Ethel Kennedy, human rights advocate and Robert F Kennedy’s widow, dies at 96

Ethel Kennedy, a long-time human rights campaigner who survived a series of catastrophes including her husband’s assassination and the untimely deaths of two of their 11 children, died on Thursday at the age of 96, according to her grandson Joseph Kennedy III in a social media post.

“We mourn the loss of our beloved grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, with heavy hearts. “She died this morning as a result of complications from a stroke she suffered last week,” Kennedy wrote on X. Kennedy, a fervent Catholic, wanted to continue her husband’s efforts by establishing the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center.

She was the mother of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former independent presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist who recently switched from his family’s traditional Democratic membership to support Donald Trump. Ethel had been by her husband’s side throughout his career, and she was with him when he died in a hotel kitchen in 1968, shot by an assassin’s bullet.

On a ski trip in 1945, Ethel Skakel met Robert, or “Bobby,” through a Manhattanville College classmate, Kennedy’s sister Jean. Kennedy was seeing Ethel’s sister at the time, but he eventually became involved with her. They married in 1950, and Ethel was an excellent fit for the Kennedy family. Her family, like the Kennedys, was affluent, Catholic, and rowdy despite being Republicans.

By 1956, Ethel and Robert were expecting their fifth child and required a larger home. Robert’s brother, President-elect John F. Kennedy, sold them Hickory Hill, a 13-bedroom home outside Washington in McLean, Virginia, which would become an annex of the Kennedy presidency’s romanticized “Camelot” period. Hickory Hill served as a town hall, intellectual salon, and zoo, as well as the location of numerous touch football games.

The Kennedys were well-known for their parties, which attracted not just politicians but also sports, artists, executives, and entertainers such as Judy Garland and John Lennon. A poetry writing contest was held one night with Robert Frost as a guest, while Harry Belafonte taught attendees how to dance the twist the next.

“Hickory Hill was the most spirited social center in Washington,” Arthur M. Schlesinger wrote in “Robert Kennedy and His Times.” “It was hard to resist the raffish, unpredictable, sometimes uncontrollable Kennedy parties.”

Ethel and Robert were devastated after John was slain in Dallas in 1963. Nine months later, Robert resigned as attorney general to successfully run for a position in the United States Senate representing New York. In 1968, he chose to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Kennedy’s crew was leaving the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles shortly after midnight on June 5, 1964, only seconds after he had won the key Democratic primary. Sirhan, 24, a Jordanian-Palestinian, shot Kennedy as they exited through the kitchen. He cited Kennedy’s support for Israel as his motivation, and he remains in prison to this day.

Ethel, then pregnant with the couple’s 11th child, had been separated in the crowd from her husband but managed to approach him as he lay down. Kneeling, she spoke softly to him and attempted to shoo away photographers. She kept a near-constant watch over him till his death early on June 6. Witnesses stated Kennedy maintained her composure throughout.

Ethel Kennedy also faced other family tragedies. Her parents died in an aircraft tragedy in 1955, and she lost a sibling in a 1966 plane crash. Son David died from a heroin overdose in 1984, and son Michael was murdered in a skiing accident in 1997. RFK Jr. had drug difficulties that led to a heroin arrest, and her granddaughter Saoirse died in 2019 from an alleged overdose.

In 2002, Ethel’s nephew, Michael Skakel, was convicted of killing 15-year-old Martha Moxley 27 years earlier in a case. Ethel took up many of her late husband’s interests, such as battling poverty, social justice, and environmental protection. Notable efforts include cleaning up Washington’s Anacostia River and revitalizing New York’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. “She is an emblem of enduring faith and enduring hope, even in the face of unimaginable loss and unimaginable grief,” Obama stated during the investiture ceremony. “As her family will tell you … you don’t mess with Ethel.”

When asked in a 2014 NBC interview what had motivated her, Kennedy answered, “First, Bobby and his life, and, of course, Jack.” Rory, the Kennedys’ youngest child, created a documentary on his mother in 2012. As Ethel reflected on the tragedies of her life, she said: “Nobody gets a free ride.”