June Carter Cash
Musical Monikers
Madonna
Justin Bieber
My Ghost Story
I Survived
Babe Ruth
Johnny Cash
Georgia O'Keefe
I Survived
1 photo
Quick Facts
Best Known For
Ethel Kennedy is best known as the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, the former U.S. Attorney General and New York Senator who was assassinated in 1968.
Quiz
Think you know about Biography?
Answer questions and see how you rank against other players.
Play NowEthel Kennedy. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 03:03, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397.
Ethel Kennedy. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397 [Accessed 23 May 2013].
"Ethel Kennedy." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 23 2013, 03:03 http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397.
"Ethel Kennedy," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397 [accessed May 23, 2013].
"Ethel Kennedy," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397 (accessed May 23, 2013).
Ethel Kennedy [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 23] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397.
Ethel Kennedy, http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397 (last visited May 23, 2013).
Ethel Kennedy. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/ethel-kennedy-9542397. Accessed May 23, 2013.
Synopsis
Ethel Kennedy was born Ethel Skakel in Chicago, Illinois, on April 11, 1928. She met Robert F. Kennedy, known as Bobby, in 1946 and the two married in 1950. The Kennedys ultimately had eleven children. John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960, appointing his brother Bobby Attorney General. Bobby was assassinated eight years later, leaving Ethel to raise their many children alone.
Early Life
Known as a political matriarch and the wife of U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy, Ethel Skakel was born in 1928, in Chicago, Illinois, to parents George and Ann Skakel. Ethel's mother was devoutly Catholic. Her father started work as an railroad clerk, making only $8 a week. He, along with some co-workers, built a small coal and coke business into a diversified privately owned enterprise called The Great Lakes Coal & Coke Co. The business eventually became Great Lakes Carbon Corporation. As a result, the Skakels became extremely wealthy. In 1934, when Ethel was five years old, the family moved east, settling in Greenwich, Connecticut. There, her father purchased a three-story, 31-room English country manor house on Lake Avenue. Raised with her six siblings, Ethel had the best of everything and was a competitive athlete. She went on to attend the elite Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart, where she befriended fellow classmate Jean Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Skakel and Jean Kennedy became fast friends, and eventually roommates at Manhattanville. In 1945, 17-year-old Ethel went on a ski trip with Jean, where she was introduced to Jean's brother, Robert. Although he was dating Ethel's sister at the time, their relationship soon ended. Ethel picked up with Robert soon after. Ethel helped Robert with his brother John F. Kennedy's congressional campaign in 1946. As an English major with a minor in history, Ethel based her college thesis on his John's college-thesis-turned-book, Why England Slept.
Marriage to Robert Kennedy
After she graduated in June of 1949, Robert and Ethel's relationship grew serious. The couple became engaged in February 1950, and were married on June 17, 1950. As newlyweds they moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where they lived until Bobby finished his last year at the University of Virginia Law School. After her husband passed the bar, the family settled in Washington D.C., where Robert began work for the Department of Justice. Their first child, Kathleen, arrived shortly thereafter on July 4, 1951. Joseph II would come the next year, followed by their third child, Robert, in 1954.
While Ethel was busy with new motherhood, her husband was managing his brother John's successful 1952 senatorial campaign. In 1953, he was appointed by Senator Joe McCarthy to be the assistant counsel of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He resigned the post in July of that year, and in August he joined his father's staff, working as an assistant to the Hoover commission. Discontented by McCarthy, the squabbling of older politicians, and what seemed a pointless job, Kennedy returned to the Senate Committee Staff as chief counsel for the Democratic minority.
profile name: Ethel Kennedy profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
The Kennedy Family
View groupThere's no such thing as royalty in the United States, but if anyone has ever come close to that level, it's the Kennedy family. For 64 years, Washington had at least one Kennedy in public office. Descended from Irish Catholics who fled the potato famine, the family has a strong tradition in the Democratic party, the most prominent member being President John F. Kennedy. In addition to fame and political power, the Kennedy clan has had more than its fair share of tragedy—several members of the family have died in accidents and assassinations, in what's been called the "Kennedy curse."
The Kennedy Family 15 people in this group
-
Girl Scouts
View groupDid you know that since 1912, nearly 50 million girls in the United States have joined the Girl Scouts? Girl Scouts helped an amazingly diverse array of famous women develop a strong foundation of courage, confidence and character. It's no surprise then that quite a few famous women spent time in the sash. Celebrities who got their start selling cookies and earning merit badges include Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter and actress/writer Carrie Fisher; former first ladies Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan; Olympic skaters Bonnie Blair and Peggy Fleming; astronaut Sally Ride; and iconic women's rights activist Gloria Steinem. Browse our collection of inspiring famous Girl Scouts who have certainly earned merit badges in their fields.
Girl Scouts 45 people in this group
-
Famous Arians 535 people in this group
