Readers Guide To RFK Assassination: Books, Videos, Archives Andrew Kreig

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This "Readers Guide to the RFK Assassination" presents key books, videos, documents, websites and other archives most relevant to 1968 Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy's fatal shooting just after midnight June 5, 1968. The materials focus heavily on remaining questions about responsibility and motive for Kennedy's shooting at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles shortly after his victory in the California Democratic primary appeared to pave the way for his presidential nomination. Shown below is his victory speech shortly before he was gunned down while leaving via a kitchen pantry to avoid crowds. Included also in this guide compiled by our Justice Integrity Project is research that explores the assassination's current implications for the U.S. justice system and other governance. The materials contain varied perspectives in a style common to other topics in our series, which includes guides to the assassinations of President Kennedy in 1963 and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968. Readers of each can find abundant evidence of covert official involvement, including in the crimes and cover-up. But we provide also books and other evidence supporting the official verdicts. In the case of RFK's murder, a jury found in 1969 that Sirhan Sirhan acted alone to kill Kennedy and wound five others with shots fired in the hotel's pantry. Thus, our operative principle in this project is to raise informed questions aggressively but also to provide sufficient evidence for readers to reach your own conclusions. The continued public suspicions about the deaths of JFK, MLK and RFK (as the victims were known) have been fostered by the highly irregular legal procedures involving each death, including suppression of relevant documents and fear among witnesses and investigators. One illustration of the continuing controversy was the dramatic but unsuccessful plea this year by Kennedy's friend Paul Schrade to California's parole board to free Sirhan on the grounds of innocence in killing Kennedy. Schrade, now 91, said he was undoubtedly shot by Sirhan in the forehead at the hotel. But, Schrade maintained, Sirhan could not possibly have shot Kennedy because the New York senator was killed from a point-blank shot from behind, according to medical evidence, whereas Sirhan was always several feet in the front of the senator. Sirhan's defenders say he was a patsy and victim of mind-control being unjustly held to enable the real killer to escape. Sirhan is shown in a mug shot soon after his arrest. He says he cannot remember relevant details. Schrade's reaction is shown during the February parole hearing, as illustrated by an Associated Press pool photograph of the proceedings, which have been marked for decades by unusual secrecy and arbitrary decision-making. For such reasons, the new Citizens Against Political Assassinations (CAPA) has been created as a non-partisan citizen group advocating release of sealed records pertaining to major suspected political assassinations. This editor is one of CAPA's founding directors. Information from these Readers Guides is expected to be summarized on CAPA's site, subject to CAPA's review procedures from its board of scientific, historical, and legal experts and reader feedback. Another development the continued publication of new revelations, reflections and scholarship. Los Angeles reporter Fernando Faura will publish on June 6The Polka Dot File regarding his investigation immediately after the shooting of the mysterious woman in the polka dot dress who supposedly yelled "We shot him" and then disappeared. Faura said murder investigations completely disregarded his evidence when he presented it after the shooting, which he and others claim exemplified a pattern of stifling other leads to RFK's murder. Among other recent and planned books (described below) are those of a more historical nature that illustrate the continuing importance of the RFK death, particularly after the JFK and MLK murders had wiped out the other two major progressive leaders of their era. The goal here is to create a continually updated Readers Guide that provides perspective both on the 2016 elections and on other civic issues as the 50th anniversary of the RFK and MLK killings approaches in 2018. Especially disturbing for this 2016 election season is the widespread notion promoted by the mass media that all three of the 1960s murders are long-settled issues that concern only wacko "conspiracy theorists" or history "buffs." Even minimal research would illustrate many major security, legal, and propaganda issues that are highly relevant to current affairs and decision-making by the next group of elected and appointed officials taking charge on the world stage. This guide is a work in progress. Therefore, new materials and suggestions (including clarifications and corrections) are welcome regarding the entries below. Realistically, the guide cannot include every book, video, official proceeding or archive about such major figures. An electronic format can make a long catalog especially difficult to read on computers and mobile devices. So, the guide seeks to focus on major works and research centers and that sample a full range of perspective. The guide begins with assassination research and then moves to more general commentary on Robert Kennedy's life and legacy, and their current implications. RFK Assassination, Major Books Robert Kennedy Assassination Books (By author, in alphabetical order) Ayton, Mel. The Forgotten Terrorist: Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Potomac, 2007. * Baker, Russ. Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America's Invisible Government, and the Hidden History of the Last Fifty Years. Bloomsbury Press, 2009.' Belzer, Richard and David Wayne. Dead Wrong: Straight Facts on the Country’s Most Controversial Cover-ups. Skyhorse, 2012. __________ Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation Into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination. Skyhorse, 2013. Bohrer, John R. The Revolution of Robert Kennedy: From Power to Protest After JFK. Bloomsbury, 2017. Clarke, James W. American Assassins: The Darker Side of Politics. Princeton University, 1982. * Curington, John as told to Michael Whittington. H.L. Hunt: Motive & Opportunity. 23 House, 2018. Davis, John H. Mafia Kingfish: Carlos Marcello and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy. McGraw-Hill, 1988, Signet, 1989. __________ Kennedy Contract: The Mafia Plot to Assassinate the President. HarperCollins, 2013. DiEugenio, James and Lisa Pease (eds.). The Assassinations: Probe Magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X. Feral House, 2012 (2003). Douglass, James, W. JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. Touchstone, 2008. Eppridge, Bill and Hays Gorey The Last Campaign. Harcourt Brace, 1993. Faura, Fernando. The Polka Dot File. TrineDay, 2016. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Robert F. Kennedy Assassination: The FBI Files. Filiquarian, 2007. Fulton, Christopher and Michelle Fulton. The Inheritance: Poisoned Fruit of JFK's Assassination, TrineDay, 2018. Hancock, Larry. Someone Would Have Talked. JFK Lancer, 2003. Guthman, Edwin O. and C. Richard Allen, editors. RFK: His Words for Our Times William Morrow (May 1, 2018). Revised and updated edition originally published in 1992 as RFK Collected Speeches and listed below also under the authorship of Robert F. Kennedy. Hersh, Burton. Bobby and J. Edgar. Basic Books, 2007. Heymann, David C. RFK. Dutton, 1998. Jansen, Godfrey. Why Robert Kennedy Was Killed: The Story of Two Victims. Third Press, 1970. Joling, Robert J. (past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences), and Philip Van Praag (audio recording engineer and historian). An Open and Shut Case. JV, 2008. Klaber, William and Philip H. Melanson. Shadow Play: Robert F. Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan, and the Failure of American Justice. St. Martin’s, 1997. Kaiser, Robert Blair. R.F.K. Must Die! Chasing the Mystery of the Robert Kennedy Assassination. Overlook / Peter Mayer, 2008 (Dutton, 1970). * Kennedy, Robert F. Jr. American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family. Harper, 2018. Kinzer, Stephen. Poisoner In Chief. Henry Holt & Co., 2019. Lodin, Nils. The Kennedy Assassinations: Who Murdered JFK and RFK? Vulkan, 2016. Mehdi, Mohammad Taki. Kennedy and Sirhan: Why? New World Press, 1968. * Melanson, Philip H. The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination: New Revelations on the Conspiracy and Cover-Up. 1968-1991. Shapolsky, 1991. Moldea, Dan E. The Killing of Robert Kennedy: An Investigation of Motive, Means, and Opportunity. W.W. Norton, 1997. * Morrow, Robert D. The Senator Must Die. Roundtable, 1988. (Most copies destroyed by publisher after successful plaintiff’s defamation lawsuit.) Nelson, Phillip F. LBJ: From Mastermind to the "Colossus." Skyhorse, 2014. Newman, John M. Oswald and the CIA: The Documented Truth About the Unknown Relationship Between the U.S. Government and the Alleged Killer of JFK. Skyhorse, 2008 (1995). Noguchi, Thomas T., M.D. (shown in photo), with Joseph DeMona. Coroner: America's Most Controversial Medical Examiner explores the unanswered questions surrounding the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate, Janis Joplin, William Holden, Natalie Wood, John Belushi and many other of his important cases. Simon and Schuster, 1983. Nolan, Patrick. CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys. Skyhorse, 2013. Pease, Lisa with introduction by James DiEugenio. A Lie Too Big to Fail: The Real History of the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Feral House, 2018. Oglesby, Carl. The Yankee and Cowboy War: Conspiracies from Dallas to Watergate. Andrews McMeel, 1976. O'Sullivan, Shane. Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert Kennedy. Union Square, 2008 O'Sullivan, Shane. Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate, and the CIA, Amazon CreateSpace, 2018.. Rogers, Warren. When I Think of Bobby. Harper Collins, 1993. Russo, Gus. Live By the Sword. Bancroft, 1998. * Russo, Gus (shown below), and Stephen Molton. Brothers In Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder. Bloomsbury, 2008. * Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. Robert F. Kennedy and His Times. Futura, 1970. Scott, Peter Dale (shown at above right in file photo). Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. University of California, 1993. __________ The American Deep State. Rowman and Littlefield, 2014. Smith, Matthew. Conspiracy: The Plot To Stop the Kennedys. Kensington, 2005. Sprague, Richard E. (shown at in black-and-white file photo). The Taking of America, 1-2-3. Ratical (via web), 1985 (Harp and Black, 1976). Summers, Anthony. Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover. Corgi, 1994. Talbot, David. Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years. Free Press / Simon & Schuster, 2007. __________ The Devil's Chessboard. Harper, 2015. Tate, Tim and Brad Johnson. The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: Crime, Conspiracy and Cover-Up. Thistle, 2018. Thomas, Ralph. RFK – Beyond a Question of Conspiracy: An Investigation and Revision of History. Amazon Digital Services, 2017. Turner, William V. Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, CIA and Other Tails. Penmarin, 2001. Turner, William V. and Jonn G. Christian. The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: A Searching Look at the Conspiracy and Cover-up 1968-1978. Basic, 2006 (Random House, 1978). Ventura, Jesse, Russell, Dick. American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies that the Government Tells Us. Skyhorse, 2013. Ventura, Jesse. Lies, Lies and More Lies That the Government Tells Us. Skyhorse, 2010. Waldon, Lamar (shown at left) and Thomas Hartmann. Legacy of Secrecy. The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination. Counterpoint, 2008. Waldon, Lamar and Thomas Hartmann. Ultimate Sacrifice: John and Robert Kennedy, the Plan for a Coup in Cuba, and the Murder of JFK. Carroll & Graf, 2005. Wecht, Cyril H., M.D., J.D. (past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences,) (shown in lab at right), with Mark Curriden and Benjamin Wecht. Cause of Death: A Leading Forensic Expert Sets the Record Straight on JFK, RFK, Jean Harris, Mary Jo Kopechne, Sunny von Bulow, Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald, and Other Controversial Cases. Dutton, 1993. Witcover, Jules. 85 Days. 1985. * This asterisk denotes books that generally endorse the official conclusion that Sirhan Sirhan killed Robert F. Kennedy as a lone shooter. Selected Music Wikipedia, Abraham, Martin and John is a 1968 song written by Dick Holler and first recorded by Dion. It is a tribute to the memory of four assassinated Americans, all icons of social change, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. It was written in response to the assassination of King and that of Robert Kennedy in April and June 1968, respectively. Each of the first three verses features one of the men named in the song's title, for example: "Anybody here, seen my old friend Abraham — Can you tell me where he's gone? He freed a lot of people, but it seems the good die young. But I just looked around and he's gone." After a bridge, the fourth and final verse mentions Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, and ends with a description of him walking over a hill with the other three men. YouTube, YouTube, , Dion DiMucci (audio). , Dion DiMucci (audio). YouTube, , Marvin Gaye (audio). , Marvin Gaye (audio). YouTube, Abraham, Martin And John, Smokey Robinson Performs at the White House Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement (audio and video) on Feb. 9, 2010 (4:57 mins.). At the White House, President Obama and the First Lady hosted a night of music that inspired and reflected the Civil Rights Movement. Performers included Yolanda Adams, Joan Baez, Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Seal, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Howard University Choir, and The Freedom Singers. Details from the Obama White House Archives. Selected RFK Assassination-Related Films, Documentaries, Other Videos 1973 The Second Gun. Director: Gérard Alcan. Writers: Gérard Alcan and Theodore Charach. Documentary in 1973 suggesting the possibility of another gunman involved in the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Stars: Fernando Faura, Thane Eugene Cesar, Theodore Charach. This film ignited a worldwide controversy on three levels: journalistic, legal and forensic. It continues today. The entire film, director's copy and out-takes are housed at the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study/Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Hollywood CA. The Ted Charach RFK documentary archive, the world's largest private collection on The Second Gun discovery, is located at the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven, New Haven, CT. 1992

