The Assassination of Robert Kennedy

On the evening of 4th June 1968, Kennedy was upstairs in his room at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, awaiting the official outcome of the Californian ballot, which he was confidently expected to win once counting was completed. At 11.30 pm, when it appeared that victory was imminent, he moved down into the hotel ballroom with his entourage, where he was greeted by rapturous applause. He made a speech that referenced the recent assassination of Martin Luther King and again called for racial tolerance, as well as emphasizing the need to withdraw US forces from Vietnam.

Having completed his victory speech by 12.15 am, in the early hours of 5th June, he made his way to a press conference in a different part of the hotel along with his entourage, which took him through a narrow corridor containing an assortment of catering equipment that formed part of the hotel kitchens.

“A diminutive man approached Kennedy’s entourage head-on, and fired repeated shots from a .22 calibre weapon.”

Security within the hotel was minimal. Secret Service agent protection was only extended to the president at that time—following Kennedy’s assassination, all presidential candidates became entitled to Secret Service protection for the duration of their campaigns—and he was ushered between venues by a single guard, Thane Cesar, from a private security firm, who steered Kennedy through the congratulatory crowds packing the narrow corridor.

A diminutive man approached Kennedy’s entourage head-on and fired repeated shots from a .22 calibre weapon. Kennedy was hit three times: once in the back of the head and twice in the body; an additional shot tore his clothing but failed to penetrate. He fell to the floor bleeding, as did five other individuals who received less serious wounds, either as a result of direct hits or ricochets. The gunman was subdued by a number of men within the entourage, but not before the 8-shot cylinder had been emptied. Kennedy, in obvious pain, enquired whether anyone else had been injured and was attended by Dr. Stanley Abo, who discovered the bullet hole behind Kennedy’s right ear. Recognizing the risk of a blood clot, he attempted to keep the wound clear, and Kennedy was rushed by ambulance to Central Receiving Hospital. When the severity of his head wound was discovered and it became clear that Kennedy would require extensive neurosurgery, he was transferred again, this time to Good Samaritan Hospital.

Meanwhile, the diminutive gunman was handed over to the police. He had seemed strangely calm throughout the entire chaotic episode and offered no resistance to the arresting officers. He appeared incapable of providing his name but was cooperative in all other respects.

Back at Good Samaritan Hospital, Kennedy underwent three hours of surgery to remove a blood clot behind his brain, as well as bullet and bone fragments. Despite the surgery, his condition worsened steadily throughout the day, and he was finally pronounced dead at 1.44 am on the morning of 6th June 1968, having never regained consciousness after the surgery. He was 42 years old.

On 8th June 1968, a funeral mass was held for Robert Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. In his eulogy, his grieving brother Edward asked that Kennedy be remembered as “a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it”. Following the mass, Kennedy's body was transported by train to Washington, DC, where he was buried near his brother, John, in Arlington National Cemetery.

Following Kennedy’s death, Sirhan was charged with his murder, as well as the attempted murders of the five other individuals wounded during the attack.

The gunman was not identified immediately, as he had no criminal record, and he was kept in maximum-security lock-up for his own safety. He continued to be calm, compliant and courteous, but seemed confused by his part in the crime that had been committed. It took the intervention of two of his brothers, who presented themselves at a police station in Pasadena, to effect the identification.

The gunman was 24-year-old Sirhan Bishar Sirhan, a Palestinian immigrant who had lived in the United States for 12 years and was residing with his family in Pasadena. Within an hour, investigative authorities were searching the family home, where they found a notebook in Sirhan’s bedroom containing specific remarks about Robert Kennedy, one of which read “RFK Must Die”. His family appeared utterly shocked by the events and seemed to have no foreknowledge of the assassination plan. The investigation of Sirhan revealed an unhappy childhood, an erratic employment history and changing religious allegiances, but no discernible political conviction beyond the anti-Kennedy sentiments found in his personal notebooks.

Having occurred so soon after the assassination of his brother, John, there was widespread belief that the attack was part of a deeper conspiracy. When it appeared that Sirhan’s motivation was Kennedy’s pro-Israeli stance, specifically his support for the June 1967 Six-Day War, which saw the occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel, rumours began to surface of a clandestine extremist terrorist organisation whose aim was to undermine “The American Way”. The investigating authorities were determined that mistakes made in the investigations of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X would not be repeated, and a special task force, called Special Unit Senator (SUS), was established to investigate any conspiracy theories that might surface with a view to addressing public unease.

Following Kennedy’s death, Sirhan was charged with his murder, as well as the attempted murders of the five other individuals wounded during the attack.

During the course of the investigation by the SUS, a number of conspiracy theories were proposed, investigated and discounted and, in October 1968, both the prosecution and defence agreed that the case against Sirhan would proceed on the basis that he had acted alone in the commission of the crime.

