Read Online Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot by J. Randy Taraborrelli - Free Book Online
Authors: J. Randy Taraborrelli
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questioning, all fourteen of the committee members voted to approve Bobby’s nomination as Attorney General. Ethel was so excited that she went out and bought Bobby a six-foot mahogany desk that had belonged to Amos
T. Ackerman, U.S. Grant’s second Attorney General and the first to head the newly created Justice Department in 1870.
As the nation’s top law official, Bobby would wield a great deal of power. “And along with that power, came those
perks that Kennedy men loved more than life itself,” says Kennedy friend George Smathers (a senator from Florida from 1950 to 1968). “Women, women, women.”
Some have speculated that Bobby’s womanizing was a way of competing with his older brother. Bobby was smaller and more wiry than Jack. He was also shy and withdrawn, while Jack was bold and gregarious. Bobby often appeared unruly— his hair always looked as though he had just driven a fast sports car with the top down—whereas Jack was meticulously groomed. In the past, Bobby had certainly seemed determined to assume those facets of Jack’s personality he admired, and perhaps he even appreciated Jack’s way with women.
In 1961, just after Jack moved into the White House, Ethel all but ignored Bobby’s brief affair with blonde actress Lee Remick, ten years his junior and remembered today for her roles in Anatomy of a Murder and Days of Wine and Roses . “Bobby Kennedy gave such eloquent expression to his passion for me,” the late Remick told Marilyn Kind, once a close friend of hers.
According to Kind, Lee telephoned Ethel Kennedy one evening to inform her of the affair. “You’re on your way out,” Lee coolly informed Ethel.
As Lee remembered it, Ethel was understandably angry. Before hanging up, she told Lee that Bobby was sleeping right next to her and warned her to never call again.
Bobby was, indeed, sound asleep. But in Lee’s bed. Whenever a friend or even a Kennedy family member in-
formed Ethel of one of Bobby’s indiscretions, she often chose not to believe them. “It’s not true,” she once said. “I have asked Bobby if he ever cheats on me, and he assures me that he does not. And that is the end of that.”
Though Ethel usually ignored stories about her husband
and other women, there were times when her curiosity seemed to get the best of her, especially if people close to her were whispering about certain liaisons or if she kept reading about them in the fan magazines she so enjoyed. On rare occasions, she would go to Jackie and ask if she had personal knowledge of a particular rumor regarding Bobby and another woman. However, Jackie always seemed un- comfortable discussing Bobby’s personal life, perhaps afraid that she would become involved in a dispute between her in-laws that was really none of her business.
By 1961, the dawn of the Camelot years, Ethel and Bobby already had seven children, with four more to come. Many aspects of their life together were favorable; Ethel’s mar- riage was not a complete sham, Bobby’s infidelities aside. He was tender and loving to his young wife, though not in an overt, obviously passionate manner. He fascinated her with his intelligence, his drive, his passion and ideals. They had common goals and ambitions, and their life together at 1147 Chain Bridge Road—Hickory Hill—in McLean seemed to be a happy one, at least to outsiders. The Kennedy family photographer, Jacques Lowe, recalled the first time he visited Hickory Hill:
“Oh, it was a gorgeous experience entering the Robert Kennedy home for the first time. I remember the first night coming to dinner, having spent the day with Robert on Capi- tol Hill. They had five children then and had recently bought Hickory Hill. I had known Robert for some time in my role as a magazine photographer covering the up-and-coming in- vestigator. He had been sober and serious, revealing sudden flashes of humor and sometimes anger; but I was not pre- pared for the man I met on coming to the house
T. Ackerman, U.S. Grant’s second Attorney General and the first to head the newly created Justice Department in 1870.
As the nation’s top law official, Bobby would wield a great deal of power. “And along with that power, came those
perks that Kennedy men loved more than life itself,” says Kennedy friend George Smathers (a senator from Florida from 1950 to 1968). “Women, women, women.”
Some have speculated that Bobby’s womanizing was a way of competing with his older brother. Bobby was smaller and more wiry than Jack. He was also shy and withdrawn, while Jack was bold and gregarious. Bobby often appeared unruly— his hair always looked as though he had just driven a fast sports car with the top down—whereas Jack was meticulously groomed. In the past, Bobby had certainly seemed determined to assume those facets of Jack’s personality he admired, and perhaps he even appreciated Jack’s way with women.
In 1961, just after Jack moved into the White House, Ethel all but ignored Bobby’s brief affair with blonde actress Lee Remick, ten years his junior and remembered today for her roles in Anatomy of a Murder and Days of Wine and Roses . “Bobby Kennedy gave such eloquent expression to his passion for me,” the late Remick told Marilyn Kind, once a close friend of hers.
According to Kind, Lee telephoned Ethel Kennedy one evening to inform her of the affair. “You’re on your way out,” Lee coolly informed Ethel.
As Lee remembered it, Ethel was understandably angry. Before hanging up, she told Lee that Bobby was sleeping right next to her and warned her to never call again.
Bobby was, indeed, sound asleep. But in Lee’s bed. Whenever a friend or even a Kennedy family member in-
formed Ethel of one of Bobby’s indiscretions, she often chose not to believe them. “It’s not true,” she once said. “I have asked Bobby if he ever cheats on me, and he assures me that he does not. And that is the end of that.”
Though Ethel usually ignored stories about her husband
and other women, there were times when her curiosity seemed to get the best of her, especially if people close to her were whispering about certain liaisons or if she kept reading about them in the fan magazines she so enjoyed. On rare occasions, she would go to Jackie and ask if she had personal knowledge of a particular rumor regarding Bobby and another woman. However, Jackie always seemed un- comfortable discussing Bobby’s personal life, perhaps afraid that she would become involved in a dispute between her in-laws that was really none of her business.
By 1961, the dawn of the Camelot years, Ethel and Bobby already had seven children, with four more to come. Many aspects of their life together were favorable; Ethel’s mar- riage was not a complete sham, Bobby’s infidelities aside. He was tender and loving to his young wife, though not in an overt, obviously passionate manner. He fascinated her with his intelligence, his drive, his passion and ideals. They had common goals and ambitions, and their life together at 1147 Chain Bridge Road—Hickory Hill—in McLean seemed to be a happy one, at least to outsiders. The Kennedy family photographer, Jacques Lowe, recalled the first time he visited Hickory Hill:
“Oh, it was a gorgeous experience entering the Robert Kennedy home for the first time. I remember the first night coming to dinner, having spent the day with Robert on Capi- tol Hill. They had five children then and had recently bought Hickory Hill. I had known Robert for some time in my role as a magazine photographer covering the up-and-coming in- vestigator. He had been sober and serious, revealing sudden flashes of humor and sometimes anger; but I was not pre- pared for the man I met on coming to the house
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