California’s parole board has approved paroled for Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, CNN reported on Friday, Aug. 27, 2021 (read story here). The decision isn’t final; the governor could still block his release.
Originally sentenced to death, he has spent 53 years in California’s prison system. This was his 17th parole hearing, and this time the D.A. didn’t object, and Kennedy’s surviving sons supported paroling their father’s killer, saying they’ve forgiven him.
Sirhan (photo, left) is one of the highest-profile inmates still languishing in California prisons, along with the surviving “Manson family” killers, and there’s been much speculation about his impact on the course of history. (See, e.g., article here.) Many people believe there would’ve been no Nixon presidency, and the Vietnam War would have end years sooner, if R.F.K. had lived.
But while the focus of Kennedy’s campaign, and public attention at the time, was on Vietnam War policies, the greater and more lasting effect of his death may have been to perpetuate America’s racial divide (see article here).
Kennedy was often seen as the only politician who could have brought whites and blacks together, and ended those divisions in the 1960s, at a time when Congress had just passed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts with Republican support. Instead, Nixon adopted the “southern strategy” and won the 1968 and 1972 elections by reconstituting the GOP coalition to include southern racists.
Millions of Americans blamed Sirhan for depriving them of “what might have been.” However, I’m not convinced Kennedy would have been elected president in 1968. The Democratic Party was deeply dividend over the war, and Hubert Humphrey might still have been the party’s nominee. Kennedy’s supporters then might have sat out the election. Thus, a case can be made that Nixon would have won even if Kennedy had lived.
There was a time when releasing Sirhan from prison would have been unthinkable. Current generations are less emotionally invested in keeping him behind bars as retribution for Kennedy’s murder. The majority of today’s Americans didn’t live through those times and events. Many may know little or nothing about Sirhan. There may still be people who feel Sirhan should never be free, but their numbers are dwindling.
It will be interesting to see what Gov. Newsom, who’s facing a recall election, will do with this. My guess is unless there’s a public outcry he’ll let it go through. The fact Kennedy’s children support paroling Sirhan could well be a decisive factor.
Updated (9/7/21): Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, says, “He should not be paroled.” Kennedy’s other children also oppose paroling him. Read story here.
Today he is an old man. The fact his crime was politicly motivated means he is unlikely to reoffend. Parole in California is an objective process and objectively the man should be paroled. [This comment has been edited.]
Looks like he will be.