Ethel Kennedy
| Ethel Skakel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
April 11, 1928 Chicago, Illinois |
| Education |
Greenwich Academy Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart |
Political party | Democratic |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
| Spouse(s) |
Robert F. Kennedy (m. 1950–1968; his death) |
| Children | |
| Parents |
George Skakel Ann Brannack |
Ethel Skakel (born April 11, 1928) is an American socialite. She is the widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and a prominent member of the Kennedy family.
Early life
Ethel Skakel was born in Chicago to businessman George Skakel (1892—1955) and Ann Brannack (1892—1955),[1] who were killed when the private plane they were traveling in crashed near Union City, Oklahoma. She was the Skakels' third daughter and sixth child, having five older siblings, Georgeann, James, George, Jr., Rushton, and Patricia, and one younger sister, Ann.[2] Ethel was raised as a Catholic in Greenwich, Connecticut. George Skakel was the founder of Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, now a division of SGLCarbon.[3] She attended the all-girls Greenwich Academy[4][5] in Greenwich, as well as the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan.
In September 1945, she began her college education at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart (then located in Manhattan), where she was classmates with Jean Ann Kennedy. Ethel first met Jean's brother, Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy during a ski trip to Mont Tremblant Resort in Quebec in December 1945. At the time, he was dating Ethel's elder sister, Patricia. After Kennedy and Patricia's relationship ended, he began dating Ethel. She campaigned for his elder brother John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (1917—1963) in his 1946 campaign for United States Congress, and wrote her college thesis on his book Why England Slept.
Marriage and children
Robert and Ethel became engaged in February 1950, and were married on June 17, 1950, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenwich. Her wedding dress and bridal party gowns were created by noted New York City fashion designer Mamie Conti. As newlyweds, the couple moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where they lived while Robert Kennedy finished his last year at the University of Virginia Law School. The couple eventually had eleven children.
| Name | Birth | Death | Age | Cause of death | Occupation | Spouse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kathleen Hartington Kennedy | July 4, 1951 | Living | 62 | Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (1995–2003) | David Lee Townsend | |
| Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy III | September 24, 1952 | Living | 61 | U.S. Representative (1987–1999) | Sheila Brewster Rauch (divorced); Anne Elizabeth "Beth" Kelly | |
| Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr. | January 17, 1954 | Living | 60 | Environmental Attorney | Emily Ruth Black (divorced); Mary Kathleen Richardson (separated, remained married until her death on May 16, 2012) | |
| David Anthony Kennedy | June 15, 1955 | April 25, 1984 | 28 | Drug Overdose | Ambition towards journalism | |
| Mary Courtney Kennedy | September 9, 1956 | Living | 57 | Former Representative of the United Nations AIDS Foundation | Jeffrey Robert Ruhe (divorced); Paul Michael Hill (legally separated) | |
| Michael LeMoyne Kennedy | February 27, 1958 | December 31, 1997 | 39 | Skiing accident | Attorney | Victoria Denise Gifford |
| Mary Kerry Kennedy | September 8, 1959 | Living | 54 | Attorney | Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York and former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (divorced) | |
| Christopher George Kennedy | July 4, 1963 | Living | 50 | President of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. | Sheila Sinclair Berner | |
| Matthew Maxwell Taylor "Max" Kennedy | January 11, 1965 | Living | 49 | Attorney | Victoria Anne Strauss | |
| Douglas Harriman Kennedy | March 24, 1967 | Living | 46 | Journalist | Molly Elizabeth Stark | |
| Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy | December 12, 1968 | Living | 45 | Film director and producer | Mark Bailey |
After Robert F. Kennedy graduated with his law degree, the family settled in the Washington, D.C., area and Bobby went to work for the Department of Justice. That path did not last long, as Kennedy was asked by his family to manage his brother John Kennedy's successful 1952 Senate campaign in Massachusetts.
Throughout the 1950s, he worked for the federal government in investigatory roles for the United States Senate.[6] In 1956, the Kennedys purchased Hickory Hill from Robert's brother John and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy. They needed a larger house, since Ethel was pregnant with their fifth child, Courtney. This enormous 13-bedroom, 13-bath home was situated on 6 acres (24,000 m2) in McLean, Virginia.
Robert and Ethel Kennedy held many gatherings at their home. Whether it was a pool party or a formal dinner party, the guest list was impressive and eclectic. Journalist Roger Mudd recalled meeting John Lennon at one such party. Other notable invitees included the Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, entertainer Judy Garland, dancer Rudolf Nureyev and historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., who found himself thrown into the pool fully clothed where Ethel Kennedy was also already swimming fully clothed.[7]
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Just after midnight on June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy was fatally shot by Sirhan Sirhan; Kennedy died 26 hours later. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a national day of mourning. In 1969, Sirhan was convicted of Robert F. Kennedy's murder and sentenced to death. In 1972, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after the California Supreme Court invalidated that state's death penalty as it existed at that time.
After RFK's death
Following her husband's assassination in 1968, Ethel Kennedy stated publicly she would never marry again. For a time, she was escorted to dinners, parties and the theater by singer and family friend Andy Williams. She continued to live at the family home, Hickory Hill, in McLean, Virginia, until December 2009, when it was sold for $8.25 million.
Political involvement
During the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Ethel Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama.[8] Kennedy has publicly supported and held fundraisers at Hickory Hill for numerous politicians, including Virginia gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran.[9] For Obama, Kennedy hosted a $6-million fundraising dinner at Hickory Hill in June 2008. The $28,500-a-plate dinner was headlined by former Democratic presidential candidate and DNC chairman Howard Dean.[10]
Family involvement
Ethel Kennedy was among the chief mourners at the public funeral for her brother-in-law Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy on August 29, 2009. At the funeral Mass, Kennedy placed the pall on her brother-in-law's casket along with sister-in-law Jean.
Media involvement
Ethel Kennedy agreed to be in a documentary about her life that her daughter Rory directed. The film, titled Ethel, is a personal portrait of Ethel Kennedy’s political awakening, the life she shared with Robert F. Kennedy, and the years following his death when she raised their eleven children on her own; it features candid interviews with Ethel and seven of her children intercut with historical footage and personal videos.
References
- Notes
- ↑ Schlesinger (2002), p. 87
- ↑ "A Dynasty Strained". nytimes.com. November 19, 2013.
- ↑ http://www.sglcarbon.com/
- ↑ Welcome to Greenwich Academy
- ↑ http://www.marthamoxley.com/news/072499gt.htm
- ↑ "Chapter 18. Records of Senate Select Committees, 1789–1988." In Guide to the Records of the United States Senate at the National Archives, 1789–1989: Bicentennial Edition. (Doct. No. 100-42) Robert W. Coren, Mary Rephlo, David Kepley, and Charles South, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989.
- ↑ Leonard, Mary (October 21, 2003). "'Shock' over plan to sell RFK home". The Boston Globe.
- ↑ "Ethel Kennedy Endorses Barack Obama". Barackobama.com. 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- ↑ "Kennedy Matriarch to Host Moran Event". The Washington Post.
- ↑ $6 million dollar fundraising dinner for Barack Obama
- Further reading
- Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, 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
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ethel Kennedy. |
- Ethel Kennedy at the Internet Movie Database
- American Experience: RFK People & Events -- From PBS
- http://www.ethelthemovie.com/