The Assassination of Robert Kennedy . Producer: Tim Tate. Executive Producer: Chris Plumley. Editor: Richard L. Hohman (1992) (Distributor: Rice N Peas, Ltd., 52 mins.). The Assassination of Robert Kennedy, a gripping documentary by the acclaimed producer Chris Plumley, exposes how the CIA planted two operatives within the Los Angeles Police Department who manipulated the investigation of Kennedy’s assassination. Robert Kennedy’s death seemed an open and shut case, yet in spite of the testimonies of seventy-seven witnesses, it remains shrouded in mystery. Many witnesses at the time complained of pressure by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to change their testimony. For the first time, Plumley exposes how evidence was changed: how an FBI officer saw bullets being removed from the scene of the assassination and how LAPD officers who didn’t toe the line found themselves suspended on ridiculous charges or taken off the case. This hard-hitting documentary is produced in the gripping style of The Day The Dream Died, the documentary which catapulted Chris Plumley to international prominence and formed the backbone of Oliver Stone’s acclaimed film JFK. The RFK Tapes. Producer: William Klaber. (1992) The nationally broadcast one-hour documentary on the murder of Robert Kennedy earned a Golden Reel nomination for William Klaber. 2002 RFK. RFK is an American TV film directed by Robert Dornhelm released in 2002. It takes place through the eyes of Robert F. Kennedy after his brother John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963. As he lives through the loss, he starts to identify himself as a political figure, not just the former President's brother. He makes it official with a Presidential bid in 1968 to what he says was to "save the Democratic Party." During his campaign, in which the American people showed great support for him, RFK was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan. 2006 Bobby. Bobby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Emilio Estevez, and starring an ensemble cast. The screenplay is a fictionalized account of the hours leading up to the June 5, 1968 shooting of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles following his win of the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primary in California. 2007 Conspiracy Test: The RFK Assassination (TV Movie documentary, premiering June 6, 2007). Supervising Producer Robert "Rob" Beemer. Writers: Rob Beemer and Matt Liston. Stars: Roosevelt Grier, Robert F. Kennedy. MSNBC, , Contessa Brewer, June 6, 2007. MSNBC interviews Rob Beemer and Paul Schrade about shocking new evidence in Robert F. Kennedy assassination. A sound recording of the shooting is uncovered in 2004 and is found to contain evidence of a second gunman involved in the June 1968 RFK assassination. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer interviews TV documentary producer Rob Beemer and RFK shooting victim Paul Schrade about this astonishing audio tape known as the Pruszynski recording. Beemer's documentary program on the Pruszynski recording is entitled "Conspiracy Test: The RFK Assassination" and it premieres on the Discovery Times Channel (which today is known as the Investigation Discovery Channel). , Contessa Brewer, June 6, 2007. MSNBC interviews Rob Beemer and Paul Schrade about shocking new evidence in Robert F. Kennedy assassination. A sound recording of the shooting is uncovered in 2004 and is found to contain evidence of a second gunman involved in the June 1968 RFK assassination. MSNBC's Contessa Brewer interviews TV documentary producer Rob Beemer and RFK shooting victim Paul Schrade about this astonishing audio tape known as the Pruszynski recording. Beemer's documentary program on the Pruszynski recording is entitled "Conspiracy Test: The RFK Assassination" and it premieres on the Discovery Times Channel (which today is known as the Investigation Discovery Channel). In Beemer's program, "Conspiracy Test," the Pruszynski recording reveals there were more gunshots fired during Senator Kennedy's assassination than the number of bullets that convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan had in his gun. Since Sirhan was armed with only one gun and had no opportunity to reload his weapon, the extra bullets must have been fired by a second gunman. The Pruszynski recording also reveals that some of the gunshots were fired too close together to have come from the same weapon, once again demonstrating that there must have been a second gunman involved in the RFK shooting. Post Script: In the year following the 2007 television premiere of "Conspiracy Test: The RFK Assassination," the Pruszynski recording's key audio analyst, Philip Van Praag, teamed with fellow forensic expert Robert J. Joling, past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, to co-author a book about the Pruszynski recording and about other Bobby Kennedy assassination evidence. Like Van Praag, Joling also had appeared in Beemer's documentary, "Conspiracy Test." Van Praag's and Joling's book, "An Open And Shut Case," details their evidence proving that a second gun was fired in the Ambassador Hotel kitchen pantry at 12:16 am PDT on June 5, 1968. RFK Must Die. Director: Shane O'Sullivan. RFK Must Die is the product of writer and film maker Dr. Shane O'Sullivan, who lives in London. He later presented his findings in book form in Who Killed Bobby? The Unsolved Murder of Robert F. Kennedy (2008). O'Sullivan presents audio expert Phil Van Praag, who explains in a seven-minute video segment 2008 %20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">why he determined that 13 shots had been fired, indicating a second gunman. CNN, , Adrian Finighan, April 16, 2008 (6:50 min.). A previously unknown audio tape, recently uncovered, reveals that Sirhan Sirhan did not act alone in the June 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In this video, you will hear the sounds of the actual RFK assassination during a two-minute excerpt from the Pruszynski recording, the only known tape of the Bobby Kennedy shooting. The audio recording was made by freelance newspaper reporter Stanislaw Pruszynski, a Polish journalist covering the RFK presidential campaign for Canadian newspapers. 2009 CNN BackStory via YouTube, , Adrian Finighan, April 16, 2008 (6:50 min.). A previously unknown audio tape, recently uncovered, reveals that Sirhan Sirhan did not act alone in the June 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In this video, you will hear the sounds of the actual RFK assassination during a two-minute excerpt from the Pruszynski recording, the only known tape of the Bobby Kennedy shooting. The audio recording was made by freelance newspaper reporter Stanislaw Pruszynski, a Polish journalist covering the RFK presidential campaign for Canadian newspapers..be" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CNN Uncovers Possible RFK Second Gun Evidence, Michael Holmes, June 5, 2009 (Total YouTube Running Time 9:10 min). Michael Holmes interviews CNN International senior writer Brad Johnson on how he uncovered for CNN the Pruszynski Recording, the only known audio recording of the Robert F. Kennedy shooting that may contain evidence of an RFK second shooter in addition to long-presumed lone gunman Sirhan Sirhan. This segment aired on the 41st anniversary of Senator Kennedy's assassination.

President Kennedy meets FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, center, with Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at right

Selected Major Books, Collections By RFK



Robert Kennedy is shown visiting Mississippi sharecroppers in 1967 (Kennedy Library photo)

Kennedy, Robert F. The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee's Crusade Against Jimmy Hoff and Corrupt Labor Unions. Da Capo, 1994. Kennedy, Robert F. The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee's Crusade Against Jimmy Hoff and Corrupt Labor Unions. Da Capo, 1994.

__________Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Forward. Norton, 1999.

__________ To Seek a Newer World. Doubleday, 1967.



__________ RFK: Collected Speeches. Edwin O. Guthman, ed. Viking, 1993, Reissued and updated, Kennedy, Robert F. (C. Richard Allen and Edwin O Guthman listed as co-authors). RFK: His Words for Our Times (Collected Speeches). William Morrow (May 1, 2018).

__________ In His Own Words: The Unpublished Recollections of the Kennedy Years.



RFK Biographies and Histories, Selected Major Works

Kennedy Family, with parents Joseph and Rose Kennedy, center, Hyannisport, MA

Benson, Gigi, Manuela Soares and Harry Benson (Photographer). RFK: A Photographer's Journal. Powerhouse, 2008.

