18 F4r Wnoxuillt Dotirnal Monday. June 5, 1978 Bobby Kennedy's assassination recalled By BOB THOMAS Associated Press Writer Editor's note: On June 4, 1968, LOS ANGELES AP movie columnist Bob Thomas took time out from his Hollywood Jimmy Breslin, then of the New York Post, sat down at the next typewriter schedule to pitch in on a routine political assignment. He was to and muttered to himself, "Pretty dull Sirhan Sirhan, left, convicted in story; what can I write about?" staff an election-night victory It was mid-evening on June 4, 1968, party. The candidate was Bobby slaying of Robert F. Kennedy, in the Ambassador Hotel press head- Kennedy, and the story turned out quarters for Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. He to be one of the biggest of his ca- Robert Kennedy lay on the floor, was running for the Democratic nomina- reer. blood streaming from his head, blank tion for president in the California pri- eyes staring into the void. mary, and election night seemed as than risk getting caught in the crowd. After watching the scene for a few routine as when I covered other candi- The AP office could cover the speech on seconds, I jumped down and ran to the dates: Adlai Stevenson, Richard Nixon, TV, while Kennedy's comments to the press room. The telephones didn't work! Ronald Reagan, George Murphy. press would not be televised. I knew the hotel layout, and hurried The Embassy Room rocked with the At the end of the speech I waited for to the telephone booths in the lobby. the candidate's arrival at the door of the same noisy hoopla. The band played "Kennedy has been shot." "California, Here I Come." kitchen through which I had passed all Film stars orating about the New evening. "Are you serious?" asked the editor at AP election headquarters. Camelot The crowd cheering the re- Then screams. turns as Kennedy pulled ahead of Eu- With some difficulty I convinced him gene McCarthy. I rushed into the kitchen. it was no hoax and began dictating an In the nightmarish scene I perceived account of the assassination. Toward midnight a press aide came athletes Rafer Johnson and Rosey Grier Midway through the story I heard an into the press room to announce that struggling with someone. Shouts and uproar in the lobby. Leaning out of the Kennedy would be coming downstairs to wails reverberated through the room. A booth, I could see a score of police deliver a victory speech, then would an- cluster of people huddled in a circle, and hurrying a swarthy young man down swer reporters' questions in the press I couldn't see over their heads. the marble staircase. I dictated a de- room. I jumped atop what I thought was a scription of the presumed assailant Should I return to the Embassy table (later I discovered it was a stack It is 10 years later, yet I can still Room to report the speech? I decided to of kitchen trays) and peered down at remember the events of that night as wait for the press conference rather what caused their horror. clearly as yesterday's interview.