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Ethel Kennedy

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Ethel Kennedy
Kennedy in 1968
Born
Ethel Skakel

(1928-04-11)April 11, 1928
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedOctober 10, 2024(2024-10-10) (aged 96)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationManhattanville College (BA)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1950; died 1968)​
Children11
Parents
RelativesKennedy family (through marriage)

Ethel Kennedy (née Skakel /ˈskeɪ.kəl/ SKAY-kel; April 11, 1928 – October 10, 2024) was an American human rights advocate. Kennedy was the wife of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy, a sister-in-law of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, and sixth child of George and Ann Skakel (née Brannack). Shortly after her husband's assassination in 1968, she founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, a non-profit charity working to reach his goal of a just and peaceful world. In 2014, Kennedy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

Early life and education

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Ethel Skakel was born on April 11, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, to businessman George Skakel and his former secretary Ann Brannack.[1] George was the founder of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, now a division of SGLCarbon.[2] Her parents were killed in a 1955 plane crash.[3] She was the third of four Skakel daughters and the sixth-born of seven children.[4] George was a Protestant of Dutch descent[5][6][7] while Ann was a Roman Catholic of Irish ancestry. The children were raised Catholic, and Ethel was a devout Catholic who attended mass regularly throughout her life.[8][9]

Ethel and her siblings were raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. Ethel attended the all-girls Greenwich Academy, and graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in the Bronx in 1945.[10] In September 1945, Ethel began her college education at Manhattanville College, where she was a classmate of her future sister-in-law Jean Kennedy.[11] She received a bachelor's degree from Manhattanville in 1949.[12]

Ethel first met Jean's brother Robert F. Kennedy during a ski trip to Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec in December 1945. During that trip, Robert began dating Ethel's older sister Patricia, but after that relationship ended, he began to date Ethel. She campaigned for Robert's older brother John F. Kennedy in John's 1946 campaign for Congress in Massachusetts' 11th congressional district, and she wrote her college thesis on his book Why England Slept.[10]

Marriage and family

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Robert and Ethel Kennedy in 1968

Robert Kennedy and Ethel Skakel became engaged in February 1950 and were married on June 17, 1950, at Catholic St. Mary Church in Greenwich.[13] The Boston Globe noted that the marriage "unites two large fortunes".[14]

After Robert graduated from law school, the family settled in the Washington, D.C. area, and Robert went to work for the Justice Department.[10] In 1952, Ethel and Robert moved into a rooming house in Boston, Massachusetts,[15] and she helped contribute to her brother-in-law John's Senate campaign by organizing "tea parties" for potential voters.[16]

In 1956, the Kennedys purchased Hickory Hill from Robert's brother John and his wife, Jacqueline.[17] The 13-bedroom estate was situated on six acres in McLean, Virginia, (west of Washington, D.C.).[10] Robert and Ethel held many gatherings at their home and were known for their impressive and eclectic guest lists.[18] Ethel sold Hickory Hill for $8.25 million in December 2009.[19][20] The couple also owned a home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod.[21]

In 1960, Ethel's brother-in-law John F. Kennedy won the presidential election, at which time he appointed Robert to the post of attorney general.[10] In 1962, President Kennedy assigned Ethel and Robert to tour 14 countries on a 28-day goodwill trip. Though the trip was said to be informal, the host countries viewed Robert and Ethel as stand-ins for the President and the First Lady.[22]

On November 22, 1963, Ethel first learned of her brother-in-law's assassination from her husband. She had answered the phone, identified the caller as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and handed the phone to Robert, who then informed her of the shooting. The FBI Director had never called the Attorney General's home before. Ethel was reportedly devastated by the assassination and worried for her niece and nephew.[23]

In 1964, Ethel supported her husband while he campaigned for and won a seat in the United States Senate, representing New York.[10] During the campaign, Robert was accused of "carpetbagging", and Ethel made light of the criticism by suggesting the slogan, "There is only so much you can do for Massachusetts."[24] She urged her husband to enter the Democratic primary for the 1968 presidential election. Biographer Evan Thomas portrayed her as Robert's "most consistent advocate of a race for the White House".[25]

Husband's assassination

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Main article: Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Joan Kennedy, Ethel Kennedy and Ted Kennedy in December 1968

Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded by Sirhan Sirhan at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and died the following day at the age of 42. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a national day of mourning. Ethel sent Johnson a handwritten note on June 19, thanking him and his wife, First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, for the help they had given her and the Kennedy family.[26] After her husband's assassination, Ethel publicly stated that she would never marry again, and indeed she never did, living her remaining 56 years as a widow.[27] For a time, she was escorted to dinners, parties, and the theater by singer and family friend Andy Williams.[28]

Children

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Robert and Ethel Kennedy had 11 children during nearly 18 years of marriage: Kathleen, Joseph, Robert Jr., David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Maxwell, Douglas, and Rory,[27] who was born after Robert was assassinated.[29] Kathleen served as lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003,[30] Joseph represented Massachusetts' 8th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999,[31] and Robert Jr. ran for president in the 2024 United States presidential election.[32][33][34][35] Her grandson, Joseph Kennedy III, also served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Massachusetts' 4th congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Two of the Kennedys' sons, David and Michael, have died; David died from a drug overdose in 1984, and Michael was killed in a skiing accident in 1997.[10]

Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights

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Main article: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

Ethel Kennedy founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (now known as Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights)[36] in 1968.[37] In February 2001, Kennedy visited Rodolfo Montiel and another peasant activist at their jail in Iguala, presenting Rodolfo with the Chico Mendes Award on behalf of American environmental group the Sierra Club.[38] In March 2016, Kennedy was among hundreds who marched near the home of Wendy's chairman Nelson Peltz in Palm Beach, Florida, as part of an effort by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a farm workers' group, to convince the company to pay an additional one cent per pound of tomatoes to increase the wages of field workers.[39] As of September 2018, Kennedy's daughter Kerry was president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.[40]

Later life

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Kennedy in 2000

During the late 1970s, with a renewed commitment to public service, Kennedy focused much of her time and energy on various social causes, including the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Project.[41] In 1992, Kennedy and her son Michael made a cameo appearance on the NBC sitcom Cheers in Boston.[42][43]

During the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama.[44] She publicly supported and held fundraisers at Hickory Hill for numerous politicians that included Virginia gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran.[45] Kennedy hosted a $6-million fundraising dinner for Obama at Hickory Hill in June 2008. The $28,500-a-plate dinner was headlined by former Democratic presidential candidate and DNC chairman Howard Dean.[46]

In 2012, Kennedy appeared in a documentary about her life, directed by her youngest child, daughter Rory. The documentary, entitled Ethel, covers Kennedy's early political involvement, her life with Robert F. Kennedy, and the years following his death when she raised eleven children on her own. It features interviews with Ethel and her children interspersed with family videos and archival photos.[47]

In her later years, Kennedy resided at the Kennedy Compound in Massachusetts and in Palm Beach, Florida.[48][49] On October 10, 2024, she died in Boston at the age of 96, after being hospitalized for a stroke she had the week prior.[50][51]

