Ethel Kennedy, widow of Bobby Kennedy, dies

Ethel Kennedy, widow of Bobby Kennedy, died Thursday, October 10, at the age of 96 following a stroke, announced her grandson, Joe Kennedy III. “It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the death of our fantastic grandmother, Ethel Kennedy”announced on X the former elected official from Massachusetts, stronghold of the Kennedy dynasty.

Ethel Kennedy was also the mother of Robert Kennedy Jr, a one-time independent candidate for the 2024 US presidential election and who has since supported Donald Trump, much to the dismay of the majority of the Kennedy clan.

Born in 1928 to a coal magnate father in Chicago, Ethel Kennedy met her future husband, Robert, at age 17. In 1961, he became the Minister of Justice for his brother, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK).

But in 1968, five years after the assassination of JFK, Bobby Kennedy was in turn assassinated, in Los Angeles, on the evening of a decisive victory in the Democratic primary. Robert Kennedy was then ideally positioned as the future Democratic candidate for the American presidential election, for which he was the favorite.

Presidential Medal of Freedom

Six months after the death of her husband, Ethel Kennedy gave birth to their eleventh child. She also founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization, which works to promote freedom of expression and association around the world.

In 2014, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

“In addition to a life of work in the service of social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, thirty-four grandchildren and twenty-four great-grandchildren, as well as numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love him dearly”declared Joe Kennedy III on X, specifying that she was now joining her husband and two of their children.