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Robert F. Kennedy met Ethel Skakel through his sister Jean, Ethel’s college roommate. They became engaged in February 1950 and married that June in Greenwich, Connecticut. Their marriage encompassed a family of eleven children and a public life shaped by political service; after Robert’s assassination in 1968, Ethel continued work connected to their commitment to social justice.
How Robert Kennedy met Ethel Skakel
A U.S. National Archives essay says Robert Kennedy met Ethel Skakel through his sister Jean, who was Ethel’s college roommate. That account establishes the connection that brought them together, but the available institutional summaries offer little detail about the courtship itself.
Engagement and wedding
The Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center’s timeline places their engagement in February 1950. They married on June 17, 1950, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenwich, Connecticut. The National Park Service also records June 17, 1950, as their marriage date.
A family of eleven and life at Hickory Hill
Robert and Ethel had eleven children. PBS’s American Experience says their family had reached eleven by the time Robert was assassinated in 1968; the National Park Service also gives the total. TIME reports that they acquired Hickory Hill from John and Jacqueline Kennedy in 1957 and raised their family there.
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These facts indicate the scale of their shared family life, but they do not, by themselves, establish what their private day-to-day marriage was like. The available accounts are stronger on dates, family size and public history than on personal dynamics, so familiar idealized portrayals should not be mistaken for a documented account of their relationship.
Robert Kennedy’s reported answer about marrying Ethel
The National Archives essay recounts that when Kennedy was asked about the most important decision in his life, he answered, “marrying Ethel.” The essay does not provide a dated transcript or a contemporaneous interview passage for the brief exchange, so it is best understood as a reported answer rather than a fully documented quotation in its original setting.
Assassination and Ethel Kennedy’s public work
Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. The Associated Press reports that Ethel was at his side at the time of the fatal shooting. Their eleven children were part of the family left to reckon with his death.
In the months after his death, Ethel founded the organization now known as Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights, according to the organization’s biography. The organization connects its work to the couple’s shared commitment to service and social justice. This public legacy is documented more clearly than the private texture of their marriage.
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Where the historical record can be explored
The National Archives essay offers an institutional account of Kennedy’s public life and the reported comment about Ethel. Stony Brook University Libraries’ finding aid for the C. David Heymann Robert F. Kennedy Collection lists folders concerning wedding preparations, the Kennedy family, Ethel’s early and post-1950 life, and her romance with Robert. A finding aid identifies materials; it is not the underlying correspondence, oral history or other archival content, and the listing alone cannot confirm details beyond the existence of those research avenues.
For an Ethel-centered account, Kerry Kennedy’s Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy is listed by Google Books as a 416-page HarperCollins biography scheduled for publication on October 13, 2026. The listing says it draws on Kerry Kennedy’s memories, family recollections and Ethel Kennedy’s personal papers; that date is forthcoming relative to October 4, 2026, the date the listing information was checked.
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