In 1968, just moments after Robert F. Kennedy was shot, a young photographer for The Los Angeles Times — Boris Yaro — captured the scene in an image that’s haunted the nation ever since. In this episode of the StoryCorps podcast, we remember RFK and we revisit the story of that famous photo.
Released on June 20, 2023.
ARCHIVAL TAPE: RFK… RFK… [fades away]
Kamilah Kashanie (KK): Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and his supporters were celebrating at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The results from the presidential primary were in, and Kennedy had won the state.
Robert F. Kennedy (RFK, ARCHIVAL): I want to express my gratitude to my dog Freckles [crowd cheers] and I’m not doing this in order of importance but I also want to thank my wife Ethel. [cheering]
KK: But Kennedy’s campaign and all the hope that it symbolized for so many people… came to an end that night. Just minutes after giving that speech, while he was greeting supporters in the hotel kitchen, Kennedy was shot in the head by an assassin named Sirhan Sirhan [SIR-hon SIR-hon].
ARCHIVAL: Is there a doctor? Everybody please stay back. Please stay back. We need a doctor. What happened, do you know? Somebody said he’s been shot.
[MUSIC]
KK: The moments right after the shooting were caught by a young LA Times photographer. In this iconic image, Kennedy’s lying sprawled on the floor. A teenaged busboy is kneeling beside him, cradling the Senator’s head.
If you look at the picture today, there’s something really haunting about it …even all these decades later. So in this episode …the story behind that famous photo.
It’s the StoryCorps podcast from NPR. I’m Kamilah Kashanie.
[MUSIC]
KK: The photo we’re talking about is up on our website, StoryCorps.org, but let me describe it for you. It’s in black and white, with a dramatic contrast between dark and light. Senator Kennedy’s limbs are bent at awkward angles, his fist is clenched, and his head is being held up by this teenager. He’s a busboy in a white uniform and his eyes are closed, but his mouth is kinda open, like he’s calling for help.
Now we’re going to hear from the man who took that photo. His name is Boris Yaro, and he was a photographer with the LA Times for decades. Boris was 80 when he recorded with us. He’d retired after having a stroke– and you’ll hear how it affected his speech.
The night Senator Kennedy was shot, Boris’s editor sent him home early. He said the next day’s paper was already full and he didn’t need anything else.
Boris Yaro (BY): I was watching the elections on television and the announcer said that Kennedy was in the lead and probably going to be the candidate. And I was living not far from the Ambassador Hotel, so I said, “To hell with it, I’m gonna go!” I had my press pass, but I wasn’t there on assignment, I was trying to find a picture of Bobby Kennedy for me, for my wall. He gave his acceptance speech, then got off the podium and decided to shake hands from well wishers.
And then, all of a sudden: Pop! Pop! Pop! The crowd separated like Moses parting the Red Sea. And Kennedy was putting his hands up like a boxer, trying to avoid getting hit. Bobby, I saw him slump to the ground, and one of the first pictures that I took, Kennedy is sprawled out on the floor, and nobody around him except the busboy. His legs were splayed toward me, and I saw the blood dropping out of his ear.
I found the phone booth in the lobby, and told the editor, “Sir! Bobby Kennedy has been shot! And I have film.” He says, “Get down here now.” I ran into the Times office, finished dictating to a reporter what I had seen, and then I went back to the darkroom, and I cried.
I hate that damn picture. I had no copy in the house. I didn’t like it then, and I’m not crazy about it now. I had covered the Watts Riots, 1965. JFK was killed. Martin Luther King was killed. I was seeing anger in the world. And it was getting worse. Bobby Kennedy was going to be the knight in shining armor. And he didn’t get a chance.
[MUSIC]
KK: That was retired LA Times photographer Boris Yaro, in Northridge, California.
What happened in the hotel kitchen that night, also deeply troubled the busboy in Boris’ photo. His name was Juan Romero. When we come back, we’ll hear his story…
<MUSIC>
Juan Romero was 17 years old when he got a job as a busboy at the Ambassador Hotel… He and his family had immigrated to the US from Mexico when he was a kid.
Just one day before Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated, Juan remembered helping deliver his room service…
Juan Romero (JR): They opened the door and the Senator was talking on the phone. He put down the phone and says, “Come on in boys.” You could tell when he was looking at you that he’s not looking through you; he’s taking you into account. And I remember walking out of there like I was 10 feet tall.
The next day, he had his victory speech. So they came down the service elevator, which is behind the kitchen. I remember extending my hand as far as I could and then I remember him shaking my hand. And as he let go, somebody shot him.
I kneeled down to him and I put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to make him comfortable. I could see his lips moving so I put my ear next to his lips and I heard him say, “Is everybody okay?” I said, “Yes, everybody’s okay.”
I could feel a steady stream of blood coming through my fingers. I had a rosary in my shirt pocket and I took it out, thinking that he would need it a lot more than me. I wrapped it around his right hand and then they wheeled him away.
The next day I decided to go to school. I didn’t want to think about it but this woman was reading the newspaper and you could see my picture in there with the Senator on the floor. She turned around and showed me the picture;“This is you; isn’t it?” And, uh, I remember looking at my hands, and there was dried blood in between my nails.
Then, I received bags of letters addressed to the busboy. There was a couple of angry letters. One of them even went as far as to say that, “if he hadn’t stopped to shake your hand, the Senator would have been alive,” so I should be ashamed of myself for being so selfish.
It’s been a long 50 years and I still get emotional; uh, tears come out. But I went to visit his grave in 2010. I felt like I needed to ask Kennedy to forgive me for not being able to stop those bullets from harming him. And I felt like, you know, it would be a sign of respect to buy a suit. I’d never owned a suit in my life. And so, when I wore the suit and I stood in front of his grave, I felt, uh, a little bit like that first day that I… that I met him. I felt important. I felt American. And I felt good.
[MUSIC]
Robert F Kennedy (RFK): We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because of the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do… and the road is strewn with many dangers… First, is the danger of futility: the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills–against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence.
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
[MUSIC]
KK: Senator Robert F. Kennedy speaking to the National Union of South African Students, an anti-apartheid group at the University of Cape Town in 1966.
Before that you heard Juan Romero, a busboy who was photographed cradling the Senator’s head in the moments after the shooting.
Juan died in October of 2018 …Shortly after he recorded with StoryCorps… he was 68 years old.
And Boris Yaro, the photographer of that photo, died in March of 2020 at the age of 81…
[MUSIC]
That’s all for this episode of the StoryCorps podcast.
It was produced by Michael Garofalo, Jud Esty-Kendall, and David Herman. Eleanor Vassili is our Senior Producer. Our Associate Producer is Max Jungreis. Our technical director is Jarrett Floyd. Jasmyn Morris is our Story Consultant.
To see what music we used in the episode… go to StoryCorps – dot – org… where you can also check out original artwork by artist Lyne Lucien.
For the StoryCorps podcast, I’m Kamilah Kashanie. Catch you next week.
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