The Repentant Assassin

Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy during a Los Angeles presidential campaign stop in 1968, was recommended for parole.

Sirhan, 77, was convicted of the murder in 1969 and sentenced to death. In 1972 the California Supreme Court ruled capital punishment to be unconstitutional, and Sirhan was resentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, NPR reported.

The Kennedy children disagreed on the decision to grant Sirhan parole.

Douglas Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—pushed for their father’s murderer to be released, arguing that he has been fully rehabilitated after spending more than 50 years in jail, Newsweek reported.

In a statement on Friday night, six of Kennedy’s nine surviving children said they were “devastated” by the decision while urging the Parole Board and California governor Gavin Newsom to reverse the recommendation. If he is to be released, the process will take some time.

Robert Francis Kennedy was fatally shot on June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California shortly after claiming victory in that state’s crucial Democratic primary. He was 42 years old. 

He attended Milton Academy and, after wartime service in the Navy, received his degree in government from Harvard University in 1948. He earned his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School three years later. Perhaps more important for his education was the Kennedy family dinner table, where his parents involved their children in discussions of history and current affairs. “I can hardly remember a mealtime,” Robert Kennedy said, “when the conversation was not dominated by what Franklin D. Roosevelt was doing or what was happening in the world.”

In 1960, he was the tireless and effective manager of John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. After the election, he was appointed Attorney General in President Kennedy’s cabinet. While Attorney General, he won respect for his diligent, effective and nonpartisan administration of the Department of Justice.

Robert Kennedy was not only President Kennedy’s Attorney General, he was also his closest advisor and confidant. As a result of this unique relationship, the Attorney General played a key role in several critical foreign policy decisions. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, for instance, he helped develop the Kennedy administration’s strategy to blockade Cuba instead of taking military action that could have led to nuclear war. He then negotiated with the Soviet Union on removal of the weapons.

Soon after President Kennedy’s death, Robert Kennedy resigned as Attorney General and, in 1964, ran successfully for the United States Senate from New York. 

HIS PROFILE at the JFK Library