Episode 97: The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy


"Senator Robert F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson - NARA - 192487" by Yoichi Okamoto - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Senator_Robert_F._Kennedy_and_President_Lyndon_B._Johnson_-_NARA_-_192487.tif#/media/File:Senator_Robert_F._Kennedy_and_President_Lyndon_B._Johnson_-_NARA_-_192487.tif
U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson talk in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. (Photo courtesy of U.S. National Archives via Wikimedia)

Today marks the 47th anniversary of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.

Here are some things you may not have known about the tragedy.

First, Kennedy had just wrapped up a celebratory campaign rally after winning the California presidential primary in the early moments of June 5 in Los Angeles. Kennedy was led from the stage through the Ambassador Hotel’s kitchen where he was shot three times, including once in the head by 24-year-old Sirhan Sirhan.

Second: Five other people were wounded that night, William Weisel of ABC News, Paul Schrade of the United Auto Workers, Ira Goldstein of the Continental News Service, campaign volunteer Irwin Stroll, and Democratic party activist Elizabeth Evans. Among those who wrestled the gun away from Sirhan were writer George Plimpton, decathlete Rafer Johnson and former NFL player Rosey Grier.

Third: Kennedy died at Los Angeles’ Good Samaritan Hospital 26 hours after the shooting. He remains one of two sitting U.S. Senators to be assassinated. The other was Louisiana’s Huey Long in 1935, who was also killed while running for president.

Our question: What two major party candidates ended up contesting the U.S. Presidential election of 1968?

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