Robert F. Kennedy: Remembering 'Bobby' 50 years after his assassination

BOSTON — Tuesday marks 50 years since the assassination of Robert Francis Kennedy.

The U.S. Senator, former U.S. Attorney General and presidential candidate was shot just after midnight on June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles -- shortly after winning California's Democratic primary.

He died 26 hours later, on June 6.

The gunman, Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian immigrant was convicted of killing him.

Robert Kennedy was born in Brookline in 1925 and went to Ed Devotion School. He was one of nine children and Kennedy historian Tom Whelan says he was considered the runt of the litter.

“He was always for the underdog, because he himself in his own family was kind of an underdog,” Whelan explained.

Kennedy was a Harvard grad and a reporter for the Boston Post before entering politics.

In the tradition of so-called progressive Massachusetts politics, he was influential in his brother John’s presidency, fighting for integration. He served as attorney general before becoming a New York senator and running for president the year he died.

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“He saw an integrated society that the government needed to embrace. Black, white, yellow you name it,” Whelan said.

RFK’s legacy has inspired a new generation of civil rights activists and youth leaders.

At a Washington D.C. ceremony, Parkland High School student activists were awarded the RFK Human Rights Award. Congressman John Lewis, a friend of Robert, told them to be like ‘Bobby.’

“Be inspired. Be uplifted of Robert Kennedy,” Lewis said. “This man attempted to tame our society. And make our world at peace with itself.”

“His enemies would argue that he was ruthless, hard-headed and he was that. But at the same time, he had remarkable compassion,” Whelan said. “I think he makes a very complicated political portrait, but one that I think everyone can relate to. More so than his brother John or his other brother Ted.”

The Kennedy family will host a memorial service tomorrow at Arlington National Cemetery.

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