History Daily - The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

June 5, 1968. Senator Robert F Kennedy is assassinated a few months into his controversial bid for president, changing the course of American politics forever. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more.History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

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Pansovillossa. It's late evening on April 4th, 1968 in Indianapolis, Indiana. United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy is hunched over

in the backseat of a car fervently making notes for an imminent speech. Robert is in the middle of his first presidential campaign. For two weeks, he's been relentlessly touring the United States. Holding rally after rally, Robert's popularity is on the rise. And with his boyish smile and progressive politics, the senator is quickly winning hearts across the country. But today's engagement is unexpectedly somber.

Just moments ago, Robert received word that civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated. The news broke while he was. on his way to give a speech in one of Indianapolis's black neighborhoods. Fearing riots, local police advised Robert to cancel the event. But the senator refused, and now he's just about to reach the venue. As his vehicle comes to a halt in a parking lot, Robert looks up to see a large crowd of people gathered in front of a flatbed truck. Robert steps out of the car and climbs onto the back of the truck, sparking a round of cheers from the crowd. It seems spirits are still high, so the news of King's death must not have yet reached them. It's Robert's duty to relay the tragedy.

I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens and people who love peace all over the world. And that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight. Nusses and cries ripple through the crowd, as Robert delivers the news that sends them and much of the nation into mourning. Robert goes on to deliver an address that will be considered one of the most poignant speeches in U.S. political history. To his captivated audience,

he speaks candidly of the assassination of his own brother, the late President John F. Kennedy, and the urgent need for peace in America. And as his presidential campaign progresses, Robert will become a symbol of renewed hope for a united country. But this dream will be tragically snatched away just two months later, when Robert F. Kennedy is also assassinated on June 5, 1968.

From Noisor and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day. On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is June 5th, 1968, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. It's the morning of March 16, 1968, in the U.S. Capitol building, two months before Martin Luther King will be shot. and killed. A crowd of journalists clutching notebooks and cameras restlessly mill around the carpeted floors, waiting on New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy to make an appearance. Robert has played an active part in American politics for nearly two decades. His career started when he managed his brother John F. Kennedy's Senate campaign in 1952, and then, less than 10 years later,

also played a key role in his presidential campaign. During John's presidency, Robert was appointed Attorney General of the United States and became one of his brother's closest aides. But nine months after John's assassination in 1963, Robert resigned from the cabinet and successfully ran for a Senate seat. As a senator, Robert dedicated himself to fighting for civil rights, and for the past four years he has traveled across the country and the world, advocating his belief that all citizens should have the right to participate in government and criticize public institutions without fear. Now he's ready to take his cause a step. further by running for the highest office in the land. Four months, Robert's advisors and even

his own family have urged him against running for president. The sitting president, Lyndon B. Johnson, is also a Democrat and a formidable opponent. Many of Robert's confidants have recommended he wait until 1972 after Johnson's tenure and potential second term would be over. But Robert has decided to enter the race now and is eager to announce his bid. As the journalists prepare their equipment. A buzz of activity erupts around the entrance of the room. They point their cameras toward the door just in time to capture Robert's striding inside. The room bursts into applause as the senator enters and cheerfully greets his supporters before making his way to the lectern at the front of the room.

A hush settles over the crowd as Robert glances down at his notes, then leans into the microphone and says, I am announcing today my candidacy for the presidency of the United States. I do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies. Many of Robert's views are not shared by his fellow politicians, not even his Democratic peers, especially when it comes to America's involvement in Vietnam War. In contrast to the incumbent President Johnson, Robert favors peace talks over military action. This key difference is one of the main catalysts that encouraged Robert to join the presidential race.

And over the next 10 minutes, Robert broadly outlines his views on this issue and other pressing policy matters, before concluding by explaining his controversial decision to challenge incumbent President Johnson. I do not lightly dismiss the dangers and the difficulties of challenging an incumbent president. But these are not ordinary times, and this is not an ordinary election. at stake is not simply the leadership of our party and even our country. It is our right through the moral leadership of this planet. I thank you. After announcing his candidacy, Robert throws himself into a hectic campaign schedule.

He takes part in marches, holds rallies, participates in town hall meetings, and gives public speeches, eager to hear people's concerns and share his policy positions. He focuses his speeches on civil rights, economic inequality, social justice, and peaceful foreign relations. He makes a concerted effort to reach out to marginalized communities and uplift their concerns while seeking their support. Robert also makes a point to prioritize the youth vote, speaking at college campuses and with student activists around the country. His platform and message of social justice and progressive change earns him popularity among many different parts of American society. But Robert faces stiff competition within the Democratic Party from Senator Eugene McCarthy

and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, even after President Johnson withdraws from the race. Then, one month into Robert's campaign, Martin Luther King's assassination also deals a heavy blow to the politician's spirits. But he doesn't back down from the challenge ahead. With the Democratic National Convention scheduled for August, he only has five months to campaign before a Democratic nominee will be chosen. So he does his best to make the days count. And over the coming weeks, Robert will campaign in Democratic primary elections in six states and win in four.

But soon after hearing news of his victory in the California primary, Robert's presidential campaign will be cruelly cut short in an event that will shock the nation. Pansovilla's legendary purger week are back. 25-year-votes, jublovakian, classicopurkerit, tekevapal, Burgering takevadoon Hufticoon Ajx. It's a chicken and chorizo,

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It's around midnight on June 5th, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles three months into Robert F. Kennedy's presidential bid. Standing on stage

in the hotel's stately ballroom, Robert smiles widely before an applauding crowd. The last two months have been a whirlwind of engagements that, combined with the tragic news of Martin Luther King's assassinations, have left the Senator reeling.

