CA - Sirhan Sirhan & the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, 1968 - Parole denied

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I remember at the age of 7 driving downtown to check the mail in Montana and seeing the Flag in front of the Courthouse at half-mast and my mom explaining why.
My uncle worked for the railroad and I remember them running the coverage of the train bearing his body home and my uncle complaining about looking at railroad tracks at work all day and then having to watch them on television(he was a Republican).
He said RFK was a 'hippie'.
 
wfgodot said:
Probably accounts for our propensity to visit the old Tate-Polanski place upon arriving in L.A.

My mom woke me up - can't remember what she said but it wasn't "They shot Kennedy" or I'd have bolted upright and blurted, "Mom, you're down with the conspiracy angle TOO?"

I got dressed and walked down the block where another McCarthy cohort was spending the night with another friend. Instead of just ringing the bell I stood out in the street and hollered (quite possibly) "They shot Bobby!" They opened the windows and told me I was nuts. "No, he's shot, it really happened!" This went on for some minutes.
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My grandfather wasn't that precise with words. He was a working-class Kansan from Newton and a phrase like "They shot Kennedy" just implied an unnamed party or parties were involved. My folks were such staunch Republicans they didn't need any explanations for why somebody would shoot a Kennedy. (Not that they supported assassination, mind you, but hatred of Kennedys wasn't a mystery to them.)
 
Nova said:
My grandfather wasn't that precise with words. He was a working-class Kansan from Newton and a phrase like "They shot Kennedy" just implied an unnamed party or parties were involved. My folks were such staunch Republicans they didn't need any explanations for why somebody would shoot a Kennedy. (Not that they supported assassination, mind you, but hatred of Kennedys wasn't a mystery to them.)
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Good old Newton! "Been there." My mom woke me and - still can't recall what she did say - but broke it to me gently, knowing my youthful inclinations, politics-wise. Yes, the folks were conservative Republican. When JFK was shot, there had been all sorts of neighborhood Kennedy jokes that week - I distinctly remember a couple across the street telling them the night before - and, when the jokester from that evening called my mom to tell her JFK had been shot (it was noon and I was home from grade school for lunch), my mother thought she was joking; that it was just another silly JFK joke. She waited for the punch-line.
 
Off-topic, but if you've been to Newton, I assume you were in and out quickly! I recently read that it is now for census purposes considered a suburb of Wichita. Which can only be a step up, if you ask me.

But I was raised on stories of the "good old days" in Newton. (A surprising number of those stories had to do with outhouse tipping on Halloween.) My folks were quite surprised when they finally realized I had no intention of going to Bethel College or even to Phillips, down the road in Enid, OK.

(Seriously, it's probably a lovely town. Or at least used to be. I left when I was 7 weeks old. To paraphrase Paula Poundstone, "I had already done everything there was to do there.")

Back on-topic: yeah, they raised some serious Republicans in Kansas. I was young enough when JFK was assassinated that I actually came home thinking they'd be pleased because I had heard such harsh words about him. Of course, they were not pleased and I was quickly corrected.
 
Nova said:
Off-topic, but if you've been to Newton, I assume you were in and out quickly! I recently read that it is now for census purposes considered a suburb of Wichita. Which can only be a step up, if you ask me.

But I was raised on stories of the "good old days" in Newton. (A surprising number of those stories had to do with outhouse tipping on Halloween.) My folks were quite surprised when they finally realized I had no intention of going to Bethel College or even to Phillips, down the road in Enid, OK.

(Seriously, it's probably a lovely town. Or at least used to be. I left when I was 7 weeks old. To paraphrase Paula Poundstone, "I had already done everything there was to do there.")

Back on-topic: yeah, they raised some serious Republicans in Kansas. I was young enough when JFK was assassinated that I actually came home thinking they'd be pleased because I had heard such harsh words about him. Of course, they were not pleased and I was quickly corrected.
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Hey, accompanied some h.s. friends on a recruiting trip to Phillips senior year (my girlfriend amongst them, accounting for my presence). Also, my folks would have loved it if I'd gone to seminary school at St. John's in Winfield (closed in '86).