The trial finally commenced on 7th January 1969 in the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles, but was almost a non-starter when the defence offered to plead Sirhan guilty in exchange for life imprisonment rather than risk him facing the death penalty. Given the complications and uncertainties surrounding the case, the prosecution were inclined to accept the plea bargain, but the presiding judge was mindful of the political ramifications and accusations of conspiracy and insisted that the trial proceed as planned. The case lasted fifteen weeks, and prosecutors presented the physical evidence found at Sirhan’s home, along with a mountain of forensic evidence, while the defence offered evidence about his abuse at the hands of his father and his generally unstable life as mitigating factors in the crime.

“Sirhan was incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison in California to await his execution.”

When Sirhan took the stand in his own defence, he claimed to remember nothing at all about the night of the assassination, but admitted that he might have been temporarily insane. There was discussion of his motivations for killing Kennedy, namely his pro-Israeli political stance, but the chronology of public statements was at odds with the evidence in his notebook. Sirhan appeared to have recorded anti-Kennedy statements prior to the dates of Kennedy’s public speeches, which he claimed were the motivation behind the assassination.

Despite these inconsistencies, the jury returned a guilty verdict on 17th April 1969. Sentencing was postponed until 21st May 1969, when Sirhan was sentenced to death in the gas chamber.

Sirhan was incarcerated at Corcoran State Prison in California to await his execution. Along with all other death row prisoners, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1972, when the United States abolished capital punishment.

Sirhan was denied parole in 1997. In 1998, on the 30th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, he sought a new trial on the basis that he had been acting under hypnosis at the time of the killing, but was unsuccessful. A further parole appeal was denied in 2000, and it is likely that, despite being a model prisoner, Sirhan will spend the rest of his life in jail.

Conspiracy Theories

Despite the best efforts of the SUS task force, its attempts to quell rumours of conspiracy were unsuccessful from the outset. While it was clear that Sirhan had been present at the scene and had certainly fired shots, the possibility of a second gunman emerged as eyewitness accounts diverged from the official findings.

The second-gunman theory first arose when it became clear that four shots had struck Kennedy and five additional individuals had been wounded, totalling nine separate incidents from an eight-shot weapon. Authorities responded by releasing a trajectory analysis claiming that some bullets caused multiple wounds. Los Angeles Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi later rejected this analysis, arguing that an accurate trajectory reconstruction was impossible.

The trajectory analysis was questioned again after Sirhan’s trial when investigators were found to have removed a doorframe that eyewitnesses recalled contained bullet holes. If those holes had been linked to the crime, they would have indicated more than eight shots, suggesting a second gunman. Authorities claimed the marks had been X-rayed and dismissed as irrelevant, but later stated that both the doorframe and the X-rays had been destroyed. The district attorney’s office refused to reopen the investigation, stating that doing so would only confuse the public since Sirhan had already been convicted. When official records were released in April 1988, there were no references to either the doorframe or the X-rays, and testimony from forensic experts who had attended the crime scene had also disappeared.

Another major forensic anomaly involved the fatal wound behind Kennedy’s right ear. Eyewitnesses consistently stated that Kennedy had faced Sirhan throughout the shooting, while forensic evidence suggested the fatal shot had been fired from only a few inches away. Sirhan had reportedly never been closer than three feet. Dr. Noguchi stated that he could not conclude with certainty that Sirhan had fired the fatal shot. Authorities maintained that Kennedy must have turned during the chaos, allowing the bullet to strike from behind.

An alternative explanation suggested that someone standing behind Kennedy fired the fatal shot. Private security guard Thane Cesar was the only individual fitting that position. Investigators learned that Cesar held anti-Democrat political views, and one eyewitness claimed his .38 calibre handgun had been smoking after the shooting, although Cesar denied firing any shots. He admitted previously owning a .22 handgun but falsely claimed he had sold it before the assassination; records later showed he sold it three months afterward. Investigators nevertheless considered him truthful after he passed a lie-detector test and did not pursue him as a suspect.

Other theories involved additional co-conspirators. Three independent eyewitnesses, including police officer Paul Sharaga, reported seeing a girl in a white polka-dot dress speaking with Sirhan shortly before the shooting and then leaving the scene laughing with an unidentified man. These leads were not pursued. Two witnesses later claimed investigators pressured them into withdrawing their statements, while Sharaga said his superiors removed his statement without his knowledge. Investigators continued to support the lone-assailant theory.

Less credible theories alleged mafia involvement in the assassinations of both Kennedy brothers. One theory claimed Joseph Kennedy had secured mafia support from Sam Giancana to help John F. Kennedy win the presidency, and that Giancana later sought revenge after Robert Kennedy aggressively targeted organized crime. Another suggested Jimmy Hoffa ordered Robert Kennedy’s assassination because Kennedy had prosecuted him and Hoffa had threatened him while imprisoned.

The investigation into Sirhan revealed an unhappy childhood, an erratic employment history and changing religious allegiances, but no clear political ideology beyond anti-Kennedy sentiments expressed in his notebooks. This led to speculation that he may have been hypnotized or brainwashed, supported by eyewitness descriptions of his unusual calm during the shooting and his confused behaviour after his arrest. Investigators never explored this possibility, although Sirhan raised it during his trial and again in prison, repeating the claim in 1998 on the 30th anniversary of Kennedy’s death.