This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of Senator and presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy.

On June 5, 1968, Mr. Kennedy was mortally wounded at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles shortly after getting the news he had won the California Democratic primary, establishing him as the likely front-runner for his party's nomination.

He died a day later.

The assassin, an unemployed racehorse stable boy from Jordan named Sirhan Sirhan, said he shot Mr. Kennedy because of the Senator's support of Israel.

Robert Kennedy was born in Massachusetts in 1925. He first made his mark politically as chief counsel in the Army-McCarthy hearings, involving Senator Joseph McCarthy.

In 1960, he served as campaign manager for his brother John F. Kennedy in the latter's run for president, and would later serve in the administration as Attorney General.

Following the JFK assassination, Robert Kennedy ran for and won a U.S. Senatorial seat in New York State. In early 1968, he announced his run for the presidency on a platform of civil rights and opposition to the VietNam War.

Mr. Kennedy has appeared in North Dakota, both in Fargo, and in Bismarck, where he addressed the National Congress of American Indians.

The assassin is serving time in prison in California. He is up for parole in 2021.

 

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