"SOME MEN SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE & SAY WHY?. I DREAM THINGS THAT NEVER WERE & SAY WHY NOT?"

SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY DIES

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) On the morning of June 6, 1968, New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy died at the Good Samaritan Hospital here in Los Angeles.  Bobby was 42 years old.

The Senator's death, at 1:44 a.m., came more than 25 hours after he was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel* following a speech celebrating his California primary victory. 

Doctors operated on RFK for 3 hours and 45 minutes but were pessimistic due to the extent of bullet and bone fragments they found scattered through the brain.

RFK was walking through the hotel kitchen pantry shaking hands with  employees when 24 year old Sirhan Sirhan** opened fire.  The assassin fired 8 shots from a 22 caliber Iver Johnson pistol.  3 shots of the 8 shots hit RFK.  

Five others were struck by bullets but all survived.  They included...
Elizabeth Evans, Ira Goldstein, Paul Schrade, Irwin Stroll and William Weisel.
With the Senator at the time of death were his wife Ethel, sister-in-law Jacqueline Kennedy, brother Ted, Peter Lawford and Steven Smith.

In speeches on the campaign trail, Bobby often spoke words from George Bernard Shaw...
  
"Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were & say why not?"***
     
*Ambassador Hotel (1921-1989) was located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.  Designed by Myron Hunt and offering 500 rooms, it was frequented by many Hollywood celebrities.  Six Academy Award ceremonies were held there.

**Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was born in Jerusalem in 1944 and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12.  Described as a Palestinian Christian with Jordanian citizenship, he was tried for the murder of RFK in 1969  SBS was convicted and sentenced to death but received a commutation to life imprisonment in 1972. He has been held in solitary confinement at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Colinga since October 2009. 

***RFK was paraphrasing Shaw's line from "Back to Methuselah Act 1, Selected Plays with Prefaces, Vol 2, p. 7",  (1949):  "You see things; and you say Why?  But I dream things that never were and I say "Why Not?"  This line was spoken by the Serpent to Eve.

 SOURCES

"Respectfully Quoted:  A Dictionary of Quotations," 1989, www.Bartleby.com/


 "RFK assassination witness willing to testify for Sirhan Sirhan's lawyers," by Brad Johnson and Michael Martinez, www.cnn.com/. 

Robert F. Kennedy on Campaign

Photo by Evan Freed (1968)

"AND NOW ITS ON TO CHICAGO & LET'S WIN THERE"

RFK ASSASSIN GIVEN THE DEATH PENALTY 50 YEARS AGO

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) Fifty years ago, April 23, 1969, Sirhan Sirhan*, charged with killing Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York in early June 1968, was given the death penalty.

After winning the California Primary on June 4, 1968,  RFK gave a short victory speech in which he said...

"And now its on to Chicago and let's win there."

The Senator and his party exited the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel and then was shot as he was walking through the kitchen area shaking hands with employees.

In 1972, California abolished the Death Penalty and Sirhan's sentence was changed to Life.  At his 16th parole hearing in 2016, 91 year old Paul Schrade, who was shot in the assassination attempt, testified that Sirhan fired the shot that hit him, but did not believe Sirhan was in position to kill RFK.

Despite the testimony, parole was once again denied.  Sirhan claims he has no memory of the shooting.  

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan said, "It's all vague now."

*Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was born in 1944 in Jerusalem.  His family emigrated to the U.S. when he was 12.  SBS atteneded Pasadena City College  & is currently serving his sentence for the murder of RFK at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

**Eyewitnesses in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel at the time of the shooting said that Sirhan was always in front of RFK, but the autopsy reported RFK died as a result of a shot entering behind the right ear.

SOURCE

"Sirhan Sirhan denied parole despite a Kennedy confidant's call for assassin's release", by Peter Holley, The Washington Post, February 11, 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/

Sirhan Sirhan

EVEN IN DEATH BOBBY INSPIRES AN EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE LOT OF HUMANITY

50 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF DEATH OF RFK

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy died 50 ago this morning, June 6, 1968, at the Good Samaritan Hospital here in Los Angeles.

The Senator's death at 1:44 a.m. came more than 25 hours after he was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel* following a speech celebrating his California primary victory.  Doctors operated on RFK for 3 hours and 45 minutes but were pessimistic due to the extent of bullet and bone fragments they found scattered through the brain.

RFK had been walking through the hotel kitchen pantry and was shaking hands with some employees when 24 year old Sirhan Sirhan** opened fire.  The assassin fired 8 shots from a 22 caliber Iver Johnson pistol.  3 shots hit RFK.  

