This Week in History: Robert F. Kennedy Assassinated in Los Angeles 43 Years Ago

Senator Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard 43 years ago today shortly after declaring victory in the California primary election for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States on June 5, 1968.

Kennedy's victory made him the front-runner for the nomination. With the words, "Now it's on to Chicago, and let's win there," referring to the site of the Democratic National Convention, Kennedy stepped away from the podium shortly after midnight, but was shot in the head minutes later in the kitchen of the hotel. He died 26 hours later.

Sirhan Sirhan was arrested at the scene was later convicted for the murder. For decades Sirhan has claimed he has no memory of the night of Kennedy's assassination.

Not long ago, Studio City Patch investigated a local rumor that had circulated for decades which said Kennedy had on Ventura Boulevard the night before he was shot. Patch reporter Mary McGrath found that Kennedy in fact stayed at film director John Frankenheimer's home in Malibu the night before he died.

"I don't know where RFK stayed the night before his assassination, but I can assure you he did NOT stay at the Sportsmen's Lodge," former Sportsman's Lodge owner Len Harlig told McGrath. "Part of the reason this myth was perpetuated might have been because RFK wanted to have his event here, but we didn't have a large enough room to accommodate him, as it was already booked. So RFK decided to hold his event at the Ambassador Hotel."

He added, "Believe me, if RFK had stayed at the lodge, (we only have 200 rooms) with all his secret service men, we would have known about it!"

One unfortunate fact is that Robert Kennedy did not actually have the protection of the Secret Service when he was killed, because up until then the Secret Service did not protect presidential candidates, only sitting and former presidents and their families. The night he was shot, Kennedy was being protected primarily by private body guards, including football star Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier. As a direct result of Kennedy's murder, the Secret Service began protecting presidential candidates.

Kennedy, a Democrat, was the brother of President John F. Kennedy, who was also struck down by an assassin's bullet. Kennedy is also one of only two sitting United States Senators who were assassinated while in office. Huey Long, a senator for Louisiana, was assassinated in 1935.