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Senator Robert Kennedy waits for medical assistance while he rests on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, moments after his assassination on June 5, 1968. Juan Romero, a busboy, comforts him. (Boris Yaro / Los Angeles Times / AP) (BORIS YARO / ASSOCIATED PRESS)
When photographer Boris Yaro of the Los Angeles Times went to the Ambassador Hotel on the night of June 4, 1968, he was not on assignment.
He had just learned the news that Robert F. Kennedy was going to win the California Democratic presidential primary. Yaro admired Kennedy and he wanted a picture of him for the wall of his living room.
He ended up taking one of the most unforgettable pictures of 1968.
With his press badge and camera around his neck, Yaro was able to get closer to Kennedy as he finished his victory speech and walked away to shake hands. That's when a man named Sirhan B. Sirhan approached and started firing at Kennedy's head.
"Pop! Pop! Pop!", Yaro told StoryCorps's podcast earlier this year. "The crowd broke apart like Moses separating the Red Sea." And Kennedy was laying his hands like a boxer, trying to 39, avoid being touched.Bobby, I saw him crumble … His legs were spread towards me and I saw the blood flowing from his ear.
[Who killed Bobby Kennedy? His son RFK Jr. doesn’t believe it was Sirhan Sirhan.]
Then he turned the picture that haunted the story: Kennedy, his legs loose, staring out of nowhere and a young busboy squatting next to him, holding his head, stunned and powerless.
This boy, Juan Romero, died of a heart attack at 68 this week, according to the L.A. Times – although in fact his heart broke as Kennedy died in his hands. The day before, Romero, a 17-year-old Mexican immigrant, had delivered a room service to Kennedy.
"They opened the door and the senator was talking on the phone," Romero told StoryCorps. He hung up and said, "Come in, guys. "When he looked at you, you could tell he was not looking at you, he's taking you into account, and I remember getting out of there like I was 10 feet tall."
After taking the picture, Yaro rushed to find a phone so he could alert his publisher.
"And I said," Kennedy was shot, "Yaro, now retired, told the L.A. Times earlier this year. He said, "Yes, we know, he was shot in the leg. "I said," No, sir. I saw blood coming out of his ear.
Yaro was ordered to the press room immediately. When he arrived, someone else developed the movie. Yaro cried when he saw the picture.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) Shakes hands in campaigning for the presidential inauguration of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia in April 1968. (Warren Winterbottom / AP)
For the rest of their lives, the two men – the photographer and the busboy – were traumatized by the moment. That year, 1968, was chaotic and deadly. Riots. Assassinations The country seemed to be separating.
"I hate this damn picture," Yaro told StoryCorps. "I did not have a copy at home. I did not like it at that time and I'm not crazy now. I had covered the Watts riots, 1965. JFK was killed. Martin Luther King was killed. I saw anger in the world. And it got worse and worse. Bobby Kennedy was going to be the knight in shining armor. And he did not have a chance.
[Mourning Bobby Kennedy]
Psychological damage was worse for Romero.
Just before the shooting, 17-year-old Romero extended a hand to Kennedy to wish him a handshake. Among the hundreds of letters he received – these were addressed to "the boy of the bus" – are reproaches against him for the death of Kennedy.
"He did not stop to shake your hand," he recalls, "the senator would have been alive."
Romero moved to Wyoming. Yet he could not escape the memory. He cried a lot. He felt guilty. In 2010, he apologized in person.
Romero went to Arlington National Cemetery to visit Kennedy's burial ground. He had never worn a suit, but he bought one for the occasion – "a sign of respect," he said later.
"I had the impression of having to ask Kennedy to forgive me for not being able to stop those bullets from hurting him," Romero said. "And so, when I wore the costume and stood in front of his grave, I felt …"
And just then, his voice cracked, reminding that what he felt about the grave was a bit like what he felt when he arrived in Kennedy's room in his bus uniform.
"I felt important," said Romero. "I felt American. And I felt good. "
Learn more Retropolis:
"This spot of bloodshed": After the assassination of King, RFK has calmed an angry mob by an unforgettable speech
"Those He Touched": Ted Kennedy's heartbreaking eulogy for his dead brother, Bobby
"You're done": a secret letter to Martin Luther King Jr. highlights FBI's malice
Strippers, surveillance plots and assassination: the craziest files of JFK
Last birthday of JFK: gifts, champagne and lost hands on the presidential yacht
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