Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: Palestinian Rage and the Depoliticization of a Tragedy

Abstract

Abstract:The June 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy at the hands of Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian refugee from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, has long been viewed by the American public as an example of the inchoate violence that stalked the country during the 1960s. That is no accident. Various parties succeeded in depoliticizing the assassination and sidelining the Middle Eastern dimensions of the crime despite the efforts of others to highlight the political background for Sirhan's action.