Robert "Bobby" Kennedy, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, was shot by assassin Sirhan Sirhan on June 5, 1968, after winning the California primary. Mortally wounded, he died in the early hours of June 6. This tragically ended one of the most interesting political careers in modern American history. Coming only months after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Kennedy's killing plunged an already dismal year of violence and confrontation into further darkness. The younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, Robert served as his attorney general and was then elected senator from New York. Kennedy entered the 1968 presidential race in opposition to the Johnson administration's Vietnam policy and as a progressive voice on urban and racial issues.