Five other people were struck by bullets but all survived.  They included...
Elizabeth Evans, Ira Goldstein, Paul Schrade, Irwin Stroll and William Weisel.
With the Senator at the time of death were his wife Ethel, sister-in-law Jacqueline Kennedy, brother Ted, Peter Lawford and Steven Smith.

"Bobby is now in the realm of legend and myth, and even in death inspires an effort to improve the lot of humanity."

                                   William J. Eaton, 1969
     
*The Ambassador Hotel (1921-1989) was located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.  Designed by Myron Hunt and offering 500 rooms, it was frequented by many Hollywood celebrities.  Six Academy Award ceremonies were held there.

**Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was born in Jerusalem in 1944 and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12.  Described as a Palestinian Christian with Jordanian citizenship, he was tried for the murder of RFK in 1969  SBS was convicted and sentenced to death but received a commutation to life imprisonment in 1972. He has been held in solitary confinement at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Colinga since October 2009.  

SOURCE

 "RFK assassination witness willing to testify for Sirhan Sirhan's lawyers," by Brad Johnson and Michael Martinez, www.cnn.com/. 

Robert F. Kennedy on Campaign

Photo by Evan Freed (1968)

SENATOR KENNEDY HAS BEEN SHOT. IS THAT POSSIBLE?

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1971

RFK SHOT 48 YEARS AGO AFTER WINNING CALIFORNIA PRIMARY 

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) New York Senator Robert Francis Kennedy*, after having won the Democratic California Primary, was shot in the kitchen pantry at the Ambassador Hotel here in Los Angeles forty-eight years ago today, June 5, 1968.

RFK was the projected winner over Senator Eugene J. McCarthy** of Minnesota.  The final tabulation of votes gave him a 46 to 42 percentage victory.   President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced his decision in late March not to seek another term.

Senator Kennedy had just spoken to supporters in the hotel's ballroom and left the stage entering the kitchen pantry.  The speech concluded at 12:15 a.m. Pacific, 3:15 a.m. Eastern time.

As the Senator walked through the pantry shaking hands with some of the hotel employees, shots rang out.  One bullet struck the Senator just behind the right ear and entered the brain.  While other bystanders were also hit by bullets, Mr. Kennedy was the only one who would lose his life.

A reporter, speaking into his audio tape recorder, shouted "Senator Kennedy has been shot!  Is that possible?" 

The assassin, identified as Sirhan Sirhan, was restrained by Kennedy aides and bystanders and was taken into custody by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department.***

Senator Robert Francis Kennedy died on June 6, 1968 at the age of 42.

*Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard and the University of Virginia School of Law. 
RFK was manager of JFK's 1952 Senate and 1960 Presidential campaigns.  He served as Attorney General from 1961 to 1964 and as US Senator 1965-1968.

**Eugene J. McCarthy (1916-2005) was born in Watkins, Minnesota and graduated from St. John's University and the University of Minnesota.  He was a professor at St. John's 1940-43.  EJM served in the House of Representatives 1949-1959 and in the Senate 1959-1971.  

***Shane O'Sullivan's "Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy," 2008, argues that many disturbing questions about RFK's death remain unanswered. 

While Sirhan's pistol held 8 bullets, for example, tests from the only audio recording available made during the shooting suggests that at least 10 shots were fired.

O'Sullivan writes...

"This new audio evidence seems to vindicate key eyewitnesses like Kennedy aides Paul Schrade and Frank Burns (and others who)...for forty years...have all insisted that Sirhan never got close enough to fire the fatal shot (that hit RFK behind the right ear) described in the autopsy."

SOURCES

"RFK in 1968: a hard struggle against long odds," by Arthur L. Cyr, The Seattle Times, May 28, 2008.

"Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy," by Shane O'Sullivan, Union Square Press, New York, 2008.

Senator Robert F. Kennedy

(D) New York

RFK DIES IN LOS ANGELES

BOB KENNEDY DIED 47 YEARS AGO

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy died forty-seven years ago this morning, June 6, 1968, at the Good Samaritan Hospital here in Los Angeles.

The Senator's death at 1:44 a.m. came more than 25 hours after he was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel* following a speech celebrating his California primary victory.  Doctors operated on Senator Kennedy for 3 hours and 45 minutes but were pessimistic due to the extent of bullet and bone fragments they found scattered through the brain.

RFK had been walking through the hotel kitchen pantry and was shaking hands with some employees when 24 year old Sirhan Sirhan** opened fire.  The assassin fired 8 shots from a 22 caliber Iver Johnson pistol.  3 shots hit RFK.  

Five other people were struck by bullets but all survived.  They included...
Elizabeth Evans, Ira Goldstein, Paul Schrade, Irwin Stroll and William Weisel.
With the Senator at the time of death were his wife Ethel, sister-in-law Jacqueline Kennedy, brother Ted, Peter Lawford and Steven Smith.

