The House of Kennedy Read online

  36 “vulnerable to these kinds of untruths”: Donal Lynch, “Nightmare in Palm Beach,” Independent (UK), December 2, 2007.

  Chapter 47

  1 “the best public relations a trust fund can buy”: Margaret Carlson, “Divorce, Kennedy-style,” Time, May 12, 1997.

  2 “more in touch with the scandals”: Elizabeth Mehren, “Crisis Crosses Camelot’s Moat in Massachusetts,” Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1997.

  3 “emblems of a tabloid time”: Debra Rosenberg, “A Dynasty in Decline,” Newsweek, June 22, 1997.

  4 Sheila Rauch Kennedy’s book Shattered Faith: Rosenberg, “A Dynasty in Decline.”

  5 “Catholic gobbledygook”: Michael Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids,” Vanity Fair, August 1997.

  6 “seen as the future of the clan”: Pam Lambert, “A Betrayal in the Family,” People, May 12, 1997.

  7 “No one was jealous”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019), 118.

  8 “a lot like Bobby”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  9 “resemblance was so striking”: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 257.

  10 “neither one gets what the other does”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  Chapter 48

  1 Vicki looks for Michael: J. Randy Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019), 136.

  2 “would call her parents”: Margaret Carlson, “Divorce, Kennedy-style,” Time, May 12, 1997.

  3 Babysitter moves in: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 129.

  4 Family vacations: Michael Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids,” Vanity Fair, August 1997.

  5 Making people uncomfortable: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 129, 142.

  6 Vicki finds Michael in Marisa’s room: Taraborrelli, 136.

  7 “straight arrow”: Corky Siemaskzo, “An Accident Kills a Kennedy Promise Waned with Sex Scandal,” New York Daily News, January 1, 1998.

  8 “something snapped”: Patrick Rogers, “Death in Aspen,” People, January 19, 1998.

  9 “wasn’t a mean drunk, just reckless”: Rogers, “Death in Aspen.”

  10 Family intervention: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 132.

  11 “I had a dependence on alcohol”: “Passages,” People, February 27, 1995.

  12 “No one has hidden behind alcoholism”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  13 “indomitable” Rose: Associated Press, “Rose Kennedy Eulogized as ‘Ambitious’ for Family,” SF Gate, January 25, 1995.

  14 Funeral: Phil McCombs, “Mother of the Century,” Washington Post, January 25, 1995.

  15 “kick his [ass]”: Debra Rosenberg, “A Dynasty in Decline,” Newsweek, June 22, 1997.

  16 “We talk to each other a lot”: Rosenberg, “A Dynasty in Decline.”

  17 “This is the girl you’re going to hell for?” Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 147–48.

  18 “angry, hurt, sad, confused”: Taraborrelli, 149.

  19 “Fucking Kennedy Curse”: Taraborrelli, 149.

  Chapter 49

  1 “really be on the warpath”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019), 150–51.

  2 “sleeping with the Kennedy guy”: Pam Lambert, “A Betrayal in the Family,” People, May 12, 1997.

  3 “caught in bed with him”: Lambert, “A Betrayal in the Family.”

  4 “someone with a heart could’ve answered”: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 234.

  5 Verrochi breaks it off: Kate Zerike and Scot LeHigh, “Controversy Surrounds a Kennedy’s Alleged Affair with Baby-Sitter,” Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1997.

  6 Kennedys separate: Zerike and LeHigh, “Controversy Surrounds a Kennedy’s Alleged Affair.”

  7 “in a castle with a moat around it”: Michael Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids,” Vanity Fair, August 1997.

  8 “an embarrassment in the press”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  9 “private and personal matters”: Shnayerson.

  10 “Omertà, Irish-American-style”: Shnayerson.

  Chapter 50

  1 Death of Anne Skakel: “Mrs. Rushton Skakel,” New York Times, March 7, 1973.

  2 Greenwich royalty: David Van Biema, “A Crime in the Clan,” Time, January 23, 2000.

  3 “Nixon, not Jack, in the 1960 election”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019), 141.

  4 “throwing protocol into utter panic”: William F. Buckley Jr., “His Greatness Was More Than Relative,” Stanford Daily 150, no. 7 (October 3, 1966).

  5 “more a self-made man than Joe Kennedy”: Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Kennedys: An American Drama (New York: Summit Books, 1984), 154.

  6 Great Lakes Carbon Corporation: Van Biema, “A Crime in the Clan.”

  7 Death of George Skakel Sr.: “Executive, Wife Die in Air Crash; Skakel, 63, Head of Carbon Company Here, Victim in Oklahoma Disaster,” New York Times, October 5, 1955.

