Robert F. Kennedy speaking at a witness table with a microphone and a glass of water, 25 September 1963. — Open the full imageJPG, 621 × 1024 px, 0.3 MB

Robert F. Kennedy testifying, 25 September 1963 (Library of Congress)

U.S. News & World Report photograph by Warren K. Leffler of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy at the witness table on the first day of the 1963 Senate hearings on crime. A copy is stored here.

Date: 1963-09-25
Kind: photograph
Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Rights: The Library of Congress rights advisory on the item record reads: "No known restrictions on publication." Collection: U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Call number: LC-U9- 10528-36 [P&P]. Reproduction number: LC-DIG-ds-00976 (digital file from original negative).

The Library of Congress titles this photograph “[Attorney General Robert Kennedy testifying before a Senate subcommittee hearing on crime].” The record notes that the title was devised by Library staff. Its contact sheet folder caption reads: “Attn. General Robert Kennedy before the Senate Subcom. Hearing on Crime, WKL, 9/25/63.” The record names Warren K. Leffler as photographer and gives the date as 1963 September 25. The contact sheet is job 10528, frame 36.

That is the day Kennedy opened the hearings of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. His testimony is filed here from the printed record. The photograph shows him at the witness table. It is not a record of what he said.

The photograph is in the U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection. The copy stored here is the Library’s service JPEG.

itemTestimony of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, September 25, 1963Kennedy opened the 1963 hearings. His prepared statement says that Joseph Valachi was "an insider" who had "broken the underworld's code of silence," and that "Cosa Nostra is run by a commission."

itemStatement by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, September 25, 1963The Justice Department's 24-page typescript of Kennedy's prepared statement for the opening day of the 1963 hearings, held by the National Archives with the Attorney General's speeches.

itemRobert Kennedy briefing the press for the McClellan Committee, 20 January 1958 (Library of Congress)U.S. News & World Report photograph by Warren K. Leffler of Robert Kennedy, chief counsel to the Senate McClellan Committee, briefing the press on graft in the Operating Engineers Union, 20 January 1958. A copy is stored here.