Ethel Kennedy Obituary: ‘Kennedy’s Other Widow’ Suffered Unrelenting Grief and Racism Scandal

Ethel Kennedy helped lead America’s most famous political dynasty through tumultuous times.

She was by her husband Robert F. Kennedy’s side when he was shot in Los Angeles in 1968, less than five years after her brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas.

On Thursday, her daughter, Kerry Kennedy, announced on X/Twitter that the family matriarch had died at age 96 from complications related to a recent stroke.

He praised her “lifelong work in social justice and human rights” and determination to raise 11 children and lead a clan of 34 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

“Please keep our mom in your hearts and prayers,” Kerry posted.

Ethel Kennedy was one of the last remaining members of the extended family generation that included President Kennedy.

For a generation of Americans, the Democratic Party clan was the closest thing the US had to royalty.

The JFK era was dubbed “Camelot” because the young president and his glamorous wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, inspired a sense of national optimism.

Ethel was born in Chicago in April 1928, the sixth of seven children of George Skakel and his wife Ann.

His rags-to-riches story saw Skakel make millions in the coal industry and move his family to Connecticut.

Ethel became friends and later roommates with Jean Kennedy, a younger sister of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, while attending Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in New York.

She met future husband Robert on a ski trip to Mount Tremblant Resort in Quebec, Canada in 1945 when she was 17.

They began dating and married in June 1950. Their first child, Kathleen Kennedy, was born the following year.

Ethel suffered tragedy in 1955 when her parents died when their private plane crashed.

She supported the flourishing political careers of her husband and brother, and enthusiastically campaigned for JFK in his successful 1960 presidential campaign.

Ethel was at home with her husband Robert in November 1963 when news of JFK’s assassination in Dallas reached them.

Later, during Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign in June 1968, she was by his side when he was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

He had just won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

Six months after her husband’s death, Ethel gave birth to her eleventh child, Rory.

Ethel vowed never to remarry and devoted her life to raising her children as a single mother, according to Britannica.com.

Still, she knew her husband RFK had cheated on her during their marriage.

These included his affairs with actresses Kim Novak and Lee Remick, and his sister-in-law Jackie.

The details of Ethel’s unwavering support were described in the 2016 book “Bobby Kennedy: The Making of A Liberal Icon” by Larry Tye.

The book said that Ethel loved her husband “more completely than she had ever dreamed possible,” and that meant she could look away.

Ethel’s relationship with JFK’s wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, got off to a famously rocky start in the 1950s.

Jackie thought that Ethel had tried to outshine her and other women in an emerald green dress, when most of the guests at the formal event wore black.

Jackie left early, complaining of a “terrible headache,” according to People.

But the two women later developed a friendship and bonded over the murders of their respective husbands.

After her husband’s death, Ethel founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in 1968, which promotes human rights through litigation, advocacy, and education.

The non-profit organization also gives awards to journalists, authors and others who promote human rights.

She was also active in the Coalition of Gun Control, Special Olympics and Earth Conservation Corps.

She remained socially active into her 90s, participating in a 2016 demonstration in support of higher wages for farmworkers in Florida and a 2018 hunger strike against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

When then-President Barack Obama awarded Ethel the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 2014, he praised her social efforts.

“Ethel Kennedy has dedicated her life to advancing the cause of social justice, human rights, environmental protection and poverty reduction, creating countless waves of hope for change around the world,” he said. obama

But Ethel was not universally revered and faced accusations that she “treated her immigrant servants like dogs”.

After RFK’s assassination in June 1968, Ethel was the sole mistress of Hickory Hill, the legendary Kennedy estate in McLean, Virginia.

It became known as “Horror Hill” due to Ethel’s tantrums and abusive treatment of the help.

She gained a reputation for slapping and reprimanding immigrant domestic workers, cheating them out of money and calling them a ‘crazy woman’, causing them to flee in tears or be fired,” sources recalled.

“I really don’t think Ethel likes Hispanics or blacks,” her former secretary, Noelle Fell, told The Mail writer Jerry Oppenheimer.

Ethel’s eleven children were Kathleen, Joseph II, Robert Jr., David, Courtney, Michael, Kerry, Christopher, Max, Douglas and Rory.

Many of his children became famous.

Daughter Kathleen became lieutenant governor of Maryland; Joseph represented Massachusetts in Congress; Courtney married Paul Hill, who had been wrongfully convicted of an IRA bombing; Kerry became a human rights activist and president of the RFK Center; Christopher ran for governor of Illinois; Max served as a prosecutor in Philadelphia and Douglas reported for the Fox News Channel.

His son Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also became a national figure, although ultimately not in the family’s liberal tradition.

He ran for president as an independent after briefly challenging President Joe Biden, and his name remained on the ballot in several states after he suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald Trump.

Ethel Kennedy did not publicly comment on her son’s actions, although several family members denounced him.

But tragedy haunted Ethel and the rest of the stricken Kennedy family.

In 1984, she lost her son David, who died of an accidental drug overdose, and in 1997, her son Michael died in a skiing accident.

He split his time between homes in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Ethel Kennedy had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke in her sleep on October 3, her family said.

She had enjoyed seeing many of her relatives recently, before she fell ill.

“It is with hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother,” Joe Kennedy III posted on X.