  8 Death of George Skakel Jr.: Buckley, “His Greatness Was More Than Relative.”

  9 “They didn’t like discipline—the kids or the parents”: Leslie Yager, “Skakel Nanny Speaks After 50 Years,” Patch.com, December 22, 2013.

  10 Ethel’s brothers as terrors of neighborhood: Collier and Horowitz, The Kennedys, 154.

  11 “more intense level of chaos”: Susan Campbell, “The House of Skakel,” Hartford-Courant, June 9, 2002.

  12 “a coterie of priests and nuns and a series of live-in tutors”: Leonard Levitt, “Michael Skakel Was Convicted of Murdering Martha Moxley, So Why Is He Free?” Daily Beast, April 22, 2017 (updated May 8, 2017).

  13 Skakel ages in fall 1975: Campbell, “The House of Skakel.”

  14 “Best Personality”: James Feron, “Friends and a Fund Recall the Murdered Girl in Greenwich,” New York Times, December 23, 1975.

  15 “the Moxleys were ‘Leave It to Beaver’”: Campbell, “The House of Skakel.”

  16 “bludgeoned young Martha”: Feron, “Friends and a Fund Recall the Murdered Girl in Greenwich.”

  17 A rare Toney Penna six-iron: Van Biema, “A Crime in the Clan.”

  18 Decades go by without any arrests: Levitt, “Michael Skakel Was Convicted of Murdering Martha Moxley.”

  19 “full-blown, daily-drinking”: Campbell, “The House of Skakel.”

  20 The Élan School: “Skakel Set to Go on Trial in 26-Year-Old Murder Case,” CNN, April 1, 2002.

  21 “tough love and discipline”: Stevenson Swanson, “1975 Murder Case Revived,” Chicago Tribune, January 23, 2000.

  22 1992 winter Olympics: Swanson, “1975 Murder Case Revived.”

  23 “He helped me to get sober”: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “A Miscarriage of Justice,” Atlantic, January/February 2003.

  24 “I rarely saw the Skakel boys growing up”: Kennedy Jr., “A Miscarriage of Justice.”

  25 “His primary passion in life is helping other alcoholics”: Kennedy Jr..

  26 “one of the most honest and open people I know”: Patrick Rogers, “The Boy Next Door,” People, February 7, 2000.

  27 Working for the Kennedys: David Chen, “Glare of an Old Horror Intrudes on a Privileged Life,” New York Times, January 22, 2000.

  28 Known simply as “Skakel”: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 141.

  29 “the sweetest human being”: Michael Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids,” Vanity Fair, August 1997.

  30 Vicki calls Skakel: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 143.

  31 Ethel and nephew: Taraborrelli, 145.

  32 “some very disturbing news”: Taraborrelli, 235.

  33 “accompanied Mrs. Verrochi to the hospital”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  34 “any business telling a Kennedy what to do”: Shnayerson.

  35 Sets Marisa up with a therapist, Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 229.

  36 “not your place”: Taraborrelli, 238.

  37 “He’s been trying to save everyone, left and right”: Taraborrelli, 261.

  38 “He
admitted to me”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  39 “Nobody can stab you in the back”: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 237.

  40 “it was a bum rap”: Alex Kuczynski, “For Writers, a Murder Case That Had all the Ingredients,” New York Times, January 20, 2000.

  41 William Kennedy Smith never met any Skakels except Ethel: Kennedy, “A Miscarriage of Justice.”

  42 “Michael Skakel is guilty of this murder”: Craig Offman, “Kennedy Cousin Confesses Crush on Murdered Girl,” Salon.com, November 9, 1999.

  43 “Dead Man Talking”: Offman, “Kennedy Cousin Confesses Crush on Murdered Girl.”

  44 “he has ultimately trapped himself”: David M. Herszenhorn, “Prosecutors Weave a Web of Inferences,” New York Times, June 4, 2002.

  45 “the state’s case is entirely circumstantial”: David M. Herszenhorn, “Final Defense Witness Bolsters Skakel Alibi, Saying It Matches Victim’s Hour of Death,” New York Times, May 29, 2002.

  46 “unrequited feelings”: Herszenhorn, “Final Defense Witness Bolsters Skakel Alibi.”

  47 Marisa Verrochi for Skakel defense: Orla Healy, “Ghosts Come Back to Haunt Kennedys,” Independent (UK), May 26, 2002.

  48 “a very, very, very good case”: Jessica Gresko and Dave Collins, “Supreme Court Rejects Michael Skakel Case; Kennedy Cousin’s Vacated Murder Conviction Stands,” Washington Times, January 7, 2019.

