Robert Kennedy, JFK’s younger brother and former United States Attorney General was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan on June 5, 1968 in Los Angeles. At the time Kennedy was campaigning for the 1968 presidential election and had already won the California and South Dakota primary elections for the Democratic nomination. Though he was behind Hubert Humphrey for the Democratic nomination, many believed that he would have taken the lead following his win in the California primary.
There are many speculations behind Sirhan’s reasons for killing Kennedy. Some believe he was motivated by Middle Eastern politics, though this is probably assigning too much significance to the politics and consequently disregards Sirhan’s psychological problems. Sirhan was convicted on April 7, 1969 and was originally sentenced to death but that was commuted to life in prison when California v. Anderson invalidated all death sentences made prior to 1972. Sirhan is still confined in a correctional facility in San Diego county where he claims to have no memory of the event.
As with J.F.K.’s death, there are quite a few conspiracy theories revolving Robert Kennedy’s assassination. There are theories that claim Sirhan was framed/is innocent by law because there was a second gunman at the scene. Kennedy’s wound would suggest that his killer stood behind him but witnesses saw Sirhan in front. The most cited candidate for being the second gunman is security guard Thane Eugene Cesar. The main piece of evidence tying him to the crime is a gun that fit the gun that killed RFK but, according to author Dan Moldea, Cesar passed a polygraph exam administered by the former president and executive director of the American Polygraph Association with flying colors.
On the weirder side is a theory that claims Sirhan was “programmed” to kill RFK which is why he claims to have no memory of killing Kennedy. Others claim to have seen a girl in a polka dot dress fleeing the scene of the crime with an older man exclaiming “We shot him!” Of course, there is also the theory that the CIA was somehow involved with this murder too since several CIA officers were reportedly spotted on the night he was assassinated.
Though RFK never made it to office, he did contribute to the politics of the day. After his assassination, Congress mandated that the Secret Service protect presidential candidates and the remaining 1968 candidates were put under protection by an executive order of President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was also an advocate for the African-American Civil Rights Movement and helped diplomatically during the Berlin Crisis of 1961.
This is actually really sad as both Kennedy brothers had been assassinated within years of each other. There has also been speculation that as his recent job being the attorney general, he was put at risk by being involved in putting Mafia kingpins behind bars. This is only one of the countless ways that it was believed actually why Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated that day.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. One thing that surprises me is that it took so long to increase protection of high ranking political figures. You would think that after the assassination of presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, President John F. Kennedy shouldn't have been allowed to ride in an open top car. In response to Robert Kennedy's assassination, I am glad that Lyndon Johnson passed the executive order to increase security; I just feel that if the order had been passed earlier, this assassination could have been avoided.
ReplyDeleteThis post really reinforces the authenticity of the "Kennedy Curse", which sounds unofficial but there's actually a Wikipedia page for it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_curse) I think it's extremely scary that there was so much bad luck within one family and it's extremely unfortunate because the Kennedys have been fairly successful people. It is said that if they had not been assassinated, the Kennedys may have dominated the political scene for twenty years in a row, something that has never happened in history and will probably never happen in the future.
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