Embattled with the plight of the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson announces he will not run for re-election.

Robert Kennedy, Senator from New York emerges as one of the leading Democratic hopefuls.

Martin Luther King is murdered April 4, 1968.

He turned towards the side door that would take him through a food preparation area, a short cut to where the press was waiting in the Colonial Room beyond.

“A .22 caliber Iver-Johnson pistol flashed and Kennedy seemed to waver sideways. The gun barked again, and in that instant, speechwriter Paul Schrade spun to the ground, hit in the forehead. By this time, Maitre'd Karl Uecker had been able to catch the shooter's gun arm and press it down on the steam table beside him. Nevertheless, the gun continued to explode, a third time, a fourth time, and more, its barrel aiming straight into the procession. Rosey Grier, Rafer Johnson and others struggled to disarm the assailant and corral him. But, in the 40 seconds it took to pry the gun loose, all eight cylinders of the weapon emptied. Kennedy sprawled on the floor, spread-eagled and in pain. Behind him, Schrade writhed. Seven-year-old Irwin Stroll was clipped in the kneecap; ABC-TV director William Weisel grabbed his stomach where a bullet had entered; reporter Ira Goldstein's hip had been shattered; and an artist friend, Elizabeth Evans was unconscious from a head wound. Confusion and horror gripped the onlookers, some of them speechless, numbed.” Joseph Geringer

"Come on, Mr. Kennedy, you can make it," pleaded busboy Juan Romero, who pressed a pair of rosary beads in the senator's upward palm.

Sirhan Sirhan was a Jordanian citizen in Jerusalem born to a Palestinian family

Emigrated to California age 12, Father had left the family

Killing happened on the anniversary of the 6 Day War of 1967 Arab-Israel conflict

"I can explain it. I did it for my country.“

The May 18th entry in Sirhan's notebook. Repeated use of “RFK must die.”

The boxed section under the date reads "My determination to eliminate R.F.K. is becoming more the more of an unshakable obsession".

LAPD diagram showing the three wounds inflicted on Senator Kennedy

•Wound behind the ear and powder burns around it, which indicated that the shot that struck him was fired at an extremely close range.

•Two more wounds on Kennedy — one in the right armpit and another several inches down.

DeWayne Wolfer, wearing Senator Kennedy's suit coat, demonstrates the bullet paths with the aid of copper rods. Coroner Thomas Noguchi assists.

Photograph of Senator Kennedy's suit coat, showing bullet holes and powder burns

Iver-Johnson .22 pistol 8 shot capability

The defense offered a practical plea bargain: Sirhan's pleading guilty in exchange for the promise of life imprisonment without execution.

Judge Walker disagreed. He threw out any bargaining options.

Judge Walker condemned Sirhan Sirhan to death in the gas chamber.

The state of California had abolished capital punishment (since reinstated)

Today, a 67-year-old Sirhan Sirhan remains, probably for the rest of his life, in Corcoran State Prison in California.

Bullet #1: struck Senator Robert F. Kennedy behind the right ear.

Bullet #2: passed through RFK's right shoulder pad and struck campaign aide Paul Schrade in the forehead.

Bullet #3: entered RFK's back inches below the top of the right shoulder.

Bullet #4: entered RFK's back, about one inch below bullet #3, but exited the senator's body through the right front chest.

Bullet #5: struck Ira Goldstein in the right rear buttock.

Bullet #6: passed through Goldstein's pants leg, struck the cement floor, and, ricocheted onto Irwin Stroll's left leg.

Bullet #7: struck William Weisel in the left abdomen.

Bullet #8: reflected off the plaster ceiling to strike Elizabeth Evans in the head.