Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated in Los Angeles After California Primary Victory

On June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles moments after declaring victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. He died 26 hours later on June 6, 1968. Kennedy’s assassination, coming just two months after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., deepened the national trauma of 1968 and eliminated a leading voice for civil rights and economic justice from the presidential race.

Kennedy had emerged as the Democratic candidate most threatening to both the political establishment and the Richard Nixon campaign. His coalition united working-class whites, African Americans, Latinos, and antiwar activists—a cross-racial populist alliance that challenged the existing power structures of both parties. He had won the Indiana and Nebraska primaries appealing to both Black voters and white working-class voters who would later be captured by Nixon’s Southern Strategy.

The assassination occurred in the crowded kitchen pantry as Kennedy left his victory celebration. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant, fired multiple shots at Kennedy from close range. Sirhan was immediately subdued by Kennedy associates including former Olympic decathlete Rafer Johnson and professional football player Rosey Grier.

The Warren Commission-style investigation focused exclusively on Sirhan as a lone gunman, but forensic evidence suggested more shots were fired than Sirhan’s eight-round revolver could hold, and witnesses reported shots from different directions. LAPD destroyed evidence including door frames with bullet holes, ceiling tiles, and witness interview recordings. The case has never been officially reopened despite persistent questions.

Kennedy’s death altered the trajectory of American politics. The 1968 Democratic nomination went to Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who had not competed in any primaries and was associated with the Johnson administration’s Vietnam policy. Richard Nixon won the presidency by a narrow margin, implementing the Southern Strategy that realigned American politics around racial resentment.

The assassinations of 1968—King in April, Kennedy in June—demonstrated the vulnerability of transformative leaders to political violence. Combined with the urban riots following King’s death and the police violence at the Chicago Democratic convention, the year marked a turning point toward the conservative politics of the following decades. The progressive coalition Kennedy had assembled would not be reconstituted for a generation.