National Charter of 1968' ...

beliefs. In 1969, he testified that he killed Kennedy "with 20 years of malice aforethought"; he was convicted and sentenced to death. Due to the court case ''

People v. Anderson ''The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson'', 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 ( Cal. 1972), was a landmark case in the state of California that outlawed capital punishment for nine months until the enactment of a constitutional ...

,'' his sentence was commuted to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

in 1972 with a possibility of parole. As of January 2022, his parole request has been denied 16 times. Kennedy's

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

prompted the

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. Fo ...

to protect presidential candidates. Hubert Humphrey became the Democratic nominee but ultimately lost the election to Republican candidate Richard Nixon. Kennedy's assassination has led to several

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

. No credible evidence has emerged that Sirhan was not the shooter, or that he did not act alone. It has been described as one of four major assassinations in the United States that occurred during the 1960s.

Background

Robert F. Kennedy was born in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, in the United States, and part of the Boston metropolitan area. Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and West ...

, in 1925. In 1948, he visited Palestine and wrote six dispatches for '' The Boston Post''. He dismissed the possibility of the Jewish state becoming communist as "fantastically absurd", and called it the "only stabilizing factor remaining in the near and middle East". In 1960,

, his elder brother, was elected the president of the United States. He appointed Robert as the

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. During his tenure, Robert served as John's close advisor and was associated with various decisions during the Kennedy administration. According to author Matthew A. Hayes, during the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United ...

, Robert acted as a " de-facto Chief of Staff, Presidential Agent and Intermediary for his brother" and was an "indispensable partner" in its successful resolution. In November 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

; Vice President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

assumed the presidency. Johnson retained almost all prominent Kennedy advisors, including Robert as attorney general. Robert was deeply affected by his brother's assassination. Despite his political differences with Johnson, he remained in the cabinet. In 1964, polls showed that various Democrats wanted Kennedy to be Johnson's running mate in the presidential election. Kennedy instead organized his senatorial campaign in New York, challenging

Kenneth Keating Kenneth Barnard Keating (May 18, 1900 – May 5, 1975) was an American politician, diplomat, and judge who served as a United States Senator representing New York from 1959 until 1965. A member of the Republican Party, he also served in the ...

, an incumbent Republican senator. During a campaign speech, Kennedy declared his support for Israel, stating that in the event of an attack, "we will stand by Israel and come to her assistance". He won the election; during his congressional career, he supported civil rights and opposed Johnson's policies during the Vietnam War. The 1968 presidential campaign has been referred to as one of the most volatile campaigns in American history; there was opposition to the ongoing Vietnam War. It also was a period of social unrest with riots in major cities.

Allard K. Lowenstein Allard Kenneth Lowenstein (January 16, 1929 – March 14, 1980)Lowenstein's gravestone, Arlington National Cemeteryphoto onlineon the cemetery's official website. Accessed online 28 October 2006.Dump Johnson" movement to prevent Johnson's nomination as the presidential candidate, and asked Kennedy to run instead. Kennedy refused, asserting that he did not want to split the Democratic Party for his benefit. Eugene McCarthy, a senator from Minnesota, emerged as the leader of the "Dump Johnson" movement and entered several state presidential primaries. In late January 1968, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, in the view of historian Lloyd Gardner, "shattered hopes that the war could be won within a reasonable period of time—if ever—and broke open the cracks in the Democratic coalition". On March 12, 1968, in the New Hampshire Democratic primary election, McCarthy nearly defeated Johnson with 42 percent to Johnson's 49 percent of the votes. Four days later, Kennedy announced his presidential campaign. On March 31, Johnson announced that he would not seek the presidency. Four days later, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, leading to further riots in several cities. The same day, Kennedy gave a speech in Indianapolis, Indiana, saying:

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black. ... let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

In April, Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy for the presidency. He mostly avoided primaries and focused on states which held

caucuses A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

. Contrary to Kennedy, Humphrey did not publicly oppose the Vietnam War.

Assassination

California primary and shooting

The California presidential primary elections were held on June 4, 1968. Polls by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

showed Kennedy leading by 7 percent. The statewide results gave Kennedy 46 percent to McCarthy's 42 percent. He was in second place with delegates, against Humphrey's delegates. Kennedy also won the South Dakota primary, winning approximately 50 percent of the vote. Author Joseph Palermo referred to the victory as Kennedy's "greatest". At approximately 00:02 a.m. PDT the next day, Kennedy addressed his campaign supporters in the Ambassador Hotel's Embassy Room ballroom in the Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles. The government did not provide

protection for presidential candidates. Kennedy's only security personnel was former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent William Barry and two unofficial bodyguards: Olympic decathlon gold medalist Rafer Johnson and former football player

Rosey Grier Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier (born July 14, 1932) is an American actor, singer, Protestant minister, and former professional football player. He was a notable college football player for Pennsylvania State University who earned a retrospective plac ...

