Robert Francis Kennedy's Assassination

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Explain why the person assassinated was a significant individual
Robert Francis Kennedy was a presidential candidate in the 1968 election. Previous to his presidential candidacy he briefly served on the staff of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953, which was chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy, however Kennedy did not agree with McCarthy’s controversial tactics which led to Kennedy’s resignation. Later he returned to the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations as chief counsel for the Democratic minority. RFK was the United States General Attorney during his brother, John F. Kennedy’s administration, from January 1961 to September 3, 1964, which he resigned from, after JFK’s assassination, to run for United States Senate which he …show more content…
We will move. I happen to believe that the 1954 [Supreme Court school desegregation] decision was right. But my belief does not matter. It is the law. Some of you may believe the decision was wrong. That does not matter. It is the law." Kennedy expressed his commitment for civil rights again in a speech to South African students, “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and …show more content…
During a police search of Sirhan's home, his diary was found with an entry on May 18: "My determination to eliminate RFK is becoming more and more of an unshakable obsession. RFK must die. RFK must be killed. Robert F. Kennedy must be assassinated..... Robert F. Kennedy must be assassinated before 5 June 68." The date June 5, 1968 is significant because it is the first anniversary of the Six Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Sirhan said to author Robert Kaiser: “June 5 stood out for me, sir, more than my birth date. I felt Robert Kennedy was coinciding his own appeal for votes with the anniversary of the Six Day War.” After he was arrested, Sirhan said, "I can explain it. I did it for my country." Sirhan was fixated with mythical powers and believed he could control things with his mind. Psychiatrists determined that he was highly impressionable to hypnosis and it was suggested that he may have been in a trance while writing in his diary. Sirhan was in the pantry with the intent to kill Robert Kennedy, however the autopsy report, in addition to the eyewitnesses of the scene, prompts doubt whether the lethal shot to Kennedy’s head was from Sirhan’s
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