40 Years Ago Today

It was 5 years after his brother John had been assassinated in Dallas and just two months after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis.

On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy had just won the California primary and was speaking at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles before an enthusiastic crowd.

After claiming victory in the California primary, Kennedy was looking forward to winning the nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago. He finished his speech with the now famous words: "So, my thanks to all of you. Now it's on to Chicago and let's win there."

When Kennedy finished his speech, he walked off stage and through the kitchen. At the time, the federal government did not provide Secret Service to presidential candidates, and Kennedy's only security was provided by former FBI agent William Barry and two former professional athletes acting as unofficial bodyguards. One of them was Rosey Grier, an African American former player for the New York Giants.

As he passed the ice machine, he stuck out his hand to greet a busboy named Juan Romero, and suddenly a 24-year old Palestinian immigrant named Sirhan Sirhan jumped out and fired a .22 caliber revolver. Kennedy was shot three times and collapsed to the floor.

Grier and the security detail quickly wrestled Sirhan to the ground and took control of his weapon. Romero stayed back and comforted the senator, cradled his head and reportedly placed a rosary in his hands. Kennedy was taken to the hospital, where doctors tried to save him. After hours of surgery, Kennedy died at 1:44 a.m. on June 6, 1968. He was 42 years old.

Sirhan was convicted on April 17, 1969 and later was sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 after the California Supreme Court invalidated all pending death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972. In 2006, he was denied parole for the 13th time and he is currently confined at the California State Prison in Corcoran.

The Democratic Convention in Chicago was a raucous event, marked by protests, demonstrations and chaos in the streets and in the convention hall. With the decision by President Johnson not to seek re-election and the assassination of Robert Kennedy, the Democrats were deprived of two of their best potential candidates. After a contentious fight between anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy and the more moderate Hubert Humphrey, the party eventually nominated Humphrey of Minnesota. The Democrats went on to lose to Richard Nixon in the fall.

The 40th anniversary of the Kennedy shooting comes just weeks after a controversy erupted in the 2008 presidential campaign when Senator Hillary Clinton seemed to mention the June 1968 assassination as a possible reason to stay in the campaign. It comes just two days after Senator Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president, in a year in which many African Americans have expressed concern for his safety.

Below is a video from that tragic day when Robert Kennedy was shot.