Bohrer, John R. The Revolution of Robert Kennedy: From Power to Protest After JFK. Bloomsbury, 2017.

Clarke, Thurston. The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America. Henry Holt, 2008.



Davis, John H. The Kennedys: Dynasty and Disaster. Shapolsky, 1992.

Dyson, Michael Eric. What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America. St. Martin's, June 5, 2018.

Eppridge, Bill. A Time it Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties. Abrams, 2008.

Eppridge, Bill, and Hays Gorey. Robert Kennedy: The Last Campaign. 1993.

Kelley, Kitty. Jackie Oh! Lyle Stuart, 1978.

Goldfarb, Ronald. Perfect Villains, Imperfect Heroes: Robert F. Kennedy's War Against Organized Crime. Capitol Classics, 2002 (Random House, 1995).

Guthman, Edwin. We Band of Brothers: A Memoir of Robert F. Kennedy. Harper & Row, 1964.

Halberstam, David. The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy. Random House, 1969.

Hersh, Seymour. The Dark Side of Camelot. Back Bay, 1998.

Heymann, C. David. The Georgetown Ladies Social Club: Power, Passion and Politics in the Nation's Capital. Atria, 2003.

__________ RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy. Dutton, 1998.



__________ Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story. Atria, 2009.



Houghton, Robert A. with Theodore Taylor. Special Unit Senator. Random House, 1970.

Jacobs, Jay. RFK: His Life and Death. Dell, 1968.

Kennedy, Kerry. Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope: Kerry Kennedy in Conversation with Heads of State, Business Leaders, Influencers, and Activists about Her Father's Impact on Their Lives. Center Street, June 5, 2018.

Kennedy, Maxwell Taylor. Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy. Broadway, 1999.

Life Magazine Editors. Robert F. Kennedy: An American Legacy, 50 Years Later. Life, May 25, 2018.

Mahoney, Richard D. Sons & Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy. Arcade, 1999.

Maier, Thomas. The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings. Basic Books, 2003.

MacAfee, Norman. The Gospel According to RFK: Why It Matters Now. Basic Books, 2004.

Margolick, David. The Promise and the Dream: The Untold Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Rosetta, April 3, 2018.

Matthews, Chris, Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit. Simon & Schuster, 2017.

McKnight, Gerald. Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why. University of Kansas, 2005.

Meacham, Ellen B. Delta Epiphany: Robert F. Kennedy in Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi, April 2, 2018.

Moldea, Dan E. The Hoffa Wars: Teamsters, Rebels, Politicians the Mob. Charter, 1978.

Newfield, Jack. RFK: A Memoir. Thunder's Mouth, 2003.

O'Donnell, Helen. A Common Good: The Friendship of Robert F. Kennedy and Kenneth P. O'Donnell. William Morrow, 1998.

O'Donnell, Lawrence. Playing with Fire: The 1968 Election and the Transformation of American Politics. Penguin, 2017.

O'Sullivan, Shane. Who Killed Bobby? 2008.

Palermo, Joseph. The Political Odyssey of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Columbia University, 2001.

Paupp, Terrence Edward. Robert F. Kennedy in the Stream of History. Transaction, 2014.

People Magazine. The Kennedys: Jack & Jackie and Bobby & Ethel. People, May 11, 2018.

Prouty, L. Fletcher. The Secret Team. Skyhorse, 2014 (Prentice-Hall, 1973).

__________ JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy. Skyhorse, 2013 (Carroll and Graf, 1996).

Rogan, James. On To Chicago: Rediscovering Robert F. Kennedy and the Lost Campaign of 1968. WND, June 5, 201

Rogers, Warren. When I Think of Bobby: A Personal Memoir of the Kennedy Years. Harper Perennial, 1994.

Schaap, Dick. R.F.K. New American Library, 1967. Signet, 1968.

Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr. A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House. Mariner, 2002.

__________ Robert F. Kennedy and His Times. Mariner, 2002.

Shihab, Aziz. Sirhan. Naylor, 1969.

Talbot, David. Brothers. 2007.

Thomas, Evan (shown at right). Robert Kennedy: His Life. Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Time Magazine Editors. Robert F. Kennedy: His Life and Legacy 50 Years Later. Time, May 11, 2018.

Trento, Joseph J. The Secret History of the CIA. Forum, 2001.

Turner, William. Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails. Penmarin, 2001.

Tye, Larry. Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon. Random House, July 5, 2016.

vanden Heuvel, William. On his own: Robert F. Kennedy, 1964–1968. Doubleday, 1970.

Witcover, Jules. 85 Days: The Last Campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. Ace, 1969, Putnam, 1985, William Morrow paperback, 2016.

Wofford, Harris. Of Kennedys and Kings. University of Pittsburgh, 1980.

Wyden, Peter. Bay of Pigs: The Untold Story. Simon & Schuster.

Justice Integrity Project "Readers Guide to the RFK Assassination"

Readers Guide To RFK Assassination: Books, Videos, Archives, Andrew Kreig, May 30, 2016. RFK Murder Cover-Up Continues After Dramatic Parole Hearing, Andrew Kreig, Feb. 24, 2016. A California parole board this month rejected a dramatic plea to release the convicted slayer of 1968 presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy, thereby continuing one of the nation's most notorious murder cover-ups. Kennedy friend Paul Schrade, 91, argued that the convicted Sirhan B. Sirhan, firing from Kennedy's front, could not have killed the New York senator in a hotel massacre that left Schrade wounded.

Paul Schrade, a United Auto Workers official and good friend of the New York senator, is shown with Kennedy in a file photo from that era.

Selected RFK-Related Biographies: Online

Wikipedia, Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), commonly known by his initials RFK, was an American politician from Massachusetts. He served as a Senator for New York from 1965 until his assassination in 1968. He was previously the 64th U.S. Attorney General from 1961 to 1964, serving under his older brother, President John F. Kennedy and his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 1968 election. After serving in the United States Naval Reserve as a Seaman Apprentice from 1944 to 1946 at Harvard College and Bates College, Kennedy graduated from Harvard and the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to entering public office, he worked as a correspondent to the Boston Post and as an attorney in Washington D.C. He gained national attention as the chief counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee from 1957 to 1959, where he publicly challenged Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa over the corrupt practices of the union, and authored The Enemy Within, a book about corruption in organized labor. Kennedy was the campaign manager for his brother John in the 1960 presidential election. He was appointed Attorney General after the successful election and served as the closest adviser to the president from 1961 to 1963. His tenure is best known for its advocacy for the Civil Rights Movement, crusade against organized crime and the Mafia, and involvement in U.S. foreign policy related to Cuba. After his brother's assassination, he remained in office in the Johnson administration for a few months until leaving to run for the United States Senate in 1964 where he defeated Republican incumbent Kenneth Keating. In 1968, Kennedy was a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, appealing especially to African-American, Hispanic, and Catholic voters. Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, after defeating Senator Eugene McCarthy in the California presidential primary, he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, and died the following day.

