Kerry Kennedy Explores the Bold Legacy and Life of Her Mother, Ethel Kennedy, in New Biography
When asked why she chose to write a book about her mother, author and activist Kerry Kennedy offers a straightforward explanation. “Well, I loved her, and I think there’s an extraordinary story to tell,” she says. That story is captured in “Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy,” published by HarperOne.
Born Ethel Skakel in 1928, Ethel grew up in a family of modest means—her father possessed only a sixth-grade education—before extreme wealth transformed their circumstances during her early childhood. When the Skakel family relocated to Greenwich, Connecticut, they stood out. “It was like the Beverly Hillbillies,” Kerry Kennedy remarks. “They never fit in. And they were comfortable with that.”
The book traces Ethel’s trajectory from that boisterous upbringing through her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy and her years as a prominent political spouse. Following the 1968 assassination of her husband—an event that occurred when Kerry was just eight years old and Ethel was pregnant with her 11th child—Ethel was thrust into a profoundly different reality as the protector of the family legacy. She subsequently founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights. When she passed away in 2024, former Presidents Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Bill Clinton delivered eulogies honoring her life.
Reflecting on the aftermath of the assassination, Kerry recalls her mother’s resilience. “She didn’t pull the covers over her head. She got up, took the kids to school, ran the carpools, played monopoly with us, played football with us, helped us say our prayers,” she says. Ethel’s deep spiritual grounding played a central role in guiding her family forward. “I think her faith informed how she walked through the world with belief in a loving and forgiving God,” Kerry notes, adding that her mother possessed “a full connection to the almighty and a vision of heaven that was so concrete that when I was a kid, I always sat in an airplane next to the window because I believed I could see heaven in the clouds.”
Researching the biography allowed Kerry access to an extensive archive of letters, including correspondence from her formidable grandmother, Rose Kennedy. Additionally, the project incorporated a lengthy, unfinished manuscript that Ethel had written herself as a potential memoir. “It was great because I got to use it throughout the book,” Kerry says. “I really wanted people to hear my mother’s voice.”
Kerry believes contemporary readers can draw valuable lessons from her mother’s life, pointing out that Ethel forged a genuine partnership with her husband. Even after his death while managing a household of 11 children, Ethel emerged as a formidable figure of her era. “She became one of the most empowered women of her day,” Kerry observes. “She just thought she could do anything. And we need to get rid of that voice in our heads that says you can’t.”
