CNN
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President Joe Biden on Wednesday hailed Ethel Kennedy, a human rights activist and widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, as a “hero in her own right” and thanked her for her decades of public service and for working with Kennedy and his family. recalled their personal friendship.
“She went through a period where I didn’t want to stay here,” Biden said at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, referring to the aftermath of the 1972 crash that killed his first wife and daughter and left behind two sons. It got me through it,” he said. He was seriously injured shortly after being elected to the Senate.
The president added, “You know, just as she did for our country, Ethel helped my family find a way to move forward with principles and purpose. ” he added.
Kennedy, who died last week at the age of 96, was one of the last vestiges of the “Camelot” era in which his brother-in-law, John F. Kennedy, was president until his assassination in 1963. Robert Kennedy served as attorney general during his brother’s presidency and was elected to the U.S. Senate from New York in 1964, but was assassinated while running for president in 1968.
Inspired by Robert Kennedy, whose work set the tone for his own political career, Biden left the prestigious white-collar law firm in Delaware he joined immediately after law school to become a public defender. He often talks about becoming a person. “I did it primarily because I thought your father would do it,” he told the Kennedy family in April, after most of the family publicly supported his presidential campaign. Ta.
As a young man entering politics, Biden has frequently mentioned two heroes. During his term as president, he kept busts of both men on his desk in the Oval Office. One is a bust of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the other is a bust of Bobby Kennedy.
Speaking at Ethel Kennedy’s funeral on Wednesday, Biden recalled receiving letters from her after he took office in 2021 and after Valentine’s Day that year.
He recalled that a Valentine’s Day card had a picture of the two of them surrounded by hearts. It read, “I’m not Biden waiting for your Valentine/Because he’s not your average Joe.”
“I’ve received many honors in my life, but this may be the best I’ve ever received,” Biden said.
The Kennedy family, the only Catholic presidential family in American history, and the Biden family have deep ties. Several members of the Kennedy family, which remains highly influential in American Democratic politics, endorsed Biden’s re-election bid earlier this year. At the time, they also criticized the decision of Ethel Kennedy’s second son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to launch a third-party bid against him.
Even after Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July, his family continued to support Vice President Kamala Harris. RFK Jr. also suspended his campaign in August and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Mr. Kennedy attended his mother’s funeral, but does not appear to have interacted with Mr. Biden.
Neither family is immune to serious personal tragedy.
Biden choked up as he told the audience about the brain tumor diagnosis his son, Beau Biden, received after returning from an overseas assignment. “Your mother was there at that time.” Beau Biden died of cancer in 2015.
“To the Kennedy family, just as you have always been here for us, the Biden family is here for you,” Biden said.