Accused Killer Sirhan Sirhan's Biography Online Wikipedia, Sirhan Sirhan. This article is about Robert F. Kennedy's assassin [sic]. Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (born March 19, 1944) is a Palestinian of Jordanian citizenship who was convicted of the 1968 assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is currently serving a life sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California. Sirhan (shown in a 2016 photo) was born in Jerusalem in Mandatory Palestine and is a strong opponent of Israel. In 1989, he told David Frost, "My only connection with Robert Kennedy was his sole support of Israel and his deliberate attempt to send those 50 bombers to Israel to obviously do harm to the Palestinians." Some scholars believe that the assassination was the first major incident of political violence in the United States stemming from the Arab–Israeli conflict in the Middle East. RFK Friend and Sirhan Counsel Dr. William F. Pepper Wikipedia, William F. Pepper. William Francis Pepper (born August 16, 1937) is an attorney based in New York City who is most noted for his efforts to prove the innocence of Sirhan Sirhan in the assassination of Pepper's friend Robert F. Kennedy (as well as the innocence of convicted killer James Earl Ray in the assassination of Pepper's friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) Also, Pepper is the author of several books. He has been active in other government conspiracy cases including the 9/11 Truth movement and has advocated that George W. Bush be charged with war crimes. Pepper received a B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University, Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts and J.D. law degree from Boston College. He was admitted to the bar in 1977. In addition to his United States practice he is a non-practicing barrister in the United Kingdom. Martin Luther King Jr. contacted Pepper after seeing a photo essay Pepper had published entitled "The Children of Vietnam" published in the January 1967 issue Ramparts magazine depicting victims of napalm in Vietnam. Pepper later stated that the contact contributed to King's more adamant position against the Vietnam War. Pepper was present at King's April 4, 1967 Riverside Church speech in which King launched a strong campaign against the war. The two are shown in a file photo as King prepared to keynote the National Conference for New Politics convention in 1967 (Photo by Ben Fernandez and used in Pepper's book "Orders To Kill." Pepper thought that King's assassination was part of a government conspiracy and became James Earl Ray's last attorney. He postulated that Ray was framed by the FBI, the CIA, the military, the Memphis police and organized crime figures from New Orleans and Memphis. He publicized his position in books and represented James Earl Ray in a televised mock trial in an attempt to get Ray the trial that he never had. Ray was found not guilty in the mock trial, though actually convicted of King's assassination. CNN, Attorneys for RFK convicted killer Sirhan push 'second gunman' argument, Michael Martinez and Brad Johnson, March 13, 2012. If there was a second gunman in Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, who was it? Lawyers for convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan claim their client did not fire any of the gunshots that struck the presidential candidate in 1968. And in their latest federal court filing, they also rule out another man some have considered a suspect -- a private security guard named Thane Eugene Cesar, who was escorting Kennedy at the time he was shot. Attorneys William Pepper and Laurie Dusek insist someone other than their client, Sirhan, fatally shot Kennedy. They now say the real killer was not Cesar, a part-time uniformed officer long suspected by some conspiracy theorists of playing a sinister role in the senator's murder. Pepper and Dusek made the claim in papers submitted to a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles late last month. As Kennedy Administration Attorney General, Robert Kennedy is shown meeting with CIA Director John McCone. Government Reports 1974 1974 U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights. FBI Counterintelligence Programs. 93rd Cong., 2nd sess., 1974. 1976 U.S. Congress. Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities ("The Church Committee," chaired by Sen. Frank Church, D-ID, shown in a file photo). Final Report: Book II, Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans. 94th Cong., 2nd sess., 1976. Details. 1977 U.S. Department of Justice. Report of the Department of Justice task Force to review the FBI Martin Luther King, Jr. and Assassination Investigations. January 11, 1977. 1979 U.S. Congress. House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA). Investigation of the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. 95th Cong., 1st sess., 1979. 2000 U.S. Department of Justice. Investigation Regarding the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. ("DOJ Attorney General's Report"). June, 2000. Court Cases Many legal actions, too numerous to mention, have been filed in civil and criminal courts regarding the fatal shooting of Robert Kennedy and the wounding of five others at the Ambassador Hotel on June 5, 1968. The prominent Los Angeles attorney Grant Cooper originally led the defense team for accused assassin Sirhan Sirhan. Cooper, then 65, was a former president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. The trial judge was Superior Court Judge Herbert V. Walker, who held the reputation of a "firm but fair" judge, according to some observers. The defense, prosecution and ancillary actions had many changes of personnel during decades of criminal and civil litigation. In one unusual and notable development, the defense hired as an investigator the young free lance journalist Robert Blair Kaiser. He would go on to publish in 1970 one of the first books on the case, the insider's account R.F.K. Must Die! The title comes from Sirhan's notebook. The prosecution would argue through the decades that Sirhan's threat, written repeatedly in his notebook, was evidence of premeditation. The defense would argue unsuccessfully in court that repetition was part of the evidence that the defendant had likely become a mind-control victim during his long disappearance from his family before the shooting. Kaiser updated his book for publication in 2008. His conclusion was that Sirhan acted alone in firing shots and has lied at times to assist his defense, but was also a victim of psychological control by unknown other plotters. Sirhan was first declared eligible for parole in the mid-1980s, but has been repeatedly denied parole despite a clean record while in custody. A 1972 California Supreme Court decision on his case is summarized below. Criminal People v. Sirhan, Crim. No. 14026. Supreme Court of California. June 16, 1972. In Bank. (Opinion by Burke, J., with Wright, C. J., Peters, Tobriner, Mosk and Sullivan, JJ., concurring. Separate concurring and dissenting opinion by McComb, J.) COUNSEL George E. Shibley, Luke McKissack, Abdeen Jabara, Grant Cooper, Russell Parsons, Robert E. Mundy, Martha Goldin, Godfrey Isaac and Ernest L. Graves for Defendant and Appellant. Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General, William E. James, Assistant Attorney General, and Ronald M. George, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. OPINION A jury found defendant guilty of first degree murder of Senator Robert Kennedy and fixed the penalty at death for that crime. [7 Cal. 3d 717] The jury also found defendant guilty on five counts charging assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder upon Paul Schrade, Irwin Stroll, William Weisel, Elizabeth Evans and Ira Goldstein respectively, and prison sentences were imposed on those counts. The court denied a motion for a new trial, and defendant's automatic appeal is now before us. (Pen. Code, § 1239, subd. (b).) Defendant contends that (1) the death penalty is cruel or unusual punishment; (2) in view of proof of his diminished capacity the evidence is insufficient to support the first degree murder conviction; (3) he was denied a fair trial as a result of certain publicity; (4) his right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures and his privilege against self-incrimination were violated by the receipt of evidence found in his bedroom and in his yard; (5) other evidence was erroneously admitted; (6) his constitutional rights were violated by having the prosecution initiated by an indictment rather than an information; (7) the court erred in failing to hold an evidentiary hearing on whether the exclusion of veniremen opposed to the death penalty results in an unrepresentative jury on the issue of guilt or substantially increases the risk of conviction; and (8) the petit and grand juries were illegally selected.

Major Robert Kennedy Research Archives and Advocacy Centers



Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Archives , University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Claire T. Carney Library Archives and Special Collections. Dartmouth, MA. Founding Curator: The late Prof. Philip H. Melanson, Political Assassinations Research Papers, 1963-2000MC 127/RFKAA Extent: 5 linear feet (12 boxes) Biographical: Philip H. Melanson (1944-2006) was professor of Political Science at UMass Dartmouth from September 1981 to 2006 and Chairperson of the Political Science Department from 1977-1985. His areas of specialization were American politics, political assassination and violence, governmental secrecy, freedom of information and public policy processes. He served as the coordinator of the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Archive, which is the world’s largest collection of the subject.

Professor Melanson wrote a number of books and was an intentionally recognized expert on political violence and government secrecy. His published works relate to political assassination and violence, governmental secrecy and law enforcement and intelligence agencies. He appeared on NPR, BBC, CBS, and CNN news programs. He made a total of 95 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which resulted in the release of over 200,000 pages of federal government documents on topics relevant to his research. He died in 2006. Scope and Contents Note: The collection includes photocopies, photos, audio recordings, and slides pertaining to his research into the assassination of Martin Luther King April 4, 1968 (Series I) and the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968 (Series II).

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. Boston, MA. Director: The Archivist of the United States: David S. Ferriero, appointed by the President. Director of Communications, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: Rachel Flor. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum preserves and provides access to historical materials related to President Kennedy and his times -- and engages with citizens of all ages and nationalities through JFK's life story and the ideals he championed.

As described here , a section of the collection holds materials relevant to President Kennedy's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, shown in a photo at right as U.S. Attorney General from 1961 to 1964. The collection includes: General Papers, 1961-1964. Correspondence, desk diaries, books, John F. Kennedy Library file, classified file, confidential file, speeches, telephone logs and messages, trip file. Extent: 138.6 cubic feet.

Related Records: Related Records:

Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Condolence Mail Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Pre-Administration Papers Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Presidential Campaign Papers Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Senate Pape



More generally, the Presidential Library system is composed of thirteen Presidential Libraries. These facilities are overseen by the Office of Presidential Libraries, in the National Archives and Records Administration. Presidential Libraries are not libraries in the usual sense. They are archives and museums, bringing together in one place the documents and artifacts of a President and his administration and presenting them to the public for study and discussion without regard for political considerations or affiliations. Presidential Libraries and Museums, like their holdings, belong to the American people.

Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the seventh child in the closely knit and competitive family of Rose and Joseph P. Kennedy. "I was the seventh of nine children," he later recalled, "and when you come from that far down you have to struggle to survive."

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 1950, Robert Kennedy married Ethel Skakel of Greenwich, Connecticut, daughter of Ann Brannack Skakel and George Skakel, founder of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation. Robert and Ethel Kennedy later had eleven children. In 1952, he made his political debut as manager of his older brother John's successful campaign for the US Senate from Massachusetts. The following year, he served briefly on the staff of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy. Disturbed by McCarthy's controversial tactics, Kennedy resigned from the staff after six months. He later returned to the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations as chief counsel for the Democratic minority, in which capacity he wrote a report condemning McCarthy's investigation of alleged Communists in the Army. His later work as Chief Counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee investigating corruption in trade unions won him national recognition for exposing Teamsters' Union leaders Jimmy Hoffa and David Beck. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights . Washington, DC and New York, NY. Founder: Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy. President: Kerry Kennedy; and Executive Director: Lynn Delaney. Robert F. Kennedy’s career in public service was distinguished by his willingness to join local activists in demanding change. Whether aiding the Freedom Riders in Alabama, encouraging anti-Apartheid students in South Africa, or breaking bread with Cesar Chavez in California, Robert Kennedy believed in standing with those who stood against oppression.

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights continues his legacy of joining the brave women and men on the front lines of the struggle for justice. From lawsuits to lesson plans, our programs are designed to empower activists working for change from the ground up. A group of experts and advocates passionate about realizing Robert F. Kennedy’s dream of a more just and peaceful world. Led by human rights activist and lawyer Kerry Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights includes lawyers, advocates, entrepreneurs, and writers, united by a commitment to social justice. Overseen by a board that includes some of the nation’s leaders in business and academia, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights is a diverse group of talented individuals committed to the pursuit of a more just and peaceful world.

Robert, Edward and John Kennedy at the White House, left to right.

Other Relevant Research Archives, Professional Bodies and Advocacy Centers To RFK Include:



American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) , Colorado Springs, CO. 2016 President: John E. Gerns, MFS. AAFS Board of Directors: "Forensic Science is the application of scientific principles and technological practices to the purposes of justice in the study and resolution of criminal, civil, and regulation issues."

Since 1948, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) has served a distinguished and diverse membership. Its over 7,000 members are divided into eleven sections spanning the forensic enterprise. Included among the Academy’s members are physicians, attorneys, dentists, toxicologists, anthropologists, document examiners, digital evidence experts, psychiatrists, physicists, engineers, criminalists, educators, and others. Representing all 50 United States, Canada, and 70 other countries worldwide, they actively practice forensic science and, in many cases, teach and conduct research in the field as well. Each section provides opportunities for professional development, personal contacts, awards, and recognition. Many sections publish periodic newsletters and mailings which keep their members abreast of activities and developments in their field. As a professional society dedicated to the application of science to the law, the AAFS is committed to the promotion of education and the elevation of accuracy, precision, and specificity in the forensic sciences. It does so via the Journal of Forensic Sciences (its internationally recognized scientific journal), newsletters, its annual scientific meeting, the conduct of webinars and meetings, and the initiation of actions and reactions to various issues of concern. Assassination Archives Research Center (AARC), Silver Spring, MD and Washington, DC. President: James Lesar. The AARC's holdings comprise the most extensive collection of records on the JFK assassination in private hands. It has approximately 1,500 books on assassinations, organized crime, covert activities, and a wide variety of other subjects relevant to the study of assassinations and related topics. Its “main files” consist of newspaper and magazine articles, unpublished manuscripts, trial transcripts, photographs, tapes, notes, letters and other materials which fill some 36 four-drawer file cabinets.

