Two years ago-June 6, 1968
On June 6, 1968 I woke just as the sun came up and turned on the television in my room at our home in San Bruno, California.
I just got the black and white set after our family got our first RCA color television. The B/W went to my room, displaced by the color television now in the living room.
I turned it on to see Edwin Newman on NBC announce that Robert F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. He was assassinated the evening before by Sirhan Sirhan, Jr. at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as he was exiting through the kitchen area after making s victory speech. Senator Kennedy had just won the California primary which put him in the lead for the nomination of his party to face the Republican candidate in the upcoming general election.
I got dressed and ran out to tell my dad. "Senator Kennedy is dead!" I told my dad. "I saw it on TV!" Dad didn't believe me, so he turned on the new tv in the living room. We clustered around to get the details.
My dad was a Republican who opposed ex-California governor Pat Brown's policies (he left the position just the previous year after being defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1966 election). Brown was a democrat. Dad also supported the U.S. involvement in Vietnam and often said he would be there himself it he and Mom hadn't married. He also had not tried to hide his opposition to the Kennedy family in general.
Despite his party loyalty, Dad seemed shocked and sad.
I just got the black and white set after our family got our first RCA color television. The B/W went to my room, displaced by the color television now in the living room.
I turned it on to see Edwin Newman on NBC announce that Robert F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. He was assassinated the evening before by Sirhan Sirhan, Jr. at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as he was exiting through the kitchen area after making s victory speech. Senator Kennedy had just won the California primary which put him in the lead for the nomination of his party to face the Republican candidate in the upcoming general election.
I got dressed and ran out to tell my dad. "Senator Kennedy is dead!" I told my dad. "I saw it on TV!" Dad didn't believe me, so he turned on the new tv in the living room. We clustered around to get the details.
My dad was a Republican who opposed ex-California governor Pat Brown's policies (he left the position just the previous year after being defeated by Republican Ronald Reagan in the 1966 election). Brown was a democrat. Dad also supported the U.S. involvement in Vietnam and often said he would be there himself it he and Mom hadn't married. He also had not tried to hide his opposition to the Kennedy family in general.
Despite his party loyalty, Dad seemed shocked and sad.