The only thing I can recall about Newton was swinging by once on the way to Wichita to view the remains of the ancient Opel Kadet in which we roadtripped to L.A. (and in which we motored to Cielo Drive to see the Tate-Polanski dwelling). My friend had sold it to some guy who then got hit on the train tracks in Newton, splitting the car in half; didn't hurt the guy though. Impressive: "I went to L.A. and back in that old jalopy!" etc. etc.

I remember going back to grade school the day JFK was shot. (Cancel it? In Kansas? God no!) Little kids were crying, thinking the communists were taking over. School was out when RFK was shot. When MLK was assassinated I'm not sure anyone at the junior high even mentioned it that day.
 
Reader said:
I've been following this interesting exchange...must be about the same age also...remember RFK's assassination well...some interesting theories. I think SS was manipulated into being there and firing his gun. He was a fall guy to me. The Kennedys had so many enemies that it would be hard to say who was behind it but I don't think it was a great conspiracy...just a few who didn't want him to be president because of information he had or changes he planned to make. Some people were afraid of losing a lot of money/influence for sure.

BTW/BBM...Nova, was waiting for you to catch this since you are usually so precise, but don't you mean Herbert Humphrey? LOL...dont' make us older than we admit to!
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I'm a little bit older than you guys - I was actually watching RFK on TV that day/night - as I was also watching Oswald being transferred when he got shot... :what:
I actually saw RFK that day or the day before when he visited our college (L.A. Valley Jr) in Van Nuys!!! (can't remember 'which day' - getting old here!! LOL!) Some kids threw rocks from an overpass at RFK as he was leaving!?! Unbelievable!

Yes, wonder what kind of changes would have happened if RFK had become President... Any one read the new book out by Stephen King - about the 'time space' and he goes back to the JFK assassination - excellent book!! :seeya:
 
Not exactly in reference to the thread, but related nonetheless...

For the 15th time, officials have denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, after hearing from another person who was shot that night and called for the release of Sirhan.
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(...)
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Paul Schrade, now 91, told the panel that he believes Sirhan shot him but an unidentified second shooter killed Kennedy. Schrade was a Kennedy confidante who was one of five people injured in the shooting after Kennedy won the Democratic presidential primary in California.
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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/73da.../latest-assassin-robert-kennedy-denied-parole
 
I have to say that I am surprised to hear this.

Man, 77, who shot dead Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 could soon be released | Daily Mail Online

"The man who was convicted for killing Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 is likely to be paroled Friday after the Los Angeles District Attorney has said he won't argue against his release.

Sirhan Sirhan faces his 16th parole hearing Friday for the 1968 killing, and for the first time no prosecutor will be there to argue he should be kept behind bars.

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a former police officer who took office last year after running on a reform platform, says he idolized the Kennedys and mourned RFK´s assassination but is sticking to his policy that prosecutors have no role in deciding whether prisoners should be released."
 
Personally, I agree with the six and not the two.

Kennedy family divided: Six of RFK's eleven children say they are 'devastated' by decision to grant parole to their father's killer Sirhan Sirhan

"The Kennedy family were divided on Friday when a California panel recommended that Robert Kennedy's assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, 77, be granted parole after nearly five decades in prison.

Six of the nine surviving children of the slain New York Senator issued a statement on Friday announcing that they were 'devastated' by the San Diego panel's ruling.

Although most of the Kennedy family has avoided discussing or engaging with their father's death and Sirhan in public, the parole board's recommendation has pushed some of them to 'adamantly oppose the parole and release of Sirhan Sirhan.'

'We are in disbelief that this man would be recommended for release,' the statement from the six siblings read.

It was signed by Joseph P. Kennedy II, Courtney Kennedy Hill, Kerry Kennedy, Christopher G. Kennedy, Maxwell T. Kennedy and Rory Kennedy who write that the decision has 'inflicted enormous additional pain.'

But two of RFK's children, Douglas Kennedy, 54, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 67, have supported Sirhan's parole."
 
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