Citizens Against Political Assassinations (CAPA). Washington, DC. Chairman: Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, M.D. (Shown in a file photo). CAPA is a non-partisan citizen group advocating release of sealed records pertaining to major suspected politicalassassinations, including of the Kennedy ("JFK" and "RFK") and King ("MLK") deaths. The new group, announced in the spring of 2016, advocates disclosures regarding suspected political assassinations. Its initial focus is on the JFK, MLK, RFK deaths because of widespread evidence supporting widespread public doubts about the official stories, and because the deaths retain continuing importance regarding public affairs. CAPA plans to pursue the release of the remaining suppressed records and undertake public education efforts to ensure that the forces that orchestrated such assassinations will no longer be able to influence government policies.

Harold Weisberg Archive , Hood College, Frederick, MD. Co-Directors: Gerald D. McKnight and Clayton Ogilvie. Hood College maintains a large, accessible private collection of government documents and public records relating to President Kennedy's assassination. Much of it comes from the labors of Harold Weisberg (1913-2002). He used the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FOIAPA) to obtain about 250,000 pages of documents, largely from the Warren Commission, FBI, Secret Service, Justice Department, and CIA. Also, the collection includes about 85,000 pages of FBI documents regarding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Government records are available also about the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. History Matters, Ipswich, MA. Director: Rex Bradford. History Matters is a venture operated by Rex Bradford, a computer game designer and avid historian of the Cold War. History Matters is devoted to the idea that history does matter. Much of the history that we learn is biased and distorted. This is particularly true of the "official" history of our darker national episodes. History Matters has no agenda, however, other than service to the truth. By delivering document collections in an accessible manner, we hope to inform and enlighten. Mary Ferrell Foundation (MFF), Ipswich, MA. President: Rex Bradford. The Mary Ferrell Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) group engaged in an ongoing effort to bring accessible and interactive history to a new generation of critical thinkers. With a wide topic base including the assassinations of the 1960s, the Watergate scandal, and post-Watergate intelligence abuse investigations, the MFF’s vast digital archive at www.maryferrell.org contains over 1.3 million pages of documents, government reports, books, essays, and hours of multimedia. This site is open to all for browsing. Memberships are available that unlock the site's powerful search engine and allow access to PDF copies of documents. Institutional memberships are also available. Find out more about membership in the MFF here. National Archives and Record Administration (NARA), Washington, DC. National Archivist David S. Ferriero, shown at below right, is the head of the agency, appointed by the President of the United States. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept forever. If you plan to visit the National Archives at College Park to examine JFK Assassination Collection records, NARA strongly urges you to visit the Information for Researchers page prior to your arrival. Here you can find information regarding pull times, contacts and hours. The bulk of RFK materials are at: The National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. was created in 2003 by an Act of Congress, establishing it as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Board of Regents, the governing body of the Institution, voted in January 2006 to build the museum on a five-acre site on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th streets N.W. This site is between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The new museum, the Smithsonian’s 19th, will be the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, art, history and culture. It is scheduled to open in Sept. 24, 2016. National Museum of African American History and Culture , Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Founding Director: Lonnie G. Bunch III (shown in an official photo). The National Museum of African American History and Culturewas created in 2003 by an Act of Congress, establishing it as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Board of Regents, the governing body of the Institution, voted in January 2006 to build the museum on a five-acre site on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th streets N.W. This site is between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The new museum, the Smithsonian’s 19th, will be the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, art, history and culture. It is scheduled to open in Sept. 24, 2016.

The Smithsonian Institution is a museum and research complex of 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park, as well as research facilities. It was established with funds from James Smithson (1765–1829), a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The Institution cover diverse topics for its nearly 40 million annual visitors and other audiences, of course, but on occasion treat important elements of Kennedy assassination. Smithsonian Institution , Washington, DC. Secretary: Dr. David J. Skorton (shown in an official photo), a former president of Cornell University, became the secretary of the world's largest museum and research complex in July 2015.The Smithsonian Institution is a museum and research complex of 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park, as well as research facilities. It was established with funds from James Smithson (1765–1829), a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The Institution cover diverse topics for its nearly 40 million annual visitors and other audiences, of course, but on occasion treat important elements of Kennedy assassination.

Spartacus Educational , United Kingdom. Founder and Editor: John Simkin (shown in photo). This is an educational website. Its index of key figures and topics in the JFK assassination is here. The material is hot-linked to extensive bios and photos. There are approximately hundreds of names listed in the database of important figures, witnesses and possible conspirators. The web-based Spartacus archive contains many topics beyond United States history and the RFK murder.

Sirhan Defense Sirhan's Defender. Editor: Rose Lynn Mangan. Rose Lynn Mangan, age 87 in 2016, is a friend of the Sirhan family from Pasadena who has compiled in a blog archive pro-defense information since Sirhan Sirhan's first-degree murder trial in 1969 in California's Superior Court. With a detailed knowledge prosecution exhibits, the self-taught citizen advocate and her reports have documented serious credibility problems with prosecution evidence, procedures, and fairness, including ballistics evidence. Defense personnel and independent researchers have often cited her work. In April 2016, she published a post, Mea Culpa, in which she explained her persistence: "It is all too clear that these behind the scenes crimes were fiercely protected by a badly flawed judicial system. And why would I feel I could bring these frauds out in the open? I admit to often being too frightened to write about these discoveries. But, these are my twilight years (87) so what’s to be afraid? As Martin Luther said: “Here I Stand.” That is my position. My Reports, while unpopular with my own government, are entirely based on true facts, and I stand by them. I am not at war with my government, but I do not believe in lies – no matter how high up they reach." Justice Integrity Project Assassination Readers Guides JFK Readers Guide To JFK Assassination: Books, Videos, Archives , Andrew Kreig, April 3, 2016. To help researchers of President Kennedy's 1963 assassination and its current implications, the Justice Integrity Project began publishing a Reader's Guide in 2013 to coincide with the shooting's 50th anniversary. MLK Readers Guide To MLK Assassination: Books, Videos, Archives , Andrew Kreig, May 26, 2016. This "Readers Guide" identifies the major books, videos, documents, websites and other archives most relevant to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s murder on April 4, 1968. RFK Readers Guide To JFK Assassination: Books, Videos, Archives, Andrew Kreig, May 30, 2016. This guide presents key books, videos, documents, websites and other archives most relevant to 1968 Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy's murder on June 6, 1968. Related News Coverage (Excerpted in Reverse Chronological Order) 2018

Al Jazeera, Who Killed Robert Kennedy? Filmmaker Bahiya Namour, Nov. 14, 2018. (46:23 min.).

Featured experts include: William Pepper, Laurie Dusek, Shane O'Sullivan, Paul Scrade, Lisa Pease, William Klaber, Vincent DiPierro.

On June 6, 1968, United States Senator Robert F Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just moments after he'd won California's Democratic presidential primary.

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, was arrested at the scene of the shooting in what the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) thought was an open-and-shut case.

Sirhan was tried and jailed for Robert Kennedy's murder. But since the 1970s, there have been calls for a new investigation into the assassination, based on differing witness accounts, the number of shots fired and distance of Sirhan from Kennedy when he fired.

"We're trying to prove there was a travesty of justice in 1969 at Sirhan's trial. We're trying to prove that there was no way that he could have shot the senator, let alone have killed the senator," says Laurie Dusek, a member of Sirhan's defence team.

Kennedy's wounds suggest his assassin - or assassins - stood behind him, but eyewitnesses place Sirhan about a metre away and almost in front of him. This has led to suggestions that a second gunman may have fired the fatal shot, a theory supported by Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles, Thomas Noguchi, who stated in his report that the shot that killed Kennedy was fired at the point-blank range next to his right ear.

"The only way to explain this that there was a second gunman in a position behind Kennedy, but the prosecution never proved that Sirhan was behind Kennedy or was able to shoot him point blank," says eyewitness Paul Schrade.

Witness accounts and more recent forensic analysis support the view that more bullets were fired at the scene than Sirhan could have had in his gun.

Sirhan's .22 Iver-Johnson revolver could only hold eight bullets, yet as many as 13 shots may have been fired at the scene. Two FBI investigators who attended the crime scene right after the assassination stated that they had discovered two bullets in a door frame - bullets that were not mentioned in the LAPD's report.

"If a second gun is not firing, there cannot be any bullet holes in the wooden door frames," explains William Klaber, a journalist and writer who has studied the case extensively. "So the police take those door frames down and they bring them to the police station to do work on them. It turns out these bullets represent too many bullets. Sirhan's gun holds eight bullets."

Robert Kennedy's death, like the 1963 assassination of his older brother, President John F Kennedy, has been the subject of many conspiracy theories.

One suggests that if Bobby were ever elected president, it's almost certain he would have ordered a fresh investigation into his brother's assassination, unconvinced as he was by the official version in the Warren Commission report. Other theories include had Robert Kennedy been elected president, he would have taken steps to end the war in Vietnam.

RFK was a principled politician, a New York senator who cared about poverty in the south and racial segregation everywhere. His ideals of a more equal society were never realised but the scale of grief following his death showed how much people appreciated him.

After his body had been flown from California to New York, it was put on board a train to Washington, DC for burial next to his brother John at Arlington National Cemetery - and the railway line was lined with millions of mourners. The journey, however, to establish clearly how he died is still incomplete.

