American human rights activist Ethel Kennedy. She is a longtime matriarch of the Kennedy family and is also known as Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s widow. She is one of the two Skakel siblings who are still alive. When she was married to Robert F. Kennedy, she was a devoted wife. At the time of her husband’s murder, the couple had ten children and she was expecting their eleventh. On June 6, 1968, Ethel Kennedy became a widow after her husband was fatally shot by a Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan. She got strongly interested in the battle for human rights after becoming a widow. She established the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, a nonprofit that aims to fulfill her late husband’s vision of a just and peaceful world, not long after he passed away. The campaigner has won a number of accolades and prizes thus far. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Barack Obama in 2014. The Anacostia River Bridge was christened the Ethel Kennedy Bridge that same year in Kennedy’s honor for her support of environmental and social causes in the District of Columbia.
Family & Marriage
In February 1950, Ethel Skakel and Robert Kennedy became engaged. On June 17, 1950, the couple exchanged vows at Connecticut’s St. Mary’s Catholic Church. After getting married, they relocated to Charlottesville, Virginia, where they remained until Robert Kennedy finished his final year of law school at the University of Virginia. Kathleen, Joseph, David, Robert Jr., Courtney, Michael, Christopher, Kerry, Douglas, Max, and Rory were among the eleven children Ethel had with Kennedy. Rory, her final child, was born after her husband passed away.
Robert Kennedy’s family moved to Washington after he earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. He worked for the US Senate as a federal employee all through the 1950s. The Kennedys purchased Hickory Hill in 1956 because they required a larger space because Ethel Kennedy was expecting Courtney, their fifth child. They lived in a massive 13-bedroom home in McLean, Virginia, on 6 acres. Guests could congregate at the house as well.
President Kennedy sent Robert and Ethel on a goodwill tour of around fourteen nations in 1962. Despite the fact that the tour was unofficial, the host nations saw Robert and his wife as a substitute for the president and first lady. Ethel pushed Robert to run in the Democratic primaries for president that year, in 1968.
Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Robert F. Kennedy was mortally wounded on June 5, 1968, by a Palestinian named Sirhan Sirhan. After being shot for around 26 hours, he passed away the next day. A nationwide day of mourning was established by the then-president, Lyndon Johnson. Sirhan was found guilty of killing Kennedy in 1969 and given the death penalty. The
California Supreme Court, however, commuted his sentence to life in prison in 1972.
Ethel Kennedy openly announced that she will never be married again after the passing of her husband. When her husband was slain, she was expecting their eleventh child, and on December 12, 1968, their daughter Rory was born.
Participation in Politics
Ethel Kennedy supported Barack Obama in the Democratic Party’s presidential primary elections of 2008. She hosted a $6 million Obama fundraising banquet at Hickory Hill in June of that year.
Participation in Media
To participate in a documentary about her life, Ethel Kennedy gave her consent. Her daughter Rory directed the 2012 movie “Ethel.” It highlights Ethel’s marriage to Robert F. Kennedy and sheds insight into her latter years after his passing.
Barack Obama was nominated to take the infamous Ice Bucket Challenge by Ethel Kennedy in August 2014. In an effort to increase awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, this challenge was started.
Individual Life of Ethel Kennedy
George Skakel and Ann Brannack welcomed Ethel Kennedy into the world on April 11, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, the United States. She grew up with her six siblings, including James, Rushton, Rushton Jr., Patricia, and Ann. She first attended classes at the Greenwich Academy and the Sacred Heart Convent in Manhattan. Ethel later went on to Manhattanville College, where she was a classmate of Jean Kennedy, her future in-law.