BOSTON, Mass. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s wife, Ethel Kennedy, raised their eleven children after he was killed and devoted herself to social causes and the family heritage for many years afterward, according to her family. Ethel Kennedy passed away on Thursday. She was ninety-six.
Kennedy’s relatives reported that she was admitted to the hospital on October 3 following a stroke she experienced while asleep.
Joe Kennedy III wrote on X, “We announce the passing of our amazing grandmother with hearts full of love.” “She passed away this morning due to complications stemming from a stroke that occurred last week.”
The family statement read, “Our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her deeply, along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights.”
The Kennedy matriarch was one of the last living members of a generation that also included President John F. Kennedy. Her children were Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr., David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Max, Douglas, and Rory. Prior to being sick, her family stated she had recently liked seeing a lot of her relatives.
Ethel Kennedy, a millionaire’s daughter who wed the future senator and attorney general in 1950, had seen more deaths than most people would in a lifetime by the time she was 40 years old.
She was by Robert F. Kennedy’s side when he was shot and killed on June 5, 1968, in the Los Angeles kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel, shortly after he had emerged victorious in the California Democratic presidential primary. Less than five years prior, in Dallas, President John F. Kennedy, her brother-in-law, had been slain.
Her sibling perished in a collision in 1966, and her parents perished in a 1955 plane tragedy. Afterwards, her son David Kennedy overdosed on drugs, son Michael Kennedy perished in a skiing mishap, and nephew John F. Kennedy Jr. perished in an aircraft disaster. In 2002, Michael Skakel, another nephew, was found guilty of murder; however, a court ordered a new trial in 2013, and the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2018.
She was grieving once more in 2019 following the probable drug overdose death of her granddaughter, Saoirse Kennedy Hill.
Following Michael Kennedy’s passing, family friend and founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation Philip Johnson told the Boston Herald, “One wonders how much this family must be asked to endure.”
Ethel Kennedy was able to survive because of her faith and her love for her family.
“She was a devoted Catholic and a regular communicant. We find solace in the knowledge that she is now with her children, David and Michael; her daughter-in-law, Mary; her great-grandchildren, Gideon and Josie; and her grandkids, Maeve and Saorise. In your thoughts and prayers, please remember our mother,” the family released a statement.
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Ethel’s mother-in-law, was first concerned about how she would manage so much tragedy.
In her memoir “Times to Remember,” Rose wrote, “I understood how difficult it was going to be for her to raise that enormous family without the guiding role and influence that Bobby would have supplied.” Of course, she also became completely and acutely aware of this. She refused to give in, though.
Shortly after her husband’s passing, she established the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and became an advocate for a variety of topics, such as human rights and gun control. She hardly ever discussed her husband’s murder. She was unable to express her sorrow until her daughter Rory, a filmmaker, brought it up in the 2012 HBO documentary “Ethel.”
“When we lost Daddy,” she started, shedding a tear or two before asking her youngest daughter to “speak about something else.”
Comparing Sen. Barack Obama to her late husband, she endorsed him for president in 2008 alongside her brother-in-law Ted Kennedy and niece Caroline Kennedy. During the Obama administration, she visited the White House multiple times, meeting Pope Francis in 2015 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.
Many of her descendants rose to prominence. Kathleen, the daughter, rose to the position of lieutenant governor of Maryland; Joseph, a member of Congress from Massachusetts; Courtney wed Paul Hill, who had been falsely convicted of an IRA bombing; Kerry, a human rights advocate, became president of the RFK Center; Christopher, a candidate for governor of Illinois; Max, a Philadelphia prosecutor; and Douglas, a reporter for Fox News Channel.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., her son, also rose to prominence in the country, albeit not in the same liberal sense as his family. Originally recognized as an environmental attorney, he later turned into a conspiracy theorist who disseminated erroneous vaccination beliefs. After briefly opposing President Joe Biden, he entered the presidential race as an independent. Even after suspending his campaign and endorsing Donald Trump, his name continued to appear on ballots in several states.