2016 Robert F. Kennedy flanked by union organizers Dolores Huerta, left, and Paul Schrade, right. Huerta co-founded what would become the United Farm Workers. Schrade, also a union organizer, was one of five others wounded when RFK was assassinated in 1968. Photo: Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Litchfield County Times and Cool Justice Report, RFK Jr. points to forensic evidence of second gunman in his father’s assassination, Andy Thibault, Sept. 8, 2016. RFK Jr. points to forensic evidence of second gunman in his father’s assassination. Buried on page 271 of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new book on the Skakel murder case in Greenwich is a quick, but telling reference to his father’s assassination. Kennedy family members rarely have spoken publicly about the assassinations of either President John Kennedy or U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, much less criticized the official findings. The passage is noteworthy for the simple fact it is memorialized in a book. It is not just a comment in an interview. This angle deserves serious attention, and so it wasn’t shoehorned into the column published Aug. 5 on the Greenwich murder case, RFK Jr. attacks prosecutors, cops, courts for willful misconduct as he asserts cousin Skakel’s innocence.” Following are two paragraphs from Kennedy’s book, Framed, Why Michael Skakel Spent Over A Decade In Prison For A Murder He Didn’t Commit, leading up to the clincher paragraph on the RFK assassination: “I sympathize deeply with Dorthy Moxley [Martha’s mother]. I have seen up-close the agony of a mother’s grief over the loss of her child. my mother lost her husband to murder and two of her sons to violent, untimely deaths in the bosom of their youth. I was with her when my father died. I stood beside her 29 years later as my little brother Michael died in her arms. “My mother told us that we needed to let go of our impulse for revenge and allow the cycle of violence to end with our family. This, she said, was the lesson of the New Testament, which swapped the savage eye-for-an-eye tribalism of the Old Testament for the ethical mandate that we turn the other cheek. But forgiveness wasn’t just ethics. It was salutary. Revenge and resentments, my mother said, are corrosive. Indulging them is like swallowing poison and hoping someone else will die. By opposing the death penalty for Sirhan, we diluted these poisonous passions. “And what if, God forbid, the object of our revenge turns out to be innocent? For several decades, my father’s close friend Paul Schrade, who took one of Sirhan’s bullets, has argued that Sirhan Sirhan did not fire the shot that killed my father. Recent forensic evidence supports him. How would we have felt now, if our family had demanded his execution?” WhoWhatWhy, RFK Friend to Raise Doubts About Sirhan Guilt at Parole Hearing, Shane O'Sullivan, Feb. 9, 2016. Although Shot by Sirhan, Paul Schrade Calls for His Release. KGTV (ABC-TV San Diego affiliate) / Channel 10 News, Did second gunman kill Robert F. Kennedy? Emily Valdez, Feb. 9, 2016. A bystander Sirhan Sirhan also shot the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated claims the presidential candidate was actually killed by a second gunman, who remains free to this day. It was quite the celebration at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on the night of June 5, 1968. More than 1,000 people were celebrating. Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy won the California primary. His brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated five years earlier by a gunman in Dallas, Texas. He was poised to be the next president. “It was just a beautiful moment,” said Paul Schrade, 91. In 1968, Schrade (shown in a recent photo) was a union official and friend of Robert Kennedy, or Bobby, as he called him. Schrade walked with Kennedy into the kitchen that night, after Kennedy gave his victory speech to an elated, cheering crowd. Kennedy died 26 hours later. Sirhan was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Schrade knows Sirhan fired the bullet that hit him. But he is convinced there was a second gunman who shot Kennedy. “[Sirhan] couldn’t shoot Robert Kennedy and didn’t, he was never in the position to do this,” Schrade said. Schrade said he has spent the last 40 years investigating the case. “There’s strong evidence of a second gunman,” Schrade said. He said experts re-examined evidence. “They could not match the Kennedy bullet. He got hit in the back of the neck, it was the only whole bullet, it did not match Sirhan’s gun,” Schrade said. NBC News, Robert Kennedy Killer Sirhan Sirhan Denied Parole — Again, Corky Siemaszko, Feb. 10, 2016. The 15th time before a California parole board was not the charm Tuesday for Robert F. Kennedy's assassin. Once again, the commissioners said no to releasing Sirhan B. Sirhan, who has spent nearly half a century behind bars for fatally shooting the Democratic senator for New York. "This crime impacted the nation, and I daresay it impacted the world," commissioner Brian Roberts said. "It was a political assassination of a viable Democratic presidential candidate." Kennedy, who was the younger brother of slain President John F. Kennedy, was shot June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles just after he'd won the state's Democratic presidential primary. The 42-year-old candidate died the next day. Now 71, Sirhan has maintained for years that he doesn't remember shooting Kennedy. "If you want a confession, I can't make it now," Sirhan said at the hearing Wednesday. "Legally speaking, I'm not guilty of anything. ... It's not that I'm making light of it. I'm responsible for being there." Sirhan, a Christian-born Palestinian from Jordan outraged by RFK's support for Israel, was caught with a gun in his hand and later convicted of the killing. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison after California banned the death penalty. At his last parole hearing in 2011, parole commissioners said Sirhan had not shown enough remorse or understanding of the severity of his crime. WhoWhatWhy, Sirhan Denied Parole; RFK Friend Distraught, Russ Baker, Feb. 11, 2016. Information Clearing House, Man Shot Alongside RFK Says Sirhan Sirhan Should Be Granted Parole, Steve Fiorina, Feb. 11, 2016. Paul Schrade, now 91 years old, was shot in the head on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles while standing alongside Kennedy. Schrade contends that Sirhan was not the only shooter that night. In an exclusive interview that aired on 10News Tuesday night, Schrade stated that Kennedy was actually killed by a second gunman. Washington Post, Sirhan Sirhan denied parole despite a Kennedy confidant’s call for the assassin’s release, Peter Holley, Feb. 11, 2016. After decades of investigation, Paul Schrade has no doubt about the identity of the man who shot him in the head shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel: It was Sirhan Sirhan, the same gunman convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy. And yet, when Schrade came face to face with Sirhan for the first time in nearly 50 years, at a parole hearing in San Diego on Wednesday, he argued that the notorious gunman wasn’t Kennedy’s killer. But the panel wasn’t swayed and Sirhan [shown in a 2016 photo] was denied parole for the 15th time, according to the Associated Press, which noted: Commissioners concluded after more than three hours of intense testimony at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Center that Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime. Still, the AP reported, Schrade forgave his shooter during the hearing and apologized to Sirhan not doing more to win his release. “I should have been here long ago and that’s why I feel guilty for not being here to help you and to help me,” Schrade said. The fatal bullets, Schrade argued, were fired from a different shooter’s gun. WhoWhatWhy, The Full Story of the Sirhan Sirhan Parole Hearing, Shane O'Sullivan, Feb. 16, 2016. Shane O’Sullivan, shown below, is the author of the book "Who Killed Bobby? The near-complete media blackout means the world had to rely on one reporter’s account of the Sirhan Sirhan parole hearing. Here is the complete story of what actually transpired and matters. The ban on video and audio recordings at Sirhan Sirhan’s parole hearing on February 9 meant the world depended on the one reporter allowed inside the hearing to tell us what happened. He had to condense “more than three hours of intense testimony” into 854 words. Elliot Spagat’s lively account of the proceeding for the Associated Press omitted one very important document that shooting victim and Kennedy family friend Paul Schrade presented to the parole board. This was a letter from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to US Attorney General Eric Holder, dated September 25, 2012, supporting Schrade’s request for a new investigation of his father’s murder: "Paul was a close friend and advisor to my father. He was standing beside my father when Daddy was killed and Paul was himself wounded by a bullet. With boundless energy and clear mind, Paul continues to pursue my father’s ideas, an endeavor to which he has devoted his life. He organized with the support of my mother and my family the building of the new Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools on the former Ambassador Hotel site. Paul and his team…strongly believe this new evidence is conclusive and requires a new investigation. I agree and support his request for a new investigation." The request for a new investigation was partly based on a new analysis of the Pruszynski recording, the only known audio recording of the shooting. After studying the tape, forensic audio expert Phil Van Praag concluded 13 shots and 2 guns were fired in the Ambassador Hotel pantry on the night of the shooting. At Holder’s direction, the FBI Laboratory conducted a very limited and deeply flawed examination of the Pruszynski recording and reportedly “could not confirm the number of shots or determine the identification of specific weapons.” The FBI refused to accept the papers Van Praag had written detailing his methodologies and discoveries. In fact, the Bureau refused to communicate with him in any way. The FBI’s examination report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows the FBI used outdated methodologies and failed to provide their own analyst with critical background materials about the shooting scene. These included witness statements, the autopsy report and movements of key people, including Stanislaw Pruszynski himself, at the time of the shooting. The analyst describes searching for videos of Van Praag’s work on Youtube and working from low-resolution screen grabs of my film on Van Praag’s discoveries in an effort to find out precisely where to look, how to look, and what to look for. These are details he could have discovered by simply picking up the phone and calling Van Praag or inviting him to the FBI’s Quantico laboratory for a briefing. When he agreed to release the 2012 letter to the parole board at Sirhan’s hearing, Robert Kennedy Jr. signaled publicly, for the first time, his support for a new investigation of his father’s murder. “You’re doing the right thing,” he told Schrade, days before the hearing. Three years ago, Kennedy Jr. told Charlie Rose that the evidence was “very, very convincing” that his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was not killed by a lone gunman, and that his father had been privately dismissive of the Warren Commission findings. As federal authorities have no criminal jurisdiction over Robert Kennedy’s 1968 murder, at the end of Sirhan’s hearing, Paul Schrade formally requested the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, open a new investigation into the case: I am requesting a new investigation so that after nearly 50 years, justice finally can be served for me as a shooting victim; for the four other shooting victims who also survived their wounds; for Bob Kennedy; for the people of the United States who Bob loved so much and had hoped to lead; just as his brother, President John F. Kennedy, had led only a few years before; and of course for justice, to which Bob Kennedy devoted his life.



