Robert Kennedy and Ethel Skakel became engaged in February 1950 and were married on June 17, 1950, in a Catholic ceremony at the
St. Mary Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The Boston Globe noted that the marriage "unites two large fortunes". After Robert graduated from law school at the University of Virginia, the family settled in the
Washington, D.C., area, and Robert went to work for the
Justice Department. and she helped contribute to her brother-in-law John's
Senate campaign by organizing "
tea parties" for potential voters. Several months after the birth of Ethel's fourth child, her parents were both killed in a plane crash in
Union City, Oklahoma, on October 3, 1955. In 1956, the Kennedys purchased
Hickory Hill from Robert's brother John and his wife,
Jacqueline. The estate was situated on six acres in
McLean, Virginia, (west of Washington, D.C.) with a 13-bedroom mansion. Ethel sold Hickory Hill for $8.25 million in December 2009. The couple also owned a home in
Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on
Cape Cod. In 1960, Ethel's brother-in-law John won the
presidential election, at which time he appointed Robert to the post of
attorney general. Two years later, President Kennedy assigned Ethel and Robert to tour 14 countries on a 28-day goodwill trip. Though the trip was said to be informal, the host countries viewed Robert and Ethel as stand-ins for the President and the
First Lady. On November 22, 1963, Ethel learned of
John's assassination from her husband. She had answered the phone, identified the caller as
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director
J. Edgar Hoover, and handed the phone to Robert, who then informed her of the shooting. Hoover had never called the Attorney General's home before. In 1964, Ethel supported her husband while he campaigned for and won a seat in the
United States Senate, representing New York. Ethel urged her husband to enter the
Democratic primary for the
1968 presidential election. Biographer Evan Thomas portrayed her as Robert's "most consistent advocate of a race for the
White House".
Children Ethel Kennedy had 11 children from her 18-year marriage:
Kathleen in 1951,
Joseph in 1952,
Robert Jr. in 1954, David in 1955, Courtney in 1956,
Michael in 1958,
Kerry in 1959,
Christopher in 1963,
Maxwell in 1965,
Douglas in 1967, and
Rory in 1968. Kathleen served as
lieutenant governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003, Joseph represented
Massachusetts's 8th congressional district in the
U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999, and Robert Jr. ran for president in the
2024 presidential election before becoming
U.S. secretary of health and human services. Her grandson,
Joseph Kennedy III, also served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing
Massachusetts's 4th congressional district from 2013 to 2021. Kennedy outlived two of her sons, David and Michael, who respectively died from a 1984 drug overdose and a 1997
skiing accident. After her husband's death, Ethel publicly stated that she would never marry again, wanting to focus on "furthering his work and legacy". For a time, Ethel was escorted to dinners, parties, and theaters by singer and family friend
Andy Williams. ==Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights==