At the time of his assassination, Robert F. Kennedy was a U.S. Senator from New York. Prior to that, the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, also assassinated, had been U.S. Attorney General in his brother's cabinet. Robert Kennedy's entry into the political arena came in 1952, when he managed his brother John's successful senatorial campaign.
The following year, the younger Kennedy became an assistant counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Permanent Investigations Subcommittee and worked for the group through 1956. Later he worked for the Senate Rackets Committee that exposed the organized crime connections of Teamsters Union officials James Hoffa and Dave Beck. He managed his brother John's successful presidential campaign in 1960 and was appointed U.S. Attorney General. He stressed civil rights enforcement and worked against organized crime. After President Lyndon Johnson did not select him as his running mate in 1964, Kennedy resigned from his cabinet post to seek the U.S. Senate position representing New York.