Paul Schrade Photo credit: Interesting Stuff Entertainment Schrade addressed his remarks to David Dahle, a retired prosecutor representing the district attorney’s office. Dahle had earlier said Sirhan was guilty of “an attack on the American political process…[and] has still not come to grips with what he has done.” Schrade reportedly chastised Dahle for the “venomous” statement from the D.A.’s office opposing Sirhan’s release, and asked Dahle to inform District Attorney Lacey of his request for a new investigation. Schrade, who firmly believes a second gunman — not Sirhan — killed Kennedy, plans to make the same request to Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. As AP reported, Sirhan again stuck to his story that he didn’t remember shooting Robert Kennedy. He felt remorse for the victims but couldn’t take full responsibility for the crime: “If you want a confession, I can’t make it now…I just wish this whole thing had never taken place.” Meeting Sirhan for the first time since the 1969 trial, Schrade apologized to Sirhan for not attending his previous parole hearings or doing more to win his release: “I should have been here long ago and that’s why I feel guilty for not being here to help you and to help me.” AP reported that “Schrade’s voice cracked with emotion during an hour of testimony” but what did he actually say? We won’t have a transcript for 30 days, so drawing on the full text of his prepared remarks, here’s a summary of his testimony below: Sirhan nodded politely and seemed appreciative as Schrade told him he wasn’t guilty and that Robert Kennedy would be appalled, not only by the parole board’s unjust treatment of Sirhan, but by the fact that he was not being given parole based on his rights under law. Schrade then directed the panel’s attention to documents submitted in advance of the hearing, which proved “Sirhan Sirhan did not shoot — and could not have shot — Robert Kennedy”: A copy of the autopsy report describing the fatal shot fired from an inch behind Kennedy’s right ear; Phil Van Praag’s declaration showing evidence of 13 shots and 2 guns on the Pruszynski recording; and witness statements from Ambassador Hotel maître d’s Karl Uecker and Edward Minasian confirming Sirhan’s firing position several feet in front of Kennedy. Together, he said, these documents proved: Sirhan only had full control of his gun at the beginning, when he fired his first two shots, one of which hit me. Sirhan had no opportunity to fire four precisely placed, point-blank bullets into the back of Bob Kennedy’s head or body while he was pinned against that steam table and while he and Bob were facing each other. After an hour, commissioner Brian Roberts reportedly asked Schrade to wrap up. “Quite frankly, you’re losing us,” he said. “I think you’ve been lost for a long time,” Schrade replied, before concluding: What I am saying to you is that Sirhan himself was a victim. Obviously, there was someone else there in that pantry also firing a gun. While Sirhan was standing in front of Bob Kennedy and his shots were creating a distraction, the other shooter secretly fired at the senator from behind and fatally wounded him…I hope you will consider all of the accurate details of this crime that I have presented in order for you to accurately determine Sirhan Sirhan’s eligibility for parole. If you do this the right way and the just way, I believe you will come to the same conclusion I have: that Sirhan should be released. If justice is not your aim, then of course you will not. Gentlemen, I believe you should grant Sirhan Sirhan parole…And I ask you to do that today in the name of Robert F. Kennedy and in the name of justice. Thank you. As Sirhan got up to leave, Schrade reportedly shouted, “Sirhan, I’m so sorry this is happening to you. It’s my fault.” AP reported that Sirhan tried to shake hands with Schrade but a guard blocked him. Schrade refused to shake hands with the commissioner. Addressing him directly, Schrade told Roberts, “What you’ve done to this man is appalling and Robert Kennedy would find what you did appalling” before turning away. Schrade found the hearing “very abusive” and upsetting. He later told reporters waiting outside that “Sirhan was being tortured in there.” In a radio interview, he said the parole board was “cold and ruthless about keeping this guy in jail, knowing there’s evidence [of his innocence] in the files”. He found the panel’s treatment of Sirhan “despicable,” destroying his dignity with petty questions that made the commissioners “look like amateur psychiatrists.” Sirhan was again denied for five years because he “did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime” – a statement which the transcripts of Sirhan’s previous parole hearings show is just not true. WhoWhatWhy, Sirhan: A “Manchurian Candidate” in the RFK Assassination? Jeff Schechtman, Feb. 19, 2016. Parole hearing number 14 for Sirhan Sirhan may have finally launched a search for the truth behind Robert F. Kennedy’s murder. Forty-eight years ago (in 1968), the country was in the midst of another presidential campaign that came at a seminal moment in American history. Five years earlier, John F. Kennedy had been murdered, and Dr. Martin Luther King had been assassinated in April of 1968. The Vietnam War was escalating. Race riots were becoming a fact of urban life. Racial and generational politics as well as social issues were threatening to tear the country apart. Then on the night of June 5th, 1968, after John Kennedy’s brother Robert had won the all-important California Primary, America got yet another jolt: the younger Kennedy, too, had been struck down. Flash forward to 2016. Last week, his alleged killer, Sirhan Sirhan, was up for his 14th parole hearing. Sitting in the audience was Paul Schrade, one of RFK’s closest confidantes — who was also shot during the attack; Schrade, now 91, is interesting for many reasons, not the least of which is his conclusion that, assuming Sirhan was one of the shooters that night, he was not the only one. Moreover, if Sirhan fired any shots, Schrade is quite certain that the young Palestinian-American, once again being denied parole, could not have killed RFK — because it was a physical impossibility. Free Thought Project, Eyewitness Comes Forward: “Sirhan Sirhan Did Not Assassinate RFK,” Andrew Emett, Feb. 20, 2016. Andrew Emett is a Los Angeles-based reporter exposing political and corporate corruption. Despite the fact that Sirhan Sirhan shot him in the head nearly 50 years ago, Paul Schrade attended the convicted assassin’s parole hearing this week to both forgive Sirhan and defend the shooter’s innocence in the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. After decades of research into the assassination and witnessing the event first-hand, Schrade continues to assert that Sirhan physically could not have fired the fatal bullet that killed Kennedy. Less than three months after the assassination, the LAPD incinerated thousands of documents and pieces of evidence related to Kennedy’s death. Besides destroying physical evidence, including door jambs and ceiling tiles taken from the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, the LAPD also burned 2,140 police photographs related to the murder. Calling for a reinvestigation into Kennedy’s murder in December 1974, Schrade led the campaign to eventually declassify the remaining LAPD documents in 1988, after 20 years of being suppressed. Politico Europe, Why the Arabs don’t want us in Syria, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Feb. 23, 2016. They don’t hate ‘our freedoms.’ They hate that we’ve betrayed our ideals in their own countries — for oil. In part because my father was murdered by an Arab, I’ve made an effort to understand the impact of U.S. policy in the Mideast and particularly the factors that sometimes motivate bloodthirsty responses from the Islamic world against our country. As we focus on the rise of the Islamic State and search for the source of the savagery that took so many innocent lives in Paris and San Bernardino, we might want to look beyond the convenient explanations of religion and ideology. Instead we should examine the more complex rationales of history and oil — and how they often point the finger of blame back at our own shores. Reader Supported News, Sirhan Sirhan, the accused killer of Robert F. Kennedy, was denied parole for the 15th time on Wednesday, February 10. After 48 years in prison, he has done everything he could to change his life. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called not only for his release but for a new investigation of his father’s death. One of the men Sirhan shot, UAW organizer Paul Schrade, testified on Sirhan’s behalf at the hearing. Schrade, 91, expressed his confidence that a second gunman shot Bobby. Sparks flew when Schrade turned to Sirhan and said, “Sirhan, I forgive you.” The parole board told Schrade he had no right to speak to the prisoner.

Schrade is one of the victims of Sirhan’s bullets. Schrade has spent more than 40 years mastering the evidence in the RFK murder. Under California law, a victim can speak at the parole hearing for as much time as he or she wants. How dare these people say that Schrade cannot look into a man’s eyes and speak to him? Because the people who run the criminal justice system are powerful, well-connected, and above the law. The RFK murder was figured out a long time ago. There was a second gunman, but the California criminal justice system has no interest in looking for the killer. The cover-up in the RFK case is well-documented. Review the evidence at sirhanbsirhan.org or at any number of competent websites. We live in a society that has lost its way. We need a mighty burst of outrage to turn things around. Sirhan has determined attorneys, but they have little power in the face of a determined law enforcement machine that is unaccountable to its citizens. Reader Supported News, Sirhan Denied Parole: It's a Broken Criminal Justice System , Bill Simpich, Feb. 25, 2016. Bill Simpich, shown in a file photo, is a San Francisco attorney and prominent researcher of 1960s assassinations. OpEdNews, RFK Murder Cover-Up Continues After Dramatic Parole Hearing, Andrew Kreig, Feb. 26, 2016. A California parole board this month rejected a dramatic plea to release the convicted slayer of 1968 presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy, thereby continuing one of the nation's most notorious murder cover-ups. WhoWhatWhy, The Tortured Logic Behind Sirhan Sirhan’s Parole Denial, Shane O'Sullivan, March 14, 2016. Shane O’Sullivan is an author, filmmaker and researcher at Kingston University, London. His work includes the documentary RFK Must Die (2007) and the book Who Killed Bobby? (2008). Newly Released Transcript Exposes Tragic Flaws in Parole Process. In the newly released transcript of Sirhan Sirhan’s parole hearing on February 10, we discover why — at nearly 72 years of age — the convicted murderer of Bobby Kennedy “continues to pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society or a threat to public safety and is therefore not suitable for parole.” Since its landmark opinion in the Lawrence case in 2008, the California Supreme Court has required the parole board to provide “some evidence” that a prisoner is “currently dangerous” when denying parole. This, and pressure to reduce prison overcrowding, has seen parole grant rates for “lifers” jump from 8 percent in 2008 to 33 percent in 2014. A Stanford Law School study in 2011 found that, of 860 murderers paroled in California since 1995, only five reoffended and none were convicted of another murder. But, as we’ll see, the tortured logic used by one of the commissioners to compute Sirhan’s current threat level gives him little hope of freedom anytime soon. As described in my previous piece, the hearing was hotly contested. On one side, David Dahle, representing the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, called Sirhan a “terrorist.” On the other, Sirhan’s attorney William Pepper and shooting victim Paul Schrade called him “a political prisoner” and condemned his inhumane treatment. 2012

CNN, RFK assassination witness tells CNN: There was a second shooter , Michael Martinez and Brad Johnson, April 30, 2012. As a federal court prepares to rule on a challenge to Sirhan Sirhan's conviction in the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, a long overlooked witness to the murder is telling her story: She heard two guns firing during the 1968 shooting and authorities altered her account of the crime. Nina Rhodes-Hughes wants the world to know that, despite what history says, Sirhan was not the only gunman firing shots when Kennedy was murdered a few feet away from her at a Los Angeles hotel.