Legacy and awards

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In 1981, President Ronald Reagan honored Kennedy with the Robert F. Kennedy medal in the White House Rose Garden.[52] In 2014, a bridge over the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Ethel Kennedy Bridge in her honor, in recognition of her advocacy for environmentalism and social causes in the District of Columbia.[53] Also in 2014, Kennedy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama for her dedication to "advancing the cause of social justice, human rights, environmental protection, and poverty reduction by creating countless ripples of hope to effect change around the world".[54][55]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Hunt, Amber; Batcher, David Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family, p. 72, at Google Books
  2. ^ "Home : SGL Group – The Carbon Company". SGLCarbon. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  3. ^ Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr. (2002). Robert Kennedy and His Times. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, p. 87
  4. ^ "A Dynasty Strained". The New York Times. November 19, 2013.
  5. ^ David, Lester (1971). Ethel: The Story of Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy. World Publishing Company. p. 4.
  6. ^ Sheenan, Susan (November 3, 1969). "Heaven Still Has Pearly Gates, Angels, For Ethel". The Palm Beach Post. p. C-4.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ Hilty, James (2000). Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector. Temple University Press. p. 54. ISBN 1-439-90519-3.
  8. ^ Carlson, Adam (April 13, 2020). "Kennedy Matriarch Ethel Turns 92 as Son RFK Jr. Shares Throwback Photos with Birthday Tribute". People. Retrieved June 7, 2023 – via Yahoo! Finance.
  9. ^ Martin, Douglas (October 10, 2024). "Ethel Kennedy, Passionate Supporter of the Family Legacy, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g "Ethel Skakel Kennedy". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
  11. ^ McMullen, Troy (August 26, 2009). "The Last Kennedy: Jean Kennedy Smith". ABC News.
  12. ^ "Ethel Kennedy". Biography. May 25, 2021.
  13. ^ "On This Day: Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel marry in 1950". IrishCentral.com. June 17, 2019.
  14. ^ Oppenheimer, p. 170.
  15. ^ Oppenheimer, p. 194.
  16. ^ Oppenheimer, p. 193.
  17. ^ Rasmussen, Frederick N. (April 10, 2004). "Ethel Kennedy selling Hickory Hill". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  18. ^ Leonard, Mary (October 21, 2003). "'Shock' over plan to sell RFK home". The Boston Globe.
  19. ^ Clymer, Adam; Natta, Don Van Jr. (July 11, 2011). "Family of Robert F. Kennedy Rethinks His Place at Library". The New York Times.
  20. ^ Gowen, Annie (December 1, 2013). "Tech entrepreneur's renovation of Hickory Hill signals new business guard remaking D.C." The Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  21. ^ Oppenheimer, p. 242.
  22. ^ Oppenheimer, Jerry (1994). The Other Mrs. Kennedy : An Intimate and Revealing Look at the Hidden Life of Ethel Skakel Kennedy. St. Martin's Paperbacks. p. 287. ISBN 9780312110406.
  23. ^ Oppenheimer, p. 352.
  24. ^ Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr. (1978). Robert Kennedy and His Times. p. 668.
  25. ^ Thomas, Evan (2002). Robert Kennedy: His Life. Simon & Schuster. p. 23. ISBN 978-0743203296.
  26. ^ Califano, Joseph A. (2015). The Triumph & Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: The White House Years. Touchstone. p. 304. ISBN 978-1476798790.
  27. ^ a b "Who is Ethel Kennedy? Facts you need to know". IrishCentral.com. June 28, 2018.
  28. ^ Brownstein, Bill (October 15, 2012). "A fascinating portrait of Ethel Kennedy". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  29. ^ Anderson, Lisa. "A child of tragedy postpones her wedding". Chicago Tribune.
  30. ^ "Former President George H. W. Bush to vote for Hillary Clinton: Politico". CNBC. September 20, 2016.
  31. ^ "'Kennedy' Name Returns To Congress As Joe Kennedy III Wins 4th District". boston.cbslocal.com. CBS Local. November 6, 2012.
  32. ^ "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. files paperwork to run for president as a Democrat". CNN. April 5, 2023.
  33. ^ Garrity, Kelly (April 5, 2023). "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running for president in 2024". Politico. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  34. ^ "Statement of Candidacy". Federal Election Commission. April 5, 2023. Retrieved April 5, 2023.
  35. ^ "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. files paperwork to run for president as a Democrat". CBS News. April 5, 2023.
  36. ^ "Ethel Kennedy Fast Facts". CNN. January 28, 2013. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  37. ^ Santel, James (December 16, 2014). "Introducing Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights" (Press release). Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  38. ^ "Ethel Kennedy visits activists". The Irish Times. February 9, 2001.
  39. ^ "Ethel Kennedy leads farmworkers' protest near home of Wendy's billionaire chairman". Fox News. Associated Press. March 13, 2016.
  40. ^ Mays, Jeffery C. (September 19, 2018). "500 Women and Teenagers to Be Bailed Out From Rikers by Human Rights Group". The New York Times.
  41. ^ "Ethel Skakel Kennedy". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  42. ^ Oppenheimer, Jerry (1994). The Other Mrs. Kennedy : An Intimate and Revealing Look at the Hidden Life of Ethel Skakel Kennedy. St. Martin's Paperbacks. p. 652. ISBN 9780312110406.
  43. ^ "Cheers S11E10 Daddy's Little Middle Aged Girl cut". October 28, 2015. Retrieved March 2, 2024 – via YouTube.
  44. ^ "Ethel Kennedy Endorses Barack Obama". Barackobama.com. February 2, 2008. Archived from the original on February 6, 2008. Retrieved February 2, 2008.
