Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

Rate this book
Around midnight shortly after claiming victory in the California presidential primary on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy walked into a deadly spray of gunfire. Immediately the Los Angeles Police Department concluded that the assassin, Sirhan Sirhan, had acted alone. The FBI conducted a parallel inquiry and concurred. And the vast majority of the American people accepted their opinion.

In this compelling book—mysteriously suppressed on its initial publication—former FBI agent William Turner and investigative reporter Jonn Christian expose convincing evidence that Sirhan did not act alone.

Based on more than ten years of intensive research, Turner and Christian raise serious questions about RFK’s murder:

•What was the virtually apolitical Sirhan’s motive?
•Why, if Sirhan was standing in front of his victim, were the fatal wounds in the back of Kennedy’s head?
•Why were there too many spent bullets (some the wrong size) for Sirhan’s gun?
•Did the LAPD discredit witnesses, try to make them alter their stories, and destroy key records?
•Was Sirhan, in fact, a “Manchurian Candidate,” programmed through hypnosis either to kill Kennedy or divert attention while others did the job?
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy makes the case that the murder of RFK, and the subsequent police and government investigations, bear all the hallmarks of the conspiracy surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the resulting Warren Commission. It is a fascinating and chilling reexamination of the tragic events that undoubtedly changed the course of American history.

447 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1978

Loading...
Loading...

About the author

William W. Turner

6 books1 follower
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
44 (34%)
4 stars
40 (31%)
3 stars
31 (24%)
2 stars
10 (7%)
1 star
1 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Pete daPixie.
1,505 reviews3 followers
November 29, 2010
'The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy-The Conspiracy and Coverup' written by joint authors William Turner and Jonn Christian is a very compelling work that highlights many deeply disturbing similarities between Dallas '63 and Los Angeles '68. The reader will find in this book no seismic rent in the veil of either Kennedy assassination investigations, yet the ten year intensive research from both authors in this book does raise serious questions regarding the RFK murder and the subsequent trial and conviction of Sirhan Sirhan. As the book sleeve states, 'it is a fascinating and chilling reexamination of the tragic events that undoubtedly changed the course of American history'.
Like the investigations by Jim Garrison into the sidemen of Dealey Plaza, this work features the link of a bit player in California to the convicted 'lone nut' of the Ambassador Hotel. Equally disturbing is the careless and questionable actions of government/L.A. law enforcement action and inaction, pre and post trial, pressure of witness testimony as well as death threats, selective ballistic evidence and the ever pervasive shadow of higher control, incarnate in the fleeting 'girl in the poka-dot dress' or the corruptive spectre of the Manchurian Candidate.

In 2003 I had the pleasure of meeting with Sirhan's then present attorney, Lawrence Teeter. I felt that Mr. Teeter was fully behind the idea that his client was innocent and a victim of programming through hypnosis. He had been repeatedly pressing for re-trial in this case. Teeter was a lawyer who often worked without charging a fee. While surfing the net as backup research while reading this book I was very sad to learn that Lawrence passed away with advanced lymphoma in 2005.
While Sirhan sits like Bhudda in a ten foot cell, an innocent man in a living hell.
192 reviews4 followers
December 29, 2018
William Turner's and Jonn Christian's "The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: The Conspiracy and Coverup" is an entertaining read. The title and subtitle are slight misnomers; this book is more about the authors' experiences and investigations than the actual crime. They spend far too much time on the mysterious but probably mostly irrelevant alleged witness/suspect Jerry Owen. In the definitive "Who Killed Bobby?" the objective Shane O'Sullivan dismisses Owen as a red herring in the introduction. The book does have a basic introduction to the ballistics and other controversies in the case and does make a decent case that Sirhan did not fire the fatal shots. The late Vincent Bugliosi is a major player, and actors Paul Le Mat and Robert Vaughn are minor ones, in Turner's and Christian's story.
Profile Image for Steven Wilson.
22 reviews25 followers
June 25, 2013
I have close to 30 books on the assassination of JFK but this is the the first and only book I have on the assassination of his brother RFK. Turner and Christian lay out in great detail the LAPD's massive cover up of the evidence in murder of Senator Kennedy by hiding, altering or just flat-out destroying evidence. The strange story of Jerry "The Walking Preacher" Owens and his connection to, not only Sirhan, but to characters in the JFK murder and the attempted murderer of George Wallace, is fascinating and beyond telling. So many parallels between the JFK and RFK murders - it almost seems like they conspirators used the same handbook.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING
Profile Image for Bob Bingham.
109 reviews11 followers
December 11, 2013
This is a republished book (originally published in 1978) and is an interesting read on the coverup, witness intimidation, and destruction of evidence by the LAPD (with support and encouragement from the FBI and Secret Service) of the RFK assassination. Another coup d' etat (just like JFK's murder), except this time it was to eliminate the front runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in '68.
138 reviews1 follower
September 2, 2025
I read the updated 25th anniversary edition, and so the following review is for that book.

