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Juan Romero earlier this year at his home in Modesto, California, holding a photo of himself and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, taken by The Los Angeles Times & # 39; Boris Yaro on June 5, 1968. Romero died this week at the age of 68.
Jud Esty-Kendall / StoryCorps
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Jud Esty-Kendall / StoryCorps
Juan Romero earlier this year at his home in Modesto, California, holding a photo of himself and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, taken by The Los Angeles Times & # 39; Boris Yaro on June 5, 1968. Romero died this week at the age of 68.
Jud Esty-Kendall / StoryCorps
On June 5, 1968, hotel driver Juan Romero ran to congratulate Senator Robert Kennedy a few moments after his victory at the California presidential primary. The day before, he had met the candidate and brought him room service at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
While Kennedy stopped briefly to shake hands with this 17-year-old man, a man named Sirhan Sirhan shot Kennedy in front of Romero. A remarkable photograph captured the scene: the young Romero, a Mexican immigrant, rocking glass-eyed Kennedy, member of an American political dynasty.
Romero died Monday at the age of 68. A friend, Rigo Chacon, told the Los Angeles Times Romero had died of a heart attack a few days earlier.
Romero spoke to StoryCorps earlier this year and recounted the events of that night – a night that would haunt him for decades.
"I knelt beside him and I could see his lips move, so I put my ear close to his lips and I heard him say," Is everyone okay? "I said," Yes, everyone is fine. "I put my hand between the cold concrete and his head just to put him at ease."
"I could feel a steady stream of blood flowing between my fingers," Romero said. "I remember that I had a rosary in my shirt pocket and I pulled it out, thinking that he would need it much more than me, I wrapped it around." his right hand and then they took him away. "
The picture of that moment – the light illuminating the fallen senator's face, the young man crouched next to him – locked Romero into the public memory of the RFK assassination. And that left him an uncomfortable legacy.
Letters addressed to "the man in the street" began arriving at the Ambassador Hotel, including some angry.
"One of them even went so far as to say that" he had not stopped to shake your hand, the senator would have been alive ", so I should be ashamed of myself for being so selfish, "he told StoryCorps.
He said it was "50 long years".
Los Angeles Times Columnist Steve Lopez has met Romero many times over the years. Romero lived near San Jose and worked at paving roads and alleys.
Romero told Lopez that he was not perfect, but that he had tried hard work and living up to the values defended by Kennedy.
"Maybe I do not have the tools to become a politician and change the laws," Romero said. "But maybe I can help everyone understand that there are people who have tried to correct the injustice."
He told Lopez in 2015 that after spending many years trying not to look at the pictures of that night, he was finally able to face them once again.
"I saw a person in need," he wrote to Lopez, "and another person trying to help him."
Romero went to the Arlington National Cemetery in 2010 to visit Kennedy's Tomb.
"I had the impression of having to ask Kennedy to forgive me for not being able to stop those bullets from hurting him," he told StoryCorps.
He bought his first suit before the visit.
"When I wore the costume and stood in front of his grave, I felt a bit like the first day I met him, I felt important, I felt American, and I felt good."
Jud Esty-Kendall, StoryCorps producer, contributed to this report.
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