Misplaced Pages

Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 65.216.122.126 (talk) at 16:57, 18 May 2005 (→Kennedy's Wounds). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 16:57, 18 May 2005 by 65.216.122.126 (talk) (→Kennedy's Wounds)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
File:Robertkennedy.jpg
Robert Kennedy

U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. The convicted assassin, 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan B. Sirhan, attributed the killing to Kennedy's support for Israel during the Six-Day War. On March 3, 1969, in a Los Angeles, California court, Sirhan admitted that he had killed Kennedy. Sirhan has since recanted, and as late as 1998 has sought a new trial.

Various critics have suggested that the official account of Robert Kennedy's death is inconsistent or incomplete, and/or that the killing was the result of a conspiracy.

Background

The evening he was killed, Kennedy had won the June 4 Democratic Presidential primaries in South Dakota and California, making him the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for President during the 1968 presidential election.

Kennedy addressed his supporters on the evening of June 5 in a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Afterwords, Kennedy and his entourage walked through a kitchen hallway, shaking hands with well-wishers and hotel staff. The small pantry was rather crowded, when Sirhan stepped towards Kennedy and said "Kennedy, you son of a bitch" before firing his .22 revolver into the crowd.

Among others, Olympic gold medalist decathlete Rafer Johnson and football player Roosevelt Grier helped detain Sirhan, with Grier jamming his thumb behind the trigger of the gun to prevent further shots from being fired.

The shooting and resultant scuffle were broadcast live by reporter Andrew West of KRKD, who was interviewing Kennedy.

Kennedy was shot twice in his back and once behind his right ear. A fourth shot grazed Kennedy's clothing. Kennedy lay on the floor, bleeding heavily, and asked if anyone else was hurt. Five other people were wounded, and Kennedy died the next day.

Disputes and Contentions

There seems to be no dispute that Sirhan did fire his revolver (though one witness reportedly described his weapon as sounding like a harmless starter pistol ).

What is disputed is whether there was another gunman at the scene, as well as the propriety of some actions taken by various authorities during the investigation. Like his brother John's 1963 assassination, RFK's death has been analyzed by many who have developed various alternative scenarios for the crime, or who argue there are serious problems with the official case.

Kennedy's Wounds

Though some eyewitnesses suggest Sirhan was about one-and-a-half feet from Kennedy when he fired his revolver, many of the witnesses agreed that Sirhan was at least three feet away from Kennedy. All witnesses agree that Sirhan was facing Kennedy.

In conducting an autopsy on Kennedy, Los Angeles coroner Thomas N. Noguchi found powder burns on Kennedy's ear and gunpowder residue in his hair. Noguchi said this indicated that Kennedy was shot from a distance of, at most, 1.5 inches. (When a firearm is discharged, the powder travels only a few inches because the gas is very light.) Noguchi's conclusions led to speculation that Sirhan was too far from Kennedy and in the wrong position to have adminstered the fatal shot (also fired from a .22 caliber handgun, one which had apparently been fired into Kennedy's head at point-blank range from behind his right ear) and that a second shooter must have been present. Evidence points to a private security company guard escorting Kennedy, one named Thane Eugene Cesar who had been closest to Kennedy (on his right) when Sirhan had fired. Kennedy had suddenly grabbed Cesar's clip-on necktie when hit and was clutching it tightly when he was lying on the hotel's kitchen floor. Noguchi himself wrote years later that "Until more is precisely known…the existence of a second gunman remains a possibility. Thus, I have never said that Sirhan Sirhan killed Robert Kennedy."

Allegations of Supression or Coverup

Robert Enyart asserts that he took photographs during the shooting, but these were confiscated by the LAPD and never returned.

Sandy Serrano reports that during questioning, she was intimidated by police.

Police reportedly destroyed or concealed considerable amounts of evidence from the crime scene, including photographs, ceiling panels, and door frames.

Charges have been made that authorities withheld potentially exculpatory evidence from Sirhan's lawyer by keeping Noguchi's autopsy sealed until after the trial had begun.

Additional Bullet Holes or Gunshots

Sirhan's .22 revolver held eight cartridges. The official conclusion is that Sirhan fired all his cartridges, and all eight projectiles were recovered. Others have suggested this conclusion is flawed, and that evidence points to several other projectiles that had been recovered.

Additional Conspirators

A young Kennedy supporter named Sandy Serrano said a couple burst out of the hotel the night of the shooting exclaiming, "We shot Kennedy."

Purported PLO Connection

Mel Ayton of Frontpage Magazine argues that Kennedy was shot not on the orders of the PLO but by Sirhan Sirhan for reasons of anti-Semitism, anti-Americanism and Palestinian nationalism. However, Sirhan was not a Muslim but a lifelong Roman Catholic Christian and had immigrated to Los Angeles from Palestine with his family as a very young child.

Brainwashing

Sirhan claimed he acted unconsciously, and that he has no memory of the event. This has led to speculations that he was acting under the influence of "hypnotic brainwashing" which many attribute to the CIA's MK-Ultra program (similar to the plot of The Manchurian Candidate).

References In Popular Culture

The Rolling Stones were recording Beggar's Banquet when Robert Kennedy was shot. A lyric in "Sympathy for the Devil" was subsequently changed from "I shouted out, 'Who killed John Kennedy?'" to "I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys'"

External links