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“I knew he was dead” — Harry Benson on photographing Robert Kennedy’s assassination

World-renowned Scottish photographer Harry Benson told Loop about a poignant night, half a century ago, when a campaign event he was covering turned from “happiness to hell”.

His friend and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy – brother to president John F. Kennedy, who had been shot dead five years earlier – was riding high on his way to a possible top job in the White House when, in a chilling repeat of his brother’s demise, he too was shot and killed.

Despite being faced with his own friend lying before him, dying, Harry’s job was to keep taking pictures. He remains the only photographer to have photographed an assassination from start to finish.

Benson, who wrote the book ‘RFK’ about the fateful events of that night, spoke with Loop while visiting Glasgow.

Filmed at the exhibition ‘Harry Benson: From Glasgow to America’ — on at Pollock House, Glasgow until the end of 2018.

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2 minutes

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