Several other Kennedy family members condemned her son, but Ethel Kennedy remained silent about his behavior.
She appeared to thrive on her in-laws’ growing influence decades before. Her support for JFK’s 1960 campaign was strong, and at their Hickory Hill estate in McLean, Virginia, she threw some of the most popular parties of the Kennedy administration, including one where historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. was thrown into the swimming pool while fully clothed. She was also well-known for being an obsessive planner and an enthusiastic, fiercely competitive tennis player, all in the Kennedy spirit.
“Ethel, despite her unassuming appearance, values outdoor play so highly for the kids that she has planned her hectic schedule as a Cabinet wife to accompany them on two daily excursions,” The Washington Post stated in 1962.
She went on a global goodwill trip with her husband in February of that year, visiting Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, and other nations. She asserted that it was critical for Americans to interact with regular people abroad.
She told the Post that “people have a distinct affection for Americans.” However, because Communists have been so outspoken, some Asians were surprised to learn about American viewpoints. It is beneficial for Americans to travel and share our opinions.
On April 11, 1928, in Chicago, Kennedy was born Ethel Skakel. She was the sixth child born to coal billionaire George Skakel and his devoted Roman Catholic wife, Ann Brannack Skakel. Before receiving her diploma from the Convent of the Sacred Heart in the Bronx in 1945, she was raised in a 31-room English country manor mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Greenwich Academy.
She first got to know Robert Kennedy through her roommate at Manhattanville College in New York, his sister Jean. He completed his final year of law school at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, after they relocated there. In 1957, they acquired Hickory Hill from John and Jacqueline Kennedy, who had purchased it in 1953.
In 1957, Robert Kennedy was appointed chief counsel for the Senate Select Committee. Later, his brother, the recently elected President Kennedy, named him attorney general.
She had backed her husband during his victorious 1964 campaign for the New York Senate and his following run for the presidency. When he was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan, she was expecting their eleventh child. Her horrified and shocked expression was immortalized in pictures that people would never forget even decades later.
The family was horrified by the killing, particularly son David Kennedy, who was in a hotel room watching the news. Days before turning thirteen, he overdosed in 1984 and struggled with addiction for years before ever getting well.
She disagreed with certain members of her family when she stated in 2021 that Sirhan Sirhan should not be freed from prison. A California panel refused him parole two years later.
After her husband’s passing, Ethel Kennedy was associated to a number of men, most notably the musician Andy Williams, although she never got married again.
Ethel Kennedy paid a visit to Indianapolis in April 2008, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder. There was a monument there honoring King’s passing as well as the speech her husband had given that evening in 1968, which is said to have prevented unrest in the city.
Harry Belafonte would write of her, “She was the one I would end up appreciating the most out of all the Kennedy women.” She wasn’t acting, either. She saw you and understood what you were talking about right away. In the ensuing years, I would frequently take Bobby to Ethel with my concerns when he refused to perform something for the movement. She would say, “We have to talk to him,” and she would.
During a November 2013 commemoration of the 50th anniversary of JFK’s death, Ethel Kennedy accompanied President Obama and former President Bill Clinton—each holding one of her hands—as they ascended stairs to lay a wreath at President Kennedy’s gravestone.
Her nonprofit organization, which she started, is still committed to promoting human rights via activism, court cases, teaching, and inspiration. It also honors journalists, writers, and other individuals who have made noteworthy contributions to the field of human rights on an annual basis.
She participated actively in the Earth Conservation Corps, Special Olympics, and the Coalition for Gun Control. She also made an appearance in person, taking part in a hunger strike against the Trump administration’s immigration policy in 2018 as well as a 2016 protest in favor of increased compensation for Florida farmworkers.
Ethel Kennedy split her time between houses in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and Palm Beach, Florida; Hickory Hill was sold in 2009 for $8.25 million.
