Two weeks after winning his Senate seat, Kennedy flew to Mexico City for a series of events. While at a press conference in Mexico City he was again asked about the Warren Commission. Kennedy said he believed it was accurate but added, "as far as the investigation went." While In Mexico City, his secret investigation continued with Kennedy personally checking out reports about Lee Harvey Oswald's alleged visit to the Cuban embassy after the FBI had claimed the CIA information on the matter was faked.
New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison shook the nation with his allegations of a conspiracy involving Oswald hatched during Oswald's stay in New Orleans before his move to Dallas. Taking up inquiry for Kennedy in the media fishbowl that ensued were two Kennedy insiders, Edwin Guthman and Walt Sheridan, who eventually reported that Garrision was on the wrong track and seemed to be covering up for Mafia boss Carlos Marcello.
Over the years Kennedy would meet with or receive material from a number of the "conspiracy theorists" that demanded a new inquiry into the assassination. The Senator never lived to see the Church Committee open the windows on a host of misdeeds by the FBI and CIA. From J. Edgar Hoover's clandestine COINTELPRO squads to CIA hit teams, the hidden world poked into view.
Robert Kennedy was gunned down himself after winning the California primary election and becoming the likely Democratic nominee for President in 1968. Robert seemed driven by the view that the only way he could discover the truth to the events of November 22, 1963 was by having the reins of government power and was poised to get that power at the time of his killing.
We all know that Sirhan Sirhan shot at Kennedy, emptying his pistol just feet in front of the victorious candidate. But Sirhan did not kill Kennedy. The fatal shot to the head was from behind and at point blank range according to the autopsy report based on gunpower burns. Although Sirhan, like Oswald, was blamed as a single-assassin there had to be a second shooter based on the medical examiner's findings.
As it turned out there was a second gun drawn in the crowded kitchen area of the Ambassador Hotel, that of security guard Thane Eugene Cesar whose weapon was never tested. Cesar had also been following behind Kennedy in the crowd. Cesar's role in the killing remains controversial although he has dropped out of sight.
Did Robert Kennedy's quest to find the President's killers make him a marked man when it appeared he might be poised to accomplish his goal. If one Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy perhaps the same conspirators decided to kill again?
There are investigatory avenues that remain to be explored. The CIA could release its sealed files on targets of Robert's private queries, such as agents George Joannides and David Morales over their Cuban operations. The governments of Mexico and Cuba should also be asked to release their secret files on the Kennedy deaths with the full release of U.S. documents. Modern forensic testing could be conducted on remaining physical evidence in the two cases.
Robert Kennedy was mindful that the United States may have experienced a coup in 1963 from within the government. That view may have cost Robert his own life. We should be mindful and ask the new administration to once and for all make as complete an inquiry as possible into both Kennedy deaths.
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