  45. ^ Gardner, Amy (April 29, 2009). "Kennedy Matriarch to Host Moran Event". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 31, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  46. ^ "$6 million dollar fundraising dinner for Barack Obama". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on December 30, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  47. ^ "A Mother with Moxie: A New Documentary Explores the Life of Ethel Kennedy by Her Filmmaker Daughter". Vogue. October 17, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  48. ^ Casey, Michael; Leblanc, Steve (October 10, 2024). "Ethel Kennedy, social activist and wife of Robert F. Kennedy, has died". Associated Press. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  49. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q.; Martin, Jonathan (August 1, 2019). "Granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy Dies After Overdose at Family's Compound". The New York Times.
  50. ^ Siemaszko, Corky (October 10, 2024). "Ethel Kennedy, matriarch of the famous family, dies at 96". NBC News. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  51. ^ Kennedy, Robert F. Jr. [@RobertKennedyJr] (October 10, 2024). "My mom, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, passed peacefully into Heaven this morning. She was 96. She died in Boston surrounded by many of her nine surviving children and her friends. God gave her 34 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, and the energy to give them all the attention they required. He blessed her with a rich and eventful life. Even as she declined in recent months, she never lost her sense of fun, her humor, her spark, her spunk, and her joie de vivre. She wrung joy from every moment, but for 56 years she has spoken with yearning of the day she would reunite with her beloved husband. She is with him now, with my brothers David and Michael, with her parents, her six siblings, all of whom predeceased her, and her "adopted" Kennedy siblings Jack, Kick, Joe, Teddy, Eunice, Jean, Rosemary, and Patricia. From the day she met my father, her new family observed that she was "more Kennedy than the Kennedys." She was never more enthusiastic about the afterlife than when she considered that she would also be reunited with her many dogs, including 16 Irish setters — all conveniently named "Rusty." The cognitive dissonance that allowed her to keep two inconsistent truths in her heart at the same time without budging made my mother a collection of irreconcilable convictions. Among these was her ironic combination of deep — nearly blind — reverence for the Catholic Church and irreverence toward its clerics. She was at once starstruck by America's presidents, all of whom she came to know personally, and at the same time skeptical of government and toward all figures of authority. She balanced her contempt for pretension and hypocrisy with a boundless tolerance for error and mistakes in others. God also endowed her with a perpetual attitude of gratitude that fueled her taste for adventure and an irrepressible buoyancy in a life beset by a continuous parade of heartbreaking tragedies. Her sunny optimism eventually brought my shattered father back to life following the assassination of his brother and then helped her children to thrive after her husband's assassination five years later. Among her most defining qualities were moral and physical fearlessness. She was a peerless equestrian and held the high jump record on horseback, jumping 7'9" on a Quarter Horse. Critics named her among the best female amateur tennis players, and she was a competitive diver. But she did every sport well — from football to skiing, waterskiing and kayaking. Her disciplined stoicism and her deep faith in God enabled her to endure over ten years of pregnancy without complaint. She also suffered the murders of her husband and Uncle Jack, and the early deaths of two of her children. Various air crashes killed both of her parents, her brother, her sister-in-law, and her nephew John. She never enjoyed flying, but her worry never stopped her from boarding a plane. While giving short shrift to her own monumental suffering, she always showed intense compassion for others. My mother invented tough love, and she could be hard on her children when we didn't live up to her expectations. But she was also intensely loyal, and we always knew that she would stand fiercely behind us when we came under attack by others. She was our role model for self-discipline, for resilience, and for self-confidence. She deeded to each of her 11 children her love of good stories, her athleticism, her competitive spirit, and the deep curiosity about the world, and the intense interest in people of all backgrounds, which caused her to pepper everyone she met — from cab drivers to presidents — with a relentless cascade of questions about their lives. She also gave us all her love of language and for good storytelling. I credit her for all my virtues. I'm grateful for her generosity in overlooking my faults" (Tweet). Retrieved October 10, 2024 – via Twitter.
  52. ^ Weisman, Jonathan (July 24, 1999). "JFK Jr. visited White House at invitation of Nixon, Reagan". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  53. ^ DeBonis, Mike (May 21, 2014). "Ethel Kennedy Bridge is dedicated, at long last". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  54. ^ "President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom". whitehouse.gov. November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 24, 2014 – via National Archives.
  55. ^ "Obama awards Presidential Medal of Freedom to 18". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 24, 2014.

Further reading

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  • Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2002, ISBN 0-618-21928-5
  • Taraborrelli, J. Randy. Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot. Warner Books: 2000. ISBN 0-446-52426-3
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