  49 “The evidence shows”: Joseph Ax, “US Supreme Court Won't Reinstate Murder Conviction for Kennedy Kin,” Reuters, January 7, 2019.

  50 “Michael dished some pretty nasty dirt”: Bill Hewitt, “The Reckoning,” People, May 27, 2002.

  Chapter 51

  1 “potentially irreparable harm”: Sara Rimer, “A Kennedy Faces the Fallout from a Scandal,” New York Times, July 10, 1997.

  2 “great pain and suffering”: Michael Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids,” Vanity Fair, August 1997.

  3 “without the willing involvement”: “Mass. Prosecutor Ends Probe of Michael Kennedy,” Washington Post, July 9, 1997.

  4 “do all I can to make up”: “Mass. Prosecutor Ends Probe of Michael Kennedy.”

  5 “easier to get an AA meeting together”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  6 “none of the RFK sisters”: Shnayerson.

  7 “None of the rakehell appetites”: Debra Rosenberg, “A Dynasty in Decline,” Newsweek, June 22, 1997.

  8 “the best the family represents”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  9 “I should pick up the torch…er, pick up the flag”: Rosenberg, “A Dynasty in Decline.”

  10 “walk right into the governor’s office”: Elizabeth Mehren, “Crisis Crosses Camelot’s Moat in Massachusetts,” Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1997.

  11 “poster boys for bad behavior”: Kate Storey, “‘It Was Just the F*cking Coolest’: The Inside Story of JFK Jr.’s ‘George’ Magazine,” Esquire, April 22, 2019.

  12 “apologize on television for getting divorced”: Storey, “It Was Just the F*cking Coolest.”

  13 Joe on Good Morning America: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  14 “Ask not what you can do for your cousin”: Leslie Doolittle, “JFK Jr.’s Tsk-Tsk Pooh-Poohed,” Orlando Sentinel, August 12, 1997.

  15 “probably wishes he hadn’t written it”: Thomas W. Waldron, “Moral Message Oldest Kennedy Grandchild Tries to Balance Demands of Public Office with Life in Her Famous Family; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend,” Baltimore Sun, August 31, 1997.

  16 “the landfill of tabloid dreck”: Margaret Carlson, “Divorce, Kennedy-style,” Time, May 12, 1997.

  Chapter 52

  1 “accustomed to both controversy and criticism”: Elizabeth Mehren, “Crisis Crosses Camelot’s Moat in Massachusetts,” Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1997.

  2 “Never forget that you are a Kennedy”: J. Randy Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2019), 170.

  3 “Kennedys all take care of each other”: Patrick Rogers, “Death in Aspen,” People, January 19, 1998.

  4 “overwhelming sense of a continuing commitment”: Dan Dalz, “Legacy of Untimely Death Continues,” Washington Post, January 2, 1998.

  5 “You’re a Kennedy. You have to pull it together”: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 265.

  6 Christmas in Colorado: Rogers, “Death in Aspen.”

  7 “the central thing in Michael’s life”: Rogers.

  8 Aspen Mountain on New Year’s Eve 1997: Tom Kenworthy, “Michael Kennedy Dies in Accident on Aspen Slopes,” Washington Post, January 1, 1998.

  9 “They hang at the top of the mountain”: Michael Janofsky, “Favorite Game for Kennedys Took Deadly Turn on Slopes,” New York Times, January 2, 1998.

  10 Conflicting reports: Janofsky, “Favorite Game for Kennedys Took Deadly Turn on Slopes.”

  11 “A tremendous drive for living on the edge”: Rogers, “Death in Aspen.”

  12 “two weeks without a visit to the emergency room”: Debra Rosenberg, “A Dynasty in Decline,” Newsweek, June 22, 1997.

  13 “An unbelievably good athlete”: Michael Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids,” Vanity Fair, August 1997.

  14 “wherever he could test himself at the edge”: Rebecca Mowbray, “Kennedy Family, Friends Say Farewell to Michael,” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1998.

  15 “The greatest athlete of our generation”: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 121.

  16 “never seen anyone ski as beautifully”: Taraborrelli, 266.

  17 Olympic ski coach Bob Beattie praised Michael’s talent for skiing: Rogers, “Death in Aspen.”

  18 “could ski downhill backwards and blindfolded”: Janofsky, “Favorite Game for Kennedys Took Deadly Turn on Slopes.”

  19 Daughter Rory “videotaping their antics”: Janofsky.

  20 “death to the loser”: Nancy Gibbs, “Tragedy Strikes Again,” CNN, January 12, 1998.