"What has to come out is that there was another shooter to my right," Rhodes-Hughes said in an exclusive interview with CNN. "The truth has got to be told. No more cover-ups." Her voice at times becoming emotional, Rhodes-Hughes described for CNN various details of the assassination, her long frustration with the official reporting of her account and her reasons for speaking out: "I think to assist me in healing -- although you're never 100% healed from that. But more important to bring justice." CNN, Attorneys for RFK convicted killer Sirhan push 'second gunman' argument, Michael Martinez and Brad Johnson, March 13, 2012. If there was a second gunman in Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, who was it? Lawyers for convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan claim their client did not fire any of the gunshots that struck the presidential candidate in 1968. And in their latest federal court filing, they also rule out another man some have considered a suspect -- a private security guard named Thane Eugene Cesar, who was escorting Kennedy at the time he was shot. Attorneys William Pepper and Laurie Dusek insist someone other than their client, Sirhan, fatally shot Kennedy. They now say the real killer was not Cesar, a part-time uniformed officer long suspected by some conspiracy theorists of playing a sinister role in the senator's murder. Pepper and Dusek made the claim in papers submitted to a U.S. District Court in Los Angeles late last month.

2011 Associated Press via MassLive.com, Convicted RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan says girl in polka-dot dress manipulated him, Linda Deutsch, April 28, 2011. Convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan was manipulated by a seductive girl in a mind control plot to shoot Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his bullets did not kill the presidential candidate, lawyers for Sirhan said in new legal papers. The documents filed this week in federal court and obtained by The Associated Press detail extensive interviews with Sirhan during the past three years, some done while he was under hypnosis. The papers point to a mysterious girl in a polka-dot dress as the controller who led Sirhan to fire a gun in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel. But the documents suggest a second person shot and killed Kennedy while using Sirhan as a diversion. For the first time, Sirhan said under hypnosis that on a cue from the girl he went into "range mode" believing he was at a firing range and seeing circles with targets in front of his eyes. "I thought that I was at the range more than I was actually shooting at any person, let alone Bobby Kennedy," Sirhan was quoted as saying during interviews with Daniel Brown, a Harvard University professor and expert in trauma memory and hypnosis. He interviewed Sirhan for 60 hours with and without hypnosis, according to the legal brief. Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney, said prosecutors were unaware of the legal filing and could not comment. The story of the girl has been a lingering theme in accounts of the events just after midnight on June 5, 1968, when Kennedy was gunned down in the hotel pantry after claiming victory in the California Democratic presidential primary. Witnesses talked of seeing such a female running from the hotel shouting, "We shot Kennedy." But she was never identified, and amid the chaos of the scene, descriptions were conflicting. Through the years, Sirhan has claimed no memory of shooting Kennedy and said in the recent interviews that his presence at the hotel was an accident, not a planned destination. Under hypnosis, he remembered meeting the girl that night and becoming smitten with her. He said she led him to the pantry. "I am trying to figure out how to hit on her.... That's all that I can think about," he says in one interview cited in the documents. "I was fascinated with her looks .... She never said much. It was very erotic. I was consumed by her. She was a seductress with an unspoken unavailability." Brown was hired by Sirhan's lawyer William F. Pepper. 2009 Kennedys and King (formerly CTKA), Book Review: Robert Joling, J.D. & Philip Van Praag, "An Open and Shut Case," Lisa Pease, June 16, 2009. The book is certainly easy to read, and clearly presented. So long as you understand that some of the material is incorrect ... and outdated ..., there is still much to recommend here, writes Lisa Pease. Lisa Pease was co-editor with Jim DiEugenio of Probe Magazine and also edited with him The Assassinations. She has written a number of ground-breaking essays on the connections between Freeport Sulphur, the Eastern Establishment and the CIA, on James Angleton, and on Sirhan and the RFK assassination. Lisa is currently finishing her book on the latter subject, the product of more than two decades of research. She also runs a blogspot on recent history and current events. An Open and Shut Case is an indispensable volume for those with a serious interest in the Robert Kennedy assassination. While some of the information – and especially some of its core conclusions – are based on evidence that has been called into serious question, about which I will have more to say below, there is more than enough interesting and solid work here for this book to warrant a place on your shelves. The book's title comes from a quote from the Police Chief Edward Davis, who said the RFK assassination case was clearly "an open and shut case," based on the eyewitness and physical evidence in the case. That's true, of course, but not for the official story. As An Open and Shut Case clearly shows, the eyewitness and physical evidence are absolutely consistent with two facts: at least two guns were fired in the pantry, and Sirhan's gun did not fire any of the shots that hit Senator Robert Kennedy. The book is the product of a collaboration between Robert Joling, J.D., who has studied this case for years, and Philip Van Praag (the last name rhymes with "Craig," not "bog"), who is much newer to the case and focused primarily on a newly surfaced recording from the pantry. Joling is a past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) and was a licensed attorney for 57 years, 40 of which he devoted to criminal and civil trial work, including some homicides. Van Praag has spent 45 years working in the audio field, with 35 of those years devoted to magnetic media. The book's authors met through the work of a third person, Brad Johnson, a producer at CNN International. Brad has been looking into this case for years, and has attempted to collect every possible video and audio recording of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. When he stumbled upon evidence of a recording made in the pantry at the time of the shooting, he tracked down a copy and searched for a qualified sound engineer to examine it. Johnson found Phil Van Praag, and Van Praag's findings about this recording are detailed in the first chapter of the book. Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Robert Kennedy finished his acceptance speech, having just won the California primary in the race for the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency. Kennedy exited the Embassy Ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and crossed east through the pantry area, an almost hall-like room, on his way to speak to the press in the Colonial room. Sirhan Bishara Sirhan (pronounced "Sear hahn") stepped forward and fired a gun. Kennedy was taken to the hospital, where he died a day later. Five other people were also wounded by bullets, but none fatally so. The most famous of those wounded in the pantry, Paul Schrade, RFK's union chair and an officer with the United Auto Workers union, contributed the Foreword to the book. Schrade opens with a quick summary of the case, and of his own initial rejection of the "conspiracy theories" about a second gun, which sprouted up within days of the assassination. Schrade had his eyes opened to the conspiracy aspect of the case by Congressman Allard Lowenstein (D-NY), who visited him at his home in 1974. Lowenstein took Schrade to visit Lillian Castellano and Floyd Nelson, two early and excellent researchers in the case. They showed Schrade solid evidence that more than eight bullets were fired in the pantry. Schrade joined their efforts, and, with the help of others, including the LA County Board of Supervisors and CBS, obtained an order for a court-appointed panel to re-examine the evidence. I'll call this panel the Wenke Panel, for convenience, after the Judge who ordered it. A large part of the book focuses on the work of the Wenke Panel, and the final conclusions of the authors depend on the Wenke Panel's findings, a problem to which we'll return later. There are many anecdotes and interesting items learned firsthand by the authors which make this book truly "new," and not just a retelling of the evidence of others. For example, Joling details how a personal acquaintance who worked for the CIA called him at one point, when Joling, as president of AAFS, had set up a special committee to review the firearms evidence in the Robert Kennedy case. His CIA associate said the Agency did not like what he was doing, and ordered him to stop. Joling became upset with his contact's "'hoity-toity' attitude and demanding demeanor" and forcefully but politely told him he was not interested in the CIA's "'Sunday School' games" and asked the person never to contact him again. Another time, Joling found a bug on his home office phone. Joling recounted other incidents of obvious harassment from people whose connections he could only suspect. He noted these only occurred at the height of his direct involvement with the case, and ended after the Wenke Panel concluded its work. Both Phil Melanson and Jonn Christian had accounts of being threatened, which are included here as well. The obvious question is, if there was no conspiracy, who was so intent on keeping these people from pursuing their work in the case? The most important new piece of evidence discussed in the book is the Pruszynski recording. While most people are familiar with the famous audio piece in which a reporter describes the aftermath of the shooting ("Get the gunä get the gunä take his thumb and break it if you have to!"), this new tape was lost to history until Brad Johnson, a producer for CNN International, rediscovered it by noticing a listing of it in the California State Archives record finding aid. And, unlike the other recordings, this one had captured the period of the shooting. Stanislaw Pruszynski, a print journalist, had inadvertently left his hand-held recorder and microphone on as Kennedy exited the stage and entered the pantry. Brad searched for a sound engineer willing to use his expertise to analyze the tape. He found Van Praag. CNN BackStory, Robert Kennedy Assassination: Candidate was killed 41 years ago, Host Michael Holmes and Senior Writer Brad Johnson, June 5, 2009 (8:52 min., with YouTube version here:

.be" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CNN Uncovers Possible RFK Second Gun Evidence). Experts and witnesses re-examine one of the nation’s most notorious assassinations with the help new audio evidence suggesting that more than one shooter fired during the killing, contrary to official accounts. The evidence is from long overlooked tape recording by a print journalist, Stanislaw Pruszynski, a print journalist, which experts now call "The Pruszynski Recording." Back Story host Michael Holmes interviews CNN International senior writer Brad Johnson on how he uncovered the Pruszynski Recording, the only known audio recording of the Robert F. Kennedy shooting by the long-presumed sole gunman Sirhan Sirhan. This segment aired on the 41st anniversary of Senator Kennedy's assassination,

The following appeared in this BackStory segment (listed in order of their first appearance):

Michael Holmes

Host, CNN’s BackStory



Robert F. Kennedy

U.S. Presidential Candidate / U.S Senate Member



Estelyn Duffy LaHive

RFK Assassination Witness



Roger Katz

RFK Assassination Witness



Diane Sawyer

Co-Host, ABC’s Good Morning America



Mika Brzezinski

Co-Host, MSNBC’s Morning Joe



Brad Drazen

Anchor, WVIT TV News



Voice of Amy Parmenter

Reporter, WVIT TV News



Robert Vaughn

Film & TV Actor / Friend of Robert F Kennedy



Philip Van Praag

Audio Expert



Brad Johnson

Senior Writer, CNN International



Todd Kosovich

Prosecutor / Friend of Brad Johnson



Spence Whitehead

Audio Expert



Joe LaHive

RFK Assassination Witness



Paul Schrade

RFK Shooting Victim / Friend of Robert F. Kennedy

2008

CNN,

, Adrian Finighan, April 16, 2008 (6:50 min.). A previously unknown audio tape, recently uncovered, reveals that Sirhan Sirhan did not act alone in the June 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In this video, you will hear the sounds of the actual RFK assassination during a two-minute excerpt from the Pruszynski recording, the only kn