The assassination of Bobby Kennedy

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In June 1968, US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy was assassinated shortly after addressing his supporters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It was less than five years after his older brother, President John F Kennedy, had also been assassinated. Sirhan Sirhan was convicted of the crime, but many - including Kennedy's friend Paul Schrade - suspect a second gunman was involved. Schrade was shot himself that night and he told Rebecca Kesby about why he’s campaigning for the case to be reopened.

PHOTO: Robert Kennedy speaking at the Ambassador Hotel shortly before his assassination (Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:40.0	Hello and thank you for downloading this edition of the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me Rebecca Kesby
0:48.0	Today a moment that not only changed the shape of US politics but that shook the world. We go back to June
0:55.6	1968 and the killing of Bobby Kennedy. I've been speaking to his friend Paul
1:01.2	Shrede who was also shot that night.
1:03.6	If there's a doctor in the house I want to say right here.
1:09.8	Everybody else please stay bad.
1:11.9	On June 5th, 1968, US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot and mortally wounded.
1:19.4	We need a doctor here for justice.
1:22.4	It was less than five years since his older brother, President John F. Kennedy or JFK was also assassinated.
1:30.0	Totally changed history. He was on his way to become president. Paul
1:35.2	Schrade was a senior official in the powerful United Auto Workers Union at the
1:39.7	time and had been instrumental in Bobby's campaign in California.
1:44.0	He was leading in the polls against every other candidate.
1:47.2	He would have been the president.
1:48.7	He'd already lost his brother to assassination.
1:51.5	Then civil rights leader Martin Luther King was killed just a couple of months before Bobby
	...

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