. At approximately 00:10 a.m., concluding his victory speech, Kennedy said: "So my thanks to all of you and on to Chicago and let's win there." Kennedy planned to walk through the ballroom after speaking on his way to another gathering of supporters. Reporters wanted a press conference; campaign aide

Fred Dutton Frederick Gary Dutton (June 16, 1923 – June 27, 2005) was a lawyer and Democratic Party power broker who served as campaign manager and Chief of Staff for California Governor Pat Brown, Special Assistant to U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and ...

decided that Kennedy would forgo the second gathering and instead go through the hotel's kitchen and pantry area behind the ballroom to the press area. Kennedy had welcomed contact with the public during the campaign, and people had often tried to touch him in excitement. Soon after Kennedy concluded the speech, he started to exit when Barry stopped him and said, "No, it's been changed. We're going this way." Barry and Dutton began clearing a way for Kennedy to go left through swinging doors to the kitchen corridor, but he was hemmed in by the crowd and followed ''

maître d'hôtel The ''maître d'hôtel'' (; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the wa ...

'' Karl Uecker through a back exit. Uecker led Kennedy through the kitchen area, holding his right wrist, but frequently releasing it as Kennedy shook hands with people whom he encountered. Uecker and Kennedy started down a passageway narrowed by an ice machine and a steam table in the north. Kennedy turned to his left and shook hands with Juan Romero, just as

stepped down from a low tray-stacker beside the ice-machine, rushed past Uecker, and repeatedly fired an eight-shot

.22 Long Rifle The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...

caliber Iver Johnson Cadet 55-A revolver at

point-blank range Point-blank range is any distance over which a certain firearm can hit a target without the need to compensate for bullet drop, and can be adjusted over a wide range of distances by sighting in the firearm. If the bullet leaves the barrel para ...

. Kennedy fell to the floor; others including writer George Plimpton and Grier tried to disarm Sirhan, as he continued firing his gun in random directions. Five other people were wounded: William Weisel of

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show ''Good Morning America'', ''Ni ...

, Paul Schrade of the United Automobile Workers union, Democratic Party activist Elizabeth Evans, Ira Goldstein of the Continental News Service, and Kennedy campaign volunteer Irwin Stroll. A minute later, Sirhan wrestled free and grabbed the revolver again, but others grabbed him. Barry went to Kennedy and placed his jacket under Kennedy's head. As Kennedy lay wounded, Romero cradled his head and placed a rosary in his hand. Kennedy asked Romero, "Is everybody OK?"; Romero responded, "Yes, everybody's OK." Kennedy then turned away and said, "Everything's going to be OK." The moment was captured by Boris Yaro of the '' Los Angeles Times'' and became the iconic image of the assassination.

Immediate aftermath and death

As the shooting took place, ABC News was signing off from its electoral broadcast, while the CBS coverage had been concluded. CBS re-began its coverage of the assassination 21 minutes after the shooting. ABC's associate news director Weisel, who was wounded during the shooting, reported from his stretcher. ABC was able to show scant live footage from the kitchen after Kennedy had been transported, but all of ABC's coverage from the hotel was in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

. Approximately three hours after the incident, television networks began their morning cycle. About six million Western American households viewed the live reporting. Kennedy's wife

Ethel Ethel (also '' æthel'') is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name. Etymology and historic usage The word means ''æthel'' "noble". It is frequently attested as the first element in Anglo-Saxon names, b ...

, who was three months pregnant, stood outside the scene. She was soon led to Kennedy and knelt beside him. Kennedy turned his head seeming to recognize her. Kennedy's campaign manager,

Stephen Edward Smith Stephen Edward Smith (September 24, 1927 – August 19, 1990) was the husband of Jean Ann Kennedy. He was a financial analyst and political strategist in the 1960 United States presidential campaign of his brother-in-law John F. Kennedy. Early ...