Whenever authors insert themselves into the story, they run the risk of putting their story before the subject of the book, and this was the case here to some extent, but the main problem was that they fattened the book with repeating the same information over and over again, and not being clear and straightforward in their presentation.

Although i have no doubt the official story of the RFK assassination by the U.S. government was not the true story, this book really did not contain much information that I had not read elsewhere, and what was new were just minor and essentially uninteresting details.

Definitely NOT recommended!
Profile Image for Lee Tracy.
61 reviews7 followers
November 30, 2017
William Turner was an FBI agent for ten years. He became an assassination researcher in the mid-1960s and the senior editor of the radical magazine Ramparts. He and Jonn Christian (an investigative journalist) spent many years digging up evidence and interviewing witnesses in this case. This important book, initially suppressed after its original 1978 publication, was updated and reissued in 1993 thanks to renewed interested in the Kennedys due to Oliver Stone's film. It clearly demolishes the official story that a "lone nut" killed Robert F. Kennedy.
Profile Image for Lee Tracy.
61 reviews7 followers
November 30, 2017
William Turner was an FBI agent for ten years. He became an assassination researcher in the mid-1960s and the senior editor of the radical magazine Ramparts. He and Jonn Christian (an investigative journalist) spent many years digging up evidence and interviewing witnesses in this case. This important book, initially suppressed after its original 1978 publication, was updated and reissued in 1993 thanks to renewed interested in the Kennedys due to Oliver Stone's film. It clearly demolishes the official story that a "lone nut" killed Robert F. Kennedy.
165 reviews
May 16, 2026
A very good book questioning the official results of the investigation into the Assassination of RFK. It creates a lot of doubt about the Assassination. It is very obvious the LAPD was a very corrupt organization for years before and after the killing of RFK. I believe the investigation has never been reopened to protect certain powerful individuals and the reputation of the LAPD. This is an older book, but a very interesting one. I am not a conspiracy buff, but this books raises lot of red flags about this case.
5 reviews
February 19, 2023
A damning indictment by authors Turner & Christian of the attempted and continued coverup of the assassination of RFK, with the key link being a Bible thumping huckster with ties to the JFK assassination, the attempted assassination of Alabama Governor George Wallace by Arthur Bremer, and the CIA’s MKUltra program. If you thought Sirhan B. Sirhan was a deranged shooter on that fateful June night at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968, think again.
229 reviews
May 25, 2018
In this compelling book—mysteriously suppressed on its initial publication—former FBI agent William Turner and investigative reporter Jonn Christian expose convincing evidence that Sirhan did not act alone. Based on more than ten years of intensive research, Turner and Christian raise serious questions about RFK’s murder: •What was the virtually apolitical Sirhan’s motive? •Why, if Sirhan was standing in front of his victim, were the fatal wounds in the back of Kennedy’s head? •Why were there too many spent bullets (some the wrong size) for Sirhan’s gun? •Did the LAPD discredit witnesses, try to make them alter their stories, and destroy key records? •Was Sirhan, in fact, a “Manchurian Candidate,” programmed through hypnosis either to kill Kennedy or divert attention while others did the job? The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy makes the case that the murder of RFK, and the subsequent police and government investigations, bear all the hallmarks of the conspiracy surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the resulting Warren Commission. It is a fascinating and chilling reexamination of the tragic events that undoubtedly changed the course of American history.
Profile Image for Paul.
Author 5 books6 followers
October 25, 2010
Stunning, shocking, almost (but not quite) unbelievable.

Would the CIA, representing the United States government, really employ hypnosis to program weak and unstable people to participate in political assassination? That is the question.

I fear the answer is "yes," and that "The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy" is true.
60 reviews5 followers
October 15, 2008
Interesting look into some lesser known players who may have been involved in the RFK assassination. A study into the theory that Sirhan Sirhan may have actually been a Manchurian Candidate.
Profile Image for AC.
2,385 reviews
November 12, 2008
A fascinating first-hand account of the investigations of William Turner and Jonn Christian, writers and editors of Ramparts.
Profile Image for Don Morgan.
60 reviews
December 28, 2016
Real evidence of multiple shooters was destroyed by police authorities. Photos of multiple bullet holes in opposite directions in the kitchen where Robert Kennedy was shot.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews