Iconic Matriarch, Ethel Skakel Kennedy, Dies at 96

By Adam Garrie & The Kennedy Beacon Staff

All of us at The Kennedy Beacon and American Values 2024 send our deepest condolences to the family of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, who passed away October 10, shortly after suffering a stroke. 

Ethel, the widow of former U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, who had 11 children with him, was a lifelong advocate for human rights and a pivotal figure in the country’s most prominent political family. 

Following the tragic assassination of her husband, Ethel became one of the world’s most famous widows, something few people could have handled with equal grace and dignity. 

In an eloquent post on X, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Ethel’s third eldest child, wrote, “My mother invented tough love, and she could be hard on her children when we didn’t live up to her expectations. But she was also intensely loyal, and we always knew that she would stand fiercely behind us when we came under attack by others.”

He continued, “She was our role model for self-discipline, for resilience, and for self-confidence. She deeded to each of her 11 children her love of good stories, her athleticism, her competitive spirit, and the deep curiosity about the world, and the intense interest in people of all backgrounds, which caused her to pepper everyone she met — from cab drivers to presidents — with a relentless cascade of questions about their lives.” 

Kennedy added, “She also gave us all her love of language and for good storytelling. I credit her for all my virtues. I’m grateful for her generosity in overlooking my faults.”

Bobby’s younger sister, Kerry, also took to X, writing, “It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our mother. Along with a lifetime's work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly.” 

In Dick Russell’s book The Real RFK Jr.: Tales of The Truth Warrior, Ethel is depicted as the “strongest advocate” for her large family. She encouraged her husband to run for president in 1968, a decision not initially supported by his brother, Senator Edward Kennedy.

As Russell writes, it was Ethel who first informed her son Bobby of his uncle’s death in 1963. Following JFK’s assassination, Ethel told Bobby that “A bad man shot Uncle Jack and he is in heaven.” At the time, she did not know that tragic loss would hit even closer to home a few years later. 

While Ethel was supportive of the lofty political goals of members of her family, she also firmly believed in traditional Catholic values. This helped her to maintain a dignified stoicism in the face of challenges. 

Ethel’s traditional values were also reflected in her political and personal ecumenism. In the early 1970s, as a gesture of good will towards Alabama Governor George Wallace (a man whose opposition to civil rights stood in stark contrast to that of the Kennedy family), she invited Wallace to her home following an assassination attempt on the governor that left him crippled for life. 

Four years later, Ethel’s act of kindness led Wallace to accept an interview request from young Bobby. In the years following this interview, Wallace himself had a public change of heart and embraced the Kennedy position on civil rights as a born again Christian. 

In 2001, when Bobby was arrested and imprisoned for his environmental activism in Puerto Rico, Ethel was among the first people to visit her son in prison. In The Real RFK Jr., Russell describes an incident where the prison guards apologized to Ethel for the fact that Kennedy was behind bars, in their view, unjustly. 

Even in her final years, Ethel and her children did not always agree. But she never let that compromise her generosity of spirit. When Bobby called on California Governor Newsom to grant clemency to Sirhan Sirhan, Ethel disagreed. 

In his X post, Bobby praised his mother’s spirit, equilibrium, and endless love for her late husband. 

“Even as she declined in recent months, she never lost her sense of fun, her humor, her spark, her spunk, and her joie de vivre,” he wrote. “She wrung joy from every moment, but for 56 years she has spoken with yearning of the day she would reunite with her beloved husband. She is with him now, with my brothers David and Michael, with her parents, her six siblings, all of whom predeceased her, and her ‘adopted’ Kennedy siblings Jack, Kick, Joe, Teddy, Eunice, Jean, Rosemary, and Patricia.”