, promptly appeared on television and asked for a doctor. After several minutes, medical attendants arrived and lifted Kennedy onto a stretcher, prompting him to whisper, "Don't lift me", which were his last words; he lost consciousness shortly after. He was taken to Central Receiving Hospital. A doctor slapped his face, calling, "Bob! Bob! Bob!" while another doctor massaged his heart. After obtaining a good heartbeat, doctors handed a stethoscope to Ethel so that she could hear his heart beating. After about 30 minutes, Kennedy was transferred several blocks to the Good Samaritan Hospital to undergo surgery. A gymnasium near the hospital was set up as temporary headquarters for the press and news media to receive updates on his condition. Surgery began at 3:12 a.m. and lasted approximately 3 hours and 40 minutes. At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, spokesman

Frank Mankiewicz Frank Fabian Mankiewicz II (May 16, 1924 – October 23, 2014) was an American journalist, political adviser, president of National Public Radio, and public relations executive. Life and career Frank Mankiewicz was born in New York City ...

announced that Kennedy's doctors were "concerned over his continuing failure to show improvement"; his condition remained critical to life. Kennedy was shot multiple times. The fatal shot was fired at a range of that entered behind his right ear. The other two entered at the rear of his right armpit; one exited from his chest and the other lodged in the back of his neck. Despite extensive neurosurgery to remove the bullet and bone fragments from his brain, he was pronounced dead at 1:44 a.m. on June 6, nearly 25 hours after the shooting. Mankiewicz left the hospital and walked to the gymnasium where the press and news media were set up for continuous updates on the situation. At 2 a.m. on June 6, Mankiewicz announced Kennedy's death. The following week, NBC devoted 55 hours to the shooting and aftermath, ABC 43 hours, and CBS 42 hours, with all three networks initially pre-empting their regular coverage and advertisements to cover the story.

Funeral and aftermath

Kennedy's remains were taken to New York City, where his casket was viewed by thousands at St. Patrick's Cathedral. The funeral mass was held on the morning of June 8. Kennedy's younger brother, Senator

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

, delivered the eulogy, saying:

My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it ... As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: "Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."

Kennedy's body was transported via train to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

; many mourners lined the route, paying their respects. On the way to the cemetery, the funeral procession passed through Resurrection City, a shantytown protest site. The procession stopped in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where residents of Resurrection City joined the group, and the "

Battle Hymn of the Republic The "Battle Hymn of the Republic", also known as "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" or "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" outside of the United States, is a popular American patriotic song written by the abolitionist writer Julia Ward Howe. Howe wrote her l ...

" was sung. Kennedy was buried near his older brother John in the

. This was the first burial to have ever taken place there at night. After the assassination,

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

altered the Secret Service's mandate to include protection for major presidential and vice-presidential nominees. At the time of his death, Kennedy was substantially behind Humphrey in convention delegate support, but many believe that following his victory in the California primary, he would have ultimately secured the nomination. Humphrey won the nomination at the convention in Chicago at which violence in the streets occurred. He ultimately lost the general election to Republican candidate Richard Nixon by a narrow popular vote margin of 0.7 percent. Nixon won by a more decisive 301–191 margin in the electoral vote.

Perpetrator

Sirhan Sirhan was born on March 19, 1944, in Jerusalem,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

, in an

Arab Christian Arab Christians ( ar, ﺍَﻟْﻤَﺴِﻴﺤِﻴُّﻮﻥ ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ, translit=al-Masīḥīyyūn al-ʿArab) are ethnic Arabs, Arab nationals, or Arabic-speakers who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who l ...

family. At the age of four, he and his father narrowly escaped a bomb explosion during the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...

. This incident, according to author Mel Ayton, "had a psychological effect on young Sirhan". He witnessed various other violent incidents during his childhood, including physical abuse by his father and the death of his older brother by a Zionist truck that was trying to avoid sniper fire. In late 1956, Sirhan, along with his family, immigrated to the United States. He opposed immigration, saying that "the US was against the Arabs and was friendly with Israel, and a friend of my enemy is my enemy". Once in the United States, Sirhan received above-average grades and joined the officer cadet corps. During his late-teenage years, Sirhan's father abandoned the family, his sister died, two of his brothers were arrested, and he was expelled from Pasadena City College. Sirhan held strongly

and

beliefs. In 1966, while pursuing a career as a

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

, Sirhan fell from a running horse, suffering minor injuries. A friend of Sirhan said that after this incident, Sirhan was "impatient, nervous, emotional and always in a hurry". A diary was found during a search of his home, where he wrote on May 18: "Robert Kennedy must be assassinated ... My determination to eliminate RFK is becoming more and more of an unshakable obsession. RFK must die. RFK must be killed."

