Robert F. Kennedy at the White House, 1964

Robert Francis \"Bobby\" Kennedy (November 20, 1925–June 6, 1968), also called RFK, was an American politician. From 1961 to 1964, he was United States Attorney General. From 1965 until his assassination in 1968, Kennedy was a New York Senator. He was U.S. President John F. Kennedy\"s younger brother and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. For nine months after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, Kennedy served as Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson. In September 1964, however, Kennedy resigned as attorney general to seek the Senate seat, and within a few years was involved in a public disagreement with Johnson over the Vietnam War.

In early 1968, Kennedy began a campaign for president and tried to be nominated as candidate by the Democratic Party; in the California primary, Kennedy defeated Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota). However, on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was shot and died a day later. On June 9, President Johnson assigned security staff to all Presidential candidates and declared an official day of national mourning in response to the public grief following Kennedy\"s death.