The RFK Files (Book Two) A Non-Fiction book by Robert Helliger

Chapter Twenty-Seven-Sirhan Sirhan and RFK; June 5-6, 1968

~~~Uncut Quote: "They can gas me, but I am famous. I have achieved in one day what it took Robert Kennedy all his life to do", US assassin Sirḥān Bishārah Sirḥān , (March 19, 1944-), unquote~~~

And the killing began to end the peace

I

RFK was rocked by the assassinations of Malcolm X and The Reverend Martin Luther King, Junior. He was scared by the rise of American violence. The ghosts of Vietnam still fuelled anger in America. Local people would spit, stomp, and injure America soldiers when they came home. "GET THE HELL OUT OF THE HOME"; "YOU'RE NOT WORTHY OF COMING HERE"; "YOU'RE NOT MY SON"; "WE HATE YOU; WE HATE YOU!", as ordinary American turned on their sons.

       They were fighting a War in Asia. But, as, like Oliver Stone, and others, their own War was were they were born and raised. And, the sourness, and social, economic, and political mess, had had now taken a high toll...And the War wouldn't end for another 6-7 years, until 1975.

II

And the killing began to end the peace-II

Sirhan Sirhan grew up in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine. Bishara, (the father), was a violent man. By 1956, his family went to New York. After a brief stay in The City that Never Sleeps, he headed to California.

       Sirhan still held on to his Jordanian passport. Yes, he was in America. But, in his blood, he was from The Middle East.

III

Whether he disagreed with RFK's peace envoy is up to debate. But, since RFK was bleating the word constantly, Sirhan felt he would die soon. Like JFK, (who had angered too many people), Sirhan decided to end the Attorney-General's life...once and for all.

IV

Sirhan  became educated at John Muir High School;  Altadena, California; as well as  Pasadena City College.

       Years' later, he became a  Seventh-day Adventist Church-then a Baptist Church. But he didn't really know what type of religion suited him.

V

By 1965, aged 21, Sirhan was a  Santa Anita race track stable boy, (based in  Arcadia, California). He then dabbled in the Occult.

VI

The Ambassador Hotel; Los Angeles; June 5, 1968

The Hotel was a place that would go down in history for the "2nd political crime of the Century". RFK, and the elite of sports, politics, and other areas of excellence, all converged to support the Senator.

      RFK, and his wife Ethel, were looking glamorous. They were dressed up for the late night. They couldn't know that RFK would be dead by the next day...on July 6, 1968, 26 hours' later.

VII

Senator RFK walked up to the huge podium in the massive ballroom. The stage was ready. As he begun to speak to his supporters for several minutes, Sirhan Sirhan bypassed the lax security, and shot RFK several times with a .22 caliber Iver-Johnson Cadet revolver: in the head of the Senator; as well as twice in his back; RFK, with a look of shock on his now deathly, pale face, fell off the stage. Blood streamed everywhere...

       ...And, as his life was drained away, Ethel Skakel Kennedy rushed to her stricken husband's body, and cried...

         ...And then former African-American New York Giants football player Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier, (July 14, 1932-); Grier was also a Minister in 1983; a singer; and RFK's Bodyguard. Once he tackled Sirhan, the assassin was quickly arrested.  It was about Midnight.

~~~

By the early hours of June 6, 1968, RFK died from his injuries. And America mourned yet again...Just like they did about 5 years' before when JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.

VIII

American journalist, editor, actor, and gamesman George Ames Plimpton, (March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003), founder of "The Paris Review"; and African-American decathlete gold medallist in 1960, Rome, Rafer  Lewis Johnson, (August 18, 1935-), who performed at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia; Rafer also acted in movies; and author Pete Hamill, (June 24, 1935-); Hamill wrote for  The New York Daily News; and the New York Post, all took down Sirhan Sirhan before he could take down the assassin...but not before he attacked more people.

Aftermath:

Other people who were injured-but survived:

~~~Pierre Emil George Salinger, (June 14, 1925 – October 16, 2004)-RFK's Campaign Manager; Salinger was JFK's Press Secretary. *He covered news for ABC and was involved in transcribing an interview with Saddam Hussein; he had news about the truth about the TWA flight 800 and Pan Am Flight 103 terrorist bombings in Lockerbie, Scotland in the late 1980's ; and other news worthy events that's too numerous to write about*;  and Salinger was also a US Senator;

~~~Elizabeth Evans, a campaign aide;

~~~ Irwin Stroll, (a RFK volunteer/supporter);

~~~Paul Schrade, (the United Automobile Workers), ((UAW)), union official;

~~~ Ira Goldstein, a Jewish Continental News Service, (CNS), reporter;

~~~ William Weisel, the  ABC TV unit manager.

And, as the American people watched their TV's with shock on their faces, the reality was that, because of Sirhan Sirhan's actions, he prevented another Kennedy from becoming US President, because of he thought, quote, "I can explain it. I did it for my country"..."My determination to eliminate R.F.K. is becoming the more and more of an unshakable obsession...Kennedy must die before June 5th", (Uncut quotes from Sirhan Sirhan's anger at "The  1967 Six Day War" between Isreal and Palestine; and from May 18, 1968).

~~~

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