Photo: Charles Tasnadi/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Ethel Kennedy andJacqueline Bouviergot off to a famously bad start.
In 1953, Ethel invited her brother-in-law Sen.Jack Kennedyand his new girlfriend to her formal St. Patrick’s Day party. Emerging from a Rolls Royce, Jackie wore black, like all of the other ladies in attendance — except Ethel, who upstaged her guests in a shimmering emerald-green gown.
Allegedly miffed, Jackie left early, complaining of a “dreadful headache.”
Despite this initial encounter, much has been written since about how the two Mrs. Kennedys, who shared the horrific bond of losing their husbands to assassins' bullets, actually got along.
The condolence letter Jackie sent to Ethel in the wake of RFK’s assassination 50 years ago — on June 6, 1968, addressed to “My Ethel” — displays the potential friendship. It reads:
“My Ethel –
We are going home now — Your phone was busy
You don’t want any more callers you must be so tired — I stayed up till 6:30 last night just thinking — and praying for you — and for you in the months ahead —
I love you so much —
With my deepest deepest love
Jackie”
AP
The two-page note went missing for years, prompting an FBI investigation. As of 2011, itremains in the hands of the FBI, according toThe Dallas Morning News.
And Ethel remains devoted to her late husband.
source: people.com
