LOS ANGELES. KENNEDY MOMENTS AFTER SHOOTING. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy Lies Gravely Wounded on the floor at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles shortly after midnight today, moments after he was shot during a celebration of his victory in yesterday’s California primary election

Boris Yaro

June 5, 1968 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

Before today’s fast-paced twenty-four hour news cycle, an eager American public followed the development of criminal investigations through the gray tones of press photographs. News outlets used a wire service to send images via in-house or portable transmitters, converting black-and-white tones into electrical pulses that were instantaneously received and printed using the same technology. Mundane courtroom proceedings, such as arraignments and evidence display, became newsworthy through the immediacy of reportage. Every small detail was devoured by a public impatient for news about notorious bank robbers and murderers—some of whom, like John Dillinger, were elevated to the status of folk heroes. Newspapers and television brought the drama and intensity of firsthand observation into people’s homes.

Artist

Boris Yaro

Date

June 5, 1968

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2010