But Robert's campaigning efforts have started to pay off. He's already won the Democratic presidential primaries in Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and just hours ago, he won the California primary two. Now the Senator concludes a speech to his supporters celebrating the news. My thanks to all of you, and now it's on to Chicago and let's win there. Among the cheering crowd is photographer Richard Drew, eager to capture this momentous occasion. Richard snaps pictures of the senator as he flashes a peace sign at the audience and shakes hands with supporters, before turning around and disappearing behind decorative satin curtains.

With Senator Kennedy gone, Richard tries to make his way out of the room. Eager to bypass the rest of the crowd, he notes an alternate exit near the stage. Richard heads over and steps through its swinging doors, entering into a corridor behind the ballroom. As he continues down the hall, he notices a hubb of activity ahead of him and spots a Matry D, leading Robert Kennedy through a dimly-lit passageway. As more people flood into the hallway, including much of the hotel staff, Richard finds himself standing right behind the senator. He pauses as Kennedy stops to shake the hand of a teenage bus boy waiting to meet him. Richard reaches for his camera, hoping to catch the poignant moment.

But as he raises his lens, someone from the crowd behind him steps forward and raises a gun. Panic overcomes Richard, and he dives to the ground while a gunman shoots the senator. Cries of terror fill the air. For a few seconds, Richard lies motionless on the floor, only able to see a blur of frenzied shoes rushing in every direction. Then he finally scrambles to his feet and starts taking pictures of the tragic event. Senator Kennedy now lies flat on his back, his arms and legs splayed in unnatural directions. The busboy he was greeting just moments earlier as crouched next. to him, cradling the senator's head in his hands.

Reaching into the pocket of his kitchen jacket, the young boy gently presses a string of rosary beads into Kennedy's hands. Richard's eyes moisten as he presses down on the camera's shutter. He captures a few more frames of people aiding the fallen senator before Kennedy's wife Ethel rushes to his side and begs the reporters not to take any more photographs. Just a few feet away, a group of men succeed in pinning the gunmen to the floor while Kennedy is rushed to the hospital, barely hanging on to life. Tending to the bullet wounds in Kennedy's head and chest, a team of doctors operate on him for hours.

And when Americans awake in the morning, the senator is still alive. The country holds its breath, hoping Kennedy might be able to pull through. But his condition worsens, and 25 hours after being shot, he is pronounced dead. Robert Kennedy's assassin is arrested and identified as Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian man in his early 20s. He will later admit that he killed Robert Kennedy because he felt betrayed by the senator's support of Israel. Courts in California will originally give him the death penalty, but this will be commuted to a life sentence. For many of his supporters, Kennedy's death will shatter the growing optimism that, after a decade of turbulence, a brighter future was ahead. Juan Romero, the busboy who met Kennedy just before he was shot, will describe the impact of the tragedy,

saying it made him realize that no matter how much hope you have, it can be taken away in a sense. second. For the next several days, the deceased senator's body will lie in a cathedral in New York, as thousands of mourners line up to say their farewells and pay their last respects to someone they hoped would change America's future. Then Robert Kennedy's remains will be sent on one last remarkable journey before finally being laid to rest. Pansovilla's legendary Purker Weeks are back here. 25-year-voldies jubovoling kett is yearniquette tekevich. It's chicken and chorizo, beef and garlic burger, smoke chorizo,

or the guycaidst soul healer. Burger in kielkeen raikas Pancho Lemonade. Burger Weeket, Pancho Ville. It's the afternoon of June 8th, 1968, on a platform inside New York's Penn Station, two days after Robert F. Kennedy's death. A young photographer snaps photos as Robert's coffin is placed inside a waiting rail car. Just like the assassinated president Abraham Lincoln over a century of, ago, Robert's body is being carried from New York to Washington, D.C. in a funeral train.

It's expected that the grieving nation will gather along the tracks to bid the senator a final farewell. Photographer Paul Fusco is one of the press reporters assigned a place on the train to cover Kennedy's last journey. Once the senator's coffin is loaded into the train, Paul boards himself alongside the Kennedy family and their closest friends and advisors. As the locomotive lurches out of the station, Paul picks up his camera and captures the huge crowds of people along the tracks, solemnly waiting for a glimpse of the late senator. There are firemen standing at attention, weeping housewives, little children and old men, thousands of grieving people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds, lining the tracks to pay their

last respects. By the time the procession reaches Washington, night has fallen. By candlelight, weary pallbearers lay Kennedy to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, 30 yards away from where his brother was buried just five years ago. Robert Kennedy's death will be cited as a key factor in the Democratic Party's loss in the 1968 presidential election, from which Republican Richard Nixon will emerge victorious. And though Robert never became president, his legacy will live on. Shortly after his death, his family will found the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, a non-profit designed to bring together leading attorneys, activists, writers, and entrepreneurs to help defend human rights around the world.

Though public opinion of the senator was highly polarized during his lifetime, over the years Robert Kennedy will inspire generations of future leaders and activists. Numerous roads, schools, and facilities across the U.S. will be named in his honor. And in 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush will dedicate the Justice Department's headquarters as the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, honoring the late politician on what would have been his 76th birthday. Decades on, Robert Kennedy's assassination will remain the subject of controversy. Some will revisit his murder, conceiving various conspiracy theories about how and why he was killed. But many others will simply consider the implications of his death, wondering how America's future might have changed if Robert F. Kennedy had not been assassinated on June 5, 1968. Next, on History Daily, June 6, 1933, the first bucket full of concrete is poured to begin construction. on the Hoover Dam.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, posted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazib, sound design by Molly Bond, music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Ria Perohit. Produced by Alexander Curry Buckner. Executive producers are Stephen Walters for airship and Pascal Hughes for Noiser. Pansovilla's legendary burker week are back. 25-votis jublovodian

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