Ethel

The grace and peace of God our Father,

the Lord Jesus Christ, be with you all.

We remember the birth of Robert Francis Kennedy

and his rebirth into the new life

of the kingdom.

I was reading the beautiful statement

on the monument here.

"What we need in the United States

is not division...

What we need in the United States

is not hatred..."

What we need in the United States

is not violence and lawlessness,

but is love and wisdom

and compassion toward one another.

My father, Robert F. Kennedy,

died on June 6, 1968,

more than 40 years ago.

I'm Rory, his last and 11th child.

Because I was born six months after my father's death,

I never had a chance to know him.

I was raised by my mother, Ethel Kennedy.

Forty years is a lot of time.

Memories fade, and people grow older.

I found myself wanting to tell my mother's story...

about the life she shared with Daddy

and the life she shared with us, her children.

Here we go.

A personal story,

but because her life was intertwined with history,

more than that.

There was just one problem...

Why should I have to answer all these questions?

Uh, well, we're making a documentary about you.

- Such a bad idea. - (RORY LAUGHS)

Luckily, I had my brothers and sisters to talk to,

and there are a lot of them.

My name is Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend.

Okay, are you comfortable in that chair?

No. My ass is asleep, and my back hurts.

If you can look at me

- when we're talking. - Oh, my God.

I know. I'm so sorry. - No, no, no.

- No. Say it ain't so. (LAUGHING) Don't.

- You're doing so great. - Thank you.

- I need a lot of encouragement. Yeah, you're beautiful.

If you could just give me a standing ovation

- every once in a while... - (RORY LAUGHING)

You know, Mommy has said that she, of course,

that she considered being a nun.

But before she married Daddy, she...

Of course, before she married Daddy.

Mommy had 11 children... - Wh... She only had ten children.

No, she had 11 children.

Kathleen, Joe, Bobby, David, Courtney, Michael,

Kerry, Chris, Max, Douglas.

Rory.

Oh. Sorry, I always... I just always forget.

This is what it's like to be the 11th.

There are so many times in my life where people

have said, "I want to introduce Robert Kennedy's daughter."

Oh, makes me so mad. (LAUGHS)

What about the one who delivered us

and carried us for nine months,

and that has been with us the last 40 years?

Mommy and Daddy met in the winter of 1945.

Daddy's sister, Jean Kennedy, and I

were in college together.

Jean and I plotted that we would bring our families together

on... on a skiing vacation,

and went up to Mont-Tremblant in Canada.

Grandma Kennedy came, as did my parents.

We skied in groups.

I mean, there were always about, I don't know,

at least ten or more of us skiing together.

And did the Skakels and the Kennedys get along well?

They did. And eventually...

each of the Skakel boys took out each of the Kennedy sisters.

Growing up, my mother and father had childhoods

that were in some ways remarkably similar,

and in other ways very different.

Daddy was a Kennedy

and grew up in a wealthy, large Irish Catholic family.

The Kennedys were shaped by their culture,

the Kennedys were shaped by their religion,

and for them, that meant embracing the crowd.

They were part of the fabric of the city.

Mommy was a Skakel

and also grew up in a wealthy, large Irish Catholic family.

The Skakels were outdoors people,

and that love of nature,

that comfort with mountains and streams

and rivers, the forest, outdoor adventure.

They were the great individualists.

They were not conformists. They didn't want to be part

of something bigger than themselves.

But whereas Daddy's father,

Joseph Kennedy, went to Harvard

and Daddy's mother, Rose,

was the daughter of the mayor of Boston,

Mommy's father, George Skakel, was a self-made man

who started off working for only eight dollars a week.

He worked for the railroad.

And I don't know how he saved the money,

but he started a coal company.

It was amazing,

because he hadn't been to college.

Grandpa ultimately grew Great Lakes Carbon

into one of the largest private family businesses

in the United States.

The Kennedy household,

whether in Brookline or Palm Beach,

was very disciplined.

Dinner was at 7:15, and it did not mean 7:16.

The Skakel home in Greenwich was more chaotic.

- (WOMAN SCREAMS) - (FIRECRACKERS POPPING)

In our house, you didn't know

whether you were going to have supper

at 5:00 or at 10:00.

My brothers were real rascals.

For instance, they would take the train to New York,

but they never rode on the inside of the train.

They always rode on the top of the train. I mean...

They made life really fun,

and interesting, and a challenge.

And they were plenty scary, too.

Both families were very religious.

Both families said evening prayer.

All of our grandparents went to daily mass.

The people of America are dedicated

to the cause of peace.

The Kennedys were staunch Democrats

and politically very active.

The Skakels, on the other hand...

My parents weren't bedrock Democrats.

They were Republicans?

Conservative Republicans.

Did you have any consciousness of politics

- when you were growing up? - No. None whatsoever.

Both families were athletic.

Mommy was a natural.

Mommy is the most fiercely competitive person

I have ever met in my entire life. (CHUCKLES)

Mommy competed in riding,

competed in sailing, was really a champion.

Daddy, on the other hand,

was physically the smallest of his brothers

and had to try a little harder.

BOBBY KENNEDY Daddy was regarded

as the runt of the litter,

but he was very tough.

And when he went to Harvard, he worked his way up

to first string on the football team.

And he made it by showing up an hour early to practice

and staying an hour late.

Didn't he play the Harvard-Yale game

- to get his letter? - (CROWD CHEERING)

Yes, and he had a broken leg. He had a cast on his leg.

So, what does that say to you about Daddy's character,

that he was playing this game when he had a broken leg?

He really wanted to get his letter. (LAUGHS)

Whereas Daddy liked to stick to the rules...

Mommy liked to bend them.

Mommy's a Skakel.

And as a Skakel, she inherited

a healthy disregard for authority in all its forms.

As your mother, I probably shouldn't, uh, tell you this.

But every morning at college, even at college, imagine that,

from 8:30 to 9:00, I read the odds...

...about the racetrack.

If only my tests had been on the racehorses

- instead of history. - (RORY LAUGHING)

I would have really gotten an A-plus.

Now you read the New York Times every day.

Yes. I wasn't a very deep thinker.

Like I am now. (CHUCKLES)

You and Aunt Jean got into a little bit of trouble.

Uh... No, they never caught us.

Okay, well, I have proof.

- (CHUCKLING) - You do not.

- You do not. I have the demerit book.

Do you remember this demerit book?

I can remember a demerit book.

I got censured for talking in assembly

and chewing gum...

...and disorder in the tea room.

This is ridiculous.

We wanted to go to the Harvard-Yale game,