The Mechanics, 2004

Ink print, 16 x 22 finished to 23.25 x 28.25 inches. Private collection.

After delivering a triumphant speech in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Robert F. Kennedy cut through the kitchen on his way to meet the press to claim victory in the crucial 1968 California primary. Sirhan Sirhan, born in Jerusalem to Palestinian parents, was waiting for him there. Sirhan fired eight rounds into the crowd from a .22 caliber revolver, hitting Kennedy three times. As the crowd parted, Bill Eppridge captured the photograph of Kennedy being supported by the busboy whose hand he had just shaken. The powerful image became the pieta of the late 1960s.