Untitled

[lilisheart]

sandy’s arrival at the hickory hill swimming pool

“Six of the seven children of Robert F. and Mrs. Kennedy make friends with their newest pet and Christmas gift yesterday- a baby sea lion named Sandy. Sandy will cavort in the Kennedy family swimming pool at their McLean, Va., home where they can have a lot of fun tossing ten pounds of fish to him every day. Left to right: Kathleen, 8; Bobby, 5; David, 4; Michael, 1; Joseph, 7, and Courtney, 3. Their daddy is the former Chief Counsel of the Senate Rackets Investigation Committee.”

(chrisrmas 1959)

[strryhaze]

bobby kennebaby. can’t control my aw

[californiastrs]

Bob would never complain of his own ailments to a friend. The only person he sought out for comfort was Ethel. Not one for deep self reflection, she did not invite him to analyze his woes, while treating her own as God’s will. But she showered him with absolute and undying love. “She adored Bobby. He couldn’t do anything wrong. She brought him out of his shell,” said Red Fay, who vacationed with the Kennedys every year through the 1950s. Robert and Ethel were joined by a deep Catholic faith. In 1951, right after they were married, Bobby scribbled, from memory, these words from the Book of Ruth for his wife: “. . . for whither Thou goeth I will go; and where Thou lodgest I will lodge; Thy people shall be my people and Thy God my god. When Thou diest then will I die and we will be together forever.” Religion was the way and the salve. The Kennedy household brimmed with piety.

Evan Thomas Robert Kennedy: His Life

[californiastrs]

Men Like Us Carson Markland

[strryhaze]

this picture of bobby playing harvard football. all i’ve ever needed

[californiastrs]

Men Like Us Carson Markland

[kennedyswife1999]

hes so dear to me

[iconicslay]

whos ur fave kennedy brother?

bobby alwaysss!!! such a sweetheart 🥹🥹🫠🫠

i mean look at this cutieee!!

[californiastrs]

-Evan Thomas, 'Robert Kennedy: His Life'

[joansiesbeloved]

a short clip of attorney general robert f. kennedy observing a nuclear test, c. 1962.

[strryhaze]

the sturdy, encouraging way jack is holding little bobby here. these brothers.

[kennedyswife1999]

[californiastrs]

Young Kennedys were always in training. The breakfast table was a classroom. Kennedy would test his children on current events, just as he had seen his father do with the oldest favorites, Jack and Joe and Kathleen. Unlike his father, Kennedy was careful to include all the children, the youngest and smallest, too. The Kennedy children lived in a shrine as well as a funhouse. They were lectured on the martyred saints by their father, standing beneath a portrait of his dead brother in uniform, the flak-filled London sky silhouetting his bomber. On the walls, to inspire and remind, hung autographs of war leaders—Churchill, FDR, Douglas MacArthur—along with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and their uncle Jack’s inaugural address. Kennedy was determined that his children should be ready and worthy to pick up the family burden. At bedtime prayers, all the children would say, “And please make Uncle Jack the best President ever, and please make Daddy the best Attorney General ever.” Punishments in the Kennedy household included memorizing poetry.

Evan Thomas Robert Kennedy: His Life

[californiastrs]

Sport for Bobby Kennedy was less a relaxation than a cleansing ordeal. Though initially skittish around horses, he became an avid, if undisciplined rider. “If you got to a flat place where he could gallop, he just took off,” said Marie Ridder, a frequent riding companion. Ethel was a strong horsewoman, and their eldest daughter became a champion in the ring (“You go in there to win,” Kennedy instructed Kathleen). A day on the ski slopes was incomplete without at least one spectacular crash. Old movies of Kennedy on skis reveal an absence of form and a surfeit of speed. He could even make tennis a moral challenge. “He had a ferocious forehand—very straightforward—but no backhand at all. Too duplicitous,” said George Plimpton. Yet RFK would try to psych out his opponents, unexpectedly rushing the net, and he was impatient with dallying partners, including Ethel. “Ethel, what’s the matter? We’re playing tennis out here, aren’t we?” he would demand if she became too chatty with the opposition.

Evan Thomas Robert Kennedy: His Life

[californiastrs]

If Kennedy was aware of these internal contradictions—the kind boy within the rude man, the pleasure-seeker within the puritan—he did not dwell on them, not at this stage of his life. He substituted action for self reflection. Indeed, one suspects he used his constant self-testing and agitation to keep at bay dimly understood (but strongly felt) urges and fears. His self-defense kept him from opening up too much with friends. “He never discussed intimate problems,” said Gerald Tremblay. “He did discuss his relationship with his father, but in a kidding sort of way— intimating that his father was a little bit of a tyrant in the household.” While all politics and policy were personal for RFK, in his own friendships, he avoided the too-personal. His empathy and his immense curiosity ended when friendly conversations became too intimate or self revelatory, especially if he detected self-pity. “He didn’t like anybody to gripe. He didn’t like any kind of a heavy situation. He hated to be bored,” said Tremblay. When conversations did veer towards the confessional, he was sometimes rescued by Ethel. “She was always clowning around, keeping things light,” said Tremblay

Evan Thomas Robert Kennedy: His Life

[californiastrs]

Young Kennedys were always in training. The breakfast table was a classroom. Kennedy would test his children on current events, just as he had seen his father do with the oldest favorites, Jack and Joe and Kathleen. Unlike his father, Kennedy was careful to include all the children, the youngest and smallest, too. The Kennedy children lived in a shrine as well as a funhouse. They were lectured on the martyred saints by their father, standing beneath a portrait of his dead brother in uniform, the flak-filled London sky silhouetting his bomber. On the walls, to inspire and remind, hung autographs of war leaders—Churchill, FDR, Douglas MacArthur—along with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and their uncle Jack’s inaugural address. Kennedy was determined that his children should be ready and worthy to pick up the family burden. At bedtime prayers, all the children would say, “And please make Uncle Jack the best President ever, and please make Daddy the best Attorney General ever.” Punishments in the Kennedy household included memorizing poetry.

Evan Thomas Robert Kennedy: His Life

[californiastrs]