Investigation and trial

Due to Sirhan being a non-citizen, it was illegal under California law for him to purchase firearms. He violated three California laws by possessing the pistol he used to kill Kennedy. Loren Coleman suggested that the date of the assassination is significant because it was the first anniversary of the start of the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors. William F

When Sirhan was booked by police, they found a newspaper article in his pocket that discussed Kennedy's support for Israel; Sirhan later told that he began to hate Kennedy after learning of this support. Sirhan was convicted of Kennedy's murder in April 1969, and was sentenced to death. In 1972, the sentence was commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole after the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

invalidated all pending death sentences that were imposed before 1972 as unconstitutional, due to its ruling in ''

California v. Anderson ''The People of the State of California v. Robert Page Anderson'', 493 P.2d 880, 6 Cal. 3d 628 ( Cal. 1972), was a landmark case in the state of California that outlawed capital punishment for nine months until the enactment of a constitutional ...

''. It was decided in 1975 that Sirhan would be freed on parole in 1984. In 1982, however, the California Board of Prison Term rescinded the parole date citing death threats made by Sirhan from the prison. In 1989, Sirhan told

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

in prison that his sole connection with Kennedy was " ennedy'ssupport of Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 bombers to Israel to obviously do harm to the Palestinians." Although a study published in the ''

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' is a nonprofit organization concerning science and global security issues resulting from accelerating technological advances that have negative consequences for humanity. The ''Bulletin'' publishes conte ...

'' referred Sirhan as a "withdrawn fanatic with multiple identity problems", the author James W. Clarke stated that Sirhan was motivated by political issues more than his personal temperament. Sirhan's lawyers attempted to use a defense of diminished responsibility during the trial, while Sirhan tried to confess to the crime and change his plea to guilty on several occasions. He testified that he had killed Kennedy "with 20 years of malice aforethought". As of 2022, Sirhan has been denied parole 16 times. His lawyers have claimed that he was framed, and he claims to have no memory of his crime. In February 2012, Sirhan's lawyers

William F. Pepper William Francis Pepper (born August 16, 1937) is a U.S. lawyer formerly based in New York City who is most noted for his efforts to prove government culpability and the innocence of James Earl Ray in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. P ...

and Laurie Dusek filed a court brief in District Court in Los Angeles claiming that a second gunman fired the shots that killed Kennedy. It was the fourth in a series of federal briefs filed under

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

by Pepper and Dusek beginning in October 2010. Judge

Beverly Reid O'Connell Beverly Ann Reid O'Connell (May 12, 1965 – October 8, 2017) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Early life and education O'Connell was born Beverly Ann Reid on May 12, ...

denied the petition in 2015. During Sirhan's 2016 parole hearing, Paul Schrade, who was shot and wounded on the assassination night, asserted that fatal shots to Kennedy were shot by a different shooter. He claimed that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) destroyed evidence, "hid ballistic evidence exonerating Sirhan, and covered up conclusive evidence that a second gunman fatally wounded Robert Kennedy." In August 2021, the California state parole panel recommended Sirhan's parole. Two of Kennedy's children, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Douglas Harriman Kennedy, supported the decision, while six others opposed it. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, denied the parole in January 2022, asserting that "Sirhan has not developed the accountability and insight required to support his safe release into the community."

Conspiracy theories

CIA involvement hypothesis

In November 2006, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

's '' Newsnight'' program presented research by filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan alleging that several

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

(CIA) officers were present on the night of the assassination. The three men who appear in films and photographs from the night of the assassination were identified by former colleagues and associates as former senior CIA officers who had worked together in 1963 at

JMWAVE JMWAVE or JM/WAVE or JM WAVE was the codename for a major secret United States covert operations and intelligence gathering station operated by the CIA from 1961 until 1968. It was headquartered in Building 25 at the former Naval Air Station Ri ...

, the CIA's

anti-Castro The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political dissent. Backgro ...

station based in Miami. They were JMWAVE Chief of Operations

David Morales David Morales (; born August 21, 1962) is an American disc jockey (DJ) and record producer. In addition to his production and DJ work, Morales is also a remixer. David Morales has remixed and produced over 500 releases for artists including ...