SOURCE

 "RFK assassination witness willing to testify for Sirhan Sirhan's lawyers," by Brad Johnson and Michael Martinez, www.cnn.com/. 

Robert F. Kennedy on Campaign

Photo by Evan Freed (1968)

"Bobby is now in the realm of legend and myth, and even in death inspires an effort to improve the lot of humanity."

                                   William J. Eaton, 1969
     
*The Ambassador Hotel (1921-1989) was located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.  Designed by Myron Hunt and offering 500 rooms, it was frequented by many Hollywood celebrities.  Six Academy Award ceremonies were held there.

The hotel was the home of the famous Coconut Grove night club.  It closed in 1989 and was demolished in 2005.

The Ambassador Hotel

Los Angeles, California (2004)

**Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was born in Jerusalem in 1944 and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12.  Described as a Palestinian Christian with Jordanian citizenship, he was tried for the murder of RFK in 1969

Sirhan was convicted and sentenced to death but received a commutation to life imprisonment in 1972. He has been held in solitary confinement at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Colinga since October 2009.  

INVASION!
JUNE 6 1944

London, U.K. (JFK+50) More than 160,000 Allied troops from the decks of 5,000 ships took part in the largest amphibious assault in history seventy-one years ago today, June 6, 1944.

 The landings, which were made in Normandy on the northern coast of France, were preceded by airborne assault landings by 24,000 British, American, Canadian and Free French troops.

A beachhead was established along a 50 mile stretch of beach divided into five sections code named... Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

The Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, said in a radio address to the troops before the historic day began:

"Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the American Expeditionary Force:
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade toward which we have striven these many months.  The eyes of the world are upon you.  The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you."

D Day Landing

 Photo by Robert F. Sargent, USCG

BOBBY KENNEDY DIED 45 YEARS AGO THIS MORNING, JUNE 6, 1968

June 6, 2013

BOBBY KENNEDY DIED 45 YEARS AGO THIS MORNING, JUNE 6, 1968

Los Angeles, California (JFK+50) New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy died 45 years ago this morning, June 6, 1968, at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

The Senator's death at 1:44 a.m. came more than 25 hours after he was shot in the kitchen of the AMBASSADOR HOTEL* following a speech celebrating his California primary victory.

Doctors operated on RFK for 3 hours and 45 minutes but were pessimistic due to the extent of bullet and bone fragments they found scattered through the brain.

Senator Kennedy had been walking through the hotel kitchen pantry and was shaking hands with some employees when 24 year old SIRHAN SIRHAN** opened fire.

The assassin fired 8 shots from a 22 caliber Iver Johnson pistol.  3 shots hit RFK.  One entered at point blank range behind the right ear while the other two entered behind RFK's right armpit.

Five other people were struck by bullets but all survived.  They included...

Elizabeth Evans
Ira Goldstein
Paul Schrade
Irwin Stroll
William Weisel


JFK+50 Note

Just as in the JFK and MLK assassinations, there has been discussion about the possibility of a conspiracy in the killing of RFK.

Last year, as reported by Brad Johnson and Michael Martinez of CNN, eyewitness NINA RHODES-HUGHES, who was standing a few feet behind RFK when he was shot, offered to testify at the next parole hearing for Sirhan that she heard 12 to 14 shots.

SOURCE:  "RFK assassination witness willing to testify for Sirhan Sirhan's lawyers," by Brad Johnson and Michael Martinez, www.cnn.com/. 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/08/justice/california-rfk-second-gun



With the Senator at the time of death were his wife Ethel, sister-in-law Jacqueline Kennedy, brother Ted, Peter Lawford and Steven Smith.

Robert F. Kennedy was 42 years old.

       Robert F. Kennedy on Campaign
           Photo by Evan Freed (1968)

"Bobby is now in the realm of legend and myth, and even in death inspires an effort to improve the lot of humanity."

                                                                                    William J. Eaton, 1969
     

*The Ambassador Hotel (1921-1989) was located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.  Designed by Myron Hunt and offering 500 rooms, it was frequented by many Hollywood celebrities.  Six Academy Award ceremonies were held there.

The hotel was the home of the famous Coconut Grove night club.  It closed in 1989 and was demolished in 2005.

                     The Ambassador Hotel
             Los Angeles, California (2004)

**Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was born in Jerusalem in 1944 and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12.  Described as a Palestinian Christian with Jordanian citizenship, he was tried for the murder of RFK in 1969.  Sirhan was convicted and sentenced to death but received a commutation to life imprisonment in 1972.

Sirhan Sirhan has been held in solitary confinement at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Colinga since October 2009.  Repeated attempts for parole have been denied.