  21 “Pass me the ball”: Matthew Malone, “The Kennedys in Aspen: A New Year’s Tragedy,” Modern Luxury, November 27, 2017.

  22 Michael’s crash: Gibbs, “Tragedy Strikes Again.”

  23 “blood all over the snow”: “Coroner: Kennedy Death Accidental,” CNN, January 1, 1998.

  24 Rory administers CPR: Malone, “The Kennedys in Aspen.”

  25 “now is the time to fight”: Gibbs, “Tragedy Strikes Again.”

  26 “Please help my daddy!”: Gibbs.

  27 “on their knees saying the Lord’s Prayer”: “Coroner: Kennedy Death Accidental,” CNN.

  28 “intensive cardiac care”: Kenworthy, “Michael Kennedy Dies in Accident on Aspen Slopes.”

  29 Cause of death: Janofsky, “Favorite Game for Kennedys Took Deadly Turn on Slopes.”

  30 No drugs or alcohol found in his body: Gibbs, “Tragedy Strikes Again.”

  31 “Should I drop you off at Admissions or Emergency?”: Malone, “The Kennedys in Aspen: A New Year’s Tragedy.”

  32 Flown to Hyannis Port on Kevin Costner’s jet: Gibbs, “Tragedy Strikes Again.”

  33 Buried next to his brother David: “Michael Kennedy Laid to Rest,” CNN, January 3, 1998.

  34 “We don’t know what to make of another Kennedy death”: Dalz, “Legacy of Untimely Death Continues.”

  35 “The Kennedys play too hard and live too hard”: Rogers, “Death in Aspen.”

  36 “The price you pay for great glories”: Dalz, “Legacy of Untimely Death Continues.”

  37 “the athlete dying young of A. E. Housman’s verse”: Fox Butterfield, “A Fearless Michael Kennedy Is Remembered at Funeral,” New York Times, January 4, 1998.

  38 “The next thing he saw was God”: Taraborrelli, The Kennedy Heirs, 270.

  39 “nugget of happy news”: Nadine Brozan, “CHRONICLE,” New York Times, May 23, 1997.

  40 “couldn’t understand a word he said”: Kevin Cullen, “You Only Live Twice,” Independent (UK), January 30, 1994.

  41 Victim of an IRA bombing: Bernard Weinraub, “Bomb Kills a Doctor Near London Home of Caroline Kenned
y,” New York Times, October 24, 1975.

  42 “I was at home”: Michael Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids,” Vanity Fair, August 1997.

  43 “sensitive and emotionally vulnerable”: Shnayerson, “Bobby’s Kids.”

  44 “suffering from depression”: “Lost and Found,” Herald (Scotland), May 10, 2002.

  45 “one name too many”: Deborah Sontag, “Struggling to Please the Father Who Died,” New York Times, June 15, 1997.

  46 Signing her name: Saoirse Kennedy-Hill, “Mental Illness at Deerfield,” Deerfield Scroll, February 3, 2016.

  47 “less manic” environment: “Lost and Found.”

  48 “very Irish”: “Lost and Found.”

  49 “a hundred brothers and sisters”: Liz McNeil, “Timothy Shriver Calls Niece Saoirse Kennedy Hill a ‘Wounded Healer’ in His Heartbreaking Eulogy,” People, August 9, 2019.

  50 “a hundred Kennedys”: “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “My Eulogy to Saoirse,” Medium.com, August 7, 2019.

  51 “outgoing imp”: Kennedy, “My Eulogy to Saoirse.”

  52 Personal essay: Kennedy-Hill, “Mental Illness at Deerfield.”

  53 Deerfield Students Against Sexual Assault: Julie Bosman, Kate Taylor, and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, “The Kennedy Grandchildren: Bearing the Privilege and Burden of a Family Name,” New York Times, August 2, 2019.

  54 Bill Stone: Adam Carlson, “Fearless, Fierce, Troubled, Gone: Inside the Short Life and Sudden Death of Saoirse Kennedy Hill, RFK’s Granddaughter,” People, August 2, 2019.

  55 “kind, gentle spirit”: Carlson, “Fearless, Fierce, Troubled, Gone.”

  56 “wasn’t a partier”: Emily Smith, “Saoirse Kennedy Hill Wasn’t a Partier: Family Source,” New York Post, August 2, 2019.

  57 “woke up with God”: Kennedy, “My Eulogy to Saoirse.”

  58 “methadone and ethanol toxicity”: Joey Garrison and Leora Arnowitz, “Robert F. Kennedy's Granddaughter, Saorise Kennedy Hill, Died of an Accidental Overdose,” USAToday.com, November 1, 2019.