, Chief of Maritime Operations Gordon Campbell, and Chief of Psychological Warfare Operations George Joannides. Several people who had known Morales were sure that he was not the man claimed by O'Sullivan. After O'Sullivan published his book, assassination researchers

Jefferson Morley Jefferson may refer to: Names * Jefferson (surname) * Jefferson (given name) People * Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States * Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...

and David Talbot also discovered that Campbell had died of a heart attack in 1962, six years before Kennedy's assassination. In response, O'Sullivan stated that the man on the video may have used Campbell's name as an alias.

Second gunman hypothesis

The location of Kennedy's wounds suggested that his assailant had stood behind him, while some witnesses assert that Sirhan faced west as Kennedy moved through the pantry. This has led to the suggestion that a second gunman fired the fatal shot, a possibility supported by

Thomas Noguchi is the former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles. Popularly known as the "coroner to the stars", Noguchi determined the cause of death in many high-profile cases in Hollywood during the 1960s and 1970s. He performed a ...

, the Chief Medical Examiner and Coroner for the

County of Los Angeles Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is th ...

, who stated that the fatal shot was behind Kennedy's right ear and had been fired at a distance of approximately to . Other witnesses said that Kennedy was turning to his left shaking hands as Sirhan approached, from the east. In 1975, during a re-examination of the case, experts looked into the possibility of a second gunman, and concluded that there was little or no evidence to support this hypothesis. In 2004, CNN's senior writer Brad Johnson discovered a recording of Kennedy's victory speech, recorded by the Polish journalist . Johnson gave the tapes to the audio engineer Philip Van Praag, who analyzed and found 13 shots fired even though Sirhan's gun held only eight rounds. He also stated the recording revealed at least two cases where the timing between shots was shorter than physically possible from Sirhan's gun alone. Forensic audio specialists Wes Dooley and Paul Pegas of Audio Engineering Associates in Pasadena examined the findings and corroborated the presence of at least 10 shots on the tape along with an over-lapping shot. Other acoustic experts have claimed that they could find no more than eight shots recorded on the audiotape. Critics claim that Van Praag misidentified the noise impulses of the recording as gun shots. In 2008, eyewitness John Pilger asserted his belief that there must have been a second gunman.

Legacy

Kennedy's assassination was one of the four major assassinations in the 1960s, including John F. Kennedy (1963),

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

(1965), and Martin Luther King Jr. (1968). Some scholars view the assassination as one of the first major incidents of political violence in the United States stemming from the Arab–Israeli conflict in the Middle East. Until 1987, the LAPD retained the original files, reports, transcripts, fragments of the bullets that struck Kennedy and the four other bystanders in the kitchen pantry, the .22 caliber Iver-Johnson handgun used by Sirhan, Kennedy's blood-stained clothes, and other artifacts related to the assassination. In 1987, the LAPD donated the entire evidence collection (except for Kennedy's clothes) to the California State Archives in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

for permanent preservation. Kennedy's blood-stained shirt, tie, and jacket are in the possession of the Los Angeles County District Attorney. In 2010, a controversy occurred when Kennedy's clothing was transported to the California Homicide Investigators Association conference in Las Vegas, where they were included in a temporary public display. Max Kennedy called it a "cheap bid for attention." The items and Kennedy's clothing were removed from the exhibit, with the LAPD apologizing to the Kennedy family. The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Archives of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth contains a large collection of materials on the assassination. In 2006, American filmmaker

Emilio Estevez Emilio Estevez (; born May 12, 1962) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the son of actor Martin Sheen and the older brother of Charlie Sheen. Emilio Estevez started his career as an actor and is known for being a member of the acting Bra ...

wrote and directed the film '' Bobby''. He attempted to recreate the scene of the assassination through a fictional account. According to the author Ron Briley, "the history in ''Bobby'' is often misleading".

References

Notes

Works cited

Books

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Scholarly articles

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Magazines

* * * * * * * * *

News sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Web sources

* * * * * * * *

External links

List of physical evidences at the assassination site
— via the California State Archives
Robert F. Kennedy Assassination 50th Anniversary
— via C-SPAN
Public Law 90-331
— via Govinfo.gov {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Robert F., assassination of 1968 murders in the United States Assassinations in the United States Filmed assassinations 1968 United States presidential election Terrorist incidents in Los Angeles Deaths by firearm in California Deaths by person in Los Angeles Murder in Los Angeles June 1968 events in the United States 1968 in Los Angeles Terrorist incidents in the United States in 1968 Political violence in the United States