The Tragic Story Of Ethel Kennedy
The life and death of Bobby Kennedy is one of the great legends of American political history — but who was the woman who stood by his side?
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00:00The life and death of Bobby Kennedy is one of the great legends of American political history.
00:06But who was the woman who stood by his side?
00:09The Kennedy family is one of the most powerful and prestigious dynasties in American history.
00:15You would be hard-pressed to find a family in the world of U.S. politics that wields as much
00:19influence, or has acquired quite as much money, as this one. When the family arrived in America
00:26from Ireland in the 1840s, they became heavily involved in politics. Over the following decades,
00:32the Kennedy family produced multiple congressmen, an attorney general,
00:36and a United States president. In addition to having a long line of direct descendants,
00:41some individuals who married into the Kennedy family also contributed to its legacy.
00:46Take Ethel Kennedy, for example. Ethel married Robert Kennedy in 1950 and stood by him as he
00:53pursued his political aspirations. Unfortunately, within five years of her marriage, tragedy had
00:59struck her life in a number of different ways. Ethel Kennedy was born Ethel Skakel in Chicago,
01:06Illinois, in 1928. Her father worked his way to the top of the railroad industry,
01:11resulting in the family becoming very wealthy. Due to her family's money, Ethel was afforded a
01:17life of relative luxury and eventually attended the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart.
01:22There, she would become friends with Jean Kennedy, who introduced her to her brother, Robert.
01:28The couple got married on June 17, 1950, and moved to Washington, D.C. when Robert Kennedy got a job
01:34with the Department of Justice. They started their family in 1951, while Robert was working
01:40alongside his brother, John F. Kennedy, on his political aspirations. While Ethel navigated
01:46motherhood, calamity befell her family in 1955 when both of her parents perished in a plane crash.
01:54Sadly, the untimely deaths of her parents wasn't the last loss she would suffer.
01:59Following the loss of her parents, Ethel and her husband purchased a mansion known as Hickory Hill
02:04in Virginia. Their home soon became the place to be, as the family hosted countless events and
02:10parties with politicians, actors, and other celebrities in attendance. In addition to
02:15hosting these parties, Ethel became increasingly involved in politics, beginning in 1957 with her
02:22husband's appointment as chief counsel to the Senate Select Committee. She also joined the
02:26campaign trail for her brother-in-law as he made a run for the White House. John F. Kennedy was
02:32elected the 35th President of the United States in 1960. However, his historic tenure as the youngest
02:39president to ever be elected was cut short by an assassin's bullet on November 22, 1963.
02:46The death of JFK was not just a personal tragedy for Ethel, but for the nation as a whole.
02:52"...will repeat with the greatest regret, two priests who were with President Kennedy
02:57say he has died of bullet wounds." Despite the horrors of JFK's assassination,
03:03the Kennedy family was determined to press on in the world of politics.
03:07This was particularly true for Ethel and Robert Kennedy. Following the death of his brother,
03:13Robert decided to run for a seat in the United States Senate, and his wife was right by his side.
03:18In 1968, after successfully winning a Senate seat, Robert decided to run for president. Ethel
03:25accompanied him on the campaign trail, despite being pregnant with the couple's 11th child.
03:31When he won the California Democratic primary, Robert should have been well on his way to
03:35winning the White House. Unfortunately, Robert was shot on June 5, 1968, and succumbed to his
03:42wounds the following day. Ethel would give birth to their last child, a daughter, just a few months
03:49later. "...a lot of wonderful children to be with." After the death of her husband, Ethel raised her
03:55family and began to make her own contributions to the public, carrying on her husband's legacy.
04:01One of her most notable accomplishments was founding the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center
04:06for Human Rights, which carries on her husband's work through journalism and human rights advocacy.
04:12Yet more misfortune struck Ethel's life when her son David died of a drug overdose in 1984.
04:19He had watched his father's assassination on TV, and battled addiction afterward.
04:24In 1997, she lost another son, Michael, in a skiing accident.
04:30Ethel's pain would extend beyond her immediate family, too, as a number of other Kennedys have
04:35died in tragic circumstances over the years. In spite of all of the many losses that she suffered,
04:42Ethel Kennedy still fought for the causes that her husband championed.
04:46She has contributed greatly to the Kennedy family legacy and continues to serve as an inspiration.
04:54For more stories, visit nyseagrant.org