The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

Senator Robert F. Kennedy, younger brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy and the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968, was shot and fatally wounded in the Ambassador Hotel's kitchen pantry in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, minutes after claiming victory in the California Democratic primary. He died the following morning. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Jordanian-born immigrant, was tackled at the scene with a revolver still in his hand and was convicted of first-degree murder in 1969. He has remained imprisoned ever since. The case has been contested for decades. Witnesses reported that Kennedy was shot from behind at close range and that the fatal wound was behind his right ear, yet Sirhan was reportedly in front of Kennedy at the time. Forensic analyses, including a 1975 audio tape analysis, suggested that more shots were fired than Sirhan's eight-round revolver could have held, raising the possibility of a second shooter. Kennedy's autopsy was performed by the Los Angeles County coroner and its findings have been disputed by subsequent independent experts. Sirhan has repeatedly been denied parole, with members of the Kennedy family split on the question — some opposing his release, while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has publicly stated his belief that Sirhan did not fire the fatal shot. In 2021, a California parole board recommended parole for Sirhan after 53 years in prison, citing rehabilitation. California Governor Gavin Newsom reviewed and reversed that recommendation in January 2023, keeping Sirhan imprisoned. The assassination of Robert Kennedy, coming just two months after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in one of the most violent years in American political history, profoundly altered the trajectory of the Democratic Party and the 1968 election. His death and the chaos that followed at the Democratic convention in Chicago helped deliver the presidency to Richard Nixon. Whether he acted entirely alone or as part of a larger conspiracy remains officially unresolved.