Ethel, the late mother of RFK Jr., called Biden to express her apologies for her son during his presidential campaign. Here’s what Biden said to her…
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his candidacy for president in 2023, one of his late mother Ethel Kennedy’s first phone calls was to his opponent, then-President Joe Biden.
A new piece from New York magazine, published on August 25, describes the delicate connection between the widow of late Democratic Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and her son, who is now Donald Trump’s secretary of health and human services.
When RFK Jr. launched his campaign (he was running as a Democrat at the time), Ethel phoned Biden to apologize “for her wayward son,” according to the site.
“You don’t have to,” Biden reportedly said to Ethel. “I know about these things.”
According to the source, Ethel and Biden had a decades-long connection, and she was disappointed when her son chose to challenge him for the presidency—especially given her commitment to the Democratic Party.
“The brokenhearted one—and the family won’t talk about it, but I saw it up close—was Ethel,” a close family member told the magazine.
In a statement released in 2023, his sister Kerry appeared to be unsupportive of his political ambitions, writing, “I love my brother Bobby, but I do not share or endorse his opinions on many issues, including the COVID pandemic, vaccinations, and the role of social media platforms in policing false information.”
She further stated that, although sharing a name with RFK, the younger Bobby does not reflect “or influence” the activities of RFK Human Rights, the organization she founded in honor of her father.
Doug Kennedy, RFK Jr.’s youngest brother and a FOX News Channel contributor, told PEOPLE in 2023 that his brother “has immense political talent,” but that, while he is adored by the family, “not everyone agrees with his positions.”
Several other family members opposed RFK Jr.’s candidacy, and in March 2024, a few dozen Kennedys joined Biden for a St. Patrick’s Day photo op at the White House. According to New York magazine, six of Biden’s eight siblings joined him on stage a few weeks later to express their support.
“When you have seven or eight people trying to figure out a statement about their brother, it’s not easy,” Stephen Smith Jr., whose mother, Jean, was John F. Kennedy’s sister and Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Ireland, told New York. “The St. Patrick’s thing emerged as the easiest way to make a statement.”
Furthermore, when RFK Jr. eventually backed Trump for president, a couple of his brothers issued a statement calling his support “a sad ending to a sad story.”
Details of Ethel’s association with former President Joe Biden had already been made public. According to New York magazine, Biden contacted the late Kennedy to wish her a happy birthday every year, including her 95th birthday, which fell only one week before RFK Jr. declared his presidential candidacy.
“@Potus just called to wish Grandma Ethel a happy birthday,” Ethel’s daughter Kerry Kennedy posted on social media at the time. “He was 35,000 feet above the earth with @JoeKennedyiii, the United States Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. He mentioned how much of a difference Joe K is making, particularly in terms of economic growth in Northern Ireland, and how pleased he is to be traveling with Joe K today on his trip to Belfast.
Ethel passed away on October 10, 2024, “from complications related to a stroke,” according to a Kerry statement.