Robert F. Kennedy Assassination

This year marks the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. On this date, June 5,1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles,

around midnight, Kennedy was giving a speech after winning the California primary, when he was mortally wounded when shot with a pistol by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, allegedly in retaliation for his support of Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Robert Kennedy was the former Attorney General under his brother, President John F. Kennedy as well as a U.S. Senator from New York. Kennedy and had become a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency with his main challenger in the race was Senator Eugene McCarthy.

Here is a clip from ABC news reporting the events that had just taken place. In the clip you can see his wife, Ethel behind him as well as ex-football star Rosie Greer who initially motions him to go the other way. However due to the crowd of the press, they take a fateful turn in the other direction to instead go through the kitchen where he was shot:

Here is another look at the scene in color as it happened in real time:

RFK had become a leading candidate by appealing to poor, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, and young voters. Immediately following the mass, Kennedy's body was transported by a slow-moving train to Washington, D.C., and thousands of mourners lined the tracks and stations, paying their respects as the train passed by. Here is a short clip with the message that represents his lasting legacy from video footage taken during the historic funeral train:

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