Retro Raunch Revisit

JUN 5, 1968: Senator, former US Attorney General and brother of slain John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Kennedy had just won the California & South Dakota presidential primaries and with his stances on the Vietnam War, civil rights, poverty, social unrest & rioting, jobs and education, it was widely held that he would secure the Democratic nomination. After speaking to his cheering supporters at a victory speech, he left the podium and exited through a kitchen hallway where he was gunned down & lay mortally wounded (with the image of his cradled head by 17yr old busboy Juan Romero becoming famous) as Sirhan was tackled by Secret Service agents. Kennedy died the next day and after his other brother Ted delivered the eulogy at his funeral, Robert's body was transported back to Washington,DC by train with many mourners lining the route to pay their farewell respects. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery near JFK. Sirhan went on trial for 1st degree murder in Feb 1969 and was convicted in Apr. During court, he claimed that he felt betrayed by Kennedy for not recognizing the plight & perceived injustices of Palestinians, and very specifically for sending military aid to Israel. He was sentenced to death in the gas chamber but in Feb 1972 had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment when the Supreme Court abolished capital punishment. In May 1975, he came up for his 1st parole hearing and to date has been denied 17 times for release. Kennedy's death was one of the 5 major assassinations of the 1960's in the USA, with that decade distinctly marked for its political turmoil with the other fatal figures being Medgar Evers in Jun 1963, JFK in Nov 1963, Malcolm X in Feb 1965, and Martin Luther King Jr in Apr 1968. His death has spawned ongoing conspiracy theories alleging there was a 2nd gunman said to have been a hired security guard, a discrepancy in the number of bullets fired, CIA involvement with Sirhan being a Manchurian candidate (psychologically controlled & programmed to kill), and a mysterious woman in a polka-dot dress. Robert's death was seen for years afterward as a missed opportunity and/or last chance for momentous change to happen in America as an envisioned more equitable country, and having been cut short at the height of his popularity, he sadly entered into a believed 'Kennedy Curse' which is a long list of tragic occurrences that have befallen the historic family.